Earn 500 American Airlines AAdvantage miles at Choice Hotels (double miles) from April 13-May 25, 2013. This could be a good alternative to collecting 10 points/$1 over the next six weeks on low spend stays.

Keep in mind that Choice Privileges offers 8,000 points after 2 stays through May 15, 2013, which is likely a better deal.

Choice Privileges members normally earn 250 miles per hotel stay at any of 11 hotel brands in Choice Hotels.

Most Choice Hotels earn 10 points per dollar in room rate at these brands:

• Comfort Inn,
• Comfort Suites,
• Quality Inn
• Sleep Inn
• Clarion
• Cambria Suites
• Ascend Collection

Four brands of Choice Hotels earn only 5 points/$1 for Rodeway Inn and EconoLodge budget brands, Mainstay Suites and Suburban extended stay brands.

500 American Airline miles is standard earning rate for full service brand stays with Club Carlson, Hilton HHonors, IHG Rewards Club, and Hyatt Gold Passport.

Best Western, La Quinta and Choice earn 250 airline miles per stay.

Wyndham Rewards gives 2 miles per dollar for most hotel brands or 500 miles per stay for Wyndham and Hawthorn Suites.

Value of American AAdvantage miles vs. Choice Privileges points

The value of miles depends on the traveler and how close 500 miles will get you to a frequent flyer award.

$100 hotel room earns 500 miles or 1,000 Choice Privileges points at most brands. Spending more than $100 per stay likely favors earning Choice Privileges points for the better value as long as you have the potential to earn up to 8,000 points for a free hotel night.

And for stays through May 15, 2013 there is the Choice Privileges promotion for 8,000 points after every 2 stays.

Zurich, Berlin, Oslo, Helsinki, London in 12 days out of San Francisco Airport. I was surprised at how much of Europe I could visit on one trip using 50,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles for three one-way economy class award tickets and no other transportation except to and from airports on city trains, trams and busses.

No car travel.

Miles and miles of walking.

Lesson #1  Travel with two small bags and a small backpack if you plan to walk with your luggage.

In Oslo, London and Chicago overnight layovers I  traveled without my one checked bag. Read More…

My flight Tuesday from Zurich to Berlin was on OneWorld airline partner Air Berlin. In sensibly efficient German style the aircraft was boarded from back to front.

The OneWorld lounge at Zurich Airport was a pleasant place to kick back and get a bite to eat and drink. My Air Berlin boarding pass did not indicate my American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum elite level. Fortunately I had my arrival boarding pass from AA that did show Platinum elite.

The representative at the lounge did not realize that American Airlines Platinum members flying economy class get lounge access on international flights. She kept asking if I knew my AA account number and I kept repeating it. After I was given access I put on my glasses and I saw my AA account number printed on the Air Berlin boarding pass.

During my lounge stay I went up to ask about wireless internet access in the lounge and another woman with AA Platinum status and an American passport was having a difficult time being let into the Oneworld lounge. She finally was admitted too.

Zurich airport offers 60 minutes free internet, but you have to get the password code via mobile text message. Have your phone handy. Read More…

The American Airlines flight 64 JFK-ZRH was lightly loaded. Most rows had only three passengers in economy meaning each passenger had a section of seats to stretch out in the 2-3-2 seat configuration of the 767 plane. I could have grabbed the middle section if I had been thinking quickly. I managed to twist and position myself semi-comfortably in the two seats for about 4 hours of rest and probably 2.5 hours of sleep.

Good eyeshades and earplugs made the rest so much easier to come by. That and the fact the movies sucked. They did not even show any of the films listed in the inflight magazine. Breakfast was served at 6:45am about one hour before landing.

The Eagles played in my head all night. Saturday I vegetated in front of the TV on my day at home between the Chicago Carslon Rezidor Hotel Conference and leaving for San Francisco to catch a Monday morning flight to JFK.  I watched the three hour Eagles rockumentary and relived memories from my 1970s. Read More…

In March I will be attending the world’s largest travel trade show at ITB Berlin. An estimated 17,000 attendees. Huge.

The past several days I have been studying options for flying to Berlin and back in March 2013 using American Airlines AAdvantage miles. It would be to my advantage if I had 30,000 United miles for the outbound trip since the schedules to Berlin with Lufthansa work out so much better from Monterey. But alas, my account balance is only sufficient for flying to Europe in economy at 20,000 AAdvantage miles each way.

The published airfares are $1,000 for the dates I need to be in Berlin. Over the past couple of months I have not seen the rates drop under $750.

One of the facets I enjoy about hotel awards and airline awards is the choice of where I travel is shaped by the options given to me through the loyalty program. This is exemplified by the AAdvantage award flights I have found to get me to Berlin and back again, many itineraries with overnight layovers and extended daytime layovers for the option to visit another European city or two or three taking the long way home.

