I booked myself an award from Honolulu to Manila with eight take offs and landings and multi-day stops on Pohnpei and Palau for 47,500 United miles by taking advantage of the free stopover on roundtrip United awards and how lenient the definition of "roundtrip" is.

A few weeks ago I shared how you can book United's amazing Island Hopper route with miles and stopover at one of the otherwise-nearly-impossible-to-reach islands along the way.

The Island Hopper.

In May, I booked myself an award in an Etihad A380 First Class Apartment for January 2016. I am looking forward to flying the spacious suite with a couch/bed and separate seat from Abu Dhabi to New York.

I'm going to spend most of the rest of the year in Buenos Aires, but I want to spend Christmas with my family in Hawaii. I recently put on hold an award that will allow me to do that.

I have a clear picture of where I'll be until about April 2016. Last week, I booked a flurry of awards, mostly with obscure mileage programs to lock in my dates for 2015.

I have a clear picture of where I'll be until about April 2016. Last week, I booked a flurry of awards, mostly with obscure mileage programs to lock in my dates for 2015.

I just used 5,000 ThankYou Points to book a one way award flight from Belgrade to Bucharest.

I transferred my ThankYou Points to Etihad Guest Miles, which is the frequent flyer program for Air Serbia and several other airlines.

Etihad Guest / Air Serbia Award Chart
Air Serbia is not a member of one of the three alliances, but is a member of the "kind of fourth alliance" of airlines in which Etihad has bought a stake. The only way to book Air Serbia flights with miles is with Etihad Guest miles.

I just used 5,000 ThankYou Points to book a one way award flight from Belgrade to Bucharest.

I transferred my ThankYou Points to Etihad Guest Miles, which is the frequent flyer program for Air Serbia and several other airlines.

I have a ton of ThankYou Points because the Citi Prestige® Card offers 40,000 bonus ThankYou Points respectively after $4,000 in purchases on the card in the first three months.
Etihad Guest / Air Serbia Award Chart
Air Serbia is not a member of one of the three alliances, but is a member of the "kind of fourth

Update: LifeMiles are now on sale for as little as 1.4 cents each through September 30, 2015, which allows you to follow the steps in this post.

Last week I published How to Consistently Buy Business Class Tickets to Europe for about $1,000, which explained how to purchase Avianca miles and use them to book award tickets, so that the total cash outlay is far less than just purchasing a ticket.

Yesterday, I had the chance to book my friend into Lufthansa Business Class from Tallinn, Estonia to Chicago for $1,050 for a flight this weekend.

Booking one

I recently booked myself an award from Chicago to Buenos Aires in Business Class on a Dreamliner for 45,000 Alaska Airlines miles and $19 in taxes and fees.

AeroMexico releases a ton of award space from United States to Mexico City and from there to Buenos Aires (or elsewhere in Central and South America) in economy and Business Class.

Fresno only has a direct flight to Guadalajara from where you can connect to Mexico City and beyond.

Singapore miles are fantastic for booking domestic awards on United flights. Singapore has access to all the exact same Saver award space on United flights that United miles have access to (except extra space set aside for elites), and Singapore charges fewer miles on some routes.

Singapore miles are also easier to get than United miles.