(Shameless plug – don’t forget 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.

Speaking of AAdvantage Tips: 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!)

Back in November of last year, American improved the award booking process by enabling you to use aa.com to book AAdvantage award travel on partner carrier Alaska Airlines.

They’ve said several times since, that it’s their goal to make it possible for AAdvantage members to book more partner awards online.  And back in January at the oneworld MegaDo the the American and AAdvantage teams gave an outline of some of the improvements they were working on, which included:

• By end of 1Q, customers will be able to book routes continuing BA flights using AAdvantage award miles on AA.com.

• Alaska already participating.
Other carriers on deck:
Qantas
Royal Jordanian
Finnair

Over the weekend, the web ninjas at AA.com deployed an update to the site and now you can search for AAdvantage Awards space on British Airway and hawaiian airlines!

Here’s a look of the list of participating Award Carriers:

Now when you search for an award, you’ll see the option to search AA and Partners:

Here’s a close up:

Here’s a look at the search results for a round-trip, DFW to London award, it includes flights on American Airlines (AA) and British Airways (BA):

As an aside, there’s lot of availability on British Airways, but then that might be a result of the hefty fees that attach to award tickets.

Here’s a look at the fees for round-trip flights on British Airways, between Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) and London (LHR), in economy:

Now here’s a look the fees for a similar, round-trip economy class award ticket between DFW and LHR on American Airlines:

I might consider paying the fee for a premium class ticket on their 747 from DFW to London, but not on any other aircraft and certainly not in coach. When you have a choice between American or British Airways, you’ll get much more value from your miles if you choose to redeem them on AA flights instead of BA.

Despite my grumbling about BA’s fees, it’s nice to be able to search their inventory for award space. My brother and I have been kicking around the idea of a trip to Istanbul and have had to use KVS Tools and the Qantas website to search for availability.

This makes it as easy as looking up a flight to Indianapolis.

Searching for flights to on Hawaiian Airlines is pretty easy too, here’s a search between Dallas and Honolulu:

And here’s a look at the fees:

$10 to Hawaii – what a bargain!

This is a great improvement. AAdvantage already offers more ways to use your miles and they continue to make it easier. A big high five to Team AAdvantage and the IT team at AA.com!

For some amusement today:  British Airways is getting into the spirit of the London Olympic Games with a new ad that has a little British girl’s suitcase racing through the BA luggage system against bags from other countries.

Guess who wins?

This will probably be the busiest travel week of the year.  I was at DFW yesterday and it was already pretty busy.  Fortunately, though, I was’t traveling. I was just dropping someone off at the airport.

I have a friend from Sydney that was in town for a week on business. He usually travels to Dallas on Qantas and American Airlines, but he had to make this trip at the last minute and because the fare on Qantas was so expensive, he decided to book a trip on United (in economy).

We had arranged to meet yesterday for lunch and I had offered to give him a ride to the airport to catch his return flight. He was supposed to fly from Dallas to San Francisco and then connect to a United flight to Sydney. When we got to the airport I decided that rather than just dropping him off, I’d park and go in with him just to be certain that his flight hadn’t been cancelled or anything.

So we go over to the UA ticket counter to get him checked in. The agent tells us that his flight from DFW to SFO was delayed and that it looked unlikely that he’d be able to make his SFO connection, but that he thought he might be able to book him through Los Angeles so that he could connect to a United LAX to SYD flight.

My friend said to the agent, “I know you’ll do your best, but if at all possible, would you please try to put me in an aisle seat?”

After a few minutes typing at his keyboard the agent told my fried that he had some good news and some bad news. The good news was that he was able to get my friend on the LAX to SYD flight. And then the agent frowned and said with an apologetic voice, “I’m afraid that I wasn’t able to get you an aisle seat in economy, and that the best I can do is to put you in aisle seat in Business”.

He delivered the news so grimly that it took a second for it to sink in: he had upgraded my friend (who has no elite status on United) to business class.

Nice! A little holiday miracle (courtesy United).

oneword MegaDO News

December 14 was the deadline to enter a video in the American Airlines contest to become the official video blogger of the oneworld MegaDo. And now through December 21, you can go to the AAdvantage Facebook page and vote once per day for your favorite submission.

