For many people, the most aggravating travel fees are out-of-pocket fees charged on frequent-flyer-mile award tickets. At least that's my impression from reading the comments on this New York Times article I was quoted in. Huge government taxes and fuel surcharges can make what should be a free ticket cost hundreds of dollars per person. People were furious about paying $600 for a "free" economy ticket.

And why wouldn't they be? Most people think award miles get you a free ticket like they used to.

By now, you may be well aware of the rule that on a United oneway award, you can't take a stopover. On a roundtrip award, you get one stopover. (This is just for awards booked with United miles.

I recently booked a fascinating award that shows just how simply you can turn a good itinerary into a great itinerary using the the concept I laid out in a post titled 7,500 Miles to Europe and Negative 7,500 Miles to South America.

The basic premise is the inverse of a free oneway. If you are booking an award within the US on American Airlines, consider adding on an international leg to the domestic leg for very little extra.

My client Mark came to me with 105,000 American Airlines miles and 103,000 Ultimate Rewards.

According to this thread in the FlyerTalk Mileage Run forum, several airlines are featuring extremely low fares between the US and Istanbul, Turkey.

There appears to be solid availability in February and early March, and I'm seeing fares as low as $413! This is great news, especially for those of us who couldn't get in on the paid first class fare sale to Istanbul and Moscow last week.

LOT, a Polish airline that is a member of the Star Alliance, flies several Boeing 787 Dreamliners to North America with incredible award space in business class.

The Dreamliner is a technical marvel, a plane I am dying to get on.

LOT's business class on the Dreamliner is up to international standards--a fully flat bed with a big TV monitor at each seat.

LOT flies to three North American destinations, all with the Dreamliner.

New York (JFK) <-> Warsaw (WAW)

Chicago (ORD) <-> Warsaw

Toronto (YYZ) <->

LOT, a Polish airline that is a member of the Star Alliance, flies several Boeing 787 Dreamliners to North America with incredible award space in business class.

The Dreamliner is a technical marvel, a plane I am dying to get on.

LOT's business class on the Dreamliner is up to international standards--a fully flat bed with a big TV monitor at each seat.

LOT flies to three North American destinations, all with the Dreamliner.

New York (JFK) <-> Warsaw (WAW)

Chicago (ORD) <-> Warsaw

Toronto (YYZ) <->

Pre-departure services and the Global First lounge

United Global First Los Angeles to Sydney

Sydney Airport and Air New Zealand Lounge

Air New Zealand Business Class Sydney to Auckland

United 839
Los Angeles (LAX) – Sydney (SYD)
Depart: 10:10 PM on Monday, December 31
Arrive: 7:45 AM on Wednesday, January 2
Duration: 14:35
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
Seat: 2A (First Class)

After several full meals in the Global First lounge, I headed to gate 77. There were two separate doors, one for the premium cabins and one for the hoi polloi people who haven't discovered miles yet.

Want to book a dream summer vacation to Europe? The time is now. Award space is still very good on a number of great routes on great products and will deteriorate in the coming months.

Here's how I would go about booking my dream award. Step one is the miles--more on getting those at the end of the post.

A lot of people read about incredible international business and first class beds, and they want to enjoy those beds on their next trip.

Hot off the heels of FTU LAX, I'm writing a post to show people how to construct an awesome, yet rare aspirational trip. It's a trip with United, ANA, and Thai First!

For the past few months, I've been super busy with our Award Booking Service and haven't had time to post here. I was amazed at how many people actually came to me this weekend and told me to write more! Everyone also asked me to write about my upcoming trip that I booked.

For many, the question is simple.