Weekend Update: The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner paid a visit to American Airlines and DFW airport on Friday. I’m planning to post my photos from the event on Monday, but here’s a sneak preview.

This is a photo of the crew rest cabin that’s located in an upper level compartment in the front of the plane. There’s another crew rest cabin in the back that looks exactly the same. Here’s a photo of the forward crew cabin.

I’ll have some more photos from the event on Friday and will post them early this next week.

Win 1,000 Free AAdvantage Miles and a Gourmet Cookie

 To win the miles and the cookie, just go here to the original post and answer this question “Do you prefer to print out your boarding pass or do you use the mobile boarding pass?”

Here’a look at the cookie:

Hmmmm Hmm!

So go here to enter.  

I hope everyone is having a good weekend.  And Happy Mother’s Day too all the moms!!

Here’s a chance to travel like a celebrity, and to meet one.  American Airlines just launched their new Guaranteed Smoothness Sweepstakes to promote their Five Star VIP travel assistance, and the winner of the drawing will receive a VIP trip to Los Angeles and will get to meet Michael Bublé.
From the promo page:

Beginning today, the American Airlines Five Star Service Guaranteed Smoothness Sweepstakes offers customers the opportunity to register for the chance to win a VIP trip to Los Angeles complete with American’s Five Star Service and an exclusive, VIP meet-and-greet with legendary smooth jazz singer Michael Bublé.

“Our celebrated Five Star Service offers customers personalized assistance that ensures an expedited and hassle-free travel experience,” said Nancy Knipp, American’s Managing Director – Premium Services.

“The lucky winners of our sweepstakes will experience firsthand the smooth Five Star Service travel experience and will be treated like a VIP from start to finish during this once-in-a-lifetime journey.”

Some details of the prize

Through June 11, 2012, customers can register at www.aa.com/buble for the chance to win an exciting trip package that includes two First Class tickets to Los Angeles (LAX);

Five Star Service for two;

an exclusive, VIP gathering with Michael Bublé;

A $2,000 American Express gift card to be applied toward hotel, dining, shopping and more.

If you’re not familiar with American’s Five Star service, it’s one-on-one personal assistance at the airport to escort you through the check-in and security process to minimize wait times and stress, and to get you to the Admirals Club where you can relax before your fight:

Here’s a list of 5 Star services:

Coordinate with Car Service
Curbside Meet & Greet
Assist with Check-in including exclusive Flagship Check-in at participating airports
Expedite through Security Queue
Admirals Club Lounge Access
Pro-active Flight Monitoring and Priority Re-Accommodation during Delays
Escort to Gate
Coordinate Special Requests with In-Flight Crew
Pre-Boarding Assistance

It cost between $125-$200 for Domestic Five Star travel assistance.   The service has received good reviews (like this one from Marshal Jackson when he purchased Five Star Service for his mom as a Mother’s Day gift), and though I can’t imagine actually needing the assistance for myself, I’ve been tempted to try it just so that I can check out the Flagship Check-in area at LAX.  

As for the sweepstakes, I have to confess that I had heard the name Michael Bublé but wasn’t sure why he was famous (now I know), which isn’t a comment on him or his celebrity so much as the fact that my iPod is living in the 90′s!

From the terms and conditions:

• NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN.
• OPEN TO/ENTRY DETAILS: Open to legal residents of the 48 contiguous United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 years or older.
• Sweepstakes begins at 11:59 a.m. [Central time (“CT”) April 27, 2012 and all entries must be received by 11:59 a.m. CT time on June 11, 2012.
• PRIZE DETAILS: Two (2) Grand Prizes each with an ARV of $8,400. Total ARV of all Prizes: $16,800.

Go here to enter. Good luck!

Photo: Michael Bublé
Credit: Eva Rinaldi on Flickr

London and Partners, the official promotional organization for London tourism, is sponsoring the new “Limited Edition London: More Magical Than Ever Before” sweepstakes.

The prize For Two Adults Includes these descriptions:

Round-Trip Coach Travel to London on American Airlines
American has served London since 1982, and today flies to London from seven US gateways: New York, Boston, Raleigh-Durham, Miami, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, with a total of 19 daily departures.

Three Nights Accommodation at a Thistle Hotel
Enjoy three nights stay in London (including breakfast) at a Thistle hotel of your choice. Thistle has 32 hotels across the country, many in superb city centre locations, including 10 in some iconic, central London locations.

