American installed a version of Panasonic’s eX2 system on their new Boeing 777-300ER.  It supports up to 350 audio selections, 120 movies and 150 TV programs, as well as games, apps, maps, and communication and messaging features. It also offers at least one USB port and AC power outlet at every seat.

And if you’re traveling in First or Business Class you’ll also get some additional features, like extra USB ports and more AC outlets, you’ll also have AV ports that that enable you to connect your own devices to the in-flight entertainment system.

What this means is that you can mirror your laptop to the IFE screen to watch a movie or work on a presentation, you can connect your iPod and control and listen to its music using the IFE system menus, or view and listen to content stored on your iPad or iPhone.

How you do this depends upon what kind of device you have.  There are two kinds of A/V input options: composite video with separate left and right audio channels, and Panasonic’s proprietary eXport.

Composite

You’re probably familiar with composite A/V connections, they’re the three cables with RCA jacks: a yellow plug for video, red for right audio, white for left audio.

Many video cameras, portable DVD players, and some laptops have these type of older, analog connections.  To connect these type of devices all you will need are yellow, red, and white composite cables or (if your device has a single audio jack) you’ll also need to get a Y splitter to divide the left and right audio channels.

Newer devices, like iPads, iPhones, MacBooks, and many Windows laptops have digital video ports, so you’ll need a special cable or converter.

S-Video: If your laptop supports s-video out, here’s a S-Video to Composite adapter with left and right audio.

VGA: VGA to composite requires more than a cable, it requires signal conversion.  You’ll need to get a VGA to Composite converter and you’ll also need to get  an audio Y cable splitter with 1-mini plug and 2-RCA plugs.

HDMI:  If your laptop has HDMI or Mini HDMI you’ll need HDMI cables, RCA composite cables, and a converter like this universal HDMI to composite video converter from ViewHD.

MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro with Apple Mini Display Port and Thunderbolt: All you need is this adapter from OKEBA.  It works with both the Mini DisplayPort and the new Apple ThunderBolt connection and  converts to to RCA Composite Video.  Includes cables.

iPhone thru iPhone 4S:  Apple Composite AV Cable with USB connector that you can plug in to a power source.

iPad Touch 1st thru 4th generation:  Apple Composite AV Cable with USB connector that you can plug in to a power source.

iPod classic 80GB – 160GB:  Apple Composite AV Cable with USB connector that you can plug in to a power source.

iPad Nano 3rd thru 6th generation:  Apple Composite AV Cable with USB connector that you can plug in to a power source.

iPad 1st thru 3rd generation:   Apple Composite AV Cable with USB connector that you can plug in to a power source.

iPod Touch 5th Generation:  Lightning Digital AV Adapter supports HDMI.  You’ll still need to purchase the universal HDMI to composite video converter from ViewHD and cables (sold separately).

iPhone 5:  Lightning Digital AV Adapter supports HDMI.  You’ll still need to purchase the universal HDMI to composite video converter from ViewHD and cables (sold separately).

iPad Mini:  Lightning Digital AV Adapter supports HDMI.  You’ll still need to purchase the universal HDMI to composite video converter from ViewHD and cables (sold separately).

iPad 4th Generation:  Lightning Digital AV Adapter supports HDMI.  You’ll still need to purchase the universal HDMI to composite video converter from ViewHD and cables (sold separately).

Panasonic eXport

eXport is Panasonic’s proprietary 9 pin mini-DIN iPod/iPhone port that provides both an audio and video connection while it charges your device.  Unlike the composite connection, it integrates with the entertainment system and allows you to control and navigate your iPod or iPhone from the entertainment system menus.

To connect to the eXport you’ll need and adapter like this eXport In-Flight Video Cable for iPod and iPhone from Griffin.

It doesn’t work with the iPhone 5, iPad mini, or the 4th gen iPad.  These devices all have the new Apple Lightning connection rather than the 30 pin USB connection that Apple has used for years.   For these devices you’ll have to use a composite connection (at least for now).

USB

One of the cool features of the entertainment system is that you can view photos stored on a USB drive. All you have to do is connect your thumb drive using the USB port, the entertainment system has software that will allow you to open and view your pictures.

