Last month, I booked an award from Buenos Aires to Honolulu for 25,000 Singapore miles and about $100 in taxes. The booking illustrates a few topics:

Sweet spots and how to find them
Awards you should book speculatively
Booking awards with foreign programs

The Problem
I have to get to Hawaii for my brother's wedding in February. The main problem is that I don't know where I'll be in February to book the ticket to Hawaii.

This is the fourth post in a series about how I used Singapore miles to book United BusinessFirst between San Francisco and Buenos Aires, as well as a review of the product and travel experience. 

Trip Report Part I: United Clubs in San Francisco and Houston
Trip Report Part II: United BusinessFirst Houston to Buenos Aires
Anatomy of an Award: Booking United BusinessFirst with Singapore Miles
Changing a Singapore Award (future post)

In the last post of this series, I explained why and how I went about booking United Business Class with Singapore Krisflyer miles from the United States to

This is the third post in a series about how I used Singapore miles to book United BusinessFirst between San Francisco and Buenos Aires, as well as a review of the product and travel experience. 

Trip Report Part I: United Clubs in San Francisco and Houston
Trip Report Part II: United BusinessFirst Houston to Buenos Aires
Anatomy of an Award: Booking United BusinessFirst with Singapore Miles (this post)
Changing a Singapore Award (future post)

I had a one week window during which I wanted to fly Business Class from San Francisco, back home to Buenos Aires.
Checking Award Space of

I just booked myself a one way award from Washington-Dulles to Honolulu, Hawaii for 17,500 Singapore miles and $6. There were a few interesting things about the award:

I got the award for 5,000 miles less than it "should" have cost.
The award space I wanted didn't open up until three days before departure, so I sweated out not having a ticket until the last minute.
I learned a few Singapore Airlines routing rules.

I've covered booking Singapore awards flying United planes to Hawaii several times, most thoroughly here.

With the proliferation of transferable points like Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Points, and Starwood Preferred Guest Starpoints, Americans have access to cheap awards through tons of foreign programs.

Here are five underpriced awards on foreign award charts and how to get the miles needed to book the awards.
1. Singapore Awards Between Hawaii and the Americas
Singapore Airlines puts Hawaii and Central America--you know, those two places that are thousands of miles apart--into one region.

Singapore Airlines is altering its routes to the United States in October 2016. Currently, Singapore flies from four American cities to Singapore with stops along the way in Europe and Asia.

San Francisco to Seoul (ICN) to Singapore
San Francisco to Hong Kong to Singapore
Los Angeles to Tokyo (NRT) to Singapore
Houston to Moscow (DME) to Singapore
New York (JFK) to Frankfurt to Singapore

Singapore is making several changes though.

I just booked myself a $1,233 economy flight from Hawaii to Chicago for 17,500 Singapore miles and $5.

You probably already have the miles I used, so you're only a 10 minute phone call away from a trip to Hawaii that costs thousands of miles fewer than it "should."

The basic idea is that you don't want to use United, American Airlines, or Delta miles to fly to Hawaii. You want to use their planes, but you want to book those flights with miles issued by foreign airlines, which for whatever reason, offer far cheaper award prices to

You wouldn't like Hawaii... unless you like pristine beaches, beautiful hikes, and 80 degree weather. Hawaii is my favorite place in the world. (A few of my photos are sprinkled through this post.)

If Hawaii is your favorite place, or if you've always wanted to take a family vacation there: one person can easily earn enough miles to book 6 economy roundtrip awards to Hawaii or nearly 4 First Class roundtrip awards.

There are two basic ideas:

You don't need many Singapore Airlines miles to get to Hawaii on United flights.

Singapore Airlines is altering its routes to the United States in October 2016. Currently, Singapore flies from four American cities to Singapore with stops along the way in Europe and Asia.

San Francisco to Seoul (ICN) to Singapore
San Francisco to Hong Kong to Singapore
Los Angeles to Tokyo (NRT) to Singapore
Houston to Moscow (DME) to Singapore
New York (JFK) to Frankfurt to Singapore

Singapore is making several changes though.

Let’s talk about transferring ThankYou Points to airline partners for redeeming on domestic awards. This is part one in a series that will allow you to master redeeming awards within the United States, no matter what kind of points or miles you might have.
"How to Maximize Domestic Award Redemptions" Series Index

How to Maximize Domestic Award Redemptions Series: ThankYou Points (this post)
How to Maximize Domestic Award Redemptions Series: Ultimate Rewards
How to Maximize Domestic Award Redemptions Series: Membership Rewards
How to Maximize Domestic Award Redemptions Series: SPG Points
How to Maximize Domestic Award Redemptions Series: Conclusions About Best