The winner will receive two passes to attend the MegaDO and the five submissions that receive the most votes will earn their creators 25,000 AAdvantage Miles.

There were lots of good videos but the choice was easy for me: I recognized one the contestants.

His name is Brian.  He’s a fellow AAdvantage Geek, and because he’s been one of my long time readers and has frequently left comments on this blog (as IPBrian), I thought I’d give him a little plug and tell you to be sure to view his video.

Go here to the AAdvantage Facebook page to view all the videos (including Brian’s) and to cast a vote for your favorite (good luck IPBrian!!).

Win a trip to South America on LAN Airlines

From now through December 24, oneworld member and American Airlines parter LAN Airlines is giving away a prize each day plus a grand prize: a five day vacation to Ecuador.  To enter their “12 Days of Christmast Giveaway, just go to the LAN Airlines US Facebook page. Good luck!

Speaking of LAN, they’re offering pretty cheap fares to Easter Island.  Tickets are usually a little pricey, but through the end of the years they’re offering fares for as little as $999.  Before you rush out and purchase a ticket, check out hotel prices. Easter Island is one of the world’s more expensive destinations.  

Premium Economy seats on AA.com

Mike Reed wrote about this a few days ago over on his Getting Status blog, but British Airways premium economy (World Traveler Plus) seating is now being displayed and sold on AA.com:

American Airlines’ customers can purchase Premium Economy seats on their partner airlines – before, customers would have to purchase through British Airways to buy this class of service.

I was looking at flights to Tokyo and noticed that it’s now possible to book JAL premium economy seats on AA.com. Take a look:

Something else you might notice in the screenshot: $84 fares from LAX to Narita. Don’t get too excited. This fare requires a round-trip purchase and the return fare is still more more than $900.

British Airways upgrades premium economy service:

In case you missed it, Jaunted gave  British Airways’ Word Traveller Plus, premium economy product a pretty bad review.  Of the food they wrote:

Ah, British Airways, perpetuating all those outdated stereotypes about crap UK food. We were hoping for something more palatable than “chicken and beef”; we got the same food as economy. A gin and tonic and some snack things, followed by a tasteless roast beef dinner and inedible pasta salad and the ironically-named “cherry creamy delight”, then an equally unpalatable sandwich and muffin before landing.

Now they’re reporting “British Airways’ Premium Economy Food Gets the Upgrade to Business Class“.

Photo credit: Christmas at DCA by Goddess Adrasteia via Flickr

I just finished up some back to back travel, so Tuesday morning I signed in at AA.com to see if the AAdvantage Miles had posted to my account (they did) and out of habit I clicked the “My Reservations” tab and found this:

You do not have any current reservations.

It’s been awhile since I was without a reservation. I’ve got some more travel coming up but I haven’t firmed up dates yet. So for now I “do not have any current reservations” and it feels a little weird.

I don’t like to be away from home for an extended period of time, but I enjoy the frequent 2-4 day trip. I’ve only been home for just two days, but with not having any firm travel plans, I can completely relate to Marshall Jackson being excited by an upcoming business trip.

I feel a little silly confessing this, but I think I just like having a trip to look forward to, even if it’s weeks away. As geeky as this may seem, I like tracking my reservations to see if there’s been a change in equipment, a better seat has become available, or (I’m a little embarrassed to admit) to check the seat map and try to discern whether or not my upgrade will clear.

Does anyone else do this?  Not sure if I need a reservation or a life.

Anyway, it is good to be home and I’ve managed to get caught up on some reading. Here’s a midweek roundup of some of the items I’ve read that I thought you might find interesting.

American Airlines and AAdvantage News

I found this in the milepoint forums: Inside Flyer is asking members to Rate American AAdvantage.
I’d probably give AAdvantage a B+.  So far, some good comments including one that echos my biggest complaint, the inability to book partner awards at AA.com.  I’m not the only one.  In fact, Maya Leibman, the President of the AAdvantage program, was asked about this during her live chat on milepoint. This was her answer:

I’m really glad we got this question. This is a priority for us and one that we’re working on now. I don’t want to get into “how the sausage is made,” but it is my hope to have this available by the end of the year.

