I recently booked myself in United economy to fly back to the United States from Buenos Aires for Christmas. Why would I torture myself in economy? Well, a few reasons...

It's the holidays. Holidays = not much premium cabin award space, and economy cash tickets are pricey.
There aren't too many Business Class product options between Buenos Aires and the United States, and the one that has the most award space tends to be United. United's Business Class is OK, but nothing to write home about. Sometimes I don't feel like using more miles for it.

Avianca LifeMiles has introduced new (cheaper) award prices to fly shorthaul flights within the continental United States on United. Before, Avianca's domestic award prices were market standard--12,500 miles one way from anywhere to anywhere.

You can now see Singapore Airlines award space on united.com, which means you can book Singapore award space on united.com. This was not the case as of a few days ago.

Singapore doesn't really release premium cabin award space to its Star Alliance partners, so you won't see much Singapore Business and First Class on United's website.

Through September 29, 2017 at 11:59 CT, United is offering up to a 75% bonus on purchased miles. The size of the bonus depends on the number of miles you buy, with the largest 75% bonus kicking in at 30,000 miles purchased. The minimum purchase is 2,000 miles, and purchases must be in increments of 1,000.

United miles normally cost 3.5 cents per mile plus a 7.5% tax, bringing the full price to 3.76 cents each.

This is the third post in a series about how I used Asiana miles to book United Polaris Business Class between Houston and Buenos Aires, as well as a review of the product and travel experience. 

I Just Spent 35k Miles for a Flat Bed to Southern South America

Trip Report Part I: Brand New United Club in Houston (near gate C1)
Trip Report Part II: United Polaris from Houston to Buenos Aires 

At the end of last week I returned to Buenos Aires after my yearly exodus from southern hemisphere winter to northern hemisphere summer.

Chase has released a new United co-branded credit card with a unique rewards earning structure. Instead of earning miles, the United TravelBank Card earns cash back good for United purchases.

This is the second post in a series about how I used Asiana miles to book United Polaris Business Class between Houston and Buenos Aires, as well as a review of the product and travel experience. 

I Just Spent 35k Miles for a Flat Bed to Southern South America

Trip Report Part I: Brand New United Club in Houston (near gate C1)
Trip Report Part II: United Polaris from Houston to Buenos Aires (future post)

Yesterday I returned to Buenos Aires after my yearly exodus from southern hemisphere winter to northern hemisphere summer.

Last year I opened an Asiana Visa Signature Card for a very specific reason: to fly flat bed Business Class to "Latin America 2" (Southern South America) for 35,000 miles. I spent $3,000 on the card to unlock the 30k Asiana mile bonus, earned 3k points for the spending it took to get there, and then spent a final $2k on the card to reach a balance of 35,000 Asiana miles.

Credit card sign up bonuses and buying cash flights tend to be the major opportunities to earn big chunks of rewards. But being a true miles and points enthusiast means taking advantage of even the little opportunities when you can, that only take a minute or two to sign up for/participate in and over time add up to big savings. Every penny–or mile–counts.

Here are two ways you can easily boost your balances this week.

We typically go over international premium cabin redemptions in our Anatomy of an Award posts. They're great inspiration and good teaching tools for when you're planning big trips.

While I'm sure we'd all love to be flying around the world in a flat bed all the time, that's not the reality most live in.