The Lufthansa Premier Miles & More World MasterCard with 50,000 Miles & More miles after spending $5k in three months.

The Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard with 40,000 miles ($400 toward travel) after spending $1k in three months.

The Frontier Airlines World MasterCard with 35,000 EarlyReturns miles after spending $750 in three months.

The US Airways Premier World MasterCard with 30,000 Dividend Miles after first purchase.

Continue reading about Barclay’s best offers, how you can make the most of them, and how Barclay’s can improve.

For most of the last year, Barclay’s had one card worth getting, in my opinion, the US Airways MasterCard. To that measly offering, Barclay’s has added three offers that have gotten me excited.

The best current Barclay’s offer for people who want to fly to Europe or on premium transcontinental routes is the Lufthansa Premier Miles & More World MasterCard.

Because most people aren’t familiar with the Lufthansa Miles & More program–I wasn’t until recently–I wrote a primer about the program and the six best uses for the sign up bonus.

The sign up bonus is big enough for a roundtrip to Europe or a one way in business class. Lufthansa miles are also the best way to book Swiss and Lufthansa First Class more than two weeks out and the cheapest way to get on United’s transcontinental beds.

• Earn 20,000 award miles after your first purchase
• Earn an additional 30,000 award miles when you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 90 days
• 50,000 bonus miles total
• Cardholders receive a companion ticket annually.
• Enjoy 2 award miles per $1 on Miles & More integrated airline ticket purchases
• Earn 1 award mile per $1 spent everywhere else
• $79 annual fee

The best current Barclay’s offer for people who want to fly domestically or who want a card to defray miscellaneous trip expenses like car rentals and independent hotels is the Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard.

Not only does the Arrival card give you $444 in free travel on any airline, hotel, or car rental any time without the pain (I would say “fun”) of award searching, but the card earns 2.22% back towards travel on all purchases. In my opinion, that is the second best earning rate for non-bonused spending behind the SPG card.

The best uses of this card are domestic economy flights, which are normally a poor value at 25,000 miles roundtrip and other travel expenses that you can’t make disappear with your other miles and points. I could pay my hostel bill with these miles!

• 40,000 bonus miles after spending $1,000 in the first 90 days
• 2 miles per dollar on all purchases
• Miles can book any travel any time from any company
• Redemptions for travel have a 10% rebate
• No foreign transaction fee
• Complimentary TripIt Pro membership ($49 annual value, Rookie Alli is a big fan of TripIt)
• No annual fee the first year, $89 thereafter

The most urgent card to get from Barclay’s is the US Airways Premier World MasterCard. US Airways and American Airlines are merging with the US Airways name disappearing. That makes it likely this card is disappearing too. If that happens, I want to make sure I get it again.

Currently the card comes with 30,000 US Airways miles after first purchase. The other big benefit is a 5,000 mile discount on US Airways awards booked on US Airways flights. The current best use for US Airways miles is off peak awards–which I most recently discussed here–to South America or Europe for 30,000 miles roundtrip for US Airways cardholders. One card, one dream vacation.

• Earn up to 40,000 bonus miles on qualifying transactions
• EXCLUSIVE: Redeem flights for 5,000 fewer miles
• Zone 2 boarding on every flight
• Enjoy 2 miles per $1 spent on US Airways purchases
• Earn 1 mile per $1 spent everywhere else
• Annual companion certificate good for round-trip travel for up to 2 companions at $99 each, plus taxes and fees
• First Class check-in
• Please see terms and conditions for complete details

The last Barclay’s card that excites me is the Frontier Airlines World MasterCard. Frontier has an incredibly generous award chart in its narrow footprint–the US, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. The 35,000 miles after spending $750 in the first three months is enough for a roundtrip anywhere Frontier flies, and availability is the best I’ve seen of any airline.

I discussed the award chart here, and the Frontier EarlyReturns program here.

What’s Missing

I think two major things are missing from Barclay’s if it really wants to take the next step in its battle against Chase, American Express, and Citi.

1. Better business cards
2. Transferable points

Barclay’s has one business card of note, kind of. The US Airways Business MasterCard with 25,000 US Airways miles after first purchase is a possible card to consider. But this one offer doesn’t compare favorably to the multiple better Chase, AMEX, and Citi business cards.

At a minimum I would hope that Barclay’s would create a business version of all its cards, so we small-business owners have more options. I would love the option to earn 2.22% percent toward travel on all my business purchases with a business version of the Arrival card. I would also hope that Barclay’s would offer more competitive sign up bonuses on business cards that match the personal card offers.

The other big improvement that could be made would be to have a transferable points card to compete with Chase Ultimate Rewards and AMEX Membership Rewards. This could be an awesome new card or an added benefit of the Arrival card’s miles.

One problem is that Barclay’s doesn’t have the airline and hotel partners that Chase and AMEX do. Barclay’s hotel and air partners are:

Airlines: Frontier Airlines, US Airways, Virgin America, Aer Lingus, China Airlines, Iceland Air, Lufthansa
Hotels: Best Western, Choice, Wyndham

Usually transferable points are transferable to existing partners like how Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer to Chase’s co-branded partners like Southwest, United, Hyatt, British Airways, and more.

