I have a confession to make, and I’m probably alone in this regard, but I am going to miss the Burger King in American’s terminal at LAX (it was closed earlier this year to make way for new dining options).

Just as the Statue of Liberty once welcomed tired travelers to America’s shores, the T4 Burger King has often welcomed me back to the U.S. after time spent in Asia.

Even though I would nominate Tokyo as the food capital of the world, think Sydney is an interesting food city, and recognize that China represents one of the world’s great food cultures, few foods can match the taste of a T4 Whopper after two weeks in Tokyo and an hour clearing Customs at LAX. Not even an ordinary non Terminal 4 Whopper.

Maybe it’s the location, maybe it’s the circumstance, but foods delight like ‘Welcome back to the U.S.A. – T4 Burger King Whopper’.

I mentioned this to a friend who spends a long time abroad traveling frequently between Mumbai and China for her job. She said that she looks forward to the connection in Bangkok just so that she can get visit Burger King.

And the other day I read a discussion on Facebook about eating American fastfood when traveling abroad. One friend mentioned that he likes to visit the McDonald’s in each country he visits to see how the menu is localized for each market, and that it’s a great way to look a the culture from the inside. I thought that was a great idea.

Reader Giveaway

Thanks to a generous reader (Thanks Wissam!), who won an earlier reader giveaway and is donating a Gogo Inflight Wifi code, I’m having a reader giveaway this weekend.

To enter all you have to do leave an answer to this question in the comments section:

When traveling to other countries have you (or would you) stop at an American fastfood restaurant for a little taste of home?

I’ll have a random drawing on Monday. One entry per person. The deadline to enter is Sunday, May 12, 2013 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time.

Good luck and have a great weekend!

Hilton HHonors members who stay in Las Vegas at a qualifying property can earn 3X AAdvantage miles through June 30, 2013:

Triple Your Rewards In Vegas With Hilton HHonors

Award: Triple miles

Dates: Now through June 30, 2013

Offer: Stay at select Las Vegas hotels within the Hilton HHonors portfolio of brands and you can earn triple AAdvantage miles.– just sign up and complete a stay by June 30, 2013. Be sure to select American Airlines as your preferred Double Dip Points & Miles Partner in your HHonors profile to qualify for this offer. With triple rewards, everyone leaves Vegas a winner!

From the terms and conditions:

To be eligible for this offer, you must

(1) be a member of Hilton HHonors
(2) select American Airlines, as your preferred Double Dip Points & Miles partner in your Hilton HHonors account profile prior to completion of your stay
(3) select Points and Variable Miles or Points and Fixed Miles as your Double Dip Earning Style within your HHonors profile
(4) complete a stay at a participating Hilton HHonors hotel in the Las Vegas area from April 1, 2013, through June 30, 2013, and
(5) register at HHonors.com/lvtriple prior to check out.

Bonus Mileage: Earn triple AAdvantage miles, for each qualifying stay at participating hotels. There is no cap on the miles to be awarded during the promotion period.

Here’s a list of qualifying properties:

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Las Vegas Airport
Tropicana Las Vegas – a DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel
Embassy Suites Convention Center Las Vegas
Embassy Suites Las Vegas
Hilton Garden Inn Las Vegas Strip South
Elara, a Hilton Grand Vacations Hotel – Center Strip
Hilton Grand Vacations Suites – Las Vegas (Convention Center)
Hilton Grand Vacations Suites on the Las Vegas Strip
Hampton Inn Tropicana
Hampton Inn & Suites Las Vegas Airport
Hampton Inn & Suites Las Vegas-Henderson
Hampton Inn & Suites Las Vegas South
Homewood Suites by Hilton Henderson South Las Vegas
Homewood Suites by Hilton Las Vegas Airport

Go here for complete details.

Are you visting the JFK Admirals Club? Here’s your chance to check out the new 777-300ER premium snack bar:

Premium Cabin Experience

Visitors to the JFK Concourse B Admirals Club will have the opportunity to sample our brand new premium cabin in-flight walk-up bar. The bar is featured on our new 777-300 aircraft. Join us at the bar from 1 PM — 9 PM, on April 24 through May 14, 2013.

First and Business Class passengers are able to help themselves to refreshments throughout the flight.  American has been stocking the snack bar with sandwich wraps, fruits and fruit cups, cheese, cookies, desserts, and beverages.

Here’s a photo that a friend took from his April 5 trip on flight 50 to London (thanks Keith Murray!):

The Premium Cabin Experience will be making a tour of other Admirals Club later this Summer.  If you’re at the JFK club and get a photo, let me know…I’d love to share it on the blog!