• 9 hours during the day in Oslo or 23 hours with an overnight in Stockholm?
• 21 hours and an overnight in London?
• 21 hours and an overnight in Dusseldorf?
• 8 daylight hours in Miami or San Diego?
• Zurich, Vienna, Dublin, Milan, Lisbon or Madrid are possibilities for an intra-Europe ticket at 10,000 additional miles. Read More…

“The computer shows your name is Kelly Malloy. I can’t issue you a boarding pass with both your first and last name on the reservation spelled incorrectly.”

Those were the words I heard, or at least I think that is what we were told at 5:30am Sunday morning after I had already checked both our bags under my name for our flights from Monterey to Miami.

I checked our two bags at 5:15am under my name for free as an elite American Airlines AAdvantage member for the 6:00am flight from Monterey to Los Angeles. I then left Kelley to check in for the flight while I drove the car up the hill several hundred yards from the airport to a street with free parking. One of my travel goals is to pay as little to park my car as possible while traveling around California and from California airports. There are plenty of free parking spaces around Monterey Airport within ten minutes walk, so I checked in and checked our bags and left the terminal to park the car.

I was quite surprised to return 15 minutes later and find Kelley still trying to check in for our flight to Miami. It was now 5:30am. The American Airlines agent was on the phone trying to access a supervisor to find out how to override the name discrepancy.

I had no reason to even suspect there might be a problem. The flight record locator and Miami itinerary displayed on her American Airlines frequent flyer account. The travel itinerary from American Express Business Travel in my documents showed her name spelled correctly.

But the computer told the AA agent Kelley was ‘Kelly Malloy’ in the American Airlines reservation system and the agent said she could not issue a boarding pass with both her first and last names spelled incorrectly.

The final boarding call announcement for the 6:00am flight to Los Angeles was announced at 5:45 am and the ticket counter agent said to me, “Are you going to Miami or not? If you are going to Miami, then you have to get on the plane now.”

I hated making a “Sophie’s Choice” decision. At 5:45am on a Sunday morning, after only a few hours sleep, I had to make an instant choice of cancelling the Miami trip and risking a heavy cancellation penalty or spending Christmas alone in Miami with Kelley alone at home in Monterey.

This trip to Miami is actually a business trip since the primary purpose of the trip is to stay at the St. Regis Bal Harbour as part of my SPG Amex Stars contract. The St. Regis hotel stay is free as long as I arrive and stay as scheduled. Visions of a $2,400 hotel bill for a last minute cancellation at the St. Regis Bal Harbour after the 100% cancellation penalty deadline made the decision for me.

I handed Kelley the car keys, gave her directions to where I had parked the car and I walked to airport security. I abandoned my wife for the Christmas holidays.

Sometimes travel sucks.

Looking up through lobby skylight at InterContinental Miami

Christmas Day at 4am in the morning and I am looking at the 20-story lighted message on two exterior faces of the InterContinental Miami Hotel about two miles away where I can clearly see the words “WELCOME TO MIAMI” scrolling by, in between the displays of silhouette images of a dancing lady against a backdrop of red or blue lights.

I am here in Miami alone on Christmas Day. Kelley is home alone in Monterey.

This trip was not planned to be this way.

Dancing lady projections on skyscraper is actually the InterContinental Miami Hotel seen from Hilton Miami.

How I wish, how I wish you were here

We’re just two lost souls

Swimming in a fish bowl

Year after year

Running over the same old ground

What have we found?

The same old fears

Wish you were here.”

Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd

American Airlines has a double elite miles (EQM) promotion for all members Nov 1-Dec 31, 2012 that also includes double redeemable miles on flights from November 16 to November 26 for all AAdvantage members.

AAdvantage elite members earn double redeemable miles (RDM) and double elite miles for all American Airlines operated flights during November and December. The two double miles promotions for Thanksgiving double redeemable miles Nov 16-26 and elite member double redeemable miles for all flights in November and December will not be combined for AAdvantage elite members.

All AAdvantage members must register for Double Miles Thank You Promotion to earn these bonuses.

“Mileage Runner Rehab is for Quitters”

It has been five years since I planned mileage runs. I used to be an expert.

This past weekend was frequent flyer university for me as I refreshed my skills for finding good flight deals. This post guides readers through some of the basic steps and pitfalls for planning mileage runs based on my experiences.  Read More…

American Airlines has an end of year all apologies promotion that has my attention. AAdvantage members earn double elite qualifying miles and elite qualifying points for all American Airlines and American Eagle operated flights from November 1 to December 31, 2012.

American Double Elite Qualifying Miles promotion registration is required by December 31 using promotion code AATHX. Terms state retroactive credit will be given for eligible American Airlines flights during the promotion period prior to registration. This registration also applies to Double Redeemable Miles Nov. 1-Dec 31, 2012 for AAdvantage elite members.

