I have already written the ultimate guide to Cash & Avios redemptions.

The gist is that on some, but not all, British Airways Avios redemptions you are given a menu of prices like this:

You can spend the full price in Avios (plus government taxes and fuel surcharges on some partners) or you can pay fewer Avios and make up the difference by paying more cash directly to British Airways.

Not all awards offer Cash & Avios options--for instance American Airlines domestic flights don't--and the "price" of Avios varies widely on Cash &

On Monday, I wrote about US Airways and TAM joining the oneworld alliance. That meant that US Airways and TAM flights were now bookable with British Airways Avios, a founding member of oneworld.

In the renewed interest in searching ba.com for award flights, there were some hiccups that people noted in the comments. Often the best way to plan an Avios award is to search aa.com, and then when you find the award space you want, go to ba.com to book it.

AA.com and ba.com didn't seem to be matching up in the availability that you could book.

TAM, the largest airline in Brazil, joined oneworld today March 31, 2014.

You can now book a one way flight from the United States to Brazil for 4,000 Avios and $97.50!

TAM flights are bookable with American Airlines miles and British Airways Avios and searchable on ba.com. American Airlines and British Airways do not collect fuel surcharges on TAM flights.

TAM has flights between Brazil and New York-JFK, Miami, and Orlando. All three American cities have flights to Rio de Janeiro–Galeão and São Paulo–Guarulhos.

Yesterday I wrote that The Best Value Flight Across the Atlantic Has Almost No Premium Award Space.

I'm using my miles and points very idiosyncratically at the moment to do something I'm sure none of my readers would want to do. But I think the lessons from my trip should be applicable for a lot of trips you would want to take.

Starting last weekend in Greensboro, North Carolina, I'll be following around the University of Virginia's Men's Basketball Team for the rest of the season.

Alaska Airlines flies a direct flight between Anchorage and Honolulu.

I love interesting routes from Hawaii--like the Island Hopper across the Pacific--since moving to Oahu, but I think this route has some cool possibilities for everyone, like one vacation that combines Alaska and Hawaii this summer.

Anchorage and Honolulu are 2,777 miles apart. This is a sweet spot on British Airways' distance-based award chart.

This review is a continuation of my fun US Airways redemption that I wrote about back in this post. I reviewed Turkish Business Class: Washington DC to Istanbul already and had a similar (great) experience on my flight from Istanbul to Tokyo also in Turkish Business, so I am skipping to the next segment in Cathay Pacific Business Class.

I was in Tokyo, and I wanted to add a quick side trip onto my main award, and Hong Kong seemed like the logical spot.

While other airlines search engines regress in functionality (looking in your direction, Delta), British Airways' award tool continues to improve. While researching for another article, I came across the slightly modified ba.com and noted a subtle consumer-friendly change.

Though the change is minor, British Airways has exhibited a recent history of positive improvements to their search tool.

2013 was a year of several major devaluation announcements including:

United (kicks in February 1, 2014)
Southwest (kicks in March 31, 2014)
Delta (already kicked in on current award bookings for travel that starts February 1, 2014 or later)
Hyatt (kicks in January 7, 2014)
Ultimate Rewards (with three major transfer partners devaluing--United, Southwest, and Hyatt--the program took a major hit through no fault of its own)

But the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Qatar Airways has fantastic Business Class award space on its Dreamliner and on its routes from the US to Doha and beyond in 2014.