But clearly deals can be made for transferable points to go to entities beyond existing partners. For instance, look at the list of airlines where SPG points can be transferred. Perhaps a better example is that AMEX Membership Rewards can be transferred to Frontier even though the airline is a Barclay’s co-branded partner.

If Barclay’s could get a transferable point with some solid partners, it would really be a big player in the travel rewards space. But for now, we can content ourselves with the improvements in the last year–namely going from one to four good rewards cards.

Link: The Lufthansa Premier Miles & More World MasterCard with 50,000 miles

Link: Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard with 40,000 miles

Link: Frontier Airlines World MasterCard with 35,000 miles

Link: US Airways Premier World MasterCard with 30,000 miles

The good news is that finding award space to Europe this summer is still possible, especially if you are flexible.

Which routes have space? Which airlines will open up more award space?

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now. ~Chinese Proverb

The best time to book an award to Europe for the summer was last fall. The next best time is now. There is currently some award space available to Europe. And more will be opened up every day going forward.

The best miles to get to Europe are United miles because the Star Alliance has the most European partners, and the Star Alliance airlines open the most award space to Europe. The next best type of miles are any other type of Star Alliance miles like US Airways, TACA, or Lufthansa miles.

Here’s the state of a few Star Alliance routes’ award space for this summer, followed by some general observations and tips.

Newark to London

United has five daily Newark to London flights. Award space is wide open this summer in economy class on the route, with a few business class beds sprinkled in. Yellow shaded dates have economy award space on at least one flight. Green means economy and business/first class space.

There are four days in the next week and a half with some premium cabin space, then only three more over the next three months. That means some award space is being opened up at the last second. Snap up what little bed space there is left, or take your pick of the litter for economy space.

Connecting to Newark is easy, since it’s a United hub and United has great domestic award space. Connecting from London is a bit tougher. London is not a Star Alliance hub. All European Star Alliance partners fly to London, though, so you can get almost anywhere in Europe in two segments from London.

Chicago to Frankfurt

Chicago to Frankfurt is served both by United and by partner Lufthansa. Here’s the award outlook.

The calendar is somewhat similar to Newark to London, but with a few improvements. For one, there is a lot more premium award space in the next two weeks. Some of that is Lufthansa First Class.

There is also quite a bit more premium space in the second half of the summer.

Connecting to Chicago is easy, since it’s a United hub. Connecting from Frankfurt is also easy, since it is a Lufthansa hub. That means, flying this route, you should be able to get from most of America to most of Europe in only three segments.

If you have a choice between Lufthansa business class and United business class on this route, I would choose United because it is fully flat. Lufthansa business class is angled lie flat.

Washington-Dulles to Paris

This route is served by United, but has a much lower frequency than the other two routes. This may explain the relative dearth of award space.

There isn’t any premium-cabin space, there is very little economy-cabin space, and there is no pronounced tendency to open last-second award space.

Of course, there’s no reason a person in DC can’t get to Paris in a premium cabin. There’s just no space on the direct flight. A connection opens up space.

Observations and Tips

1. There is more award space from Newark and Chicago than Dulles and the West Coast.
2. As usual, search the transatlantic space first. You can piece together the intra-European space and domestic space more easily. If necessary, consider buying a cheap segment in the US or Europe on a low-cost carrier to pair with the transatlantic award space you find.
3. United and Lufthansa are opening award space in the last few weeks on many routes. They open more award space in premium cabins than in economy.
4. At this point, the only award seats being offered are seats the airlines don’t expect to sell. Those include less popular routes and times. How about the day time flight from Newark to London?
5. If you whiff on summer 2013 Europe space, how about summer 2014 in South America or Australia, during our winter?
6. Plan your summer 2014 trip to Europe 11 months out if you know where you want to go.
7. Hire an award booking service if you don’t have the knowledge or time to handle the award booking process yourself. I recommend these guys.

My favorite South American country is the perfect sweet spot of being far enough away for two airlines–LAN and United–to fly fully flat business class seats from six American cities, and being close enough that the flights are a steal with American and United miles.

Usually with miles, there is a “but.” In this case, I don’t see one. The award space is great, the products are fantastic, the miles can be earned easily, and Peru is my favorite country to visit in the world.

Award programs see the world in regions, and the major airlines agree that South America has a northern half that includes Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador; and a southern half with Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil.

The northern half costs fewer miles to reach than the southern half because it’s closer. Peru is the farthest away from the US of the northern-half countries, so right there is one source of value.

from google.com

Even bigger value comes from the fact that Peru is just far enough away that some airlines decide to fly there with business classes that feature lie flat beds.

United flies lie flat beds in BusinessFirst from Newark and Houston to Lima daily. I flew the same product from London to Los Angeles, and I thought it was an awesome product for sleep and comfort.

