Best Ways to Get from South America to Europe

I'm intrigued by flights and awards that don't involve America. If there's a cool award to get from Australia to SE Asia, that can be integral to a longer, better, and cheaper trip.

My two favorite continents to explore are South America and Europe.

The Cheapest Awards within One Region

If you THINK BIG, and take an amazing multi-destination trip, you'll need to book several tickets to hop between destinations.

In the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia, flights are fairly cheap because of the many competing airlines, including low cost carriers. In other regions, like Africa and South America, short flights can be exorbitantly expensive as a lack of competition drives up prices.

When ticket prices are expensive, that's the time to use miles. I've already laid out the cheapest intra-region bargain awards with American Airlines and United miles.

Booking Two Tickets on the Same United Flight

Last year I wrote "How to Book Multiple Awards from Different Accounts on the Same Flights."

The idea is that you can never transfer miles from one airline to another, even if they are airline partners, but you can book two seats on the exact same flights with two different types of miles.

Last week I used 30,000 Singapore miles and 35,000 Lufthansa miles to book myself and a friend one way First Class flights on United from Honolulu to San Francisco.

United flies one flight a day from Honolulu to San Francisco on a 767-400ER with fully

Save Singapore Miles with Hidden City Ticketing

Singapore Airlines' award chart has some phenomenal sweet spots, which I've covered extensively:

United States to Central America with free one ways to Hawaii
United States to South America with free one ways to Hawaii
Continental United States to Hawaii

Yesterday I published comparison tables of United's award chart for United flights versus Singapore's award chart for United flights.

While compiling those charts, I saw that Singapore has an incredible sweet spot from the United States to the Middle East.

Save 1,000s of Miles Booking United Flights with Singapore Miles

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.

How Long to Transfer From ThankYou Points to Singapore Miles

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.

Roundtrip to South America, Two Free One Ways to Hawaii for 50,000 Miles

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 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.

How to Book Singapore Business Class to Europe This Summer

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 &

Around the World in Cathay, Singapore, and Lufthansa First: Introduction

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