Singapore KrisFlyer Sweet Spot

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.

Free Spreadsheet to Download of Category 1, 2, 9, and 10 Hilton Properties Plus the Only Two Good Hilton Strategies

Update: Super reader Dave made a map of the locations of the Category 9 and 10 properties for visual learners.

Super reader Jeremy has created the most valuable spreadsheet imaginable for the Hilton HHonors program that you can download for free here.

The spreadsheet lists:

all 34 Category 1 hotels
all 131 Category 2 hotels
all 46 Category 9 hotels
all 10 Category 10 hotels

For each hotel, the name, location, and a link to its Trip Advisor reviews are listed.

Jeremy took the information from Hilton's PDF of all its hotels' categories and made it much more useful and

Using Everything I Know to Help a Friend Plan Two Summer Trips

My friend has big trip aspirations for this summer, but nothing booked.

Approx July 12: Boston to France, Italy, or Spain
July 13/14 to 24/25: work on a vineyard in France, Italy, or Spain
July 25: vineyard location to Croatia
July 26 to August 2: Yacht Week
August 2: Croatia to Greece
August 10/11: Greece to Boston
August 22: Boston to Colombia
August 31: Colombia to Costa Rica
Sept ~7/8: Costa Rica to San Francisco

She emailed me for my suggestions.

Value in First Class on the United Chart

On February 1, United miles became much less valuable for premium cabin flights.

Not only did all first class awards outside of the western hemisphere go way up in price, but partner first class awards went way, way up.

Since people who want to fly first class awards want the swankiest, most aspirational flights, the increase in the partner award price is a big problem.

United Global First is good.

Austrian Airlines Business Class Opens Up Three Months Out and Economy Class Open Up Ten Months Out

For flights between the US and Europe, Austrian Airlines releases its economy class award seats to partners 298 days before the flight and its business class award seats to partners 88 days before the flight.

Austrian routes between the US and Europe have economy award space up to 298 days out

Austrian is a Star Alliance member that operates five routes to North America from its hub in Vienna:

New York-JFK
Chicago
Washington-Dulles
Toronto (don't forget about routing to Europe via Canada)
Newark (begins July 2, 2014)

Austrian operates two cabin Boeing 777s and 767s

How to Get More Free Stopovers and Use Fewer Miles on Your Next Trip to South America

Did you miss 20k Miles (or Less) to All of South America All Year yesterday? That post is a competing trick with this one, and it might be an even better deal for you.

Chicago to Santiago "should" cost 30,000 American Airlines miles each way in economy.

Best of MileValue October 2013

October 2013 was a big month for me. The month started in Brussels. I whirlwinded through Oslo and Amsterdam before getting to Munich in time for the end of Oktoberfest.

Munich was the last stop on my eight month world tour. I landed back in the US for the first time since February just in time for the Chicago Seminars.

The Seminars were a blast, and I had a chance to check out the Park Hyatt for two nights afterwards while exploring the city.

Anatomy of an Award: Southeast Asian and Mexican Vacations in Business Class for 90k US Airways Miles, 30k Arrival Miles, and Zero Cash

Two weeks ago, in How to Save 70,000 Miles on US Airways Awards to Southeast Asia, Bill blew people's minds with his post about one of the biggest tricks you can pull with US Airways miles:

When routing from the US to South & Central Asia, you can save up to 70,000 US Airways miles by adding segments from Mexico, Central America, or the Caribbean to your home airport before the main award.

The four step process is not difficult, but it is new, so there was some confusion in the comments section of that post.

Best of MileValue Third Quarter 2013

The third quarter of 2013--July 1 to September 30--was a big one for me. My six months in Argentina ended, I embarked on a 15 country world tour, and I jumped off a cliff in Dubrovnik, Croatia at sunset.

The third quarter was also MileValue’s most popular quarter to date.

MileValue Featured in Mashable Post about Beginner Getting Round the World Business Class Award for $1,340

Mashable readers: Welcome to the best blog on redeeming frequent flyer miles. The way that I've traveled to over 20 countries this year and spent nine months abroad is by signing up for credit cards and using the miles to book business and first class awards.

Here is a post that explains to beginners what I do and why I do it.