Umamimart is a Japanese food blog I follow in my Google Reader subscriptions. And the other day, one of the writers at the blog, Yamahomo, posted a review of the International Flagship Service Japanese meal he was served in first class on an American Airlines flight from Tokyo to JFK.

He actually posted photos of the western meal service he had on the flight to Japan as well, but I’ve seen many similar images over the years.  I thought the Japanese food items were interesting, so I thought I’d share his post with you: ReCYP: First Class Cabin Meal.

Congratulations to , Ralph with comment number 64, the winner of the final oneworld MegaDo Giveaway!   Friday, I asked readers whether or not they would wear the PJs that American offers to their First Class customers. Ralph said, “Of course I’d wear them…thats why they give them to you!”. Most of you felt the same way: 62% voted in favor of pajamas. We did have one exception, from Brian #28, “I’ll just wear what I usually wear when I sleep. Just my undies.”

We had a total of five random drawings last week and as soon as I hear back from Ralph, I’ll be headed to the Post Office (if they still exist) to mail off some prizes.

Thanks to everyone for participating!

Last week was an exciting week. We had the oneworld MegaDo going on, Lego Man slipped the surly bonds of Earth to become the eleventh Canadian in space, and American offered a preview of the interior of the new 777-300ER that they’ll be receiving later this year.

After all that, you’re probably wondering what could be more exciting. How about this: Double AAdvantage Miles between Chicago and Waterloo, Iowa!

Airline: American Eagle

Award: Bonus Miles

Bonus Code: ALO2X

Dates: Travel between April 3, 2012, and June 30, 2012

Offer: Starting April 3, 2012, American Eagle will offer daily nonstop flights between Chicago O’Hare and Waterloo, IA. To celebrate, you can earn double miles every time you fly our new route through June 30, 2012.

Registration is required before you travel using bonus code ALO2X (that’s the letter “o” rather than a zero). Go here for complete details.

Photo: Two!
Credit: Nicolas Vigier on Flickr

This sweepstakes started almost two weeks ago and I didn’t notice it until yesterday, so hurry if you want to enter:  the deadline is 11:59 p.m. CT on January 31, 2012:

Hey Ski Fans! American Airlines and Telluride is giving you a chance to win a trip for 2 to Montrose, Colorado and attend The Ultimate Gay Ski Week Getaway February 26 through March 3, 2012.

Enter the Telluride Gay Ski Week Getaway Sweepstakes for your chance to win:

• First Class airfare for two to Montrose, Colorado
• Transportation to/from the airport to the hotel
• 7-night hotel stay at The Peaks Resort & Spa, the official host hotel
• 5-day lift tickets for two
• Ski/snowboard rental fees for two
• Two T-Passes to attend all Telluride Gay Ski Week Events

The terms and conditions are a little odd in that New York and Florida residents can’t enter:

Open to legal residents of the contiguous 48 United States (except the states of Florida and New York) the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico who are 21 years or older. (Update: The organizers of Gay Ski Week were nice enough to Tweet an explanation, “Issue with NY and FL was the legal reqmt to get a bond and there wasn’t enough time to secure before launch”.)

The ARV $10,332 and the winner is responsible for taxes.

To enter, all you have to do is visit the Gay and Lesbian Travel section at AA.com and submit your entry.

Photo: Vertigo anyone?
Credit: Robert Tadlock on Flickr

Chicago based creative studio Nomo has designed a series of posters featuring the runway patterns from some of the world’s busiest airports.

They measure 18″ x 24″, and are printed with white ink on Steel Gray 100# Dur-O-Tone paper by French Paper Co.

So far three of American’s five cornerstone airports (JFK, LAX and ORD) plus LHR and SFO are available, but more are on the way. You can purchase them online for $26 from the Nomo Design Store.

Drawings and Prizes

Don’t miss my my drawing to win one of the newly redesigned American Airlines premium class amenity kits with the Eames Office pattern. I’ll be announcing the winner on Monday, so if you haven’t done so already, go here to enter.

