According to this thread on FlyerTalk, British Airways has made some enhancements to their Avios booking functionality on BA.com. I normally cringe when I hear the word "enhancement" associated with a frequent flyer program, but this is actually good news!

Back in December I wrote up British Airways improving their online award search functionality. Once a frustrating experience with multiple unnecessary clicks, BA.com could now display oneworld partner availability immediately and allow you to hop around to different dates on the calendar.

This is the seventeenth post in a monthlong series that started here. Each post will take about two minutes to read and may include an action item that takes the reader another two minutes to complete. I am writing this for an audience of people who know nothing about frequent flier miles, and my goal is that by the end, you know enough to fly for free anywhere you want to go.

Long time reader Ken just blew my mind:

"No one in mentioning whether this looming merger will affect redemptions via BA. It seems this may be a great time to focus on Avios. With US Airways switching alliances, there should be more availibility for BA awards?

Any thoughts?"

It took me a bit to catch on, but then I understood: US Airways will join oneworld as part of its merger with American Airlines, but before the merger is completed. The current best guess is that US Airways joins oneworld on November 1, 2013.

Long time reader Ken just blew my mind:

"No one in mentioning whether this looming merger will affect redemptions via BA. It seems this may be a great time to focus on Avios. With US Airways switching alliances, there should be more availibility for BA awards?

Any thoughts?"

It took me a bit to catch on, but then I understood: US Airways will join oneworld as part of its merger with American Airlines, but before the merger is completed. The current best guess is that US Airways joins oneworld on November 1, 2013.

Cathay Pacific has initiated four-times-weekly flights from Hong Kong to the Maldives with an A330 aircraft with fully flat business class (but no first class.)

The route opens up an exciting ultra-luxury way for Americans to get to the Maldives with a combination of American Airlines miles and British Airways Avios on Cathay Pacific flights.

What's the optimal use of your miles on these flights?

Cathay Pacific is a Hong Kong-based member of the oneworld alliance, which flies to the US with what many people consider to be the world's best

British Airways has just announced that it will operate Los Angeles <-> London Heathrow twice daily with A380s starting April 10, 2014.

British Airways First Class looks awesome, and its Club World Business Class is awesome.

United scared me a lot on Friday when it tweeted that changes were coming to MileagePlus.

United still hasn't told us what those changes are, but insists we'll like them.

It's very unlikely I'll like them much. It could be a minor enhancement, but there are very few things I would change about United MileagePlus that United would also change.

United scared me a lot on Friday when it tweeted that changes were coming to MileagePlus.

United still hasn't told us what those changes are, but insists we'll like them.

It's very unlikely I'll like them much. It could be a minor enhancement, but there are very few things I would change about United MileagePlus that United would also change.

When you get to the payment page of booking an award with British Airways Avios, you're offered a rare proposition in the world of frequent flyer miles:

pay the stated amount of Avios + taxes and fuel surcharges
pay 50-90% of the stated amount of Avios + taxes, fuel surcharges, and an extra cash co-pay.

This extra-cash-plus-Avios option is one to consider in advance, so I'll do the work, so you can do the travel.

What's your best play?

I tried to price out the 12 oneworld partners in different cabins on domestic and international routes.

For some routes, no

American Airlines has released award space in first class on its three-cabin 777 from Los Angeles to Miami on 18 days in April 2014 including the last 11 days.