LAN flies lie flat beds in Premium Business from Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York-JFK, and Miami to Lima. A 787 will even fly the Los Angeles to Lima route soon.

By contrast, American flies 757s that feature a business class that is the same product as domestic first class to Peru from Dallas and Miami.

So some airlines fly beds, and some fly recliners to Peru. Getting on the beds for the same cost as the recliners will unlock huge value from your miles.

The six key routes are Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York-JFK, Miami, Newark, and Houston to Lima with connections in the US and throughout Peru on either end.

LAN routes in red. United routes in blue. All feature beds in business class. from gcmap.com

LAN Routes

LAN and its subsidiaries are members of the oneworld alliance. As a oneworld partner, LAN flights can be booked with American Airlines miles or British Airways Avios (surcharge free.) I will focus on American Airlines redemptions here because they are a better deal to Peru.

American lumps Peru into “Central America/South America Zone 1″ and charges 17.5k miles each way in economy and 30k miles each way in business between the US and Peru. (No American partner flies between the US and Peru with a first class.)

For 30k miles each way, you can get into LAN’s Premium Business cabin on its 767-300 from four cities in the US to Lima with connections throughout Peru. And from Los Angeles, there will soon be a daily flight on a 787 Dreamliner to Lima. Both planes have fully flat beds and personal video screens. Here’s LAN’s page about its 787 experience–looks pretty awesome.

American Airlines’ award search engine doesn’t display LAN award space, so you should search on ba.com for award space, then call American at 800-882-8880 to book the space you find. Here’s how to search on ba.com.

Miami

Miami to Lima is the shortest of the LAN routes at a flight time of less than six hours. I found tons of Wednesdays and Thursdays next South American summer–January-March 2014–when LAN had released seven business class award seats on the same flight.

Since Miami is an American Airlines hub and American Airlines has very good domestic award availability, many people should be able to connect to this award space. You can use domestic MileSAAver economy or first class space that you find on aa.com to pair with your LAN award space to Peru. You can also add on LAN’s intra-Peru flights for no extra miles.

from wikipedia

Miami is the option with the least bed time, but a strong option for families who want to travel together because of the seven seats together.

New York-JFK

I didn’t find any space on LAN’s New York to Lima flight. My searches turned up plenty of space from New York to Lima connecting in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The New York to Guayaquil flight is 6hr45min and also features flat beds in business class.

Los Angeles

There are two daily flights from Los Angeles to Lima on LAN. The first leaves at 1:00 PM and arrives at 12:20 AM the next day after an 8hr20min flight. This flight–LAN 601–will be operated by a Dreamliner as soon as those re-enter service.

The second flight leaves LAX at 11:20 PM and arrives at 10:55 AM in Lima. This flight–LAN 2605–is operated by a 767-300.

Both feature fully flat beds, but the 787 Dreamliner has improvements in cabin technology related to lighting and cabin pressurization. If I’m flying on a bed, I’d prefer the redeye, but I’d have a hard time passing up the 787.

Whichever you prefer, space is wide open on both flights. From January 15-29, there is space on at least one flight on 14/15 days. Most days, there are up to five seats on both flights!

If you don’t live in LA or on the west coast, flying to LA to connect to one of these flights will mean considerable backtracking, but it might be worth the backtracking to fly a 787 or to get your family of five to Peru.

San Francisco

The San Francisco flight takes off Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 6:45 PM, landing in Lima 9hr20min later at 7:05 AM. Next February I found three business class seats available nearly every day the flight operates.

This flight is ideal for people who live in San Francisco, since it is a rare international oneworld flight from SFO, making it eligible to have a Free Oneway on American Airlines tacked on.

United Airlines

United flights can be booked with any Star Alliance miles including United miles, US Airways miles, and Lufthansa miles.

United puts Peru into the Northern South America region and charges 20k/35k/45k miles one way for economy/business/first class.

Note that United brands business class as BusinessFirst. Three-cabin first class is called Global First, and some planes with Global First flies to Lima. It’s only 10k miles more one direction, but I probably wouldn’t even pay that modest premium because I consider BusinessFirst to have almost the same quality bed, food, and service.

Whatever miles you’ll use to book the award, search for the space on united.com, then call the airline whose miles you are using to book the award (or book online with United miles.) For enhanced searching, use my Way to Trick United.com’s Award Calendar.

Newark

From Newark, United flies the narrow-body 757 to Lima with business class beds in a 2-2 configuration.

from united.com

I captured screen shots of the current availability on the route. Green and blue shaded days have at least one business class seat available as a Saver award at the 35,000 miles per direction price.

Space is a lot better in 2014 than it is in 2013 on the 8hr5min day time flight.

Houston

The Houston flight is a 6hr30min day time flight operated by a 767-300 daily. At some point before next January (bonus points if you figure out exactly when), the two-cabin plane that operates the route now will be replaced by a three-cabin plane with first class in a 1-1-1 configuration and business class in a 2-2-2 configuration.

I wouldn’t pay the 10,000 mile premium for first class for such a short flight when I find the United Global First and United BusinessFirst to be very similar in quality.

