Latest Posts

Choosing Where to Credit Miles Earned From Flying

I'm going to talk about a dilemma I rarely face--where to credit the miles earned by flying a paid ticket.

Nuggets 7/20/12

I'm busy preparing for the first ever live MileValue.com seminar in Honolulu that starts in 10 hours, so I'll summarize a few interesting nuggets you may have missed. We all get jealous when we hear…

Avios Surcharges on LAN Flights intra-South America

I love Avios. Avios have incredible uses like 4,500 Avios domestic trips within the US on American Airlines flights. Or how about combining an Avios award with an AA award to construct free stopovers…

Review: Krakow, Poland Hotel Guide

Recently I spent three nights in Krakow, Poland at two hotels. I'll be reviewing four hotels in Krakow, based on my stays and their location relative to where you want to spend time in the city.…

Specific Example of Free American Airlines Award Stopover Outside the USA

Yesterday, I posted about getting free stopovers on American Airlines awards outside the USA. Hopefully I opened a few eyes, and I certainly caused some confusion. So I'll give a concrete example of…

You Can Get Free Stopovers Outside the USA on American Airlines Awards

There is a trick that can be used to get free stopovers outside the USA on American Airlines awards in certain situations, and I don't just mean 23 hour layovers. Most people probably think that's…

The First Ever MileValue.com Seminar in Honolulu on July 21

Update: This happened. It was a blast. More may happen.

Review: London to Los Angeles in United BusinessFirst

I recently returned from the Euro Cup on a long routing, most of it in United BusinessFirst. Kharkiv to Vienna to Frankfut to London to Los Angeles More than three quarters of the trip was the…

Five Hours Left (?) on Great Singapore Airlines Award Space

Singapore Airlines First Class and Business Class space is hard to get with United and US Air miles. Except right now, there is a glitch you can exploit, and the space is widely available.

A Quixotic Quest to Silver United Status

Or: Did You Earn United Status Without Knowing It? I have Silver Status on United. See! ----------> It just posted a few days ago even though my last paid flight with United was in March. What was…

Eight Hours in London and Thirteen Hours in Frankfurt

Yesterday I talked about how to book awards with layovers of up to 23 hours to see even more cities en route than would be allowable with normal stopover rules. Is it a good idea? I'll review two…

Anatomy of an Award: 23 Hour Layovers

Recently I had two clients of my Award Booking Service want to add a few 23 hour layovers onto their United award from Cleveland to South Africa. All the legacy US carriers have a rule in place that…

Top Ten Things to Do, See, and Eat in Peru: 5 and 4

Prologue 10 Through 8 and Honorable Mentions 7 and 6 5. Spend the Night on a Man Made Island in Lake Titicaca Lake Titicaca is the world's highest navigable lake, straddling the border of Peru and…

All of 2013 US Airways Off Peak Award Space to Rio de Janeiro Loaded

A few weeks ago, I wrote about US Airways secretly loading their off peak award space to South America. Check out that post for a full rundown of US Airways off peak awards, probably the best value…

Transferring Virgin Atlantic Miles to Hilton HHonors Points

Fact: I check eight frequent flier blogs daily. (Just dropped a ninth...) One of those eight is Mileage Saver by Paul Walia. I love it because his posts take, on average, 10 seconds to read, and he…

How to Get Almost Free Oneways on AA Awards If You Don’t Live at an International Gateway City

Update: The trick in this post doesn't work anymore since American Airlines has eliminated all free stopovers on awards as of April 2014. Yesterday's post greatly expanded the number of places you…

How To Get an Almost Free Stopover Almost Anywhere on American Airlines Awards

A version of this post appeared today at hackmytrip.com. Thanks to that Scott for the opportunity to make a guest post. I invite my readers to check his stuff out.

How to Get a Free Stopover on an AA Award at a City Other than the International Gateway

Regular readers know that there are four rules to getting a free stopover on AA awards. The first one is: 1) Stopovers must occur at the North American International Gateway City. The North American…

Why and How I Got Global Entry

Global Entry is an awesome service of the US Customs and Border Protection. Enrollees can bypass the sometimes horrific entry lines upon arriving at their US point of entry, using an automated kiosk…

The Poorly Kept Secret to Finding Lufthansa First Class Availability with United Miles

For some, Lufthansa First Class is their aspirational goal. Using United miles, there is a (poorly kept) secret for how to get Lufthansa First Class seats: wait until the last week or even the last…

Today Only: 30% Off on Southwest Flights

I just got an email with a special one-use code for 30% off flights on Southwest.com. The code's use is pretty restrictive, and I have no use for it, so I'll post it here because I think anyone can…

An Answer to the Most Common Question I Get about Free Oneways on United

Reader Martin asks: I am trying to book IAD-CDG, BRU-IAD and trying to add my free oneway from IAD to ?? No mater which destination I choose the page always comes up with no available flights even…

Trip Details: Miles and Points Success Story

I'm just wrapping up a month-long trip; I'm already in my final city Kharkiv, Ukraine. I'll be home on Wednesday in time for a big softball game and the dodgeball playoffs if all my flights are on…

How to Exploit the Various Club Carlson Promotions: My Experience

There was a lot of internet ink spilled about last month's Club Carlson promotions to earn 50k points for one night at any Radisson, 44k for one night at any Park Inn, and 44k for one night at any…

Award Re-Booking Service

After writing a series of posts on how to add free oneways to your awards on the major legacy carriers, I got a flood of emails from people who had just booked an award and wanted to know whether…