Yesterday I talked about the 2014 off peak space to Europe and Brazil on US Airways, and how it's an amazing way to redeem 30,000 miles for a roundtrip award to Europe or South America--which is 50% off the normal price--or 55,000 miles for a flying bed to Brazil--which is 45% off the normal price! I also explained US Airways off peak awards.

Award travel reservations can usually be made up to eleven months in advance. Often, but not always, eleven months out has the best availability. Eleven Months Out is my new series looking at what you can book today for travel in eleven months.

US Airways off peak awards are some of the best deals in all of award travel. Right now is an excellent time to book a roundtrip award to Europe or Brazil for February 2014 for only 30,000 US Airways miles.

Airline phone agents have probably hung up on me a dozen times in my life. The story is usually pretty similar.

I call in with an award request that is complex. The computer prices it incorrectly according to published rules. I ask for clarification on the rule that is causing my award to misprice.

The agent makes up a rule. I point out that rule doesn't exist. I speak to a supervisor. The supervisor makes up a rule. I point out the rule doesn't exist.

At this point, the supervisor might go to the airline's internal experts on awards.

After a few eventful days in Bangkok, I was ready to head on over to Hong Kong. I initially booked my flights to Hong Kong on the specific purpose of flying Lufthansa's new 747-8i in First Class. As luck would have it, Lufthansa began flying to Hong Kong with the 747-8i two days before I was scheduled to fly that route.

Bangkok to Hong Kong has been operated by a Thai A380 because of Hong Kong's strong business-traveler demand.

I got to the airport at about 6:30AM for my 8:05 AM departure.

There are a lot of reasons to use an Award Booking Service, like the MileValue Award Booking Service. One great reason is because you have miles in several accounts and want to use the most efficient type for the trip you have in mind. Different miles have different best uses.

Recently I was contacted by a friend who had mid-six-figure account balances in his American, United, and Delta accounts. He wanted a simple open jaw trip to Europe in economy class. From Washington-Dulles to Nice and returning from London to Dulles.

Below is the email I sent to him.

Alitalia is offering $100 off roundtrip tickets to Europe this summer! Join their mailing list with a valid email address and receive a $100-off coupon for flights to Europe between now and the end of the year.

The coupon is also good for $150 off direct premium economy to Milan and Rome or $250 off business class to Europe if you are contemplating an expensive ticket.

For full details and to sign up for your "e-coupon code," head here.

To take full advantage of this deal, you need to find a cheap Alitalia flight, and that's easy.

I love stats, so the 2012 AAdvantage stats at the top of the AAdvantage FAQ caught my eye.

For all of 2012, there were 7,426,930 redemptions of American Airlines miles.

Over 700,000 were for "merchandise" including vacations, which I don't consider merchandise. Let's say the vast majority of these redemptions were awful values. Not all non-airfare redemptions are awful--Mommy Points found a good deal for Cubs tickets and experiences with Starpoints--but I rarely see values of even one cent per mile on these types of redemptions.

Over half a million were for upgrades.

It's been a long week for me as I have just spent a few days in Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The entire week was a blast and it was probably the best trip of my life. To make it even better, at the end of the week I was scheduled to fly Malaysia Airlines new A380 in their First Class cabin. Here's how it went.

I left Paris around 9AM to catch my 12PM departure. Originally, I was supposed to be dropped off but the train seemed like a more viable option.

Update 11/6/14: Here is an Anatomy of an Award post in which we book the theoretical award below for an actual client!

Two of the most frequent destination requests we receive at our Award Booking Service are Bora Bora and Australia/New Zealand. These are the aspirational trips that families want to take after diligently saving their frequent flyer miles. Luckily, both trips can be accomplished in a single award. Even better--Delta SkyMiles are the mileage currency to use. We recently had a couple with a sizable SkyMiles balance who wanted to visit both places.

I recently booked a family of four an economy award from Miami to Buenos Aires with their Membership Rewards. It was an interesting award that I think demonstrates the complexities and fun of booking with American Express points.

I won't talk about that award specifically, but I'll use it as a jumping off point for discussion since it illustrates a typical Memberhip Rewards situation.