Both United flights should be easy to connect to since United has the best domestic award availability of any legacy carrier. Once in Peru, you can connect throughout the country on Star Alliance partner TACA Peru for zero extra miles.

Bonus

What do I recommend in Peru? Here’s my Top Ten things to Do, Eat, and See.

Top Ten Things to Do, See, and Eat in Peru: Honorable Mentinos and 10 Through 8

Top Ten: 7 and 6

Top Ten: 5 and 4

Top Ten: 3 and 2

Top Ten: #1 Machu Picchu

Recap

Peru is the best value destination for travel in business class because it is the perfect distance from the US–close enough to be cheap in miles and far enough to be served by LAN and United with planes with beds. Get there using Star Alliance or oneworld miles.

Usually adding a stopover increases the complexity of an award, but sometimes it makes your life easier. Sometimes adding a stopover is the best way to increase your award booking options.

I’ll give an example of how taking a stopover can save 27,500 US Airways miles when booking an off peak award to Europe. This example can be generalized to other airline programs.

US Airways offers off peak award pricing to Brazil, Europe, and the Caribbean that cannot be beaten. Thirty thousand miles roundtrip to Europe or 55,000 in business class are about half the normal miles price.

I’ve written about US Airways off peak awards before, so read this post if you need an off peak awards primer.

One of the big problems is that to get the off peak discount, you need all segments of the award to be on US Airways planes, and US Airways doesn’t release a ton of economy class domestic award space at the low level miles price. We can overcome this problem by adding a stopover.

Imagine you want to go Los Angeles to Madrid next February in economy class for 30k miles roundtrip. US Airways flies from its hub in Philadelphia to Madrid daily. Off peak space is wide open on the route.

Almost every day has economy off peak space to Madrid this February from Philly

That’s great, but the problem is that the award space from Los Angeles to Philadelphia and vice versa on US Airways flights is putrid next February. Here’s the picture from Los Angeles to Madrid.

Los Angeles to Madrid economy off peak space in February 2014

The outbound from Los Angeles to Madrid has a lot of options in the beginning of February, but there is very little off peak space from Madrid to Los Angeles, and none after February 6.

We know the issue must be a lack of space on the Philly to LAX leg, since the Madrid to Philly leg had tons of off peak availability in the first calendar I showed.

This is where a stopover will save our award plans.

What if, on the way back, we took a stopover for a few days in Philly, so that we could combine off peak space from Madrid to Philly and low-miles-price space from Philly to LAX on one award ticket? That would allow the whole roundtrip to price at 30,000 miles for US Airways credit card holders (and 35,000 miles for people without the card.)

It’s a simple concept that’s easy to execute in four steps.

1. Find off peak economy award space from LAX to Madrid on usairways.com by searching LAX to Madrid roundtrip. I showed a calendar of this space above; it’s wide open.

2. Find off peak economy award space from Madrid to Philly on usairways.com by searching Philly to Madrid roundtrip and looking at the returns. I showed a calendar of this space above; it’s wide open.

3. Find low-miles-price economy award space from Philly to LAX on usairways.com or united.com. I searched for it on united.com because I have a trick to isolate direct flights on the calendar. There wasn’t much space, but I did find one day that would allow for a two week trip with a two day stopover in Philly.

4. Call US Airways at 800-622-1015 to book the award because awards with stopovers cannot be booked at usairways.com. Feed the agent all the flight info. The award should price at 35,000 miles + $100 or so in taxes and fees. If you have the US Airways credit card, you will get a 5,000 mile discount on this award, to 30,000 miles total, like you do on all awards that are operated totally by US Airways planes.

The $100 in taxes and fees represents a $50 award processing fee on international tickets that only Dividend Miles elites can avoid and about $50 in taxes. Do not pay a separate phone booking fee, which should be waived as a matter of course by US Airways when the award is not bookable online. Awards with stopovers are not bookable online.

The Award

Without a stopover en route, this award would have been impossible to book at the off peak price of 30,000 miles per person roundtrip. Instead, the award would have cost 57,500 miles roundtrip for one way at the off peak level (17,500) and one way at the medium level (45,000) minus the US Airways card holder discount (5,000).

General Applicability

This post isn’t about getting to Madrid from Los Angeles on US Airways. This technique can apply to a broad range of difficult awards. Consider adding a stopover in Europe between the US and Africa or the US and Asia or a stopover in Asia between the US and Australia.

You often see your options for getting from Point A to Point B greatly increased by stopping at Point C.

Bonus

Get the US Airways MasterCard right now for three reasons.

1. 30,000 miles after first purchase. There is an $89 annual fee.
2. 5,000 mile discounts on awards entirely operated by US Airways planes. All off peak awards will thus be discounted another 5,000 miles.
3. I strongly suspect this card will disappear during the ongoing merger of US Airways and American Airlines. Get it before that happens. If you don’t get a chance to use the US Airways miles, they will most likely be converted 1:1 to American Airlines miles in the near future.

