With bmi poised to leave Star Alliance next week, those sitting on a mountain of Diamond Club miles would be wise to burn as many possible before 18 April. Even if British Airways transfers Diamond Club miles into Executive Club Avios points at a 1:1 rate and even conceding that the new BA Avios chart does have a few good deals, bmi currently has one of the most generous redemption charts in the industry. The chances that such a consumer-friendly award chart will survive the merger are ...

With the exception of the expanded route network and ability to search for Star Alliance partner awards online (which actually hurts my award consulting business), I cannot point to many changes I like in the new world of Continental Airlines taking over all but the United name. But I did stumble upon something else today that may prove to be helpful: additional award inventory in premium class cabins on United flights for Mileage Plus members with Platinum, 1K, or Global Services ...

Even though it is becoming easier to search for award flights with the addition of Singapore, EgyptAir and Air China to Continental.com there still remains a myriad of rules that might confuse you. In addition to booking awards through our airline award booking service, I field a number of common questions on awards booked using US Airways Dividend Miles.

Q. I'm booking an open jaw award for my destination, can I return to a different airport than I departed from? For example ...

Weekend Saver Awards are possibly one of the best things for United, and one of the worst things for consumers.  These are special awards that function almost exactly like e-fares, except that instead of paying with cash, you are using miles.  The selection is much more limited than e-fares, and the redemption is a marginally better rate than a regular domestic saver coach award.  With the flights from 15k-19k miles on a domestic round-trip, it makes me wonder how many people ...

When it comes to picking a travel destination, not only am I attracted to places off the beaten path, I am attracted to places prone to violence or relegated to "axis of evil" status. Libya has fascinated me for years and I've wanted to visit to "Qadafi Land" to get a sense for what life is like under in an Arab military dictatorship.

Last night, I got this e-mail from bmi:

Dear Matthew,

We're pleased to announce that from 1 December 2010, ...

This week we continued our series on redeeming miles for awards - this time on American Airlines and its partners in OneWorld. We discuss:

The unfortunate news of someone joining the mile high club by themselves The flight attendants in trouble for photos then ended up on a porn site (nsfw) and a prostitution ring American Airlines Awards including
American Airlines Awards AAdvantage All Airline Awards (Partner Award) OneWorld ...