Also, The Weekly Flyer over at Points, Miles & Martinis is giving away an Admirals Club day pass. His giveaway also runs all weekend, so go here to enter.

Follow the oneworld MegaDo

If you’re trying to get caught up this weekend on all the oneworld MegaDo news, a great place to start is with the official OWMD blog and this list of bloggers:

Points, Miles & Martinis,
Deals We Like,
Miles from Blighty,
Mommy Points,
AJ from Live from a Lounge,
Gary from a View from the Wing,
Rick the Frugal Travel Guy
Brian The Points Guy,
Eric M. the new Official AAdvantage Mega VIP Video Blogger.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Congratulations to Phil, the winner of yesterday’s oneworld MegaDo Giveaway!   Yesterday I asked readers whether or not they pay attention to the inflight safety video. I confessed that I don’t pay attention even thought I know that I should. Phil said that he pays attention when he’s on a new aircraft or when he on one that he hasn’t been on in awhile. If I’m ever on a flight that runs into trouble, I hope I’m sitting next to Phil:-)

You’ve probably seen the news already, but yesterday American released some renderings of interior of the new Boeing 777-300ER that they’ll be operating later this year.  From the press release:

American is the first U.S. airline to order and take delivery of the 777-300ER. The new aircraft is designed to enhance the customer experience and includes fully lie-flat First and Business Class seats, plus seating plans that will allow American to offer a premium product in the Main Cabin and Wi-Fi capability to keep customers connected while traveling internationally.

Here’s a look at the First Class cabin with enhanced Flagship Suites, with standard power ports and a docking station for your iPod or iPhone.  UPDATE: A Thank You to David for sending in a clarification via the comments section, “FYI, the ipod docking station you’ve identified in the F class photo is actually a handheld remote control for the suite. The AA rep clarified during the MegaDO presentation since many thought it was an ipod docking station.”

Here’s the Business Class cabin with new fully lie flat seats.

Here’s coach with larger video screen and standard power connections.

This is a look at the new self service snack bar available to premium class passengers.

Their first one will be put to work in December on their route between DFW and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

I saw Seth’s post over at the Wandering Aramean and he’s floated the idea that American may be moving to a 3+4+3 seating configuration rather than the 2+5+2 setup that they have now on their 777s. I hope it’s not the case, I like that you can select the 2 seat section and have some privacy, if you’re traveling with someone else it’s a lot more pleasant that way.

The first and business class sections look great. American has really focused on upgrading their premium product. And it’s not just the seats, they’ve made improvements to the meal service by bringing in new chefs to consult on their menus, they’ve introduced new duvets and pillows, new amenity kits, and even pajamas.

So, that brings us to today’s giveaway.

To celebrate the first ever oneworld MegaDo, I’m giving away a different prize in a random drawing each day this week!

Even if you’re not going to the oneworld MegaDo, this is your chance to win some AAdvantage Geek gear.

Today’s prize: One of the brand new Premium Class Amenity Kits! The next time you’re on a flight to Chicago, just pull out your very own amenity kit, and you’ll step off the flight as Flagship fresh as a First Class passenger on a flight from London.

To enter, all you have to do is post your answer to this question in the comments section.

Would you actually wear the pajamas? Or would you just dress comfortably for your flight and sleep with your own clothing?

There’s not a right or wrong response. Just submit your answer. I’ll have a random drawing Monday morning and the winner will be announced Monday. One entry per person. The deadline to enter is Sunday night, January 29 at 11:59PM Pacific.

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Speaking of contest, The Weekly Flyer over at Points, Miles & Martinis is offering a new MegaDo related giveway. Go here to find out how you can win an Admirals Club Day Pass. 

Coverage

Gary Leff has been busy this week.  In addition to writing his View from the Wing blog, he’s going to be moonlighting over at the Official oneworld MegaDo blog and Tweeting from the events:

I’ll also be live tweeting from @OWMegaDO. Follow that twitter feed for all the live updates, including insights gleaned from airline execs and aircraft manufacturers over the course of the trip. If you’re going to be on the trip, or want to follow others that are, use or search the hash tag #OWMegaDO.