US Airways Premier World MasterCard with 30,000 US Airways miles after first purchase

• 30,000 US Airways Dividend Miles after first purchase
• 5,000 mile discount on all awards operated entirely by US Airways
• Enough miles for two domestic roundtrips, one roundtrip to Hawaii
• 90,000 US Airways miles are enough for a business class roundtrip to North Asia
• Two $99 companion passes annually
• First Class Check In
• Zone 2 Priority Boarding
• One Complimentary US Airways Club Pass Annually
• 2 miles per dollar on US Airways purchases
• $89 annual fee

Korean Air

Three times a week, a Korean Air 777-300ER flies from Los Angeles to Sao Paulo on Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays. The return leaves Sao Paulo on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

Redeye outbound, daytime return

This flight isn’t just a novelty. It’s a legitimately great use of Delta SkyMiles–the least valuable and most reviled currency among the legacy airlines. Learn how to get on the flight yourself after the jump.

On the Mile Value Leaderboard, I rank Delta miles at the bottom.

1. US Airways Dividend Miles                                           1.95
2. United Mileage Plus                                                        1.81
3. American Airlines AAdvantage                                    1.77
4. British Airways Avios                                                      1.70
5. Southwest Rapid Rewards                                             1.69
6. Delta SkyMiles                                                                  1.22

That’s because Delta doesn’t open up much award space, the SkyTeam alliance isn’t as impressive as the Star Alliance or oneworld, and Delta charges fuel surcharges on a number of its partners.

Probably for those reason, SkyMiles are very easy to earn. There’s the Delta credit card (do you qualify for the 45k offer?), of course, but Delta is also a 1:1 transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, which has had a number of large sign up bonus offers this year including the current 75k offer for the Business Gold Rewards card.

Getting incredible Delta redemptions, then, is the dream. Turning easy-to-earn miles into dream trips is the whole point. Enter Korean’s flight from Los Angeles to Sao Paulo. It is a high-value award with none of the three problems that plague Delta awards.

1. Award space is wide open.

Unfortunately I can’t show you that easily because delta.com award calendars stink, but from my searches, economy and business class award space is open almost every day the flight operates (Mon, Wed, Fri south and Tues, Thurs, Sat north).

2. This is a route unique to SkyTeam.

SkyTeam’s route network is undoubtedly weaker than the Star Alliance, and weaker than oneworld’s where I want to go.

But Korean is the only airline to fly Los Angeles to Sao Paulo direct, cutting out several hours of flying and layovers for west coasters. (American is set to fly LAX to Sao Paulo from November 21 according to wikipedia.)

That means while it would also cost 60k American, United, or US Airways miles for a roundtrip to Brazil from Los Angeles–or 100k in business class–60k or 100k Delta miles gets you there more conveniently.

3. There are no fuel surcharges on the route.

Delta doesn’t collect fuel surcharges on Korean flights. The award has taxes of about $90 roundtrip.

The Product

For the most part, economy class is economy class, so for 60k miles, you’d get what you’d expect in the back of the plane.

But for 100k miles, you can get a fully flat bed in Prestige Class both directions.

Looks comfy

It would be pretty nice to get into one of the eight first class seats at the front of the plane, but Delta miles cannot be used for three-cabin first class, so the most luxurious option is business class.

You don’t live in Los Angeles

That’s a bit of an issue. Delta miles are far more valuable for people who live in cities served by Delta partners. Why?

Delta has bad award availability on its own flights, but its partners offer fine award space. And all partner award space prices at the low miles price. So if you live somewhere where you can fly Delta partners, you can get a good deal. If you live somewhere else, you can’t necessarily find award space on Delta to get to the partner flights.

But all you can do is search delta.com for award space that connects to the Los Angeles to Sao Paulo flight. If you can find that–make sure to check economy and first class space–you are in business and ready to samba.

That’s pretty incredible because:

• Usually the card has no sign up bonus.
• It had been offering only 50k Membership Rewards after $5k in spending.
• Normally when it offers 75k Membership Rewards, it does so for only one or two days and requires $10k in spending to unlock the bonus.

That deal died, but two Business Gold offers have risen in its stead. Which is right for you?

The current deals are:

1. 75k bonus Membership Rewards after spending $10k in three months
2. 50k bonus Membership Rewards after spending $5k in three months

Should you get the 75k sign up bonus on this card or the 50k sign up bonus?

If the answer to which card to get seems obvious, it is not. In my post, “The Two Ways to Value Credit Card Sign Up Bonuses,” I described both the absolute-value method and rebate-percentage method.

The absolute-value method is what most people are probably more familiar with. Add up the benefits of the sign up bonus and subtract the first-year annual fee if any. Right now I value 75k Membership Rewards at about $1,500. I love the current 35% transfer bonus to Avios as someone who flies between the west coast and Hawaii often.

The absolute value of the 75k Membership Reward bonus, $1,500, dwarfs the absolute value of the 50k Membership Rewards sign up bonus, $1,000.

