Five Underpriced Countries for Your Next Award

Sometimes you can go really far for not very miles by finding underpriced countries on your favorite award chart.

Award charts, by their nature, group several countries together for a single price. The countries at the extremes of each group are often underpriced relative to the rest of the group, leaving you the chance to get a great deal with your miles.

Here are five examples of underpriced countries on the American Airlines, United, Delta, US Airways, and British Airways award charts.
1.

US Airways, American Airlines, and British Airways Not Sharing All Award Availability

US Airways, American Airlines, and British Airways are all members of the oneworld alliance who should be equally sharing award space on their own flights with their partners.

For the first time, I've found a case where US Airways "Low" (their name for "Saver") price award space is not bookable with American Airlines or British Airways miles.

Either the US Airways space is phantom, or it isn't being shared with American Airlines and British Airways, which would be a huge problem because American Airlines and British Airways awards are often cheaper than US Airways awards.
Refresher on Partners Sharing Space

Free First Class 2014: British Airways Avios Basics

This is the seventeenth post in a monthlong series that started here. Each post will take about two minutes to read and may include an action item that takes the reader another two minutes to complete. I am writing this for an audience of people who know nothing about frequent flyer miles, and my goal is that by the end, you know enough to fly for free anywhere you want to go.

I've covered how to earn miles and the redemption options for miles.

Amazing Summer 2014 Award Space to Hawaii

American Airlines releases a ton of award space on its routes to Hawaii at the last minute.

On almost all of American Airlines' routes from Los Angeles to the four major Hawaiian islands and Dallas/Fort Worth to Oahu and Maui, there is award space for 4+ people in the next few weeks.

If you live in Southern California or North Texas, this is a great chance to use as few as 12,500 Avios per person per direction to get to Hawaii during high season when the weather is a perfect 85 degrees and sunny.

If you live somewhere else

BA.com Isn’t As Good At Finding Connections as AA.com

British Airways has a unique, distance-based award chart that can provide fantastic value for short-haul flights.

Both Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards transfer 1:1 to British Airways Avios.

British Airways has access to all American Airlines "MileSAAver" award space. Furthermore, on some routes British Airways actually charges fewer miles for the same flight than American Airlines.

Unfortunately, using ba.com is not as straightforward as using aa.com.

Why I Am Glad British Airways “Devalued” Its Frequent Flier Miles

This was the oldest unwritten "Draft" post in my folder. I wrote the title more than two years ago, but none of the post until today.

Qantas Will Fly an A380 Between Sydney and Dallas Starting This Fall

Qantas will operate its daily flight from Dallas to Sydney with an A380 starting October 1, 2014. This is a large increase in capacity from the current 747 on the route.

The Dallas to Sydney flight will be the longest A380 flight in the world at 16hr55min, so it's not one I'd be eager to fly in coach.

The route is in addition to the A380 flights Qantas operates from Los Angeles to Sydney and Melbourne.

Anatomy of an Award: Last Second Speculative Domestic Booking with British Airways Avios

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.

How to Get on a Qatar Dreamliner or Use American Airlines Miles to Fly Qatar to the Middle East and Beyond

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