£100 Shopping Voucher for Westfield London
With more than 300 shops and 65 restaurants, Westfield London is the London’s ultimate luxury shopping destination, and we are delighted to offer the winning couple a £100 gift card to spend onsite.

Two 2-day London Passes
The London Sightseeing Pass is a time and money saving pre-paid entry ticket giving you entry to your choice of more than 60 top London attractions including the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, and a Thames River Cruise all for one fixed price.

Dinner and a Pint in a Taylor Walker London Pub
Visit the Prince of Wales pub in Drury Lane, Covent Garden for a pint of real ale and a classic British dish such as hand battered fish, chips and mushy peas, or a roast dinner of the day. The Prince of Wales is a traditional London pub situated in the heart of London’s theatre district.

To enter, all you have to do is provide them with your email address and a few other details (nothing too onerous in my mind) and then sign up for their newsletter.

The contest ends May 31, 2012, so go here for the rules, then go here to enter. Good Luck!!

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Here’s a great way to start your week off: Win AAdvantage Miles and Discount Codes

Win Miles – Today is the last day to vote in American’s AAdvantage Tips Facebook contest for a chance to win 5,000 AAdvantage Miles. You can also vote for your favorite Expert Tip (I’m participating) and help me win some miles to give away on the blog and to donate to AA’s Miles for Kids.

Win More Miles: Don’t forget that Monday is AAdvantage Day at the Frugal Travel Guy. Go share your favorite AAdvantage advice in the comments section for a chance to win 2,500 AAdvantage Miles!

Save Money: High jumping blogger Michael W, over the at Michael W Travels, is sponsoring a drawing today to give away two American Airlines discount codes. To win, all you have to do is leave a comment on his blog. While you’re there, check out his Top 5 Animal Encounters post; it’s a feature in this month’s ScotteVest newsletter (congratulations Michael W!).

Photo: London Underground
Credit: _dChris on Flickr

Passengers traveling from Los Angeles to JFK today will get to take part in a high altitude film festival. From a USC Annenberg School of Communications press release:

Universal Pictures partnered with USC Annenberg to develop ideas to celebrate the Studio’s 100th anniversary.

Now, one of the USC students’ ideas is taking off on April 30 with the first-ever inflight film festival to commemorate the Studio’s legacy and 100 years in moviemaking. Universal Pictures is teaming up with American Airlines to welcome customers onboard Flight 1 and Flight 22 with this special in-air transcontinental film festival featuring two of Universal’s beloved films, Field of Dreams and Seabiscuit.

As a toast to Universal’s special day, customers onboard select American Airlines flights between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) will be invited to sit back and enjoy the films. Gift bags will be distributed at the gates of participating flights prior to departure, giving customers a coupon for a free 15-minute inflight internet session, headphones and classic movie candy.

You don’t have to be a passenger on one of the two flights participate:

Fans will have a chance to be one of 10 winners, randomly selected from qualifying tweets. Winners will receive an in-air Universal Centennial Blu-ray prize pack. Anyone can join in for a chance to win by using the hashtag #Universal100 in their tweets from April 30 through May 1.

Go here to read the press release and follow @AmericanAir for more details.

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Here’s a great way to start your week off: Win AAdvantage Miles and Discount Codes

Win Miles – Today is the last day to vote in American’s AAdvantage Tips Facebook contest for a chance to win 5,000 AAdvantage Miles. You can also vote for your favorite Expert Tip (I’m participating) and help me win some miles to give away on the blog and to donate to AA’s Miles for Kids.

Win More Miles: Don’t forget that Monday is AAdvantage Day at the Frugal Travel Guy. Go share your favorite AAdvantage advice in the comments section for a chance to win 2,500 AAdvantage Miles!

Save Money: High jumping blogger Michael W, over the at Michael W Travels, is sponsoring a drawing today to give away two American Airlines discount codes. To win, all you have to do is leave a comment on his blog. While you’re there, check out his Top 5 Animal Encounters post; it’s a feature in this month’s ScotteVest newsletter (congratulations Michael W!).

Photo: Universal’s logo in the ’40s
Credit: PappyV on Flickr

Today is the last day to enter the oneworld travel alliance “Go for the Emerald” sweepstakes.

Discover the benefits of the oneworld alliance.
You might be rewarded with a trip for two around the world.

