Generous reader Debashish has donated a pair of United Club passes that expire January 31, 2014. Thanks, Debashish!

Here are the United Club locations to check whether you’ll be able to use a pass on your next trip.

If you can use the passes between December 15, 2013 (because they will take a few days to get to you) and January 31, 2014, there are two ways to enter to win them!

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Here is my response to the people who think I shouldn't have shared the deal in $200 Flight to Japan with Hidden City Ticketing on LifeMiles Awards:

All deals in the miles world die. If an airline, hotel, or bank offers outsized value in some way such that it thinks it is losing money, it will discontinue the deal.

The question is what responsibility folks who know a deal have to keep that deal secret to prolong its life.

My basic moral philosophy is broadly utilitarian.

TACA/Avianca LifeMiles are being sold for 1.5 cents until December 30, 2013. The normal price is 3 cents per mile, but LifeMiles is running one of its frequent 2 x 1 sales.

Your LifeMiles account must have already been open on December 3, 2013 to enjoy this promotion.

Last month I wrote about using American Airlines' distance-based Explorer Award chart to save miles and add stopovers traveling to Europe. Check out Get a Roundtrip Business Class Award to Europe with Three Stopovers for 90k American Airlines Miles before proceeding. This post compares that Explorer Award option with a "regular" award option.

On a roundtrip from New York to Eastern Europe, I was able to add three stopovers and save 10k AAdvantage miles (90k vs.

This review is a continuation of my huge US Airways redemption that I wrote about back in this post.

Cyber Monday is the Black Friday of online shopping. Many airlines and hotels are participating with discounted airfare and hotel stays if you book today.

November 2013 was a relaxing month for me. I traded in airplanes for bicycles and hostels for my own bed. For the first time all year, I spent an entire month inside the US.

November was a huge month for the miles world. United started the month by massively devaluing its award chart for awards booked February 1, 2014 or later. Then Delta sped up its previous devaluation with no notice.

While the loyalty programs disappointed us, the incredible rewards card offers kept coming.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours from MileValue!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year, and only partly because it's the only day when I consume two heaping plates of some of my absolute favorite foods, pass out for a few hours while my body digests, and then wake up just in time to see the fourth quarter of a football game.

Mainly I love to share the time with family and friends and count my blessings. Before eating, we all go around the table and share what we're thankful for.

A few weeks ago, I discussed Flying Blue Promo Awards at length.

Flying Blue is the loyalty program of Air France and KLM, the Dutch flag carrier.
Every few months, a rotating list of discounted awards are released that can allow you to get from cities in the US to anywhere in Europe for only 25k miles + taxes + small surcharges roundtrip.
Business class awards to Europe are as low as 62,500 miles roundtrip, though fuel surcharges are substantially more.
See the full story on Flying Blue Promo Awards in How to Get to Europe for 25k Points

Register all your American Express credit and charge cards today, spend $10 on each one this Saturday November 30 at a small business, and receive a $10 statement credit on each card.

This is the easiest win-win-win promotion of the year.