Krakow, Poland Bleg

I just arrived in Krakow for about 72 hours with hotel reservations but no real plan or guidebook. Any tips on what to do, see, or eat would be greatly appreciated.

Free Caribbean Stopovers on AA Awards to Europe

In my trip report of BA business from Tampa to London, I mentioned offhandedly that a lot of people could find value in AA awards with a stopover in the Caribbean on the way to Europe even after paying the $300 fuel surcharge for flying British Airways on an AA award.

Astute reader Francisco C pointed out that although one example I gave--LAX to Cancun, stopover, Cancun to London (and beyond)--was pricing as a free stopover on aa.com, the Caribbean stopover options I had claimed were possible were not booking as free stopovers.

Mistake Fare: LAX to Lima for $238 r/t

Right now on taca.com, you can get a roundtrip from LAX to Lima for $238. This appears to be good from September through November. Peru is one of my favorite countries in the world. Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, Amazon Rainforest, world's deepest canyon, incredible history, gastronomy, great beaches, and on and on and on.

If you want to book, book now. This fare will disappear any moment. I just booked a two week trip for $238!

See the flyertalk thread here.

When to Use US Airways Dividend Miles and When to Use United Mileage Plus Miles

US Airways and American Airlines have merged since the publication of this post so it is no longer valid.

US Airways and United are both members of the Star Alliance, so many times you can redeem miles from either carrier for the exact same trip. In those situations, which miles should you use?

I've made a list of some clear situations to favor one mile over the other. The list can also be read as a list of situations to collect US miles versus situations to collect United miles though.

Tampa to London in British Airways Club World (Business)

Anatomy of an Award: Booking this Trip

AA First Class: Los Angeles to Tampa

BA Business Class: Tampa to London (LGW)

A Day in London: Gatwick to London to Heathrow to Paris

When booking an award with AA miles, you cannot select your seats on BA planes until 24 hours before departure. About 21 hours before departure, I logged into BA.com and gave my six digit confirmation code. Almost all the seats had been selected, but I still had some choice.

I checked the seatguru map for the plane I was flying, a 3-class Boeing 777.

British Airways Not Showing Up as a Membership Rewards Transfer Partner

Edit: Thanks to the commenters who checked the Membership Rewards site ad found that the ability to transfer between MR and Avios has returned at a 1:1 transfer ratio.

Just now at 10:40 AM Paris time, 4:40 AM ET, and 1:40 AM PT, I logged into Membership Rewards to see if the 50% transfer bonus between Membership Rewards and Avios had really ended.

Reader Questions about Free Stopovers on American Airlines Awards

I have already written a post about the rules of free stopovers on American Airlines awards

Los Angeles to Tampa in American Airlines First Class

Anatomy of an Award: Booking this Trip

AA First Class: Los Angeles to Tampa

BA Business Class: Tampa to London (LGW)

A Day in London: Gatwick to London to Heathrow to Paris

A few weeks ago, as part of my Anatomy of an Award series, I wrote about booking the award I'm flying right now: Los Angles to Paris with a stopover in Tampa. In this post, I'll talk about my domestic first class trip from LAX to Dallas to Tampa.

I traveled to the airport in my usual way, a limo from the casino.

British Airways Lounge in Tampa

A small lounge with delicious finger sandwiches and hummus from Jordan.

A Compete List of All Avios Redemptions from Dallas (DFW)

Check out the similar lists I made for Los Angeles and New York City.

Below is a list of every oneworld alliance flight from Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) flown by British Airways, American Airlines, Iberia, Japan Airlines, and Qantas. I have also included non-oneworld partners on which you can book flights with Avios, in this case only Alaska Airlines.

The list is divided into International routes, Hawaii routes, and Domestic routes. Within each group, the routes are listed from most Avios required to fewest.