After a slow start this year, the car rental companies have finally started to roll out some pretty decent discounts and AAdvantage bonus offers.

Avis is the leader in the clubhouse: whether you’re renting one day or a week they have the offer that will earn you the most miles.  But that doesn’t mean that the other offers aren’t worth examining.

If you’re not on an expense account or if you like to minimize your cost per mile, then it doesn’t hurt to price some of the other offers; even with a smaller bonus, depending upon the discount, the market, and when you’re renting, they may yield a lower CPM.

I actually put together a spreadsheet so that I could compare them at a glance (here’s a link if you’re interested).

Here’s how they compare with a 1 to 4 day rental:

And this is how they compare with a 5 to 7 day rental period:

Here’s a summary of the latest offers:

Save Up To 30% And Earn 150 Miles Per Rental Day With Alamo

Award: 100 bonus miles per day

Dates: Now through December 31, 2013

Offer: 150 miles per day and up to 30% off

Save up to 30% and earn triple American Airlines AAdvantage miles every day (100 bonus miles plus 50 base miles) with no minimum rental on a Compact or larger vehicle at participating Alamo locations in the United States and Canada. Offer valid through December 31, 2013. Be sure to provide your American Airlines AAdvantage number at the time of rental.

Go here for complete details.

Save Up To 30% And Earn 1,000 AAdvantage Miles With Alamo

Award: 1,000 miles

Award: Now through December 31, 2013

Offer: Save up to 30% and earn 1,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles with a three-day minimum rental on any size vehicle at participating Alamo locations in the United States and Canada. Offer valid through December 31, 2013. Be sure to provide your AAdvantage number at the time of rental.

Go here for complete details.

Avis: Save On The Rental – Spend On The Fun

Award: Up to 3,000 bonus miles

Dates: February 27, 2013 – May 31, 2013

Offer: You deserve an extended vacation. So, no matter where in the world you’re headed, add a few days to your stay – more days means more AAdvantage miles.

2 day rental: earn 750 bonus miles
3 or 4-day rental: earn 1,500 bonus miles
5 day rental or more: 3,000 bonus miles
Book today and use AWD # K817165 and coupon # MUAA128 with your AAdvantage number.

Go here for complete details.

Don’t Miss A Mile With Budget

Award: Up to 2,000 bonus miles

Dates: February 27, 2013 – May 31, 2013

Offer: Take that vacation you’ve been dreaming of. Because right now, the longer you get away – the more AAdvantage miles you’ll earn.

2 day rental: earn 500 bonus miles
3 or 4-day rental: earn 1,000 bonus miles
5 day rental or more: 2,000 bonus miles
And it’s easy. Just use BCD # U072411, coupon # MUAZ063 and your AAdvantage number when reserving.

Go here for complete details.

200 Miles Per Day At Dollar Rent A Car

Award: Quadruple miles per day (200 miles vs 50 miles per day)

Dates: October 15, 2012 – June 30, 2013

Offer: Rent a Compact car or larger vehicle for 3 days or longer from Dollar Rent A Car and earn 200 miles per day. Use promo code AAWT.

Valid at participating locations. Valid from October 15, 2012 through June 30, 2013. 24-hour advance reservations required. Renter must meet minimum age, driver and credit requirements. You must present your AAdvantage number & promo code AAWT.

Go here for complete details.

Hertz – Earn 4X Miles And Save Up To 35 Percent

Award: 4x Miles

Dates: Now through October 31, 2013

Offer: Earn f times the miles per $1 spent (instead of the usual 1 mile per $1 spent) plus, save up to 35% when you rent any vehicle for one of more days in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom through October 31, 2013.

Your discount CDP# 217692, PC# 169676, and your AAdvantage number is required at reservation. Advanced reservation is required.

Go here for complete details.

Earn 1,000 AAdvantage Miles And $15 Off With National Rental Cars

Award: 1000 miles

Dates: Now through December 31, 2013

Offer: Members earn 1,000 American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles plus receive $15 off with National.

Rent any size car for a minimum of three days at any participating National location in the United States and earn 1,000 American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles plus receive $15 off with National.

To receive this great offer, simply book online or call 1-800-CAR-RENT (800-227-7368). Please request ID Number 5030080 and Coupon ID ND4892JDR at time of reservation. Offer valid now through December 31, 2013. Be sure to present your AAdvantage number at time of rental.