As a frequent flyer, you can enjoy many benefits that help make travel an easier and more rewarding experience through the oneworld alliance.

We invite you to discover these benefits in our hidden object game, Go For The Emerald. And when you travel through the three rooms named for oneworld tiers the Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald rooms youll discover the great benefits you have wherever you fly.

Plus, you’ll have a chance to win two round-the-world tickets in Business Class.

You’re allowed up to five entries, so if you played when it was first released, but haven’t played again, then this is the time to increase your odds of winning. But hurry, the contest ends tonight. From the official rules:

•  NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN.

• There is a limit of a total of five (5) entries per email address regardless of entry method.

•  ENTRY DETAILS: Open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 years or older.

•  Sweepstakes begins at 11:59 a.m. Eastern time (ET] February 22, 2012 and all entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET time on April 27, 2012.

•  PRIZE DETAILS: One Prize consisting of 2 oneworld Explorer 3- continent tickets, ARV $21,480.56.

Go here for the complete rules and visit oneworld.com/emerald to play,

Good luck and have a great weekend!

Back in December oneworld member Cathay Pacific opened a new First and Business Class lounge in San Francisco’s international terminal.

The lounge is built with the finest quality Carrara white marble & “China Black” granite, with warm bamboo wood finishes and panoramic windows offering an abundance of natural light. The reception wall is made of Venetian glass tiles by Fabbian of Italy, and backlit, to create a sparkling abstract impression of bamboo, whilst ensuring a consistent look and feel to the airline’s flagship lounges at Hong Kong International Airport.

To enable passengers to relax, there is comfortable lounge seating, including the innovative Cathay Solus Chair. Handcrafted by Poltrona Frau in Italy, the unique and popular Cathay Solus Chair is a specially built unit designed for our single customers offering a space to eat, work and relax.

There’s even a noodle bar offering freshly prepared Dan Dan noodles and won ton soup.

Here’s a video tour that was posted to YouTube last week.

To access the lounges, you’ll have to be traveling on Cathay Pacific in First or Business Class, or have oneworld Sapphire or above status, and through the end of April if you check in with foursquare you’ll get a free gift and a chance to win an upgrade:

We’re taking “check-in” to a whole new level in San Francisco! From now until April 30, passengers can check-in on Foursquare at Cathay Pacific’s First and Business Class Lounge at SFO to receive an exclusive gift and enter for a chance to win an upgrade on your next flight.

For more info, you can follow the details on Cathay Pacific’s Facebook page.

American Way Magazine is located in the seat pocket in front of you on every American Airlines flight, and in the latest issue they profile the winners in the 2011 Road Warrior contest.

Neal Gottlieb, of Sausalito, CA, was the Grand-Prize Winner. He traveled a total 101,854 miles last year as co-owner and founding twin of Three Twins Ice Cream (if you’re not familiar with Three Twins, they make an incredible lemon cookie ice cream that’s, thankfully, not available in Dallas, otherwise I’d be 500 pounds).

Coinciding with their Road Warrior issue, American Way has launched a new Road Warrior Community and they’re offering a chance to win 100,000 AAdvantage Miles by joining and submitting a review:

With all of your travels, we know you’ve gathered some great insider tips about cities around the world. Share them with our Road Warrior Community for your chance to win 100,000 AAdvantnage Miles!

After registering for the Road Warrior Community you will be able to build an itinerary and write a review of your favorite restaurants, hotels, bars, and other attractions.

From the rules:

Sweepstakes offered only in the U.S., and is open only to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico who are 18 years of age or older at the time of entry.

Entrants must either create an online itinerary or leave a review in order to be eligible to win the Grand Prize.

Prize Value: $1,990.00.

The deadline to enter is September 14, 2012 at 11:59 pm CDT.

Go here for terms and conditions and to enter. Good luck!

Good morning. Travel, and some technical difficulties at Boarding Area, conspired to keep me away from updating for a few days, but I’m back home and back to the blog.

Reader Giveaway Results:

Last Wednesday, I shared the seating dilemma I was facing, when I had to choose between a middle seat on an exit-row, or a non exit-row aisle seat. I asked readers to weigh in with their advice for a chance to enter a random drawing to give away an @AmericanAir USB Card with free Gogo Wifi code.

Congratulations to mangoMan! His comment, “Aisle. Sometimes exit rows suffer from a shorter seat base than regular seats and I find this particularly uncomfortable.” was randomly selected to win the AA USB card and wifi code.

