Copa, the Panamanian Star Alliance carrier, has long been part of United’s MileagePlus program. That relationship will end June 30, and Copa ConnectMiles will launch on July 1, 2015. Copa has released two award charts in anticipation, which I broke down in Copa ConnectMiles, New Star Alliance Program and Award Chart Announced.

Alitalia Business Class award space is wide open in Spring 2016 from New York and Boston to Rome for 62,500 Delta miles each way. Many days have three award seats in nearly flat beds.

According to Delta's SkyMiles FAQs, mixed cabin awards are no longer allowed.

Mixed cabin awards used to be explicitly allowed (and indeed this FAQ at a slightly different URL has the old language.)

If mixed cabin awards were totally banned, that would terrible news. I can see three possible maladies:

Delta has "five" cabins: economy, Business, Business Elite, First, and One. Each plane has only two cabins but the front cabin is branded several ways.

Last month I flew from Bogota, Colombia to Washington, DC in economy with a layover in Miami. I was able to get free lounge access in Bogota and Miami from my Citi Prestige® Card.

The Citi Prestige® Card offers free Priority Pass Select lounge membership, which gives free access to over 700 lounges worldwide. Download the Priority Pass app to your phone or search for lounges here.

With the 25% transfer bonus from Citi ThankYou Points to Virgin Atlantic miles, one way

Below is a list of the taxes for awards departing from most major European cities, flying to the United States.

My friend wrote to me:
Not sure if any of the travel websites have done this, but the taxes of the airports in Europe really can impact the cost basis.

Just looking at three European cities for my United award:
London: $200
Athens: $98
Geneva: $48

Factoring for two people, that makes a big difference.
Every time you book an award with frequent flyer miles, you are responsible for paying government taxes associated with the award ticket.

The Google Flights team hosted a reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) on June 9, 2015. Here is a link to the full, completed AMA.

Many, many questions were about ITA Matrix, which Google owns.

The Limited Time Offer is Over! The card still comes with everything except the $100 statement credit.

I just spent a completely legal week in Cuba, split between Havana and Viñales. An American in Cuba in 2015 is a six part series on the trip. This post will focus on things I wish I’d known about lodging and transportation in Cuba before going

Full Series

Entry, Exit, and Legal Requirements
How to Book Flights or Ferries into or Out of Cuba
Internet, Money, Food, Nightlife
Transportation and Lodging (this post)
Trip Report: Viñales
Trip Report: Havana (coming soon)

Transportation
I got around with taxis, shared taxis, buses, a scooter, and my own two feet.

Updated June 6, 2015: 3/5 accomplished, a fourth I've booked for this month. North Korea is still tantalizing.

I've passed the 55 country mark this year, but there's still so much more of the world I want to see.