Stop reading here and get the Business Gold Rewards Card today with the 75k bonus if you spend tons of money per year on credit cards ($100k+) naturally or through manufactured spending, or you are only getting 1-2 cards this year because you are limiting credit inquiries. The absolute value of the sign up is mouthwatering.

But if you, like me, spend very little on cards each year ($3k per month or less), then this is not the best Business Gold Rewards Card offer.

Instead the best offer is the 50k Membership Rewards sign up bonus. The reason is that the 75k MR sign up bonus has a $10k minimum spend to unlock the bonus. The 50k MR card has only a $5k minimum spend requirement.

People who don’t spend enough to clear all the minimum-spending requirements for all the cards they want should use the rebate-percentage method to order cards on their wish list.

The rebate-percentage method takes the absolute value and divides by the spending requirement to get the percentage of the minimum spend that is rebated in the form of points or other benefits.

The 50k Membership Rewards offer’s rebate percentage is a solid 20%. The 75k Membership Rewards offer’s rebate percentage is only 15%.

That means, if you are looking at the most bang for your small buck like me, you should get the 50k Membership Rewards offer. Last September I did get the 50k Membership Rewards offer, and I am very happy I did. It was the right move for my spending habits, and it allowed me to get more total benefits from my cards in the last eight months than if I had gotten the 75k Business Rewards Gold offer.

Don’t misunderstand, the 75k offer is the best credit card offer of the year if you are a very big spender.

But if you’re not much of a spender, the 50k offer is better.

Both offers have the same details besides the sign up bonus:

Application Link: Business Gold Rewards Card with 75k bonus Membership Rewards after spending $10k in three months

Application Link: Business Gold Rewards Card with 50k bonus Membership Rewards after spending $5k in three months

Which one sounds better to you?

These values combine low miles, low taxes and fees, and the very best products from among American’s partners. How does First Class on Etihad or British Airways for 40k miles sound?

Here’s the American Airlines award chart with what I think are the best values in red boxes.

AA chart with the best values highlighted

The great values generally stem from very large regions. For instance, American lumps the Middle East together with India despite Tel Aviv being 3,000 miles from Bangalore. Marrakesh and Johannesburg are 4,600 miles apart, but are both in Africa. Distances like this mean usually mean that at least one side of these massive regions is a good deal for awards.

The other reason for great values: the inherent value in flying the best premium products like Etihad First Class suites (did you see that video above?), British Airways’ New First Class, or Qantas First Class on an A380.

1. Etihad First Class from Abu Dhabi to London for 40k Miles

One way awards between Europe and the Middle East/Indian Subcontinent are only 20k/30k/40k miles in economy/business/first, meaning you can get 7hr40min in an Etihad suite for 40k miles.

If the YouTube video wasn’t enough, here is a picture-laden trip report of Etihad First from One Mile at a Time.

While the US to the Middle East is an astounding 90k miles each way in first class with American Airlines miles, Europe to the Middle East is a much more manageable 40,000 miles.

From Etihad’s hub in Abu Dhabi to London is 7hr40min of flying in one of the world’s nicest First Classes, about half the length of a flight to New York for less than half the price.

Etihad also has first class to/from Paris on a similar length flight. And just because most of us are Americans doesn’t mean we should dismiss these routes. I booked a client into Etihad First from Abu Dhabi to Paris as part of a roundtrip to the Maldives, where Etihad flies from Abu Dhabi.

In fact, these Etihad First Class flights for only 40,000 miles can be added very cheaply to awards using United or American miles to Europe, the Middle East, or the Maldives as I described in this Anatomy of an Award.

I priced out Abu Dhabi to London on February 10 in Etihad First, and it came in at 40k AA miles + $47 including an unavoidable $25 telephone booking fee.

Reversing the award and departing London would cost about $300 more in taxes, so splurge smart and head west.

You can also fly British Airways First Class on some of its routes to the Middle East, but you will pay about $300 in fuel surcharges booking British Airways longhaul with American Airlines miles.

BA First is a great option too except for the fuel surcharges.

Another great use of the Europe-to-Middle East/Indian-Subcontinent sweet spot would be flying Etihad to one of its many destinations on the subcontinent or the Maldives for 30k miles one way in business from Europe.

2. Qantas First Class from Sydney to Hong Kong for 45k Miles

One way awards between the South Pacific (includes Australia) and Asia 2 (includes Hong Kong) cost only 25k/35k/45k miles in economy/business/first.

Qantas flies from Sydney to Hong Kong with a 747-400 and space is wide open on the 9hr30min flight in First Class for only 45,000 miles.

SYD-HKG in Qantas First for 45k

For a first class flight that’s longer than the US east coast to Europe to price less than the US to Europe in business class, this is a fantastic deal.

Another way to take advantage of this sweet spot from Asia 2 to the South Pacific would be to fly flat bed business class on Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong to Sydney or Melbourne for 35k miles. I priced out HKG-SYD on July 15 for 35k AA miles + $67.60 in Cathay Pacific Business Class.

