Anatomy of an Award: Booking Domestic United Flight with Singapore Miles

Singapore miles are fantastic for booking domestic awards on United flights. Singapore has access to all the exact same Saver award space on United flights that United miles have access to (except extra space set aside for elites), and Singapore charges fewer miles on some routes.

Singapore miles are also easier to get than United miles.

Anatomy of an Award: Cancun, Panama, Buenos Aires, and Montevideo on One Singapore Award

My friend just booked a Singapore Airlines award with two stopovers, one destination, and one open jaw. He'll be hopping through the Americas for six weeks for 60,000 miles and $123.

I'm especially keen to highlight this award because:

it's interesting
easy to copy
similar to awards I've written about theoretically
Singapore miles are the easiest to amass. Singapore KrisFlyer is a 1:1 transfer partner of American Express, Chase and Citi.

Singapore Routing Rules
The type of miles you use determine the rules your award has to follow.

Big Sales on United Awards to India, Middle East, and Japan

United is offering award sales, several of them unannounced, to destinations all over the world at the moment.

United's unannounced sale on Business Class awards to Europe is ongoing And now, via Dan's Deals, United is offering three more discounts:

Business Class between the United States and Central Asia for 70,000 miles each way on partner airlines for awards flown by March 31, 2015.

Big Sales on United Awards to India, Middle East, and Japan

United is offering award sales, several of them unannounced, to destinations all over the world at the moment.

United's unannounced sale on Business Class awards to Europe is ongoing And now, via Dan's Deals, United is offering three more discounts:

Business Class between the United States and Central Asia for 70,000 miles each way on partner airlines for awards flown by March 31, 2015.

Free Giveaway Friday: 5 United Club Passes

Generous reader Chrissie is donating five United Club passes that expire 2/28/15, about two months from now, to two lucky winners. I'll divvy them up, so that one winner wins two and the other three. If you can use the passes between January 10 and February 28 (to account for the delay in sending them), there are two ways to win: a comment or a retweet.

United has lounges all over the world. The clubs are a pleasant place to relax in a comfortable chair, use free wifi, and enjoy free snack and drinks. Here are the amenities.

Two Tricks When United.com Isn’t Working

United.com is convenient to use, but doesn't work very well.

I ran a simple search the other day, and got a different problem with a different solution for the outbound and the return.
The Plan
I was just running a search from Chicago to Sydney roundtrip.

Discount on Business Class United Awards to Europe

Right now, awards:

booked with United miles
between the United States and Europe
for flights in January, February, and March 2015
on partner airlines
cost only 57,500 miles each way in Business Class

That's the same price that awards booked on United's own flights cost, and 12,500 miles off the normal price for Business Class awards on United partners--70,000 miles each way.

I have been monitoring what I believe to be an un-announced sale (rather than a glitch) closely because I am looking to book myself an award in Business Class from the United States to Seville

20% Off United Awards to Hawaii, Mexico, and Ski Destinations

United is offering a 20% discount on roundtrip Saver economy awards booked this month to Hawaii, Mexico, and several ski and warm weather destinations in the continental United States.

Award Space Every Day This Summer to Lima

Some credit card offers in this post have expired, but they might come back. If they do they will appear --> Click here for the top current credit card sign up bonuses.

Bri wrote in her Free Credit Card Consultation:
2 passengers, to Lima, Peru. Anytime in July 2015 (hopefully stay 2 weeks). I would love to fly business class but I would like to err on the side of opening just 1 card, if possible. My friend is willing to also open a card.

How I Just Blew Rudy Maxa’s Mind

I just appeared on the Rudy Maxa radio show to talk about United making it harder to achieve elite status by adding a separate spending requirement on United tickets in addition to miles flown, a requirement which came into effect this year and is increasing next year.

Rudy asked how folks should adapt to this change, and I don't think he expected such an easy answer.

From United.com:

"Does the PQD [Scott: Premier Qualifying Dollars, the amount you must spend on United tickets] requirement apply to all MileagePlus members?

For 2014, the PQD requirement only applies to members whose primary