You can add four more countries to the list of places you can go with the oneworld Global Explorer round-the-world fare: Iran, Mozambique, Rwanda and the Seychelles.

You can also add 18 more destinations across the Indian sub-continent, the Middle East and Africa, including India’s Amritsar, Tiruchchirappalli, Goa and Kochi and Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro.

That’s because Qatar Airways and SriLankan, who are both set to join the oneworld Alliance later this year, have decided to get a head start by participating in the Global Explorer round-the-world fare offered by the alliance members and their partners.

Qatar Airways flights are available as of today and SriLankan flights will be available starting tomorrow.

The oneworld Global Explorer is the distance based round-the-world travel product offered by the alliance members, their partners, and a number of airlines that have no ties to the alliance. The other oneworld RTW product is the oneworld Explorer which is priced by the number of continents visited and is limited to alliance members and their partners.

For now, Qatar and SriLankan are only participating in the oneworld Global Explorer product.

Gulf Air exits (from the press release):

As Qatar Airways and SriLankan Airlines start participating in Global Explorer, Gulf Air withdraws its participation. Global Explorer tickets issued before 28 February with sectors on Gulf Air will be honoured.

Go here for complete details.

Did you see the good news yesterday? American signed a codeshare agreement with TAM and LAN Columbia. Along with oneworld member LAN, both airlines are part of LATAM Airlines Group. American also announced plans to add a new routes between Dallas/Fort Worth and Bogota and Miami and Curitiba and Porto Alegre, Brazil, in late 2013.

In case you missed it, Gary had an update yesterday about the technical difficulties reservations agents have had when booking codeshare flights on LAN. The problem has been “resolved and agents can book codeshare flights on LAN as usual”.

Speaking of South America….

oneoworld Member LAN is sponsoring a “12 days of Christmas Giveaway” with a chance to win 1 of 12 daily prizes or a grand prize trip to Peru.

Through December 25, 2012, we’ll be giving you the chance to win daily prizes + one grand prize with the LAN 12 Days of Christmas sweepstakes!

Remember each time you enter, you increase your chances of winning the grand prize!
Play. Test your South America Trivia Skills. Win Amazing Prizes Courtesy of LAN, including a Vacation to Peru!

Here’s a list of some of the day prizes:

DAY 1 $25 LANPASS Visa Gift Card, and one (1) LAN Leisure Kit which includes: one (1) umbrella, one (1) travel adapter, and one (1) travel kit

DAY 2 $25 LANPASS Visa Gift Card, one (1) LAN Airlines leather journal, one (1) LAN Airlines executive pen

DAY 3 $25 LANPASS Visa Gift Card, and one (1) model LAN Boeing 787 aircraft

DAY 4 $25 LANPASS Visa Gift Card, and one (1) model LAN Boeing 787 aircraft

DAY 5 $25 LANPASS Visa Gift Card, and one (1) LAN Solar charger for mobile phones

DAY 6 $25 LANPASS Visa Gift Card, one (1) LAN Airlines hot beverage glass, and one (1) LAN Airlines water bottle

DAY 7 $25 LANPASS Visa Gift Card, one (1) LAN Airlines leather journal, one (1) LAN Airlines executive pen

DAY 8 $25 LANPASS Visa Gift Card, one (1) LAN Airlines hot beverage mug with LAN branding, and one (1) LAN water bottle

DAY 9 $25 LANPASS Visa Gift Card, and one (1) model LAN Boeing 787 aircraft

DAY 10 $25 LANPASS Visa Gift Card, and one (1) model LAN Boeing 787 aircraft

DAY 11 $25 LANPASS Visa Gift Card, and one (1) SD card holder

DAY 12 $25 LANPASS Visa Gift Card, and one (1) LAN Leisure Kit which includes: one (1) umbrella, one (1) travel adapter, and one (1) travel kit

Here’s the description of the grand prize:

Grand Prize

A 6 day 5 night vacation package to Lima, Peru.

- two (2) round trip Economy class tickets on LAN Airlines and its affiliates to Lima, Peru.
- 5 night stay at the Hotel San Augustin Colonia in Lima, Peru, with breakfast included.
- Private transportation to/from Airport and from Hotel.
- Lima Colony City Tour.
- Half Day Tour of Gold Museum .
- Package has the option to add-on a full-day in Machu Pichu with Hotel and excursions in Cusco.

To play or read the rules, visit the LAN USA Facebook page for the 12 Days of Christmas Giveway. Good luck!