So hopefully, that will be fixed in the not too distant future.

oneworld News

JAL
JAL to Offer Internet Access Onboard International Flights Using Panasonic Avionic’s eXConnect Service from Summer 2012
From the press release:
(high-speed internet ) will first be installed on JAL’s fleet of Boeing 777s and introduced on routes between Japan and its gateways in Europe as well as in North America.

Finnair
Know quality when you see it? Care to travel the world for 7 weeks on behalf of oneworld member Finnair to “observe, evaluate, report on, and develop the flight and transfer experience as offered by Finnair and Helsinki Airport”?

Finnair and Helsinki Airport have commenced a search for seven Quality Hunters, to be given the task of traveling between Europe, Asia and the United States. The aim, with the help of these experts drawn from the public, will be to make Helsinki’s award-­‐winning flight connections even more convenient and efficient.

Go here to read more.

Travel News

Win a trip to London (I have to thank my brother for this tip)
Visit London is sponsoring a contest with the winner receiving a trip to London:
We’re offering you a once-in-a-lifetime trip to London.
Stay for five nights during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations and enjoy the best limited edition experiences London has to offer.

British Airways discount
Even if you don’t win, you can still get a British Airways discount by registering with the Visit London site (FYI, if you’re already registered you can still get a discount by selecting the I have already registered on visitlondon.com checkbox:

Save up to $150 on flights to London
As a registered customer with Visit London we are pleased to offer you up to $150 off flights to London.

$150 discount on premium economy.
For a limited time book any round-trip ticket in World Traveller Plus (premium economy) from any US gateway to London and save $150 per person for travel through
March 31, 2011.

$75 discount on economy
For a limited time book any round-trip ticket in World Traveller (economy) from any US gateway to London and save $75 per person for travel through March 31, 2011

Go here to sign up or for more information.

Strange News + Travel News = Strange Travel News

From the New York Times via Jason Kottke at Kottke.org: The Most Bizarre Contraband Items Found at JFK.  Fake prescription medications, banned animals, animal parts, even Cow dung toothpaste.

And in other news

When The Frugal Travel Guy Rick Ingersoll isn’t writing about how to accumulate frequent flier miles and hotel points, he’s sharing stories about his travels and his family. I’ve been following him for so long that the names of his family members seem familiar so I was really happy to learn that he just became a Grandpa. Go here to see a photo of Rick and his grandson Carter. Congratulations to him and his whole family!

Speaking of favorite bloggers

Daraius Dubash is the man behind Million Mile Secrets. In just three short months he’s managed to build one of the most informative travel sites around by sharing great advice like his 2-Browser Trick To Earn 150,000 Free AAdvantage Miles. If you’re not already following him, you should, and now you can follow him on Twitter and get some of the same great travel tips.

Here’s a big offer from American that will make a few travelers very happy:

American Airlines is offering members of the AAdvantage program a new opportunity to quickly earn tens of thousands of AAdvantage bonus miles for round-trip trans-Atlantic travel on American Airlines and fellow oneworld alliance members British Airways and Iberia.

To qualify for this offer, you’ll have to register in advance and travel on an eligible First Class, Business Class or full-fare Economy Class ticket on American, British Airways or Iberia between Sept. 19 and Dec. 31, 2011.

If you’re able to afford the fares, this is a great way to rack up the miles before the December 1 Million Miler program change:

Members will earn 25,000 AAdvantage bonus miles after their first round trip, 35,000 after their second round trip and 45,000 for each additional round trip flown. After three round trips, customers will have more than 100,000 AAdvantage bonus miles in their accounts, and there is no limit to the number of bonus miles they can earn throughout the offer period.

To register you’ll need to go here and use promotion code EUR11.   No terms and conditions posted yet so I’m not sure whether or not all First and Business class fares are eligible.  I’ll update later when the info is available.  For now, there’s just this press release.