Go here for complete details.

Earn 200 Miles Per Day At Thrifty Car Rental

Dates: October 12, 2012 – June 30, 2013

Offer: Quadruple Miles

Valid at participating locations. Valid from October 15, 2012 through June 30, 2013. 24-hour advance reservations required. Renter must meet minimum age, driver and credit requirements. You must present your AAdvantage number & promo code AAWT

Go here for complete details.

If you’re traveling in First or Business Class on one of American’s long-haul routes to South America, Europe, or Japan expect to see some new menu items. American just refreshed their Spring/Summer offerings and introduced several new dishes to their international service premium cabin menu.

Here’s a look at some of their new offerings on flights to/from Europe, South America, and Japan:

New Main Course Items

New Brunch Items

New Breakfast items

New Main Course Items on Routes to/from US and Japan

American starts service to between DFW and Seoul next month, I’m curious about the menu that they’ll offer on that route.  Something that’s true of both markets….we do love our BBQ!

Win 2,500 AAdvantage Miles

Don’t forget that Monday’s Deal of the Day at the Frugal Travel Guy is sponsored by AAdvantage. Go here and share you best American Airlines or AAdvantage related travel tip for a chance to win 2,500 AAdvantage Miles!

It’s been a bad news/good news day for DFW travelers today. The bad news is (of course) the systemwide outage that American experienced earlier today. The good news (aside from the fact that AA’s computer are back online) is that American is offering some crazy cheap fares from DFW to Asia!

The Flight Deal has all the details, but here are a few of the sample fares:

Taipei – $767
Hong Kong – $891
Bangkok – $1,012
Singapore – $955
Seoul – $876
Shanghai – $846
Beijing – $850

Read more at The Flight Deal!

Here’s some oneworld Alliance news to start out the week:

Malaysia Airlines

Malaysia Airlines was set to join the oneworld alliance last year but had to postpone their entry in order to address some financial issues. I guess that most of it must be behind them by now because they just announced that they’ll be joining early next year:

Malaysia Airlines will become a full member of oneworld with effect from Friday 1 February 2013, adding one of commercial aviation’s most frequent award winners to the world’s leading quality airline alliance.

Malaysia Airlines offers service between Kuala Lumpur and Los Angeles with a stop in Tokyo. Go here for complete details.

Flybe Finland

The recession in Europe has presented some challenges to oneworld member Finnair. In order to cut some fo their cost they recently transfered service on some of their routes to Flybe Finland. Flybe Finland is a subsidary of Flybe, the airline that operates some codeshare regional flights for British Airways, KLM, and Air France.

Flybe Finland is to fly as an affiliate member of oneworld, the leading quality global airline alliance, on routes it operates on behalf of alliance member Finnair.

The arrangement takes effect from Sunday (28 October), when Finnair is transferring its 12 Embraer 190 regional jets to Flybe Finland to operate on behalf of Finnair on select routes at select times, to destinations in Europe including Budapest, Manchester, Munich and Warsaw.

Flybe Finland already operates a number of domestic and Baltic routes on behalf of Finnair, including between its Helsinki hub and Joensuu, Ivalo, Kittilä, Kuopio, Kuusamo, Rovaniemi, Oulu, Tallinn, Tampere, Turku and Vaasa.

All these flights carry the regular Finnair AY flight code, with products and services to match those offered on regular Finnair flights. Pilots will be from Finnair and Flybe while flight attendants will be employed by Flybe only, and wear the Flybe uniform. Other than that, customers should not notice any difference from regular Finnair services.

The transfer of these operations has been made as part of Finnair’s overall restructuring plans to return the group to profitability.

Go here for complete details.

Don’t forget that the Frugal Travel Guy’s Monday Deal of the Day is sponsored by AAdvantage. Go here and share your best AA related travel deal for a chance to win 2,500 AAdvantage Miles!

I mentioned this the other day, but while I was on vacation American kicked off a new promotion to raise miles and awareness for the American Airlines Kid in Need Program.  From the AAdvantage Facebook page:

Join us to help give smiles with American Airlines AAdvantage miles, benefiting the American Airlines Kids in Need program!

Our Smile Meter fills up when you register and share – one smile for registering and up to two smiles for sharing. Each smile equals one AAdvantage mile donated. As the Smile Meter fills up, each goal met triggers a sweepstakes give-away and a donation of up to 100,000 AAdvantage miles!

It’s easy – simply register to automatically earn 100 AAdvantage miles and be entered for a chance to win up to 100,000 AAdvantage miles!

