Skip this 1 vs 1 comparison and see this post that compares eight Star Alliance award charts side by side.

I've created comparison charts of how many mile a certain award costs with United MileagePlus miles versus the same award with Singapore KrisFlyer miles. Why?

Singapore Airlines miles can be used to book all the same Saver award space that United releases to its non-elite members without any fuel surcharges. That makes it a relevant comparison.
For many routes, the Singapore KrisFlyer program charges fewer miles to book a United flight than United charges to book the same flight.

Three months ago I wrote that US Airways would be losing five of its Star Alliance partners over the course of 2014. The final two of those five bite the dust this Thursday!

July 31, 2014 is the last day to use US Airways miles to book Turkish Airlines and Singapore Airlines flights.

Turkish has seven routes from the United States to Istanbul

Note that the flights need only be booked by July 31. You can book US Airways awards up to about 335 days in advance.

On Monday, Citi announced that ThankYou Points are now transferable to seven airlines. You can transfer Citi ThankYou Points from the Citi ThankYou® Premier, Citi Prestige® Card,, or Citi Chairman card a 1:1 ratio to:

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
Etihad Guest
Garuda Indonesia Frequent Flyer
Qatar Privilege Club
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Thai Airways Royal Orchard Plus

You can also transfer 1,000 ThankYou Points to 1,500 Hilton HHonors points.

I singled out Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles as the best of the bunch on Monday for these reasons.

Recently, I posted about how we can get amazing value from the fact that the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program considers Hawaii to be part of the same region as Central America. We can also use this sweet spot for great value on travel to South America too!

On the Singapore Airline's award chart, it costs fewer miles to fly between Hawaii and South America, routing through the continental United States, than it does to fly directly between the continental United States and South America.

Adding Honolulu to Houston lowers the price of Houston to Buenos Aires

Singapore Airlines' award chart has an amazing sweet spot: Hawaii and Central America are in the same region!

Flights "within" the Hawaii/Central America region are only 35,000 Singapore miles roundtrip in economy and 60,000 miles roundtrip in business class.

That 35,000-Singapore-miles award would cost 80,000 United miles.

Update July 1, 2014:

The current offer on the Premier Miles & More® World MasterCard® is 20,000 miles after first purchase and payment of $79 annual fee.

Earn 20,000 award miles after your first purchase or balance transfer
Earn up to 15,000 award miles with balance transfers (1 mile per $1 transferred) within 30 days of account opening
Earn 2 award miles per $1 on ticket purchases directly from Miles &

Chase Ultimate Rewards just added Singapore KrisFlyer miles as a transfer partner.

I haven't been home since February 16 when I boarded a plane from Honolulu for Newark.

Alaska Airlines flies a direct flight between Anchorage and Honolulu.

I love interesting routes from Hawaii--like the Island Hopper across the Pacific--since moving to Oahu, but I think this route has some cool possibilities for everyone, like one vacation that combines Alaska and Hawaii this summer.

Anchorage and Honolulu are 2,777 miles apart. This is a sweet spot on British Airways' distance-based award chart.

Per this thread on Flyertalk, United.com no longer displays Singapore Airlines award space. This abrupt announcement might seem like terrible news to award bookers, but it's more of an inconvenience than anything else.

United.com is the easiest way to search for Star Alliance award space. It's far from a perfect booking tool, however.