UPDATE:  Here are the full details of the AAdvantage Boost Miles offer.

Beginning June 1, 2011 oneworld member and American Airlines partner British Airways will begin daily, non-stop service between San Diego and London’s Heathrow airport.   To promote this new route they offering Double AAdvantage Miles through August 31.

Airline: British Airways
Award: Double Miles
Bonus Code: SANBA
Dates: Travel between June 1, 2011 and August 31, 2011.
Eligibility: Valid for members residing in the U.S., USVI, Puerto Rico or Canada only

Offer: Beginning June 1, 2011, British Airways will offer daily nonstop service from San Diego to London Heathrow. In celebration, AAdvantage members can earn double miles every time they fly this new route.

You have to register for this offer before you travel using promotion code SANBA. Go here to register.

American, Iberia and British Airways are more than just oneworld partners, they’re Bestest Buddies over the Atlantic now and to kick off their co-ordinated schedules, they’re offering bonus miles and a chance to win 1 million AAdvantage Miles.

American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia, members of the oneworld alliance, have expanded the number of routes on which the airlines codeshare between North America and Europe, meaning easier access to more choices and better connections to flights across the Atlantic.

In total, you now have access to 317 new codeshare routes. And all together, we serve more than 400 destinations in over 100 countries with approximately 5,200 daily departures. Best of all, you now earn and redeem AAdvantage miles on all flights on all three airlines

To enter, you have to travel on a ticket with a qualifying trans-Atlantic fare. Here are some of the details:

American Airlines and British Airways can cure the Wanderlust.
Together, we will turn four travelers into Miles Millionaires (two from the AAdvantage® Program and two from the British Airways Executive Club Program). Once you are eligible to enter the Contest, you just have to answer one simple question about where you will wander as a Miles Millionaire.

Enter the Contest for 1 Million AAdvantage Miles
To become eligible to enter the Contest, just follow these steps:

Register using promotion code AAWND
Book a round-trip transatlantic flight on any published fare on American Airlines, British Airways or Iberia from April 6, 2011 through June 17, 2011
Complete travel on or before June 30, 2011
Once you complete your travel, you’ll receive an email# with details for entering the contest

After you complete your travel, you’ll receive an invitation to submit and essay:

Submission Guidelines:
The Submission must include an answer to the following question: “If you were cured of The Wanderlust with one million Miles, where would you go and what would you do there?”
The Submission must be in text format;
The Submission must between two hundred and fifty (250) and three hundred (300) words in length;
The Submission must be in English;

You can also earn bonus AAdvantage Miles on full fare tickets:

Once you’ve registered for the promotion, you will earn 20,000 AAdvantage bonus miles for every eligible trip booked in full-fare Economy Class* or above. Simply fly a transatlantic round-trip now through June 30, 2011 on American Airlines, British Airways or Iberia. That’s enough miles for a quick fix for the Wanderlust.

This looks to be one of the more restrictive promotions they’ve offered in awhile, you have to purchase a ticket and to get the bonus miles you have to purchase thee most expensive fares, but with fewer people entering it should at least limit the competition in the essay contest.

Go here to read more or to register.

American Airlines, British Airways & Iberia CEOs @ Press conference photo credit American Airlines on Flickr

I’ve been gone for few days (the holidays and all) but it’s been a slow news week on the AAdvantage milage front.

The joint business agreement that American, BA and Iberia announced back in the fall has been expanded now to include 57 new British Airways and 2 Iberia flights as American Airlines codeshare flights. What this means is that these flights will now be listed as American fights when you book travel, so you’ll earn 100% of the AAdvantage miles that you’d normally earn as well as full Elite Qualifying Miles.

Here’s a look at the new AA codeshare routes:

More details here.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TUL8cfCijw

American Airlines and British Airways just opened their first jointly operated Admirals Club in Denver.  The renovated club will employ both AA and BA premium service representatives. Here’s what they say in the press release:

“The joint lounge in Denver is another way AA and BA are providing more seamless customer service as part of the airlines’ transatlantic joint business,” said Nancy Knipp, American’s President – Admirals Club. “In addition to featuring a wide array of state-of-the-art amenities in an enhanced lounge setting, we’ve simplified the connection process for travelers by relocating the Denver Admirals Club from Terminal C to Terminal A – the terminal from which both AA and BA operate.”

