In January, I'll be in the United States, and I'll need to get back down to Southern South America.

Through December 14, 2015, United is offering up to an 85% bonus on purchased miles. The maximum bonus is targeted with some people being offered 60% and 70% bonuses. Also the size of the bonus depends on the number of miles you buy, with the largest 60%, 70%, or 85% bonus kicking in at 40,000 miles purchased.

Log into your account here to see the bonus you are offered. I was offered the 85% bonus.

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

United now shows its award routing rules online. (Dummy) book an award, and on the page where you review your complete award itinerary, click "View fare rules and restrictions."

You will get a very long list of the award rules that pertain to your award ticket.

United now shows its award routing rules online. (Dummy) book an award, and on the page where you review your complete award itinerary, click "View fare rules and restrictions."

You will get a very long list of the award rules that pertain to your award ticket.

How many miles would it cost to book a United award in economy from Aruba to Panama City to Bogota to the Galapagos with stops for as long as you'd like in each place? 

There is a layover in Quito, but that doesn't affect the price. For reference, this single award would look something like this:

This award costs only 20,000 United miles.

Turkish Business Class flat bed award space is wide open to Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Indian Subcontinent for Summer 2016. You can book award space for 2-8 people in Business Class on routes from America to Turkey and beyond with United miles, LifeMiles, Aeroplan miles, Asiana miles, and many other Star Alliance miles.
Where Turkish Flies
Turkish will soon fly from nine American cities to Istanbul.

From Istanbul, you can connect to over 100 countries.

Last month I flew from Houston to Honolulu in United First Class. I had booked the award with 30,000 Singapore miles because Singapore miles have access to the same Saver award space on United flights as United miles do, but Singapore charges fewer miles.

Update 2/12/16: United brought back the nonstop calendar. The single column for Saver and Standard economy space remains.

I covered two months ago why the new united.com stinks for award searching. My biggest complaint is that even if you specify a "nonstop only" search, the search calendar does not show you nonstop only results.

I used to be able to see space on a route for two months at a time on united.com, now I can see it one day a time.

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.

Through October 23, 2015, United is offering up to a 80% bonus on purchased miles. The size of the bonus depends on the number of miles you buy, with the largest 80% bonus kicking in at 30,000 miles purchased (54,000 total miles after the bonus.)

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