Photo: Picarones cart in Lima
Credit: Naota on Flickr

oneworld member Cathay Pacific is sponsoring a new sweepstakes promotion that offers the winner a mini-vacation for two in Hong Kong:

Hong Kong is famous for its extravagant display of lights, especially during the holiday season. This winter, Cathay Pacific has partnered with our friends at Mr & Mrs Smith and Saks Fifth Avenue to send two lucky globetrotters on our new Premium Economy Class to explore the Winter Wonderland in our home town, complete with a 4-night hotel stay at the Landmark Mandarin Oriental and a $1,000 shopping spree at Saks Fifth Avenue.

On top of the luxurious prizes, the grand prize winner and two lucky winners will also receive Asia Miles. With our loyalty program, Asia Miles can be used to redeem for almost anything, from flights and hotels to Trek Bikes and iPads.

Prize list:

Grand Prize:

Two (2) Cathay Pacific roundtrip Premium Economy Class tickets from any of our US Gateways (San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago) to Hong Kong
4 Nights Hotel Stay at the Landmark Mandarin Oriental, courtesy of Mr & Mrs Smith
A $1,000 shopping spree on Saks.com, provided by Saks Fifth Avenue
100,000 Asia Miles

Second Prize:

75,000 Asia Miles

Third Prize:

60,000 Asia Miles

To enter:

Submit the registration, including your name and a valid email address, to receive one (1) entry into the Sweepstakes.

Limit: You may receive one (1) Sweepstakes entry during the Promotion Period. Any attempt by any participant to obtain more than the stated number of entries by using multiple/different email addresses, identities, registrations and logins, or any other methods will void that participant’s entries and that participant may be disqualified.

The sweepstatks ends on December 17, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Go here to enter.

Good luck!

Photo: Hong Kong at Christmas
Credit: Steve Carney on Flickr

oneworld member Cathay Pacific is marking the one year anniversary of their Chicago to Hong Kong service with a retro themed sweepstakes that offers a look back at their flight attendant  uniforms through the years.

Here’s a look at 66 years of Cathay Pacific history in just over 4 minutes:

Back to the sweepstakes, here are the details

Cathay Pacific is celebrating the one year anniversary of servicing Chicago with the Walking On Air fashion show. The show chronicles our flight attendant uniforms throughout the eras, modeled by our very own cabin crew.

The prizes:

Two (2) Roundtrip Economy Class tickets from any of our US Gateways (San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago) or Canadian Gateways (Toronto and Vancouver) to Hong Kong.

Five (5) nights stay at J Plus Boutique Hotel, courtesy of Tablet

A private, guided tour of our CXperience museum at Cathay City to see the fashion featured on our Walking On Air runway show.

Two (2) $150 vouchers for a dream jetsetter wardrobe for two, provided by Rent The Runway.

One month subscription to Birchbox.

According to the terms and conditions  you’re allowed up to two entries, and there are two ways to enter: pin your favorite uniform with Pintrist for one entry, and/or submit you email address for another.

The sweepstakes ends September 24.  Go here for complete details.  Good luck!

Speaking of winning stuff, one of the few good things about Mondays is that the Frugal Travel Guy’s Deal of the Day is sponsored by AAdvantage.  Share your best AA related travel tip for a chance to win 2,500 AAdvantage Miles!

Last month JAL announced plans to upgrade their in-flight product when they start taking delivery of the Boeing 777-300ERs that they have on order (the new planes are scheduled to go into service early next year).

This morning they went live with a new micro-site that offers detailed images.  There’s even JAL Kitchen Gallery dedicated to their updated international food service.

The website is mostly in Japanese but there are lots of great photos.  Go here to check it out.

Have a great weekend!

Last Friday I asked readers to tell me the year they joined the AAdvantage program for a chance to win 1,000 AAdvantage Miles and an American Airlines 10% discount code.   The winner was selected in a random drawing and the results are:

Thanks to American Airlines for providing the miles and to reader, and fellow AAdvantage Geek, WIS for donating the discount code!

Congratulations James and thanks to everyone that participated!!

Don’t forget that the Frugal Travel Guy’s Monday Deal of the Day is sponsored by AAdvantage. You can win 2,500 by sharing your best American Airlines or AAdvantage related tip.

oneworld member Iberia is sponsoring a contest on their US Facebook page:

Tell us which medals the U.S. and U.K. athletes will win in each of the categories this summer in London. To do so, you must choose one of the medals in each category, or “Not likely to win a medal” if you believe that to be the case in that category. If you guess correctly, you will enter a prize drawing for a trip for two to Rio de Janeiro (European residents) or to Europe (American residents).

