ANA,Membership Rewards,Star Alliance
How to Use the ANA Search Tool for Awards with United and other Star Alliance Miles
February 10, 2016
I use united.com for most of my award searches when redeeming Star Alliance miles because it shows most Star Alliance partners' award availability, but it does have some drawbacks. Namely, it doesn't show all partners and it sometimes displays phantom award space--award space will show as available but in reality, it doesn't exist.
Star Alliance Airlines Whose Award Space I Want to SearchThe best way to confirm Star Alliance award space is using the All Nippon Airways (ANA) search tool. ANA's tool is trickier to use, but it's the most reliable.
Rundown of Retention Bonus Offers for Citi AAdvantage Cards
December 15, 2015
Retention bonuses are not automatically offered by the Citi AAdvantage cards, but are still possible to get if you call and speak with a Citi representative. All it takes is a little of knowledge of what they want (or don't want) to hear.
Award Wallet,Manufactured Spending,Award Booking
4 Easy Ways to Spend Less Time on your Miles Hobby
December 10, 2014
I think miles and points are one area where you don't have to spend hours per day to get great results like flying some of the world's nicest First Class products or taking your family of four on vacation for pennies on the dollar.
Easy enough to get hereYou could probably cut the amount of time you spend on this hobby to 20% of your current input and still get 80% of the results.
Cathay Pacific,AAdvantage,US Airways
Cathay Pacific Business Class Award Space is Wide Open
December 9, 2014
Aspire to Cathay Pacific Business Class.
It is one of the world's nicest Business Classes, featuring a fully flat bed on flights of up to 16 hours between the United States and Hong Kong.
It is dirt cheap at 55,000 American Airlines miles one way or 110,000 US Airways miles roundtrip. This is just 10% more than flying half the time in a far inferior product to Europe.
Award space is widely available.
All the Places You Can Go with Just the US Airways Card Sign-Up Bonus
December 5, 2014
Not all miles are equal. My favorite miles are US Airways miles because US Airways has a cheap award chart and lax routing rules.
Amazing Business Class Award Space for Four People to Europe
August 12, 2014
Until late last year, getting to Europe in business class was much easier than it has been lately, especially for traveling parties of three or more. In December of last year, Austrian Airlines stopped releasing business class award space until about three months before departure. This made advance business class award redemptions for larger parties much more difficult.
In the past I've booked families of four to Europe and even to the Middle East on Austrian Airlines, and it is a very solid and comfortable flat bed business class product.
United,ANA,LifeMiles,Singapore,Lufthansa
LifeMiles Blocking Lufthansa First Class Award Space. Back Up Plans
August 8, 2014
Lufthansa First Class is no longer bookable using LifeMiles.
For the past few years, Lufthansa has only released first class award space to its Star Alliance partners 15 days before flight departure.
LifeMiles Devalues Its Award Chart Effective October 15th
July 31, 2014
A few days ago, LifeMiles joined United and Delta in announcing an award chart devaluation, which will take place on October 15, 2014.
Bookings made until October 14, for travel until mid-2015 will cost the current mileage prices.
Korean,Sign Up Bonus,Hawaiian Airlines
Great Deals with Hawaiian Airlines Miles
July 22, 2014
Don't ignore the Hawaiian Miles program. Hawaiian Miles are easy to earn, and there are sweet spots on the chart that offer solid value.
Hawaiian Airlines miles have never been easier to acquire. Anyone can get 71,000 Hawaiian miles by opening just two credit cards.
The Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite MasterCard® comes with a 35,000 mile sign-up bonus after spending $1,000 in 90 days. The Hawaiian Airlines® Business MasterCard® comes with a 35,000 mile sign-up bonus after the first purchase.
Best Of,Singapore,Award Booking
Roundtrip to South America, Two Free One Ways to Hawaii for 50,000 Miles
July 17, 2014
Recently, I posted about how we can get amazing value from the fact that the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program considers Hawaii to be part of the same region as Central America. We can also use this sweet spot for great value on travel to South America too!
On the Singapore Airline's award chart, it costs fewer miles to fly between Hawaii and South America, routing through the continental United States, than it does to fly directly between the continental United States and South America.
Adding Honolulu to Houston lowers the price of Houston to Buenos Aires