Anatomy of an Award: Nabbing an Extremely Rare First Class Seat from Australia on Qantas

I nabbed a scarce First Class award from Australia to Los Angeles on Qantas during peak travel season and added a first class segment on American's new Airbus A321T from Los Angeles to New York-JFK, both in fully flat beds.

I'm incredibly excited to try out another First Class product on the Airbus A380, especially after my great experience on a Thai flight from Paris to Bangkok.

Relative to other Anatomy of Award posts, this one was simple to construct and even easier to book online. However, Qantas premium cabin award space isn't widely available.

Trip Report: Cathay Pacific Business Class from Tokyo to Hong Kong

This review is a continuation of my fun US Airways redemption that I wrote about back in this post. I reviewed Turkish Business Class: Washington DC to Istanbul already and had a similar (great) experience on my flight from Istanbul to Tokyo also in Turkish Business, so I am skipping to the next segment in Cathay Pacific Business Class.

I was in Tokyo, and I wanted to add a quick side trip onto my main award, and Hong Kong seemed like the logical spot.

United.com Calendar Fails to Display Valid Award Space

Don't believe the award calendar on united.com!

The calendar should show you for an entire month whether any given day has Saver award space in economy, in a premium cabin, or in both. But the calendar is currently showing no Saver award space on days where there is Saver award space.

Don't believe the calendar. Some of those white days do have award space.

This is very inconvenient for award bookers.

The Two Best Ways to Get a Couple to Asia with Miles

Yesterday I posted "Not April Fools: Delta Has the Best Award Space to Asia I’ve Ever Seen."

I showed screen shots of how incredibly available--every day for months--Saver award space was on Delta flights from the west coast to Asia.

Your Last Chance to Get the US Airways Card Will Be mid-2015

The offers for the cards listed in this post have expired, so their links have been removed.

Not April Fools: Delta Has the Best Award Space to Asia I’ve Ever Seen

Update 1/16/14 at 1:59 PM Hawaiian time: All the calendars shown are for one-passenger searches. There is almost no space for two passengers on the same cabin on the same flight.

Delta infamously offers the least Saver award space of any US-based airline.

Huge 18% Discount on Frontier Flights Booked by Tomorrow

Frontier has announced an 18% discount on domestic flights bought by January 16, 2014 and flown by March 12, 2014 with promo code HURRYHURRY. (Blackouts: February 13, 14, 15, and 17)

This 18% discount does not apply to Frontier's international destinations like Jamaica, Mexico, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic.

To get to those places, your best bet is to redeem 15k Frontier miles each way.

Announcing a MileValue Dinner in Honolulu on Saturday, January 25

I’m very excited to announce the first MileValue dinner since October on Saturday, January 25 at 7 PM on Oahu, either in Waikiki or Honolulu.

As a special treat, I've confirmed the attendance of Rene from Delta Points. Rene is the go-to expert on all things Delta from status, to the myriad credit card offerings, to redemptions, to aircraft, to getting bumped, to... you get the idea.

Delta and SkyTeam are major players from HNL.

Delta is well represented at HNL.

Don’t Miss: 13k Miles to Europe This Summer!

Virgin Atlantic is back with another incredible discount on its economy awards to the United Kingdom.

For about 13k miles plus $100 one way, you can go from Boston, New York, Washington DC, or Chicago to London, Manchester, Glasgow, or Edinburgh.

For about 16k miles plus $100 one way, you can go from Miami, Orlando, Las Vegas, Los Angeles or San Francisco to London, Machester, Glasgow, or Edinburgh.

Roundtrip prices including miles, taxes, and fuel surcharges.