Asiana Airlines is a member of Star Alliance--United's alliance--based in Seoul, South Korea. I flew Asiana First Class on its A380 last year and was very impressed.

Since Asiana is a member of Star Alliance, all the award space it releases is bookable with United miles. Until recently the award space showed up on searches of united.com also. For whatever reason, Asiana award space no longer displays on united.com.

A generous reader is donating two United Club passes that expire 2/28/15, about 2.5 weeks from now, to one lucky winner. If you can use the passes between the 15th and 28th of this month (to account for the delay in sending them), comment on this post with how you'll use the passes.

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.

United.com is offering cheaper prices for partner Business Class award award bookings than what United's chart says the price is. This sale is unannounced and could end at any time.

In February 2014, United went to two charts: a cheaper one for flights on United and a more expensive one for partner flights--way more expensive in Business and First Class.

Last month, there were unannounced sales in partner Business Class to Europe, the Middle East, and India. These sales were restricted to off peak times though--January, February, and March.

Thai Airways First Class on its 747 operates daily between Bangkok and Sydney.

ANA's "First Square" is one of the nicest First Classes in the world.

The fully enclosed suite featured on ANA's 777-300ERs is a top of the line hard product, including a fully flat bed.

In addition, it comes with--from the reports I've read--typical, excellent service you would expect from a top Asian airline and fancy touches like caviar.

ANA has announced schedule changes that put the 777-300ER on new routes this year.

Tokyo-Narita to Houston starting June 12
Tokyo-Narita to Singapore starting March 29
Tokyo-Narita to Seattle starting May 6
Tokyo-Narita to Frankfurt starting May 7

The only one of

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.