3. British Airways First Class from Johannesburg to London for 50k

One way awards from Africa to Europe cost only 30k/37.5k/50k in economy/business/first. That means you can fly from South Africa to London on an 11 hour flight in British Airways First Class on a 747 for only 50k AA miles.

BA First for Very Few Miles if You Can Handle the Surcharge

The issue is that longhaul British Airways flights booked with AA miles have about a $300 per segment fuel surcharge. But if you want to get into British Airways First Class (and who wouldn’t? check out this Million Mile Secrets Trip Report),  this may be the best option. This site even notes that Johannesburg to London is being operated 100% of the time by planes that feature British Airways’ New First Class.

Business is a good deal too at 37,500 miles each way. Just avoid the economy award, which is 30k miles plus a big fuel surcharge.

4. Qantas or Etihad First Class from Australia to the Middle East for 60k Miles

The South Pacific and the Middle East are much farther apart, but cost less than the US to Europe on American’s chart at 30k/45k/60k each direction in economy/business/first.

Qantas flies an A380 from Sydney to Dubai. While Qantas’ A380s to the US have about three combined days in the next year with First Class award space, the Qantas A380 to Dubai has plenty of space.

Purple days have space in Qantas First on an A380.

You can get on board for 14hr30min for only 60k miles. The same length flight to the US goes for 72.5k miles in first, a 25% premium.

Or if you’d prefer to fly Etihad First, Etihad flies an A340 from Abu Dhabi to Sydney. I priced out August 8 at 60k miles + $73.90 in First Class.

Between the two, I would probably choose Etihad First Class, but a plane geek couldn’t go wrong in Qantas First on an A380.

5. Etihad or Cathay Pacific Business Class from the Middle East to Asia for 30k Miles

Anywhere in the Middle East or Indian Subcontinent to anywhere else in Asia is only 22.5k/30k/45k miles in economy/business/first class on the American Airlines chart.

Two great business class options for only 30k miles are 10hr10min of flat bed business class on Etihad from Abu Dhabi to Tokyo or 7hr30min from Dubai to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific.

Both options give you enough time to fully test products that get consistently top marks for comfort and service.

Which do you think is the best deal? I am torn between using my American miles for these deals and the Explorer Awards.

The last few days I’ve worked myself into a frenzy planning an incredible-value American Airlines Explorer Award around the world in business class for 130k American Airlines miles and the most opulent Explorer Award possible for 280k miles.

American Airlines Explorer Awards have a distance-based award chart that uses American Airlines miles to fly two or more of American’s oneworld partners. The award chart has incredible values for round-the-world trips and trips with many destinations in one region, especially in business class.

I have written several posts about Explorer Awards, including The Rules, which you should check out now if you aren’t familiar with Explorer Awards.

The keys to getting great value Explorer Awards are planning longer trips and maximizing the mileage bands. Here are the longest Explorer Award distance bands with their mileage prices.

The two things that jump out at me are how large some bands are–14,001 to 20,000 miles flown is a big difference–and how tiny the business class premium is–sometimes as little as 25% more than economy.

The final key to maximizing an Explorer Award in a premium cabin is taking advantage of the best premium cabins available in the oneworld alliance.

With those ideas in mind, I have two Explorer Awards that I would love to book.

Around the World for 130k Miles in Business

The first award goes around the world on Cathay Pacific, British Airways, and American Airlines business class in all flat beds.

image from gcmap.com

The award checks in just under 20,000 miles, meaning it would cost only 130,000 miles in business class.

from gcmap.com

Flying west, the first two legs would be in Cathay Pacific business class on fully flat beds, which receive consistently excellent reviews. Bahrain to London would be in British Airways Club World flat beds, which I very much enjoyed flying and sleeping in from Tampa to London last year. The last leg from London to Los Angeles would be on American Airlines’ fully flat beds in business class on their 777-300ER, which I’ve talked about before.

The benefits of this route are obvious. Four incredible segments on three world class products for only 130k miles. Priced individually, the four segments would cost 165k American Airlines miles to book as four awards.

But there are a few drawbacks. The first is that flying British Airways with American Airlines miles will incur a fuel surcharge of about $300 per segment. The second is that flying London to Los Angeles in business class will result in a UK Air Passenger Duty of about $290. Finally, it might be more fun not to repeat a product, and this award flies Cathay Pacific two segments in a row.

The first two drawbacks could be eliminated by choosing a different routing–maybe trying to throw Finnair into the mix for the transatlantic segment.

The last drawback of repeating Cathay Pacific is necessitated by their being no current great oneworld option for business class based in the Middle East. That will change when Qatar joins oneworld. “The joining date is still to be determined but is expected during the second half of 2013 or early 2014″ according to Qatar’s website. When Qatar joins you can fly Qatar to Doha, connecting to British Airways there, and it’s still under 20,000 miles flown, meaning it’s still just 130k AA miles.

image from gcmap.com

What if you want ultra-luxury? I have a five continent first class dream trip too.