Don’t forget that you can also follow along with these bloggers.  They’ll also be providing event coverage:

Points, Miles & Martinis,
Deals We Like,
Miles from Blighty,
Mommy Points,
AJ from Live from a Lounge,
Gary from a View from the Wing,
Rick the Frugal Travel Guy
Brian The Points Guy,
Eric M. the new Official AAdvantage Mega VIP Video Blogger.

Good luck in the drawing!!

Lego Man has now joined ten other Canadian astronauts and become the eleventh Canadian in Space.

Two teenagers from Canada spent the last four months working on a project to send a Lego man 80,000 feet up into the near space region of the Earth’s atmosphere (that’s 24,384 m for you Canadians).

According the the Toronto Star, Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad used about $400, a home-made parachute, a GPS receiver, and a weather balloon to accomplish it.

To record the event they attached a camera to Lego Man and filmed the entire 97 minute journey into space. Here’s a short highlight video they put together.

They’re promising more video soon of the building process, launch, flight, and retrieval.

Go here to watch the Toronto Star interview and see some more footage.

Later today, I’ll be announcing a winner in yesterday’s oneworld MegaDo related giveaway and offering another prize in a random drawing.  Come back a little later for a chance to win!

Congratulations to Steve, the winner of yesterday’s oneworld MegaDo Giveaway!   Yesterday I asked readers whether or not they were going to miss the MD-80 series aircraft when they get replaced with the new Boieng 737s and Airbus A320s.  Opinion was pretty divided: 41% percent said that they would miss it, which leaves 59% that won’t.  For the record, here was Steve’s response “Yes…the 2×3 seat configuration is a winner.”

Here’s a look at the brand new in-flight safety video that will debute on February 1.

From the American Airlines YouTube channel:

Next time you fly AA, pay close attention to the inflight safety video, as not only does it contain important information for your trip, but also features real AA employees.  Debuting across the AA network from February 1st, 2012, our In-Flight safety video features a group of employees representing Pilots, Flight Attendants, Passenger Service, Fleet Service, aircraft, facility and line mechanic employees all committed to your safety while flying American.

I have a confession. I don’t pay attention to the in-flight safety video.  If a flight attendant gives the demonstration, I’ll almost always pay attention.   I feel kind of obligated to watch, just because I don’t want be rude.  Hopefully, the novelty of the new video will encourage me to pay attention.  

So, that brings us to today’s giveaway.

To celebrate the first ever oneworld MegaDo, I’m giving away a different prize in a random drawing each day this week!

Even if you’re not going to the oneworld MegaDo, this is your chance to win some AAdvantage Geek gear.

Today’s prize: This American Airlines Stainless Steel Travel Mug!

To enter, all you have to do is post your answer to this question in the comments section.

Do you watch the in-flight safety video?

There’s not a right or wrong response.  Just submit your answer.   I’ll have a random drawing in the morning and the winner will be announced tomorrow. One entry per person. The deadline to enter is tonight at 11:59PM Pacific.

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I know of two other bloggers that will also be giving away some oneworld MegaDo related prizes.

The Weekly Flyer over at Points, Miles & Martinis sponsored a contest with prizes for people participating in the MegaDo and as well as prizes for those that aren’t attending.   He announced a winner.  

AJ from Live from a Loung is also offering a reader contest.  So stop by his blog today for chance to win some cool MegaDo related prizes.

Coverage

Gary Leff is going to be busy this week.  In addition to writing his View from the Wing blog, he’s going to be moonlighting over at the Official oneworld MegaDo blog and Tweeting from the events:

I’ll also be live tweeting from @OWMegaDO. Follow that twitter feed for all the live updates, including insights gleaned from airline execs and aircraft manufacturers over the course of the trip. If you’re going to be on the trip, or want to follow others that are, use or search the hash tag #OWMegaDO.