Thanks to everyone for all the comments, I decided to take the aisle seat, something that 41 out of 58 readers said that they would do too. I got really lucky, the middle seat on my aisle stayed empty, so the window seat passenger and I were able enjoy the extra elbow room and extra storage space.

Speaking of advice, there are two ways for you win AAdvantage Miles today for sharing your favorite AAdvantage tip.

It’s MondAAy at The Frugal Travel Guy

The Frugal Travel Guy has lined up sponsors to give away reader prizes with each of his Deal of the Day updates.  American is the sponsor on Mondays and you can earn 2,500 AAdvantage Miles today just by sharing your favorite American Airlines related deal:

For today’s Deal of the Day American Airlines AAdvantage has provided 2500 AAdvantage miles for the best deals, fares, promotions, anything related to American Airlines, their oneworld partners or AAdvantage partners. Add it to the comments section of this post or this afternoon’s Deal of the Day post to be eligible to win.

One of my favorite tips is to redeem mileage awards to Europe in March or April.  Availability is is good and you can save miles by redeeming them at reduced MileSAAver Off-Peak levels. Besides, Spring in Europe beautiful and the museums aren’t as crowded.  Go here to share your tip. 

Check out the AAdvantage Facebook page

You can also win some miles by sharing a tip on the AAdvantage Facebook page (hat tip to Michael W Travels):

Do you think you’re an AAdvantage miles expert? Do you research which retailer will earn you the most miles? Are friends and family in awe of the trip to Europe you took with your miles? Share your knowledge! Introducing the new Tips Tab, where you can share your AAdvantage program advice—from earning and redeeming miles to program benefits and reaching elite status.

Share your favorite AAdvantage program tip today and enter for the chance to win 5,000 AAdvantage miles!

Go here to get started.

Congratulations to Shannon, she’s the randomly selected winner of Tuesday’s Reader Giveaway!  Yesterday I asked readers to name their favorite snack.   Shannon is a big fan (just like me) of Delta’s Biscoff cookies, “I love Delta’s cookies … could eat them for 8 hours straight” 

Reader Drawing: Win an American Airlines USB Card and Free Code for Gogo Wifi

The AA social media team was nice enough to give me five USB cards with free codes for Gogo Inflight Wifi.   I’ve given away four so far,  so this is the final drawing.

I’m traveling today.  Back when I booked my ticket, the exit rows were full so I selected a regular aisle seat.  My usual strategy is to get on the upgrade list and hope that I’ll either get moved to the front of the plane, or that I can snag an exit row seat (aisle or window) when exit row passengers (who usually  have elite status) get moved up to first class.  

This almost always works: I’ve been lucky enough to be seated on the exit row on every flight for the last couple of years.  But because of all the storms in Texas the last three days, flight were full (don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, one poor guy on my flight had been stranded in AUS for three days) So this morning when I went online to check my seating assignment, I was faced with having to choose a standard aisle seat or the middle seat on the exit row.  

Hmmm….I opted for the aisle (and got lucky because the middle seat on my row is empty) but it was a tough choice…..do I choose the extra legroom of the exit row and sacrifice elbow room or choose the aisle seat and give up the legroom.  

What would you do?  To enter today’s drawing, just leave a comment and share how you would have decided.  

Tomorrow morning, I’ll have a random drawing to pick a winner and will announce the results in Thursday’s post.  One entry per person. The deadline to enter is tonight, March 21, at 11:59PM Pacific.

Good luck!

To kick off the week, I’ve got a few new American Airlines and oneworld related sweepstakes and blog contests to tell you about.  I’ve even got my own reader giveaway today.  

From American Airlines:

American is the official sponsor of television show ¡Q’VIVA and their offering a sweepstakes to promote their partnership:

American Airlines, the official airline of the hit show, ¡Q’VIVA The Chosen, has teamed up with the show’s producers to offer fans a chance to win a unique VIP experience to attend a live ¡Q’VIVA performance in the United States. ¡Q’VIVA! The Chosen follows superstar artists Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony and Jamie King as they travel through Latin America searching for extraordinary performers who hope to be among “The Chosen.” The singers, musicians, dancers, acrobats and other uniquely talented performers are given the opportunity to travel to Los Angeles for the chance to work with the superstars to produce a spectacular live show highlighting the artists from throughout the region. Filmed in three languages, ¡Q’VIVA The Chosen is being broadcast in 21 countries, and has now become one of the biggest new international TV shows of 2012.

