Update 3/6/14: This post is outdated. See Master Thread: Holds on United Awards

In What You Need to Know about United Award Holds, I ran through the two ways to hold a United award online:

Any award that contains a partner segment can be held for free if your account does not have sufficient miles to ticket the award immediately.

I noticed a new addition to United's interactive award chart today.

At the bottom of the page, United has added the sentence: "United reserves the right to refuse or cancel any awards redeemed for travel listed at an incorrect or erroneous mileage amount."

What does it mean?

Frontier has announced a 10% discount on domestic flights purchased by February 26, 2014 and flown by June 12, 2014 with promo code PLAYBALL.

This 10% discount does not apply to Frontier’s international destinations like Jamaica, Mexico, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic.

To get to those places, your best bet is to redeem 15k Frontier miles each way.

I rushed out of my taxi, flashed my boarding card at the Taipa Ferry Terminal, and fished through my pocket for my passport to exit immigration.

My first reaction was surprise: My passport wasn't in the pocket I expected it to be.

Annoyance: It wasn't in my other four pockets either.

Sinking feeling: It wasn't in my bag either.

I had lost my passport in Macau!

I spent last night at the Grand Hyatt Macau--review forthcoming--and had a 6 AM wake up call to make my 7 AM ferry to Hong Kong International Airport this morning.

My things were strewn

In part 1, I discussed the economy award options to Australia with American Airlines miles.

Australia is one of the hardest awards with frequent flyer miles.

A very generous reader who came to the MileValue Happy Hour in New York City this week is donating five (5) American Airlines Systemwide Upgrades that expire Friday February 28, 2014 to MileValue readers.

Follow generous Tom on twitter to show your appreciation.

An American Airlines Systemwide Upgrade entitles you to an upgrade of one class of service on all flights on a one way itinerary that are operated by American Airlines or American Eagle if upgrade space is available.

This giveaway has tremendous value to you if you have a trip booked that meets the following conditions:

paid itinerary

United's first flight on the brand new 787-9 Dreamliner is set for October 26, 2014 between Los Angeles and Melbourne, Australia.

Currently United serves Melbourne as a tag flight from Sydney after a brief layover.

Official word of the route is expected later today, but we don't need the announcement because we can see the flights loaded onto the calendar at united.com and up for sale right now.

What's the award space picture? What are the flight times? What is the difference between the 787-8 and 787-9?

Australia is one of the hardest awards with frequent flyer miles.

Update 2/21/14: This post was about a rumor that the spending requirement on the Arrival card would go to $3,000. It has gone to $3,000. The minimum spending requirement is now $3,000 in the first 90 days to unlock the 40,000 bonus miles. Full offer details:

Earn 40,000 bonus miles if you make $3,000 or more in purchases in the first 90 days from account opening.

Come to Happy Hour with me today (2/17/14) in New York City!

US Airways has legally combined with American Airlines, but the airlines are still being run as two brands with two frequent flyer programs until some time in 2015.

Next month there are two key dates in the integration of the two airlines and specifically their AAdvantage and Dividend Miles programs.

On March 30, 2014, US Airways will leave the Star Alliance. This is the last day to use US Airways miles to book award space on Star Alliance partners. (Actually see this update.