Etihad has announced that its new A380s, which will begin flying this year, will have a three-room Residence for up to two passengers.

SriLankan Airlines has joined oneworld, which means its flights are now bookable with US Airways, American Airlines, and British Airways miles.

SriLankan award space is now searchable and bookable at ba.com.

Saver Economy award seats are wide open from the United States to Sao Paulo during the World Cup for only 30k miles per direction per person.

This is a marked change from four months ago when I wrote How to Get to the World Cup with Miles and Points.

US Airways and American Airlines officially merged in December 2013. They are still independent brands with separate loyalty programs, but they are making major changes in unison, especially in the last few weeks.

Below are 17 changes made, mostly yesterday, in the order of my take on their importance. As I said yesterday, I am much more upset about how these changes were made (most of numbers 3-17 were made with no notice) than the fact that they were made.

1) On March 30, US Airways left the Star Alliance.

United is offering 25% off Saver economy awards between the mainland United States and Japan for flights completed by April 30, 2014.

You can book flights to Japan for only 26,250 United miles each way this month only, and the price shows up automatically online. The normal price is 35,000 United miles each way.

Any discount is nice, but there are one or two drawbacks to consider.

On Monday, I wrote about US Airways and TAM joining the oneworld alliance. That meant that US Airways and TAM flights were now bookable with British Airways Avios, a founding member of oneworld.

In the renewed interest in searching ba.com for award flights, there were some hiccups that people noted in the comments. Often the best way to plan an Avios award is to search aa.com, and then when you find the award space you want, go to ba.com to book it.

AA.com and ba.com didn't seem to be matching up in the availability that you could book.

My absolute favorite awards are the ones I've booked for family and friends. Helping them fly for (nearly) free is a great pleasure that can't be replicated. Recently, my sister came to me asking for advice on the cheapest ways to fly from Boston to Paris this summer. She has zero miles and a tight budget.

TAM, the largest airline in Brazil, joined oneworld today March 31, 2014.

You can now book a one way flight from the United States to Brazil for 4,000 Avios and $97.50!

TAM flights are bookable with American Airlines miles and British Airways Avios and searchable on ba.com. American Airlines and British Airways do not collect fuel surcharges on TAM flights.

TAM has flights between Brazil and New York-JFK, Miami, and Orlando. All three American cities have flights to Rio de Janeiro–Galeão and São Paulo–Guarulhos.

After a few days in New York last month, I took a 16 hour flight in Cathay Pacific First Class from New York-JFK to Hong Kong. It was the second best flight of my life (behind only Emirate First Class); I can't recommend Cathay Pacific First Class highly enough.

That said, the ground services in New York were abysmal.

On the US Airways award chart today, I noticed a minor change as part of the US Airways / American Airlines integration.

Did you catch it?

On the US Airways chart, the word "Envoy" has been replaced with "Business Class."

US Airways had previously referred to its International Business Class as "Envoy" (and it still does on other pages), but it looks like that name will disappear during the integration.

This is semantics, since the Envoy / Business Class will still be a great product--at least on the A330s where it is completely flat--but a far bigger change is coming