Contestants have until July 27, 2012 to answer the contest questions, which will be recorded by the app. Once the event is over on August 12, 2012 a drawing to determine the winner will be conducted among all participants who have provided correct responses to all questions and have answered according to the results.

According to the rules the deadline to enter is 8 p.m. mainland Spain time on July 26, 2012.   Go here for complete details.

Good luck!

Cathay Pacific is offering some great fares to Hong Kong from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York JFK.  These fares book into Q, so you won’t earn any AAdvantage miles, but at $895 round-trip you might not mind.  Here are the details:

Two Weeks Only: 35% Off Flights to Hong Kong

This summer, fly nonstop to Hong Kong with our special fare of $895* available from now until July 23, 2012.

Here’s the fine print:

• Cannot be combined with any other fare or offer.

• The fares detailed in the offer/promotion are subject to availability and offered on a first come, first served basis. The limited number of seats for the subject fare allocated to a particular flight may be fully booked although seats are still available in other fare types in the same class of travel.

• This is a limited time and limited availability offer. Only available for a limited time through 11:59:59 PM PST on 23Jul2012 (or until deemed sold out). If you cannot find availability for the dates that you have selected, please adjust your travel dates.
May be eligible for Asia Miles & AAdvantage Miles, depending on fare class booked.
Waitlisting is not permitted.

• Departures between Friday – Sunday will incur an extra charge of $25 for each transpacific sector.

• Fares listed above based on a sample search for mid-week transpacific departure dates.
Cancellation Fee: $100 applies (non-refundable after departure).

• Change Fee: $100 applies per change per person.

• Minimum Stay of None. Maximum Stay of 6 Months.

• Electronic ticket purchase only.

• All fares, government taxes and fees, and surcharges are subject to change at any time.
This fare can only be purchased online by a U.S. resident with a valid U.S. credit card billing address and U.S. mailing address.

Go here for complete details.

I’ve been busy getting some storm damage repaired, but I’m back to the blog and today we have a theme: Tokyo.

Win a trip to Tokyo

American Way Magazine, the in-flight publication from American Airlines, is sponsoring a new sweepstakes:

This year marks the one-year anniversary of the enhanced relationship between Japan Airlines and American Airlines, which continues to bring travelers even more flights and convenient schedule options between top U.S. cities and Asia.

With daily nonstop flights to Tokyo, you can fly direct from New York City (JFK) to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on American Airlines. Beginning June 1, this daily service offers you a better early morning departure and more options to Japan.

In celebration of the new service, we invite you to enter a sweepstakes to win two round-trip economy class tickets on American Airlines to Japan.

Here’s some of the details from the terms and conditions:

Deadline to enter is June 30, 2012 at 11:59 pm CDT
One (1) winner will be drawn on or around July 6, 2012.
Winner will be notified on or around July 6, 2012.
The Grand Prize consists of two round-trip promotional tickets from the United States to Japan on American Airlines.
Prize Value: $2,400.00.

It’s easy to enter, just provide your contact information. Go here to read the rest of the rules and to submit your entry.

Tokyo Bonus Offers

Late May marked the 25th anniversary of American’s service to Tokyo, and June 1 they resumed service between New York JFK and Tokyo Haneda, so recently we’ve seen some Tokyo related promotions.

American offered a couple of promotions that have already expired (Pinterest Sweepstakes, reduced mileage AAdvantage awards) but not all offers are gone.

The two biggest are still available.

They’re offering Double AAdvantage Miles if you fly the new JAL Boeing 787 between Boston and Tokyo Narita (that’s an extra 13,544 AAdvantage Miles). Because of the new AA/JAL Joint Business Agreement, you’ll also earn Elite Qualifying Miles and Elite Bonus miles just like you would on an AA operated flight.

Earn Up To 30,000 AAdvantage Miles At Hotel New Otani, Tokyo which includes a 400 year old garden on the property.

Stay 3 nights or more with the “AAdvantage Bonus Miles Package” at “The Main” and earn a bonus of up to 10,000 miles. Plus earn up to 20,000 miles when flying between New York Kennedy (JFK) and Tokyo Haneda (HND) on purchased, published First Class, Business Class and Economy Class fare.

So in keeping with today’s theme, here are some Tokyo related links for your consideration.

