I wanted to put something out quickly about my recent experience flying Lufthansa First Class for 40,000 points. A full trip report will follow.

My experience started Thursday at 6 AM at the Munich Airport, where I only had about 15 minutes in the First Class Lounge before my 7 AM flight to Frankfurt.

United is removing round-the-world awards, Free One Way awards, and Three One Ways awards on October 6, 2016. That means you have just five more days to book Free One Way awards and Three One Ways awards! You will still be able to book simple stopover awards under the new name "Excursionist Perk."

In addition to those negative changes, we get some positive and mixed changes.

Through Friday (September 30, 2016), you can buy IHG Rewards Club points with a 100% bonus.

Most airline miles charge exorbitant fees to transfer miles from one person's account to another's. For instance, United is currently charging $82.50 to transfer 5,000 miles from one account to another, which is more than the 5,000 United miles are even worth!

However, SPG Starpoints can be freely transferred from one SPG account to another as long as both accounts have had the same address on file for 30 days.

Through September 30th, 2016, sign up to receive emails from Virgin Hotels and Virgin Sport and earn 500 Virgin America points for each.

Sign up for Virgin Hotels promotional emails here
Sign up for Virgin Sport promotional emails here

These aren’t huge miles, but they are easy to get, since signing up will take no time and is free.

Considering I value Virgin America Elevate miles more than any other mile at 2.3 cents each, signing up for both of these emails is a no brainer.

Award space is wide open in Business Class on Austrian flights from Los Angeles to Vienna for Spring and Summer 2017 for 2-6 people per flight. Flat bed award space from the West Coast to Europe is rare, so hop on this now!
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Austrian Business Class features a staggered layout so that your bed's foot area is under the arm rest of the row in front.

The Chicago Seminars is the oldest and best conference of frequent flyer miles enthusiasts.

For a limited time, the Barclaycard Arrival Plus comes with 50,000 bonus Arrival miles after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 90 days. The old bonus was 40,000 points.

The card earns 2 miles per dollar on all purchases. You can redeem the miles to offset any travel expense greater than $100 inside your Barclaycard account within 120 days of the purchase.

Award space is wide open in Business Class on United flights to Brussels and Amsterdam for Summer 2017 for 2+ people. That means you can book your family flat beds to Europe for as little as 40,000 miles plus taxes with no fuel surcharges.
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United Business Class features a comfortable flat bed, but it isn't up to the standards of the absolute best products in the world because there are as many as eight narrow beds per row.

Only true aficionados will complain.

The Virgin Atlantic World Elite MasterCard® is offering up to 90,000 bonus miles but there are quite a few strings attached.

The bottom line is that you earn 127,5