Update 1/1/17: I've added a video of the ground experience to the end of this post

Recently I flew from Croatia to the United States in Lufthansa First Class for 40,000 Starpoints + $300. Here’s how I booked the award.

Trip Report: Lufthansa First Class Lounge in Munich
Trip Report: Lufthansa First Class Terminal in Frankfurt (this post)
Trip Report: Lufthansa 747-8 First Class Frankfurt to Washington-Dulles (future post)

After a one hour flight from Munich, I arrived in Frankfurt at a remote stand.

Bad news, good news:

The bad news is that the year-round 12,500 Avios award from Boston to Dublin or Shannon, Ireland on Aer Lingus is dead.

The good news is that those awards from Boston as well as awards from New York, Newark, Hartford, Toronto, Washington-Dulles, and Chicago to Ireland are now only 13,000 Avios for more than two-thirds of the year.

Avianca LifeMiles is offering a bonus of up to 125% on purchased miles through December 20, 2016. You can buy up to 150,000 LifeMiles during the sale and get up to 187,500 bonus miles.

LifeMiles cost 3.3 cents each, so with a 125% bonus, you get the miles for 1.47 cents each.

A few weeks ago my United flight from Houston to Buenos Aires was delayed 13 hours. United automatically offered me 7,500 miles or $100 United credit as compensation, but I was able to increase that offer to 17,500 miles or $200 credit with a simple email.
The Delay
I was heading from the Chicago Seminars to my winter home in Buenos Aires. I booked the award for 30,000 United miles the week before departure using secret United award space.

Priority Pass--the free lounge access you get with many premium credit cards--has a rule: no card, no lounge access.

Credit card links have been removed from posts and added to the menu bar at the top of every page of MileValue under the heading Top Travel Credit Cards.

There's a way around that: you can turn your phone into your membership card in just a few steps.

Download the Priority Pass app.

2. Open the menu and click Log In.

3.

You can now download Netflix shows and watch them offline. This means that you can now watch Netflix on planes or other places where wifi is expensive or non-existent.

"The new feature is included in all plans and available for phones and tablets on Android and iOS."

When I downloaded the Netflix app for my phone, an immediate pop up heralded the news.

Not all shows are available for download yet, so I clicked around to see what is.

Right now, I'm re-watching Mad Men Season 7. The entire Mad Men series is available for download.

A few weeks ago I flew from Virginia to Hawaii on United with a layover in San Francisco during which I gorged in the American Express Centurion Lounge.

Anyone with any American Express Platinum or Centurion Lounge gets free access to Centurion lounges for himself and up to two guests.

A friend I met at a MileValue dinner has launched a funny web series about using miles to fly Business or First Class and then traveling on a shoestring once you arrive.

It speaks to me because I do the same thing; I remember my Emirates First Class chauffeur picking me up at my hostel in Auckland and flying Singapore First Class to Barcelona before my 5 euro bus to the city to couchsurf.

Here's the 90 second trailer.

Here's the first episode, flying EVA Business Class to Tokyo and then following the weird characters around;

Flying Blue's latest Promo Awards--click that link if you don't know what Promo Awards are--are complete stinkers for most Americans.

Through Tuesday (December 6, 2016), you can buy IHG Rewards Club points with a 100% bonus.