Don’t forget that you can also follow along with these bloggers.  They’ll also be providing event coverage:

Points, Miles & Martinis,
Deals We Like,
Miles from Blighty,
Mommy Points,
AJ from Live from a Lounge,
Gary from a View from the Wing,
Rick the Frugal Travel Guy
Brian The Points Guy,
Eric M. the new Official AAdvantage Mega VIP Video Blogger.

Good luck in the drawing!!

If you’re about to drop a level in AAdvantage Elite Status, or worse yet, didn’t re-qualify, you can still maintain your status with the AAdvantage Elite buy back program.

An Exclusive Offer for AAdvantage Elite Status Members

Take action to maintain your AAdvantage Platinum or AAdvantage Gold Status through February, 2013!

Having AAdvantage Platinum or AAdvantage Gold status offers special benefits that can make all the difference to frequent travelers when they fly. To help make sure loyal elite status members don’t miss out on another year of valuable benefits, American Airlines is offering a special opportunity for members who do not prequalify for 2012.

Enjoy another full year of elite status by renewing your AAdvantage Platinum or AAdvantage Gold membership for a one-time charge, extending your status through February 28, 2013.

Two-Tiered Pricing
Members who have made more progress toward elite status requalification during 2011 will benefit from lower prices to extend their status. AAdvantage Platinum members who earn at least 40,000 elite qualifying miles or points (or 48 qualifying segments), and AAdvantage Gold members who earn at least 20,000 elite qualifying miles or points (or 24 qualifying segments) during 2011 qualify for lower prices.

AAdvantage Platinum
40,000 Miles or Points or 48 Segments $619
Less than 40,000 Miles and Points and less than 48 Segments $769

AAdvantage Gold
20,000 Miles or Points or 24 Segments $409
Less than 20,000 Miles and Points and less than 24 Segments $559

To participate in this offer, you must be a current AAdvantage member with Gold or Platinum status and you have to have flown at least two elite qualifying segments during 2011.

If you’re interested, go here to renew or for more information.

*********************************************************************

Not everyone will choose to maintain their status, so I’ve put together a guide to help them regain the knowledge and skills required for traveling without it.

Standing

Photo credit: David Morris via Flickr

This is a line. Now that you don’t have Priority AAccess, you’ll need to get used to standing in one.

Waiting

Photo credit: Karl Baron via Flickr

Now that your familiar with standing in line, you’ll also need to relearn how to wait your turn. You’re not going to be able to bypass the lines with Priority AAccess any longer. When you get to the security area, look for the long line. That’s the one you need to join.

Boarding

Photo credit: Tomorrow Never Knows via Flickr

This is really going to come as a surprise to many people, but most planes have more than four rows of seats. Trust me on this. Once you get past that fourth row, keep going. There’s a whole other section back there.

Luggage

Photo Credit: Boris Anthony via Flickr

Once you get to your seat, stow your luggage in the overhead bin. Don’t waste time, the space fills up pretty quickly.

Seating

Photo credit: Neff Conner via Flickr

After you put away your luggage, sit down in your assigned seat. Don’t panic when the flight attendant doesn’t come to get your jacket or coat. You’re responsible for putting it away. Also, be patient. It will take awhile for everyone to find their seats. An airplane can hold a lot more people than you’d think.

Sitting

Photo credit: hildgrim via Flickr

Once you’re in your seat, look down. Those are your knees. Get used to looking at them. They’ll be closer to your face than you’re used to.

Dining

Photo credit: Sarah via Flickr

Unless you’re on an international flight, this is meal service. Note: the object to the left with the Citicard ad: it’s a napkin. It’s made out of paper and doesn’t have a button hole, but the upside is that you can take it home with you if you’d like.

Entertainment

Photo credit: Ryan T via Flickr

It’s best to bring your own entertainment. Otherwise you’ll be left staring at the “Fasten Seat Belt While Seated” embroidered on the back of the seat in front of you, or you’ll be looking at a small screen suspended from the ceiling (look closely, that’s the screen in the background).

