Comprehensive Spread Sheets of Eight Star Alliance Award Charts: Cheapest Awards to Every Region

Updated 1/29/16 to reflect new Aeroplan award prices effective for awards booked 12/15/15 or later.
Updated 10/6/15 to reflect new ANA award prices effective for awards booked 10/15/15 or later.

In the last few weeks, I have published some comparative charts of Star Alliance award charts. I'm putting all of those charts into this post for easier reference.

You can use any type of Star Alliance miles to book almost any Star Alliance flight. (Swiss, Lufthansa, and Singapore hold back some premium cabin award space for their own members.

Anatomy of an Award: USA to Chile in Business Class for 35,000 Miles

I just booked myself an award from Los Angeles to Santiago, Chile in Business Class for 35,000 Asiana miles + $24. United would have charged 55,000 miles for the same flights!

Why Asiana Miles
Asiana has really cheap awards to Europe and South America and really expensive awards elsewhere.

Star Alliance Business Class Award Space to Europe is Wide Open for Four People

Award space is wide open in Turkish Airlines Business Class between the United States and Europe for four people per flight over the heart of the Summer.

This is amazing news because normally award space over the summer is the toughest to find, finding four seats on the same flight in Business Class is almost unheard of, Turkish flies to more countries than any other airline, and you can book the space for as cheap as 40,000 miles one way with no fuel surcharges.
Turkish Routes
These are Turkish's routes to the United States.

From Istanbul, there are great

Great Award Space to Rio de Janeiro for Carnaval 2016 and Olympics

To anyone who will listen, I say that you should not expect to use your miles at peak times on high demand routes. Airlines use miles to get rid of distressed inventory--seats they don't expect to sell.

My Experience Changing My Asiana Award

A few weeks ago, I used 27,500 Asiana miles (transferred from 22,500 Starpoints) to book myself a Business Class award from Honolulu to Bogota, Colombia. Now I'll tell you how to change an Asiana Club award.

I chose to use Asiana miles because it has a number of ridiculously cheap sweet spots including from Hawaii to South America.

Anatomy of An Award: Asiana Miles to Fly Honolulu to Bogota and an Automatic Alert

Last week I used 27,500 Asiana miles + $38.30 to book myself a Business Class award from Honolulu to Bogota that I'll fly next month.

This is a steal of a deal because United would have charged 45,000 miles for the same ticket.

While I am ticketed, one of my two legs is in economy, so I have set an automatic alert to let me know if Business Class space opens on the leg on which I'm currently ticketed in economy.

Why use Asiana miles?
How to get Asiana miles and transfer time
Route planning
Award Search
Award

Anatomy of An Award: Asiana Miles to Fly Honolulu to Bogota and an Automatic Alert

Last week I used 27,500 Asiana miles + $38.30 to book myself a Business Class award from Honolulu to Bogota that I'll fly next month.

This is a steal of a deal because United would have charged 45,000 miles for the same ticket.

While I am ticketed, one of my two legs is in economy, so I have set an automatic alert to let me know if Business Class space opens on the leg on which I'm currently ticketed in economy.

Why use Asiana miles?
How to get Asiana miles and transfer time
Route planning
Award Search
Award

Amazing United Dreamliner Business Class Space to Rio and Santiago

United is offering tons of Business Class award space for the next 11 months on its flights to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Santiago, Chile.

Both routes will soon be flown by United's brand new 787-9 Dreamliners with flat beds in Business Class. You can book either route for as little as 35,000 miles one way.
United 787-9 Dreamliner
The United 787-9 Dreamliner has 48 beds in Business class in a 2-2-2 configuration. I would choose a middle seat, since both have direct aisle access.

Amazing United Dreamliner Business Class Space to Rio and Santiago

United is offering tons of Business Class award space for the next 11 months on its flights to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Santiago, Chile.

Both routes will soon be flown by United's brand new 787-9 Dreamliners with flat beds in Business Class. You can book either route for as little as 35,000 miles one way.
United 787-9 Dreamliner
The United 787-9 Dreamliner has 48 beds in Business class in a 2-2-2 configuration. I would choose a middle seat, since both have direct aisle access.

Lufthansa First Class to Europe for 40,000 Points + $311

Updated June 3: The Asiana miles showed up today, meaning the transfer took 14 days. My last transfer in September 2014 took 17 days. In the interim, I've decided not to book Lufthansa First Class from Europe to the United States in June, but the Asiana award chart is so good that I don't mind have 60,000 points on hand. That's almost enough for Business Class one way USA to Argentina (35k) + First Class USA to Hawaii (27.5k).

You can book Lufthansa First Class for 50,000 Asiana Club miles--40,000 Starpoints--one way.