If you’re one of the most acclaimed sushi chefs in the U.S., where would you got for sushi in Japan? Experts’ Expert: David Chang’s top sushi restaurant in Tokyo

Traveling to or from Haneda? Making a connection? Take the airport shuttle to Natural Hot Spring Heiwajima Spa. Relax in the hot springs, take a bath or a sauna, get a message, eat, rest, or watch television. Heiwajima is 24 hours and shuttle to and from the airport leaves every 15 minutes.

Trying to have a deeper understanding of Tokyo and Cool Japan culture? Read The Otaku Encyclopedia: An Insider’s Guide to the Subculture of Cool Japan. It’s funny, short (though it still has over 600 entries), and will make your trip to the Akihabara more interesting.

Looking for a place to stay? It’s easy to find reviews for the Park Hyatt Tokyo, The Peninsula, Grand Hyatt, Four Seasons, and the Mandarin hotels. Jay from the First Class Project Blog recently published a series of trip reports from his Japan trip and in addition to reviews for some of the high end hotels that he stayed at, he also has reviews of the more practical business class hotels that don’t often get covered. Anyone looking to visit on a budget should take a look his posts (with lots of photos):

Hyatt Regency – Tokyo
Sunroute Hotel Shinjuku
Radisson Narita
Nikko Inn
Hotel Gracery Ginza

And now for some bathroom amusement

Sega’s Toylet – urinal meets video game.

Take a tour through a Tokyo Toilet showroom.

(About the photo. I was flipping through some channels watching Tokyo TV and came across this cooking show. The hostess wore the mask and stayed in character the whole time. Different. But still better than much of the stuff in the U.S.)

Take a look at your inbox and check your SPAM filters for this big exciting offer from American:

Explore Tokyo: Earn Up To 15,000 AAdvantage Bonus Elite Qualifying Miles

Participating Airlines: American Airlines (Includes travel on codeshare flights marketed by Japan Airlines)

Award: 15,000 Bonus Elite Qualifying Miles

Exclusive Offer: Earn up to 15,000 bonus elite qualifying miles when you fly round-trip between New York (JFK) and Tokyo Haneda (HND) on purchased, published First Class, Business Class and select Economy Class fares (booked in Y, B, H, K, M, L, W or V).

Reach Elite Status Faster: Earn elite status faster with this elite-qualifying offer and you will be on your way to your next elite AAdvantage membership tier.

Not Elite? Purchase round-trip in First Class or Business Class and earn AAdvantage Gold® status during this offer period. When the miles have posted to your account you can start to enjoy the benefits of elite-status membership.

^*EQM=Elite Qualifying Miles

Just travel between June 1, 2012 and August 31, 2012.
Registration is required before you travel. Go here using Promotion Code: HNDEQ

Here’s the bad news:

From the terms and conditions: This offer valid only for selected AAdvantage members who receive this communication directly from American Airlines.

So not offer.  No miles.  Check your trash can.  Check you SPAM filers.  Or check all those unread markting emails in your inbox.

Go here for the complete offer wich includes terms and conditions.

Stay tuned:

I have a post a little later this afternoon: Rumors and Sneak Peeks!

(Editor’s note: I’m still uploading photos and video from yesterday’s American Airlines press conference, so please come back a little later today to read my related post.  I’ll  be giving away some goodies from the Swag Bag!).   

Klout is the online service that attempts to measure a person’s online influence. They analyze content from social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, and based on how people use and share that content, they assign an influence score (Seth Stevenson at Wired wrote a great article about the topic last month).

Back in April Klout released version 1.0 of their iPhone app and to promote it, they’ve partnered with oneoworld member, Cathay Pacific to give Klout users access to Cathay’s San Francisco lounge. From the Klout blog:

Today we’re announcing a great partnership with Cathay Pacific Airways that makes the benefit of taking your Klout with you even more obvious.

Starting today, San Francisco International Airport (SFO) visitors using the Klout for iPhone app need only show a Score of 40 or higher to enter the Cathay Pacific First and Business Class Lounge.

Previously, the only way to see the inside of a Cathay Pacific Lounge was by holding a First or Business Class plane ticket. Now, Klout unlocks access to this amazing experience. This applies to any visitor traveling through the “A” boarding area at SFO’s international terminal, even if they aren’t a Cathay Pacific passenger.

If you don’t have a Klout score, you can sign up with your Facebook or Twitter identity. After you’ve created your profile, install the Klout iPhone App, and then head to Cathay Pacific’s First and Business Class Lounge located on Level 4 of the International Terminal.

Here’s a No Klout required tour of the new Cathay Pacific lounge via YouTube: