Reader Steve passes along a great deal for people with lots of Marriott points.

Until October 31, 2014, you can get a 20% bonus when you transfer Marriott points to American Airlines miles.

This includes Marriott-points-to-miles transfers and transfers of Marriott points to hotel and air packages.

What are hotel and air packages?
Why are hotel and air packages often a better deal than just transferring to miles?
What airline transfer partner of Marriott points is always 10-20% better than other options?

Marriott points can be transferred to airline miles of most major airlines.

Marriott and United launched a partnership

American Airlines' and El Al's partnership ends October 31, 2014.

To use American Airlines miles to fly to Israel on El Al, you must book by October 31, 2014. You can book American Airlines awards up to 11 months in advance, so you can travel on tickets booked October 31, 2014 until about the end of September 2015.

Once the partnership ends, you will still be able to use American Airlines miles to book US Airways flights from Philadelphia to Tel Aviv.

Sometimes you can go really far for not very miles by finding underpriced countries on your favorite award chart.

Award charts, by their nature, group several countries together for a single price. The countries at the extremes of each group are often underpriced relative to the rest of the group, leaving you the chance to get a great deal with your miles.

Here are five examples of underpriced countries on the American Airlines, United, Delta, US Airways, and British Airways award charts.
1.

My sister asked me a few weeks ago: "Didn't you say there are no stopovers allowed on American Airlines awards?"

"Yes," I replied. "In April, American removed the ability to add a free stopover to awards under all circumstances.

If you THINK BIG, and take an amazing multi-destination trip, you'll need to book several tickets to hop between destinations.

In the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia, flights are fairly cheap because of the many competing airlines, including low cost carriers. In other regions, like Africa and South America, short flights can be exorbitantly expensive as a lack of competition drives up prices.

When ticket prices are expensive, that's the time to use miles. I've already laid out the cheapest intra-region bargain awards with American Airlines and United miles.

I had a blast spending 70 hours in Beijing with my brother this week using the 72-Hour Visa-Free Transit rule.

The rule requires you to enter China from one country and leave China to a third country within 72 hours among other requirements.

Since the time you can spend in Beijing under the rule is so limited, I would not fly directly from the United States to China, starting the clock when you'll be severely jet lagged.

American Airlines' best Business and First Class are both found on the 777-300ER, its newest international plane.

The 777-300ER features fully flat beds in Business Class and First Class, plus a walk up bar on board for the folks up front.

Last week I urged people to be realistic with their miles and listed The Easiest Places to Get with Miles. Today I'm telling you to dream big and to look to do things with miles that you couldn't easily or cheaply do without miles.

For instance, for 60,000 miles, you can book yourself a "triangle trip" that lets you practice your Spanish in Chile and Spain.

US Airways, American Airlines, and British Airways are all members of the oneworld alliance who should be equally sharing award space on their own flights with their partners.

For the first time, I've found a case where US Airways "Low" (their name for "Saver") price award space is not bookable with American Airlines or British Airways miles.

Either the US Airways space is phantom, or it isn't being shared with American Airlines and British Airways, which would be a huge problem because American Airlines and British Airways awards are often cheaper than US Airways awards.
Refresher on Partners Sharing Space

To Suzanne Rubin, head of American Airlines AAdvantage,

In April 2014, American Airlines eliminated the possibility of stopovers on award tickets with no notice.

Previously, one stopover was allowed on one way awards--two on roundtrip awards--at the North American International Gateway City.

That rule gave folks who lived where there were no international flights on American Airlines partners the chance to enjoy their awards more with stopovers in major international cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Honolulu.