A few months ago, Bill wrote a great piece titled Beware Phantom Award Availability at United.com. It's true that United.com occasionally lists Saver award space that just doesn't exist and that you can't book online or by phone.

I've just come across the opposite: phantom non-award space.

Update 3/6/14: This post is outdated. See Master Thread: Holds on United Awards

You can get a free hold of up to three days on United Airlines awards.

Rookie Alli just flew her first international business class flight. I asked her to share the perspective of someone seeing the front of the plane for the first time. She flew United BusinessFirst, which is widely accessible to Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America with miles, so if you haven't flown up front, pay attention to this trip report.

It's May 21, and you just realized you want to go to Europe this summer. You're not alone--that's probably the most common request my Award Booking Service is getting right now.

The good news is that finding award space to Europe this summer is still possible, especially if you are flexible.

Which routes have space? Which airlines will open up more award space?

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now. ~Chinese Proverb

The best time to book an award to Europe for the summer was last fall.

Disclaimer: I use the word "upgrade" a few times in the post. I am not referring to buying a cash ticket in economy and trying to use miles or cash to get it into business class. I am referring to using miles to change an award from economy to business. The first type of upgrade is almost universally a bad deal. The second type is a fine deal.

United has a litany of award fees. Booking by phone is $25. Cancelling is $150.

The second you move abroad, you become a lot more popular! That far flung country looks a lot better to family and friends as soon as they know they'll have a free bed and tour guide. My sister wanted to come visit me in Argentina in mid-May, so we set out to find her the best award ticket possible. Only one minor problem. As of two months ago, she had zero miles.

We ended up booking her a roundtrip from Los Angeles to Buenos Aires for a weeklong trip for 60,000 United miles.

EVA Air--Taiwan's second largest carrier--has announced that it will join the Star Alliance June 18, 2013.

EVA Air--Taiwan's second largest carrier--has announced that it will join the Star Alliance June 18, 2013.

Reader Christopher emailed me an exciting tip the other day: free oneways are possible on United awards within the continental USA and Canada. I already knew free oneways were possible on international United awards and awards to Hawaii, but this was news.

He sent me some screenshots, and I was able to replicate his findings and add some more of my own. I learned four things:

Christopher's tip: You can get a free oneway on roundtrip Standard economy awards within the US and Canada. That means three oneway Standard awards for 50k United miles.

There are a lot of cool things you can do with miles. One of the coolest things I've thought up, and one which I am strongly contemplating booking, would turn 57.5k United miles and 10k Avios into:

A trip to a Pacific atoll to be determined, Guam, and Japan. Three places I've never been.
Fourteen hours on the famous Island Hopper route.
Flat bed business class for seven hours.

The center piece for this plan is the Island Hopper route, which I became obsessed with last week and read everything a google search could find.