The newly opened 5,115 square foot space incorporates rustic and organic elements that reflect the unique characteristics of Colorado. Upon entering the club, customers are greeted in a reception area composed of chiseled stone walls, curved glass panels and back-lit resin panels. The facility offers seating for 124 guests and includes a cell-phone-free quiet zone featuring comfortable chairs with ottomans. Visitors to the club also can enjoy the walk-up Cyber Cafe with HP TouchSmart PCs, new flat-panel TVs, a conference room and a children’s area featuring a flat-panel TV and HP PC, both with age-appropriate programming.

To celebrate the opening of the new location, they’re offering a $75 discount on any new membership if you sign up at the Denver club between now and January 31, 2011.

You can still get 20 percent discount on new membership even if you’re not planning to be in Denver by using promotion code NYE when you sign up online.   Better yet, there’s still time to win a lifetime Admirals Club membership before American’s “Transform Your Travel” before the sweepstakes ends on December 15.

After 13 years of trying, American Airlines and British Airways finally got regulatory approval to create a Trans-Atlantic Cooperation Alliance that will allow them to co-ordinate their schedules, co-market trans-Atlantic travel, and better integrate their frequent flyer programs.

Before approval, American was allowed sell tickets for flights connecting to BA flights in London as their own under a code share agreement, but they weren’t allowed to sell tickets on British Airways flights across the Atlantic.  And even though they were partners, AAdvantage members weren’t allowed to earn AAdvantage miles for trans-Atlantic travel on British Airways, now because of approval, you’ll not only earn AAdvantage miles when traveling to London on BA, but you’ll be able to redeem your miles for trans-Atlantic travel on BA planes.

Starting today, members of both airlines’ frequent flyer programs will earn miles when flying either carrier.   Overall, it looks to be an enhancement to the AAdvantage program and most people will be pleased with the improvements.  The only thing that might be seen as a negative is that British Airways charges a fuel surcharge on award tickets.  So if you redeem miles for travel on BA, you’ll not only have to pay taxes on your ticket, you’ll also have to pay this charge (this is something that members of the BA frequent flyer program already have to do).  American doesn’t collect a fuel surcharge on paid trans-Atlantic travel, so AAdvantage award tickets aren’t affected.  Read more about it here.

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

I just received this from American:

American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia are now making the oneworld^® Alliance even better by bringing you more flights, more convenience, and more opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles for your transatlantic travel. There has never been a better time to be an AAdvantage^® member. Beginning October 1, 2010, you will be able to enjoy more rewards and privileges across all three airlines.

• More Ways to Earn Miles
  AAdvantage members can now earn AAdvantage miles on all American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia flights.* And the miles earned for flights on all three airlines count toward elite status qualification.

  In addition, when you fly discount economy fares on any British Airways flight or any Iberia transatlantic flight, you will now earn 100% of the base miles flown — just like when you fly on American.

  Plus, AAdvantage Executive Platinum^® and AAdvantage Platinum^® members will now earn their elite status bonus miles for all of their travel on British Airways. View the details on more ways to earn miles.

• More Flights For Award Travel
  Your miles can be redeemed for all flights on American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia.* The three carriers’ combined route network serves over 400 destinations in more than 100 countries, to give you more convenient schedule options when you are ready to claim a well-deserved award.

• More Premium Privileges
  The new, expanded relationship will also bring you more opportunities to use miles to upgrade, and continue the reciprocal lounge access for transatlantic customers flying in First Class or Business Class, as well as oneworld Emerald^® and oneworld Sapphire^® status members. For complete details about upgrades and lounge privileges go to www.aa.com/upgrade andwww.aa.com/loungeaccess.

As an AAdvantage member, over time you will see more benefits as we continue to work with oneworld airlines to collectively enhance our product offerings and network.

For more details, visit www.aa.com/nowmore.