Latest Posts

Get the 30k Alaska Airlines Card Not the 40k Alaska Airlines Card

Two excellent offers are floating around right now for the Alaska Airlines credit card from Bank of America: 30k miles after first purchase 40k miles after spending $10k in the first six months…

MileValue Award Booking Service Is Ready to Burn Your United Miles This Weekend

The MileValue Award Booking Service is standing by to book your United awards before United miles are devalued on February 3, 2014. Awards are bookable this weekend that lock in the current price for…

Breaking: United Award Chart Devaluation Begins February 3rd

Update: UA Insider on FlyerTalk confirms the delay in this post The much-dreaded United award chart devaluation looks to be temporarily postponed until February 3rd. Back in late October, United…

Today Is The Last Day to Book United Awards for 2014 at Current Prices

This is it. January 31, 2014. The day we've dreaded since United's trick or treat on October 31, 2013.

How to Request United to Manually Sell Award Seats

Here's how I got United to "manually sell" me award seats for an itinerary. While this technique is not possible in most circumstances, in my case, it turned no award into my dream award! I was in…

Trip Report: ANA Business Class from Tokyo to Washington D.C.

This review is a continuation of my fun US Airways redemption that I wrote about back in this post. I reviewed Turkish Business Class: Washington DC to Istanbul and Cathay Pacific Business Class:…

Why Is Space Disappearing on AA.com? A Common Problem When Attempting to Book Free Oneways

I got an email from a reader that demonstrates a common point of confusion about stopovers on American Airlines awards.

New PointBreaks List Means $35 Luxury Hotel Stays Through March 31, 2014

There are several posts on the new PointBreaks list, which allows us to book hotel rooms through March 31, 2014 for only $35 per night. Even if you’ve read those, read this. I’ve honed my strategy…

Amazing Award Space for Two from the US to Asia

All Nippon Airways (ANA)--a Japanese Star Alliance carrier--launches a new route between Tokyo-Haneda and Vancouver from March 30, 2014. Saver award space is excellent on the route in economy and…

Will united.com Price Awards Correctly Next Week And Offer Us All the Choices?

I'm not confident that united.com will price awards correctly starting next week or offer us all the best award choices. February 1 marks the introduction of two new United charts that are much worse…

United Devaluation from Hawaii

In preparation for tomorrow's MileValue dinner in Honolulu with Delta Points--still a few spots left if you want one--I made three charts of the United devaluation for awards originating or ending in…

Club Carlson’s 38k Bonus Points for Three Nights Is Mattress Run Worthy If…

Per this thread on Flyertalk, Club Carlson is running a very interesting first quarter promotion. The full terms and conditions, as well as registration, can be found here. If you stay three nights…

Combining Hawaii and Australia onto One Award is Easy with Great Award Space in 2014

There is: widely available underpriced economy award space for two passengers for all of 2014 to Australia with the opportunity to stop in Hawaii for a few days in either direction. If you…

Anatomy of an Award: Nabbing an Extremely Rare First Class Seat from Australia on Qantas

I nabbed a scarce First Class award from Australia to Los Angeles on Qantas during peak travel season and added a first class segment on American's new Airbus A321T from Los Angeles to New York-JFK,…

Trip Report: Cathay Pacific Business Class from Tokyo to Hong Kong

This review is a continuation of my fun US Airways redemption that I wrote about back in this post. I reviewed Turkish Business Class: Washington DC to Istanbul already and had a similar (great)…

United.com Calendar Fails to Display Valid Award Space

Don't believe the award calendar on united.com! The calendar should show you for an entire month whether any given day has Saver award space in economy, in a premium cabin, or in both. But the…

The Two Best Ways to Get a Couple to Asia with Miles

Yesterday I posted "Not April Fools: Delta Has the Best Award Space to Asia I’ve Ever Seen." I showed screen shots of how incredibly available--every day for months--Saver award space was on Delta…

Your Last Chance to Get the US Airways Card Will Be mid-2015

The offers for the cards listed in this post have expired, so their links have been removed.

Huge 18% Discount on Frontier Flights Booked by Tomorrow

Frontier has announced an 18% discount on domestic flights bought by January 16, 2014 and flown by March 12, 2014 with promo code HURRYHURRY. (Blackouts: February 13, 14, 15, and 17) This 18%…

Announcing a MileValue Dinner in Honolulu on Saturday, January 25

I’m very excited to announce the first MileValue dinner since October on Saturday, January 25 at 7 PM on Oahu, either in Waikiki or Honolulu. As a special treat, I've confirmed the attendance of Rene…

Burn United Miles: How to Book Lufthansa First Class for 67,500 Miles During All of 2014!

United announced a massive devaluation of its miles on October 31, 2013 to take effect for awards booked February 1, 2014 or later.

How to Put a Delta Award on Hold

Buried in Delta's major award chart devaluation last year was a second piece of bad news: Delta awards could no longer be put on hold under any circumstances. But there had to be a way, I thought.

Barclaycard’s Obsession with Getting Us into the Habit of Using Its Cards Is Great for Us

The offers for the cards listed in this post have expired, so their links have been removed. Click here for the top current credit card sign up bonuses. Business competition is good for consumers.…