Future technology

At the media event for the inaugural flight of American’s new 777-300ER  I had a chance to visit with Mark Smith, American’s Manager of Inflight Products, and talk about the new in-flight entertainment system on the 777-300ER. One of the interesting things about the Panasonic system is that it’s modular, so as manufacturers come out with new inventions and interfaces, American can adapt the system and add new connectivity options in the future.

Something else he mentioned, that I thought was both funny and ironic, was that during the development of the new IFE system he and his team spent quite a lot of time at Panasonic’s facility in California working with their engineers.

In fact one of the AA team members spent more than 150 days out there doing QA testing. They all managed to earn status in one of the hotel programs and became pretty serious points collectors in the process.  We spent some time talking about hotel points and bonus offers, and of course I told them all about Loyalty Traveler!

Yesterday I wrote about a really cool new AAdvantage Award map that was just released by American.  Well this afternoon American posted a video to YouTube that gives you a demo of how it works.

It was officially announced today and it turns out that it’s the result of an interesting project to recruit technology talent at American. From the press release:

“Award Map is specifically designed with our customers in mind to help make booking flights with miles easier than ever,” said Suzanne Rubin, President – AAdvantage Loyalty Program. “The intuitive layout and simple navigation of Award Map offers customers a robust, easy-to-use tool that makes searching for and booking award tickets much more convenient.”

American is committed to technology innovation, and Award Map is a direct product of the American Airlines Development Program for Technology (ADEPT) initiative – a college recruiting program created to develop a technical talent pipeline for Information Technology. More information can be found at www.aa.com/ADEPT.

Of course, rather than watching the video, it’s more fun to just go play with the award map at www.aa.com/awardmap!

Want to go someplace Memorial Day Weekend? Now it’s easy to discover your Award Flight options to the Caribbean, to Europe, to Asia, or your favorite travel destination.

Check out this really cool visual tool that helps you figure out where you can go with your AAdvantage Miles.

Just select your origin, the region you’d like to travel to, the dates, how many miles you’d like to use, the number of passengers, travel class, and then search.

The map will display the results that fit your criteria.

From here you can select a destination.

And then select flights and book an award.

If you’ve ever used your miles to go on a spontaneous, last minute trip you’ll especially appreciate the ability to search availability by date. Another cool feature is that in addition to searching by regions, you can search by interest and display golf, beach, or ski destinations.

You can play with the award map yourself at http://www.aa.com/awardmap.

Too many options and not enough vacation time!

It didn’t take them long, but American has already updated AA.com to reflect the new branding.

The navigation menus remain the same, though some have been relocated. Those menu items that are probably most frequently accessed remain located at the top of the page.

The rest are now located at the bottom of the website.

Go here to see it for yourself.

If you’re traveling during the holidays here’s a way to save a little money:  American is offering discounted prepaid Gogo Wi-Fi Day Passes:

For the Thanksgiving holiday, we are pleased to bring you two special offers to make your holiday travel more enjoyable and to stay connected.

A Day Pass is usually $14.95 and allows unlimited Wi-Fi access within a 24 hour period, so these holiday sale prices are a pretty good deal:

2 Day Pass
$14.50
Purchase between
November 7 – 24, 2012
Use on flights from
November 17 – 25, 2012

3 Day Pack

3 Day Pass
$19.50
Purchase between
November 7 – December 31, 2012
Use on flights from
November 17, 2012 – January 3, 2013

One thing you should know: these prices require an advance purchase and aren’t available inflight.

Go here for complete details.

News Roundup

And now a brief Monday Morning roundup of American Airlines and AAdvantage related news that you might have missed over the weekend.

Darren over at Frequently Flying shared a 1977 American Airlines seat map from a Boeing 727-200. Go here to check it out.

American just started service between Miami and Asunción, Paraguay and Stefan of the Rapid Travel Chai happend to be passing through Miami at the time of launch party for the inaugural flight. He has party pics on his blog.

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

Photo: WiFi onboard
Credit: Matthew Hurst on Flickr

Orlando International Airport becomes the second American Airlines location to offer customers the option to tag their own bags.

