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

Now this is interesting….over the weekend JonNYC posted some info from an American Airlines travel agency advisory in a thread over at the Traveling Better Forums:

Codeshare AA*/LA (Lan Airlines)- No New Bookings
Issued: 09Nov12

Effective immediately, no new codeshare bookings may be created for AA*/LA (LAN Airlines) flights. This includes newly created bookings as well as making changes to previously created/ticketed PNRs. Please advise customers that the booking restriction will continue to remain closed for sale until further notice. Thank you.

Hmmmmm…..

LAN and TAM completed a merger earlier this year and formed LANTAM Holdings. LAN is a member of oneworld and TAM is a member of Star Alliance.

Regulators insisted that the newly formed company choose a single alliance, and they also excluded LANTAM from joining the same alliance AviancaTaca.

AviancaTaca joined Star Alliance this summer and TAM announced that they would be leaving, but they didn’t say that they were joining oneworld.

LANTAM has said very little about their plans:

We’re carefully evaluating this issue and we will decide make a decision within an established deadline, taking into account the alternative that offers the best benefits to our clients. For the moment, LAN continues with oneworld and TAM in Star Alliance. We will inform you of any coming up changes.

If LANTAM is excluded from Star Alliance and they’re leaving oneworld, does this mean they’re joining Sky Team? Or maybe, just like Emirates, they’re going independent?

Well since we’re just speculating, I read an interesting post by Mark Mercer, of The Fuzzy Wanderer blog, where he suggests that LAN’s endgame is to find a way to exit oneworld and join TAM over at Star Alliance.

To fully see his point, you should first read his thoughts here (the post was written before AviancaTaca joined Star) and then read his comments at the end of this Air Transport World article “LANTAM looks to late 2013 decision on alliance”.

Such intrigue, it’s like following a telenovela. What do you think?

Win 2,500 AAdvantage Miles

The only thing more fun than speculation is winning AAdvantage Miles!  Don’t forget that The Frugal Travel Guy’s Monday Deal of the Day is sponsored by AAdvantage.  Share your best AA or AAdvantage related tip for a chance to win 2,500 AA miles!

Photo: Ato do Projeto Latam – Santiago
Credit: Sindicato Nacional dos Aeronautas on Flickr

The Bogota Admirals Club will soon join the list of American Airlines lounges closed this year. From the AA website:

As we move our operations to the new international terminal, the Bogotá Admirals Club will permanently close its doors on October 18, 2012.

While there will be no lounge access available for Admirals Club members and oneworld qualifying guests for a period of time, we are excited to announce that Admirals Club members and their guests plus oneworld qualifying guests will enjoy access to a new LAN lounge when it opens in spring 2013.

Earlier this year the Admirals Clubs in four other airport were closed: Panama City, Washington Dulles, Kansas City, and Santo Domingo.

The closing of the Bogota club brings the total number of locations down to 28 domestic and 9 international.

Win a trip to Star MegaDO 4

There’s still time enter the Win a Seat with Randy Petersen Giveaway for a chance to join him on the 4th annual Star MegaDO in November.

Twenty-six BoardingArea bloggers are participating in the promotion. You can increase your odds of winning by entering each blogger’s giveaway (limit one entry per blog).

If you haven’t already entered my contest, go here to read all about it.  You might even win one of the new American Airlines amenity kits!

Good luck!

Photo: Bogota, Columbia Admirals Club
Credit: American Airlines on Flickr

oneworld member LAN Airlines just took delivery of their first Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and to show it off they’ve launched a new website that offers a virtual tour of the plane.

You get to see a demonstration of all nine lighting schemes, explore the seating controls, play with the window dimming controls, there’s even take a tour of the bathrooms. Here are few highlights:

Business Class seat controls

Business Class window dimming controls

Virtual meal service in Business Class

There’s even something to look at in Economy: a seat back cup holder.

LAN plans to take delivery of 32 Dreamliners over the next several years, their first three will enter service this year. So far, specific flight numbers have been announced but the first cities to see 787 service will be Santiago, Buenos Aires, Lima, Los Angeles, Madrid, and Frankfurt.

If you’d like some interesting reading about the design of the cabin, check out this interview that brand identity director, Rajmin Hessin, gave to the Airlines Passenger Experience Association blog.

Go here to take the tour. Enjoy!

.

American Airlines and LAN are moving in together at JFK”s Terminal 8:

American Airlines and Latin America-based LAN Airlines today announced an expanded relationship in which LAN Airlines affiliates, including LAN Chile, LAN Peru, and LAN Ecuador, will co-locate in Terminal 8 with American at New York’s JFK Airport. LAN’s move into Terminal 8 marks the fourth oneworld alliance carrier, besides American, to operate from the terminal, significantly improving convenience for customers by housing the airlines in the same facility.

Some other LAN news

LAN and Global Traveler Magazine have teamed up to sponsor a sweepstakes:

South America: Get There In Style with LAN Airlines

Enter to win two round-trip business-class tickets on LAN Airlines from one of LAN’s four U.S. gateways (New York, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco) to a South American destination of your choice.

To enter, all you have to do is the following:

In 200 words or less tell about your best travel experience to South America or the South American dream vacation you plan to take in the future.

The deadline to submit you entry is 11:59p.m. EST on March 15th 2012.   Go here to enter and for complete details.

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

Keep your friends close, and your airlines alliance partners closer.  Last week (American Airlines partner and oneworld member) LAN launched a big fare sale with some fares dropping by as much as 50 percent from New York, Miami, San Francisco, and Los Angeles to many destinations in South America.

From the LAN “Big Deal of the Year” offer on their website:

Our BIG DEAL of the year is the biggest and best sale yet! So grab your seat before December 12, 2011 to travel between March 1 and June 30, 2012 to beautiful destinations including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. There is no better time to plan and book next year’s vacation with saving of up to 50%. Hurry, the BIG DEAL OF THE YEAR will only be around for 2 weeks!

Bad news: These fares book into Q class, so they don’t earn AAdvantage miles on codeshare flights. Correction: I was wrong (see the comments section).   These fares will earn AAdvantage Miles.

Good news: American has quietly matched the fares so you’ll earn full mileage on AA numbered flights.

Here’s a sample of some of the fares:

Miami to Lima – $399 round-trip, plus tax/fees
New York JFK to Buenos Aires – $799 round-trip, plus tax/fees

You must purchase you’re ticket by December 12, 2011 to travel between March 1 and June 30, 2012

Go here to the LAN US site to see a full list of fares and destinations, then go to AA.com to search availability.

A hat tip to The Travel Abstract who writes “I may be making a quick 3 month layover in the city where steak and wine porn is not taboo.  Hasta Pronto Buenos Aires!” for writing the post that brought this sale to my attention.

Some other news:

• From Points, Miles and Martinis: If you missed out on buying a oneworld MegaDo ticket, there’s still hope: Randy Peterson is giving up his seat and he and the other milepoint founders are giving it away in a random drawing.  Go here for details.

• Speaking of contests, several Boarding Area bloggers are supporting Passports with Purpose.  You can support building two libraries in Zambia and maybe win one of these great prizes:

From Points, Miles and Martinis: Win Two Free Nights At The W Hotel Atlanta!

From Mommy Points: Win a $100 Best Western Gift Card!

From Deals we Like:  Win a 2-Night Weekend Stay in NYC!

Loyalty Traveler:  Win 110,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points!