Five Continents and First Classes for 280k Miles

The second award goes around the world in American Airlines, British Airway, Malaysia Airlines, Cathay Pacific, and Qantas First Class, while also stopping on five continents.

image from gcmap.com

I imagine this award heading east to save on taxes and fuel surcharges. It would start by flying LAX to Miami in three-cabin first class on American Airlines, a rarity on domestic flights, and continue to Sao Paulo in AA First.

From Sao Paulo, I would fly British Airways First Class to London to take advantage of the fact that, by law, there are no fuel surcharges on flights leaving Brazil.

Only government taxes of $36 on the route.

From London, the award would go to Helsinki to minimize the Air Passenger Duty (it’s partially based on the distance of the flight leaving the UK). From Helsinki, I’d continue to Paris to catch one of Malaysia Airlines’ A380s in First Class.

From Kuala Lumpur, I would head to Hong Kong with a stop in Hanoi to see Vietnam. From Hong Kong to Sydney would be in Cathay Pacific First. The last leg would be Sydney to Los Angeles in Qantas First on an A380.

This entire award just stays within the 25,001 to 35,000 miles flown band, which means it costs 280,000 American Airlines miles in first class.

from gcmap.com

My main advice trying to recreate a big award like this would be to start with the hardest segment to find, which would by Qantas First Class by far. There are only a handful of days in the next 11 months with First Class space on a Qantas A380 that are available to AA miles.

Are These Awards in Jeopardy?

I am nervous that Explorer Awards will disappear when AAdvantage and Dividend Miles are merged with the merger of American Airlines and US Airways. I hope that Explorer Awards survive because they are an incredible option for people with a lot of American Airlines miles. If they do disappear, I hope we get notice for one last hurrah in booking.

Plan Your Own

I use gcmap.com and wikipedia.org to fantasize about Explorer Awards. The Great Circle Mapper gives distances of flights that should come very close to matching up with AA’s official distances. Wikipedia gives me routing ideas because all routes flown are listed on every airline’s and airport’s page.

Recap

I’ve been daydreaming about flying on flat beds on the cheap with Explorer Awards by checking routings on gcmap.com. My favorites are a reasonably priced business class trip around the world and an opulent, veering first class trip.

United has lounges all over the world. The clubs are a pleasant place to relax in a comfortable chair, use free wifi, and enjoy free snack and drinks. Here are the amenities.

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United has a litany of award fees. Booking by phone is $25. Cancelling is $150. Changing the origin, destination, award, type, cabin, or anything within 21 days of departure is $75.

But I’ve had some pretty good luck changing United awards without incurring the stated fees. I wrote about the way I figured out to Save $100 or More on Cancelling United Awards.

And I once changed an award from Europe to the US without incurring a $75 change fee or having the 20,000 extra miles for my upgrade from economy to business class deducted from my account. (That was a fluke caused by the fact that fees seem to be manually applied by agents over the phone.)

I’ve figured out another way to save up to $75 per ticket in certain circumstances.

I stumbled upon a customer friendly glitch at united.com. You can change the cabin of your award at any time for no fee as long as the flights remain the same.

This contradicts United’s stated change rules, and it can save you hundreds of dollars.

It’s pretty clear that changing the cabin of an award should run $75 for non-Premiers or $50 for me as a Premier Silver.

But that hasn’t been my experience.

A few months ago I booked Rookie Alli a one way ticket from Buenos Aires to Washington DC for 30,000 United miles and $77. A few weeks ago, I decided to upgrade her to a flat bed for the 20,000 mile difference between economy and business class for her birthday–no jewelry from me.

I expected to be dinged with a $50 change fee.

I knew there were two ways to get her to DC–through Newark and Houston. I didn’t care which way she got there as long as I could find a BusinessFirst bed for her.

Her original booking was through Newark.

I know, from booking hundreds of awards, that United tends to release a lot of Saver award space in the last few weeks (and the last few days) if a flight looks like it won’t be full. This is especially true of business and first class seats. Check out the Buenos Aires to Newark direct flight for the next two months.

Green means there is a BusinessFirst bed available

Of the ten days with business class space in the next two months, six are in the next two weeks, and three are in the next five days.

I logged into my United account two weeks before her scheduled flight and performed an award search. I found that I could switch her existing economy reservation to the same flights, but in business class, for 20,000 miles and $0.

Not all flights were free to change though. Routing through Houston would cost 20,000 miles and $50, the standard change fee for a Premier Silver.

I quickly selected the Newark flight, and the confirmation screen listed the change fee as $0.00.

The Play

I often recommend booking economy flights to people with the hope that business or first class space will become available later.

This news means you should book the exact flights that are likely to open up business class space. You can guess that by searching award space for this week on the routes you’re considering to see which routes currently have a lot of last second award space.

Past performance doesn’t guarantee future results, but it’s sometimes the best thing you can do to predict. Whichever route seems to be a gold mine of last minute premium space would be the best to book now to avoid change fees later.

Recap

There is no change fee being levied on united.com to upgrade awards to a higher cabin of service as long as the flights are changed.


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