Update 8/5/15 at noon ET:

I totally messed this one up. Transfers are 1.35 Singapore miles to 1 Virgin Australia point or 1.35 Virgin Australia points to 1 Singapore mile. In both directions you lose about a quarter of your miles, so this is a terrible deal.

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.

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.

Singapore Suites on the Singapore A380 is one of the nicest products in the world. You get a fully enclosed suite, a fully flat bed, great food, expensive wines and liquors, and top notch personalized service.

Cash is great because it can buy everything from travel to your basic necessities. But sometimes miles are better. There are a lot of things I can easily do with miles that I would never do with cash (at least until my bank account had a few more zeroes.)

Dream big with your miles. Better yet, dream big before your miles. Then get the right miles to turn that dream into a reality.

Yesterday, I looked at How to Fly Singapore First Class and Suites Class from the United States to Europe or Asia. Today, I will look at the actual award space for 1-3 people in Suites Class.

This is the ninth installment of a round-the-world trip report that started here.

This week I posted that it is cheaper to use Singapore Airlines miles to book United flights to Europe in economy than it is to book the same flights with United miles.

This week I posted that it is cheaper to use Singapore Airlines miles to book United flights to Europe in economy than it is to book the same flights with United miles.

It costs fewer Singapore miles to fly United economy flights to Europe than the same flight costs with United miles, and neither award has fuel surcharges.

Conclusion: book United economy awards to Europe with Singapore miles instead of United miles.

From Singapore's award chart:

27,500 miles one way in economy to Europe (United charges 30k)
65,000 miles one way in Business Class (United charges 57.5k)
80,000 miles one way in First Class (United charges the same)

Singapore does not collect fuel surcharges on awards of United flights, so those economy awards on United flights are just cheaper