Two grand prize winners will receive:

• Tickets for two to attend a live ¡Q’VIVA show in the U.S. in 2012, and enough American Airlines AAdvantage miles for their round-trip travel.

• While at the show, they will also have the opportunity to attend a meet-and-greet with show contestants

• a three-night stay in a local hotel

• plus a $1,000 gift card to use during their trip.

All entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET time on April 9, 2012. Go here to enter.

American Airlines related:

The The Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau is sponsoring a Facebook sweepstakes with the winner receiving a chance to get an up close tour of the Hollywood sign:

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to walk up to the Hollywood sign for winner and a guest at 12:30 pm on March 22, 2012, including 45 minutes in the restricted sign area (courtesy of the Trust for Public Land); two Hollywood CityPASS booklets; two round trip economy class airline tickets to Los Angeles on American Airlines valued up to $500 total (subject to airline rules, availability and restrictions); one night stay accommodation (double occupancy, excluding incidentals and parking) at the Los Angeles Marriott Downtown.

This contest ends today, March 19, 2012 @ 11:59 pm (PDT).  Go here to enter.

From oneworld member Etihad:

Join Etihad Guest frequent flyer program and win two free tickets (via Frequent Flier):

Etihad Airways, the World’s Leading Airline is delighted to invite you to join Etihad Guest – our award winning loyalty program. Etihad Guest, unlike other programs is designed exclusively around you. It’s more flexible, less restrictive, more responsive and much more rewarding.

Join Etihad Guest any time between 28 February and 30 March 2012 and you stand a chance to win yourself two Coral Economy Class tickets to any destination on our network. So start planning your holiday and you could be that lucky winner flying free – whether it’s to the Maldives, Shanghai or Sydney – the choice is completely yours! Don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity.

All you need to do to enter is:

•  Go here to Join Etihad Guest program
•  Once registered, go here to submit your Etihad Guest number

I tried this earlier and got an error message when I tired to sign up.  Hopefully, it’s just a temporary issue.

Go here for complete details.

Etihad Facebook Contest

Win a trip to Shanghai.

In celebration of our new Shanghai services, we’ve teamed up with the five-star Shangri-La Hotel, Qaryat Al Beri, Abu Dhabi to give one lucky couple the holiday of a lifetime!

The prize is a pair of Etihad Airways tickets to Shanghai from any Etihad destination in the world, including a two night stopover in Abu Dhabi. The winners will spend two nights in the luxurious Shangri-La Hotel, Qaryat Al Beri, Abu Dhabi and two nights in the Pudong Shangri-La Shanghai. The winners will enjoy a complimentary lunch or dinner for two at Shangri-La’s superb Shang Palace restaurants at both locations.

Have your holiday pictures handy as this is a photo competition and we want to see where our fans live or have flown. UAE residents can also enter.

Submit your photos by March 20 and the Etihad Airways team will shortlist our favorites for our fans to vote on.

Go here for complete details. Register by March 20, 2012 to enter.

American Airlines related blog contest

Win 2,500 AAdvantage Miles from The Frugal Travel Guy and American Airlines:

On Monday’s we will concentrate on finding deals, fares, promotions, anything related to American Airlines, their oneworld Partners or AAdvantage partners. Find the best AA or related deal and submit it to the blog comments for a chance to win 2500 AA miles donated by American Airlines. (Only AA, oneworld, and their partner deals will be accepted on Monday’s). All others will be better off submitted on another day.

Go here to share your AA related tip.

Win an American Airlines Discount Code:

Mrs. Deals and The Weekly Flyer have teamed up to give away American Airlines discount codes each Monday during the month of March.

Double your chances today by visiting both Deals We Like and Points, Miles & Martinis.

Win an American Airlines USB Card with free Gogo Wifi Code

The AA social media team was nice enough to give me five USB cards with free codes for Gogo Inflight Wifi.  I gave away two last week, so this week I’m giving away the remaining three.

To enter, just post your answer to this question in the comments section: Have you ever won contest, sweepstakes, or giveaway?

Tomorrow morning, I’ll have a random drawing to pick a winner and will announce the results Wednesday’s post.  One entry per person. The deadline to enter is tonight, March 19, at 11:59PM Pacific.

Good luck!