This is the final post in a series about how to maximize value when transferring your Chase Ultimate Rewards to airline loyalty program partners. 
Maximizing Your Ultimate Rewards Series Index

Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: United MileagePlus
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Singapore Krisflyer #1
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Singapore Krisflyer #2 
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Korean SkyPass #1
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Korean Skypass #2
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Korean Skypass #3
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: British Airways Avios 
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Flying Blue
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Virgin Atlantic Flying Club #1
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Virgin Atlantic Flying Club #2
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Southwest Rapid Rewards
Maximizing Ultimate

I recently booked an award for my parents that departed from their home--Charleston, South Carolina--to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

I tweeted this deal first from @MileValueAlerts. Follow @MileValueAlerts on Twitter and follow these directions to get a text message every time I tweet from that account. I tweet from @MileValueAlerts only a few times a month because it is designed to be used only for the best and most limited-time deals–like mistake fares–so that you aren’t bombarded by text messages.

Qantas, Virgin Australia, and United are offering cheap roundtrip flights between San Francisco/Los Angeles and Australia/New Zealand.

Swiss Airlines is releasing two Business Class award seats during Fall 2017 and Winter 2018 on its American routes, including from the West Coast.

Swiss flies the following routes to Zurich with connections throughout Europe.

You can book this rare award space in a top-notch flat bed for 55,000 Aeroplan miles, 63,000 LifeMiles, or 70,000 United miles. None of those programs collect fuel surcharges on Swiss awards, and all allow connecting United flights free of charge.
The Product
Swiss has a few Business Class products that you can check out on Seat Guru.

I just booked myself a one way award from Honolulu, Hawaii to Charlottesville, Virginia for 17,500 Singapore miles and $6.

While writing yesterday's post about United now allowing free Hawaii flights on awards, I had a separate idea about United miles and Hawaii flights that I didn't want anyone to miss:
You can see four Hawaiian islands on a single award that costs 6,000 United miles and $5.60.
United charges 6,000 for intra-Hawaii flights on Hawaiian Airlines or Island Air.

This is Hawaiian's route map.

United partners with both Hawaiian Airlines and Island Air to offer codeshares within Hawaii.

You can redeem United miles for interisland flights on either airline. The cost is 6,000 miles + $5.60 one way.

You can also include Hawaiian or Island Air flights as part of a larger award, like Newark to Honolulu on United, connecting to Molokai on Hawaiian. Until very recently, though, United would price this as two separate awards.

I recently went to Patagonia with my friend from Hawaii.

I helped her book her trip with American Airlines and Singapore miles, and I learned some things along the way. Takeaways:

Days of the year with good award space
The only airline within the Americas with fuel surcharges
When to book and when to wait

The Plan
My friend and I wanted to see Chilean and Argentine Patagonia plus Buenos Aires.

Delta was the first to sell a sub-economy cabin class titled Basic Economy in 2012. United followed suit last year, so it should be no surprise that American Airlines has also just jumped on the bandwagon. American Basic Economy fares will go on sale February 10.

As restrictions in Basic Economy vary between the three legacy carriers, today I'm going to go over what Basic Economy is for each of them, as well as how to identify a fare as Basic Economy when searching through various methods.

There's a large amount of United Business Class available from the United States to Europe for the coming summer months of July and August. We're talking up to eight seats available some days and up to four on many days. Award space flying United Business Class costs just 57,500 United miles versus the 70,000 it would cost you to fly another Star Alliance partner like Austrian or Turkish.