If you live at an airport served by Southwest, the Southwest Companion Pass is one of the best deals in travel. Every time you fly Southwest--whether on a cash or award ticket--your designated companion flies for free plus taxes: $5.60 one way in the United States and a little more internationally.

Here's how to open two credit cards and get the Southwest Companion Pass for almost all of 2016 and 2017.

The Southwest Companion Pass previously allowed three changes to your designation of the companion. Now you get three changes per calendar year.

Last month I flew from Houston to Honolulu in United First Class. I had booked the award with 30,000 Singapore miles because Singapore miles have access to the same Saver award space on United flights as United miles do, but Singapore charges fewer miles.

Update 2/12/16: United brought back the nonstop calendar. The single column for Saver and Standard economy space remains.

I covered two months ago why the new united.com stinks for award searching. My biggest complaint is that even if you specify a "nonstop only" search, the search calendar does not show you nonstop only results.

I used to be able to see space on a route for two months at a time on united.com, now I can see it one day a time.

Since July 2nd, the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard® has offered 75,000 bonus American Airlines miles after spending $7,500 in the first three months.

The offer expires October 27, 2015. The previous offer was 50,000 bonus miles.

American Airlines miles are the best for super-cheap economy redemptions and ultra-luxury redemptions. The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard® also offers Admirals Club lounge membership, meaning you can access over 90 American Airlines Clubs in airports around the world whenever you’re flying–even if you’re not flying on American.

Someone at the Chicago Seminars (maybe he'll float through here and claim his hat tip) pointed out that all American Airlines off peak award windows are happening right now!

American Airlines offers discounted economy awards to the regions above on the dates above.

17,500 miles one way from North America to Hawaii
12,500 to Caribbean and Mexico
15,000 to Central America and Northern South America
20,000 to Southern South America
20,000 to Europe
25,000 to Japan and South Korea

The discounts to the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and Northern South America are only valid

Someone at the Chicago Seminars (maybe he'll float through here and claim his hat tip) pointed out that all American Airlines off peak award windows are happening right now!

American Airlines offers discounted economy awards to the regions above on the dates above.

17,500 miles one way from North America to Hawaii
12,500 to Caribbean and Mexico
15,000 to Central America and Northern South America
20,000 to Southern South America
20,000 to Europe
25,000 to Japan and South Korea

The discounts to the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and Northern South America are only valid

The Citi Prestige offer mentioned in this post is expired. See the new offer and analysis here.

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ThankYou Points are easy to earn because both the Citi Prestige® Card and the Citi ThankYou® Premier Card offer 50,000 and 40,000 bonus points respectively after spending $3,000 in the first three months and big category bonuses.

Trip Report Index

Emirates Lounge Zurich
Emirates A380 First Class from Zurich to Dubai
Emirates First Class Lounge Dubai
Emirates A380 First Class from Dubai to Houston: Seat, Suite, Entertainment Amenity Kit, Pajamas, Bed, Sleeping
Emirates A380 First Class from Dubai to Houston: Onboard Bars
Emirates A380 First Class from Dubai to Houston: Food
Emirates A380 First Class from Dubai to Houston: Shower Spa

I have broken my 16 hour flight from Dubai to Houston into four parts because I had over 200 photos and several videos from the flight.

Today I gave a presentation at the Chicago Seminars about taking multi-stop trips including round-the-world trips. The premise is that RTW awards are dead, so the best way to book RTW trips is as a series of mostly one way awards, hitting all the award chart sweet spots you can along the way.

The presentation is an expansion on:

How to Book a RTW Trip in 2015.

It is with great pride that I announce the release of the MileValue e-book on Tuesday, October 27--just 11 days from now.

What is the book?

The book will teach people who know nothing about frequent flyer miles how to book their dream trip in First Class in the next 60 days. Nothing like this book exists anywhere.

Why did I write it?

There are free resources that have all the information you need to become a miles expert, like this blog or FlyerTalk. Unfortunately they don't present the basics of miles and points in an easy-to-follow, logical progression.