Sleeping

Photo credit: Joanna Poe via Flickr

There are no lie-flat seats in this section of the plane, so rather than leaning back, you may want to try the leaning forward sleeping position.

Comfort

Photo credit: pettr via Flickr

Here’s a really valuable tip that many people swear by: drink. It’s won’t do you any good to get drunk, but you might find that traveling without AAdvantage Elite Status is a lot easier if you have five or six drinks.

I hope this guide has been helpful.

Remember, it doesn’t matter where you sit on the plane, you’ll still earn AAdvantage Miles. And one of the best things you can do with those miles is redeem them for an upgrade so you can get back up to the front of the plane.

Later today, I’ll be announcing a winner in yesterday’s oneworld MegaDo related giveaway and offering another prize in a random drawing. Come back a little later for a chance to win!

Congratulations to wis, the winner of yesterday’s oneworld MegaDo Giveaway!  Yesterday I asked readers to weigh in on whether or not American would extend the Double Elite Qualifying Miles offer. The consensus view was: No.

I mentioned this before, but I was on a plane and met The Frequent Flyer Collector.  Even though we’d never met before, both of us had a layover so we ended up having lunch and talking about miles, points, and planes.

At some point in the conversation we started talking about how much we both liked the new Boeing 737-800s with the Sky-Interior. I mentioned to him that as much as I liked the new planes, that I was going to miss the MD-80s when they got replaced.

That’s something I never thought I’d say.  Either because my first flights were on a Boeing, or because I grew up thinking that the 747 was the coolest plane on earth, I’ve always had this Boeing bias.

But something that I do like about the MD-80s that I didn’t realize until recently, is the 3/2 seat configuration in coach.

If you’re traveling with another person, it’s nice to have the whole 2 seat row to yourselves.

The 3 and 3 seating configuration of the 737 means that one of you is going to have to sit in the middle seat, or that you’re going to have a stranger sitting in between.

So, that brings us to today’s giveaway.

To celebrate the first ever oneworld MegaDo, I’m giving away a different prize in a random drawing each day this week!

Even if you’re not going to the oneworld MegaDo, this your chance to win some AAdvantage Geek gear.

Today’s prize: This American Airlines MD-80 cap!

To enter, all you have to do is post your answer to this question in the comments section.

Are you going to miss the MD-80?

There’s not right or wrong answer. Just submit your answer.  I’ll have a random drawing in the morning and the winner will be announced tomorrow. One entry per person. The deadline to enter is tonight at 11:59PM Pacific.

*******************************************************

I know of two other bloggers that will also be giving away some oneworld MegaDo related prizes.

The Weekly Flyer over at Points, Miles & Martinis was sponsoring a contest with prizes for people participating in the MegaDo and as well as prizes for those that aren’t attending.  Today is the last day to enter.  Now you can help him pick a winner.  

AJ from Live from a Loung is also offering a reader contest.  So stop by his blog today for chance to win some cool MegaDo related prizes.

Coverage

Gary Leff is going to be busy this week.  In addition to writing his View from the Wing blog, he’s going to be moonlighting over at the Official oneworld MegaDo blog and Tweeting from the events:

I’ll also be live tweeting from @OWMegaDO. Follow that twitter feed for all the live updates, including insights gleaned from airline execs and aircraft manufacturers over the course of the trip. If you’re going to be on the trip, or want to follow others that are, use or search the hash tag #OWMegaDO.

Don’t forget that you can also follow along with these bloggers.  They’ll also be providing event coverage:

Points, Miles & Martinis,
Deals We Like,
Miles from Blighty,
Mommy Points,
AJ from Live from a Lounge,
Gary from a View from the Wing,
Rick the Frugal Travel Guy
Brian The Points Guy,
Eric M. the new Official AAdvantage Mega VIP Video Blogger.