So if you haven’t participated yet, go here to help out and claim your 100 free AAdvantage Miles.

American reports that last year AAdvantage members donated almost 117 million of their unused AAdvantage miles. These miles helped hundreds of children’s organizations and have also been used to provide air transportation to nearly 300 critically ill children, and their parents/guardians, in need of medical treatment.

So to bring attention to a good cause, I’m donating 1,000 AAdvantage Miles to the Miles for Kids program and giving away 1,000 miles to one reader.

To enter all you have to do is look at this list of some of the organizations that benefit from the Miles for Kids program and post their name and something about them in the comments section.

I’ll have a random drawing on Monday. One entry per person. The deadline to enter is Sunday, July 1 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time.

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Speaking for reader giveaways, The Weekly Flyer over at Points, Miles & Martinis has a guide to my favorite summer destination – Montreal. He’s got some great tips for visiting the city and he’s asking reader’s to share their own. He’s also giving away a great prize:

We are giving away a Hyatt Platinum Extra to one lucky reader who shares their favorite thing to do in Montreal. The winner will receive one Hyatt Platinum Extra certificate good for (1) Complimentary food & beverage, or (2) 1,000 Bonus Hyatt points, or (3) Regency Club upgrade or (4) complimentary beverage at Hyatt Place and Summerfield suites.

My favorite thing to do in Montreal is enjoy the summer weather!  Go here to read his post, share your tip and enter his promotion.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Photo: win
Credit: Crystian Cruz on Flickr

Just a short post to bring some exciting news to your attention:

American Airlines today announced the flight numbers and markets for its first group of Boeing 777-300ERs that will enter the airline’s fleet starting this December. On Dec. 13, the Dallas/Fort Worth – Sao Paulo route will be the first to feature the newest addition to American’s fleet. In February, the aircraft will fly to London Heathrow from both Dallas/Fort Worth and New York JFK.

Woo hoo! Time to start planning a trip to Sao Paulo!!

Here’s the press release: AMERICAN AIRLINES ANNOUNCES INITIAL BOEING 777-300ER SCHEDULE

Congratulations to Jeff G! You’re the random drawing winner for the 1,000 AAdvantage Miles and the Marcus Samuelsson cookie. Thanks to everyone that participated!

This coming Friday I’ll be giving away a bag of the new Marcus Samuelsson spiced nut mix and another 1,000 AAdvantage Miles.

Speaking of winning miles and travel

If you spend any time at all in the AAdvantage forum at milepoint, then you’re probably familiar with the very knowledgable and always helpful milepoint Guide, Destination David. When he’s not helping out in the forums, you’ll find him on his blog sharing travel tips, writing about AAdvantage Miles, and following the latest oneword news.

Yesterday, he wrote about a new sweepstakes from oneworld member Cathay Pacific: With the winner traveling round-trip to Hong Kong in Cathay’s new Premium Economy seating, which includes more room, wider seats, and upgraded meal service.

Check out this post on David’s blog for complete details.

Now about those 50,000 AAdvantage Miles in the headline…

American Way Magazine is sponsoring a 3 night vacation at the L’Auberge Casino Resort in Lake Charles, Louisiana:

L’Auberge Casino Resort Lake Charles offers the ultimate in hospitality and accommodations, plus non-stop Vegas-style gambling action. Located two hours from the Houston metropolitan area on beautiful Contraband Bayou in Lake Charles, Louisiana, the locale has a rich and fabled history. L’Auberge boasts a

• Tom Fazio-designed 18-hole golf course,
• swimming pools,
• a lazy river,
• sumptuous dining options,
• a secluded spa,
• exercise facilities,
• shopping,

One lucky winner and guest will enjoy a fabulous vacation package, which includes

• 50,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles,
• three nights deluxe hotel accommodations at L’Auberge Casino Resort in a pool-view room,
• dinner for two at Ember Grille & Wine Bar,
• private cabana for a day with poolside lunch,
• and winner’s choice of one of the following extras:
• two rounds of golf,
• a 50-minute rejuvenating massage for two in Spa du Lac,
• or $100 to spend at the resort’s retail outlet of winner’s choice.

The deadline to enter is May 31, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. CDT. 

Fine print: 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.
Prize Value: $3,265.00.

Even if you’re not a big gambler, you’ll find things to see, like the World’s Largest Collection of Mardi Gras costumers at the Mardi Gras Museum of Imperial Calcasieu.

Go here to submit your entry and for full terms and conditions.

Good luck!