Boston and Austin were test cities for self-tagging, and for a while AAdvantage members with Elite status in Boston were being offered bonus miles as an inducement to give it a try.

During several months of feedback and tests, American observed that customers were able to speed up their check-in time (in Austin it improved by as much as 55 percent) and AUS become the first airport to offer self-tagging permanently.

It’s an easy enough process, here’s how American explains it:

Self-Tag is easy! Just follow the steps below.

Step 1: Print your bag tags at the self-service kiosk.

Step 2: Attach the bag tag to each checked bag.

Step 3: Bring your self-tagged baggage to the designated Self Tag drop-off location.

According to American’s website, self-tagging will be expanded soon to Chicago O’Hare and Reagan National.

Not sure why it’s didn’t work out in Boston….<insert Boston joke here>

Photo: American Airlines Check In Kiosks
Credit: Photo courtesy Grant Wickes on Flickr

American rolled out a few small improvements to their website late last week. Here are the highlights.

New Seat Maps

Here’s a look at the new seat maps. This is from the new Boeing 777-300ER with a three class configuration and Main Cabin Extra seating.

First Class

Business Class

Main Cabin

Detail of seat map Legend

Fare Deals

Another new improvement is that fare deals are now displayed as round-trip prices. Not a big deal, but it’s always seemed somewhat less than candid that while prices were listed as one way fares, most deals required a round-trip purchase. I have always thought that the asterisk and the “round-trip purchased required” was disingenuous.

One small technology advance. One giant leap forward with transparency in pricing!

Login

You can now access your account using your AAdvantage account number or your email address.

One issue

This may not be an issue any longer, but Friday morning I noticed that my reservations disappeared. They were no longer listed under the “My Reservations” tab.

I was able to bring them back by accessing “My Reservations” under the top navigation menu.

And then using the record locator, I was able to retrieve them. Now my reservations are displayed when I access my account.

Did I miss anything?  Did you notice any other changes?

Apple’s new Passbook is an iOS 6 app that lets you save all kinds of things like loyalty cards, movie tickets, gift cards, and boarding passes to your iPhone or iPad.   American was one of the first airlines to support this new feature.

I’ve used it a few times and it works really well, though at first it wasn’t obvious to me how to use it.

I wasted some time trying to figure out how to enter my AAdvantage number in Passbook in order to retrieve a ticket; you actually have to check-in using American’s mobile app, and from there save your boarding pass to Passbook. Thankfully, a Google search helped my solve the problem.

Anyway, American posted a very short tutorial on Youtube yesterday explaining how to save your boarding pass to Passbook.  Here’s a look at at the video.

Just a quick update to let you know that American has added a new feature to the website: now you can book FinnAir and AirBerlin AAdvantage partner awards online at AA.com.

Other options when booking an award online inlclude:

American Airlines (of course)
Alaska Airlines
British Airways
Hawaiian Airlines
Qantas

It’s good that they make it easy to earn AAdvantage Miles, but even better when they make it easier to use them!

You’ve probably been on a flight and witnessed the flight attendant flipping through a thick dot matrix printout of the passenger manifest.  That’s how they know passenger connection information, seating assignments, and elite status information.  

American is replacing the printed manifest by giving their flight attendants a Samsung Galaxy Note tablet loaded with a new app that provides access to passenger data and up–to–date flight information delivered in real-time.

From AA.com:

Get ready to enjoy greater comfort and personalization during your flight as American Airlines flight attendants begin using the Samsung Galaxy Note® as part of American’s innovative tablet program. This will put invaluable customer data at their fingertips allowing them to further enhance your travel experience.

Planned to be a first of its kind in the airline industry, the flight attendant tablet program, rolling out later this year, is just one way we’re empowering our people to help you fly better. From seat assignments and special services, to premium class food and beverage options, to loyalty program status and connecting gate information, we want to ease your travel process from boarding to deplaning.

Here’s an overview video that American published to their YouTube channel that features former AAdvantage President and current AA Chief Information Officer, Maya Leibman giving an overview of the new flight attendant app.