Good luck in the drawing!!

Photo: Landed at Dallas/FT Worth Airport
Credit: Nick Ares on Flickr

Congratulations to Naif, the winner of yesterday’s oneworld MegaDo Giveaway!  I guess I should also congratulate DFW, LAX, and Miami.  All three airports tied as readers’ favorite American Airlines Cornerstone hub.

The other day I was on a flight and I’m sitting in an exit row seat, the middle seat next to me was empty, and  there’s a guy sitting next to the window.  

After we land, the guy grabs his backback from under the seat in front of him, and I happen to notice that he has a milepoint luggage tag on his backpack.

So I ask him if he’s on a mileage run and he tells me yes and we start to talk about how many elite qualifying miles he’s racked up this year.

There’s a guy standing across the aisle from us that hears what we’re talking about and he joins in on the conversation.  He tells us he’s been on that same 737 multiple times and that he was beginning to recognize some of the other mileage runners.  He kept running into some of them in airport and up in the air.

We exit the airplane and the first guy (shout out to K!) had a tight turnaround so he headed off to catch a flight.  

So the second guy and I head off to the food court to get something to eat.

Later I find out that he’s the blogger behind The Frequent Flyer Collector and that he’s on a quest to earn Executive Platinum.

He’s making use of the system wide Double Elite Qualifying Miles offer and by the end of the month he will have been on 9 trips and will be within 5,000 miles of reaching his goal.   He’ll probably make Executive Platinum just after the first of February!

We talk about the Double Elite Qualifying Miles promotion and whether or not American will extended it after it expires at the end of the month.  He doesn’t think it will, but he does think that we may see it come back later in the year.

If I had to guess, I’d say that he’s probably right.  I think American will wait and see what happens to travel demand before they rush off and extend it.

Of course, that hasn’t stopped people from speculating.  There’s even this mysterious promo code being discussed in a thread on one of the forums.  There’s absolutely no reason to believe that’s it legit, so don’t go and book any February mileage runs just yet.

So, that brings us to today’s giveaway.

To celebrate the first ever oneworld MegaDo, I’m giving away a different prize in a random drawing each day this week!

Even if you’re not going to the oneworld MegaDo, this your chance to win some AAdvantage Geek gear.

Today’s prize: This American Airlines Seatbelt Keychain. It’s even got a working buckle!

To enter, all you have to do is post your answer to this question in the comments section.

Do you think American will extend the current system wide Double Elite Qualifying Miles promotion?

There’s not right or wrong answer.  Just submit your choice.  I’ll have a random drawing in the morning and the winner will be announced tomorrow.  One entry per person.  The deadline to enter is tonight at 11:59PM Pacific.

*******************************************************

I know of two other bloggers that will also be giving away some oneworld MegaDo related prizes.

The Weekly Flyer over at Points, Miles & Martinis is sponsoring a contest with prizes for people participating in the MegaDo and as well as prizes for those that aren’t attending.  Today is the last day to enter.

AJ from Live from a Loung is also offering a reader contest.  So stop by his blog today for chance to win some cool MegaDo related prizes.

Coverage

Gary Leff is going to be busy this week.  In addition to writing his View from the Wing blog, he’s going to be moonlighting over at the Official oneworld MegaDo blog and Tweeting from the events:

I’ll also be live tweeting from @OWMegaDO. Follow that twitter feed for all the live updates, including insights gleaned from airline execs and aircraft manufacturers over the course of the trip. If you’re going to be on the trip, or want to follow others that are, use or search the hash tag #OWMegaDO.

Don’t forget that you can also follow along with these bloggers.  They’ll also be providing event coverage:

Points, Miles & Martinis,
Deals We Like,
Miles from Blighty,
Mommy Points,
AJ from Live from a Lounge,
Gary from a View from the Wing,
Rick the Frugal Travel Guy
Brian The Points Guy,
Eric M. the new Official AAdvantage Mega VIP Video Blogger.

Good luck in the drawing!!