Brand New Flat Bed Business Class Option Between United States and Australia

Qantas is refurbishing its A330s with "fully flat beds in business class." Right now the A330s serve the following routes.

Sydney-Melbourne
Sydney-Brisbane
Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane to Perth
Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane to Singapore
Melbourne/Brisbane to Hong Kong
Sydney-Bangkok
Sydney-Jakarta
Sydney-Manila
Sydney-Honolulu
Sydney-Shanghai

I have medium hopes for the new beds, which will roll out starting in December 2014. The reason I am not more excited is that the picture accompanying the press release looks to me like an angled lie flat beds, not fully flat beds.

This jives with my experience in business class on the Qantas A380.

Five Underpriced Countries for Your Next Award

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.

How and Why I Was Totally Wrong about the Avios Devaluation

Sunday I read a post on Gary Leff's blog that said that Iberia Avios had massively devalued its award chart for flights on oneworld airlines.

I looked up the Iberia award chart for oneworld flights and came to the same conclusion as Gary--that Iberia had put out a new, worse award chart. I wrote a post Sunday and another yesterday about the changes and how to beat them.

It turns out my posts were mistaken. Iberia hasn't touched its award chart since November 2011.

The reason I was wrong is that I had misunderstood Iberia's program.

Massive Avios Devaluation? No, I Was Wrong

Well, this is embarrassing. As it turns out, there was no devaluation of the Iberia Avios program. The rates in this post have been consistent since November 2011.

Almost no one in the world knew the rates for Iberia Avios oneworld redemptions because they weren't bookable online. Thankfully this FlyerTalk thread and in particular these two posts set the record straight.

Travellair said:

"I don’t know what the fuss is all about. These have been the same Avios amounts for Oneworld redemptions through IB Plus since 2011.

Anatomy of an Award: Three Cities in Asia on Two Awards

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Anatomy of an Award posts highlight real awards I’ve booked to show you the techniques needed to book your dream trip.

I recently booked my brother a pair of awards that will allow us to visit Hong Kong, Beijing, and Seoul together.

US Airways, American Airlines, and British Airways Not Sharing All Award Availability

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

Free First Class 2014: British Airways Avios Basics

This is the seventeenth post in a monthlong series that started here. Each post will take about two minutes to read and may include an action item that takes the reader another two minutes to complete. I am writing this for an audience of people who know nothing about frequent flyer miles, and my goal is that by the end, you know enough to fly for free anywhere you want to go.

I've covered how to earn miles and the redemption options for miles.

Gold Mine First Class Award Space from United States to Asia

There is excellent award space in Japan Airlines First Class between San Francisco and Tokyo for most of the next 11 months.

Amazing Summer 2014 Award Space to Hawaii

American Airlines releases a ton of award space on its routes to Hawaii at the last minute.

On almost all of American Airlines' routes from Los Angeles to the four major Hawaiian islands and Dallas/Fort Worth to Oahu and Maui, there is award space for 4+ people in the next few weeks.

If you live in Southern California or North Texas, this is a great chance to use as few as 12,500 Avios per person per direction to get to Hawaii during high season when the weather is a perfect 85 degrees and sunny.

If you live somewhere else