The message below specifically states AAdvantage elite status member and the double redeemable miles portion of this offer is restricted to Gold, Platinum and Executive Platinum members. However, there is no reference to elite members listed in the terms for double elite qualifying miles. FlyerTalk thread on this promotion is a good reference source as terms get clarification.

All-American Apologies

Main Points

• AAdvantage promotion is valid for all travel on purchased, published fare tickets on American Airlines, American Eagle and the American Connection® carrier marketed and operated flights from November 1, 2012, through December 31, 2012.
• This offer does not require travel to be booked during a specific time frame; travel booked prior to the start date of this promotion is eligible.
• Offer applies to all eligible segments flown, regardless of the type of trip, i.e. one-way, round-trip, circle trip or trips including open jaws.
• Registration prior to midnight CT December 31, 2012 is required. Registration automatically applies to both the double elite qualifying miles and points offer as well as the AAdvantage elite member double flight miles promotion.
• All eligible travel flown during the offer period, but prior to registration will also be included retroactively.
• Bonus elite qualifying miles or points will count towards your 2013 membership year.

American AAdvantage elite members will also receive double redeemable miles.

Main points for Double Redeemable miles

• Offer is valid for AAdvantage Executive Platinum, AAdvantage Platinum or AAdvantage Gold members only.
• This offer does not require travel to be booked during a specific time frame; travel booked prior to the start date of this promotion is eligible.
• Registration prior to midnight CT December 31, 2012 is required. Registration automatically applies to both the double elite qualifying miles and points offer as well as the AAdvantage elite member double flight miles promotion.
• All eligible travel flown during the offer period, but prior to registration will also be included retroactively.
• Customers who qualify for elite status partway through this offer will receive double flight miles for travel post registration, from the date of qualification for elite status onward.
• Flights operated by our codeshare partners or oneworld alliance carriers are not eligible for this promotion.
• This offer cannot be combined with the double miles offerfor travel during the Thanksgiving period.
• Flights operated by our codeshare partners or oneworld alliance carriers are not eligible for this promotion.

American Airlines AAdvantage – Double elite miles T&C

AAdvantage promotion is valid for all travel on purchased, published fare tickets on American Airlines, American Eagle and the American Connection® carrier marketed and operated flights from November 1, 2012, through December 31, 2012.

This offer does not require travel to be booked during a specific time frame; travel booked prior to the start date of this promotion is eligible.

Offer applies to all eligible segments flown, regardless of the type of trip, i.e. one-way, round-trip, circle trip or trips including open jaws.

Registration prior to midnight CT December 31, 2012 is required. Registration automatically applies to both the double elite qualifying miles and points offer as well as the AAdvantage elite member double flight miles promotion.

All eligible travel flown during the offer period, but prior to registration will also be included retroactively.

Bonus elite qualifying miles or points will count towards your 2013 membership year.

This offer does not increment the member’s prize eligible mileage balance or Million Miler balance.

Double elite-qualifying miles and points will be calculated at 100% of the base miles or points earned, respectively.

The initial posting of double elite qualifying miles and points will be posted to the account of the traveling AAdvantage member within 3-4 weeks after qualifying activity posts to your account. Thereafter, the postings will occur weekly.

American Double Elite Qualifying Miles promotion registration.

American Airlines AAdvantage – Double Redeemable Miles T&C

Offer is valid for AAdvantage Executive Platinum, AAdvantage Platinum or AAdvantage Gold members only.

AAdvantage promotion is valid for all travel on purchased, published fare tickets on American Airlines, American Eagle or the American Connection® carrier marketed and operated flights from November 1, 2012, through December 31, 2012.

This offer does not require travel to be booked during a specific time frame; travel booked prior to the start date of this promotion is eligible.

Offer applies to all eligible segments flown, regardless of the type of trip, i.e. one-way, round-trip, circle trip or trips including open jaws.

Registration prior to midnight CT December 31, 2012 is required. Registration automatically applies to both the double elite qualifying miles and points offer as well as the AAdvantage elite member double flight miles promotion.

All eligible travel flown during the offer period, but prior to registration will also be included retroactively.

Double miles will be calculated at 100% of the base miles earned and will be awarded immediately for travel flown after registration for this promotion.

Double miles for eligible travel flown prior to registration for this promotion will be awarded within 2-3 weeks after the promotion has ended.

Promotion does not apply to travel on mileage award tickets or fares that are ineligible for AAdvantage mileage accrual.

Customers who qualify for elite status partway through this offer will receive double flight miles for travel post registration, from the date of qualification for elite status onward.

Bonus miles do not count toward elite status qualification or Million Miler status.

Flights operated by our codeshare partners or oneworld alliance carriers are not eligible for this promotion.

This offer cannot be combined with the double miles offer for travel during the Thanksgiving period.

 

Time for me to find cheap fares from SJC/SFO/OAK for 7,020 more flight miles by the end of next month.

I earned AAdvantage Gold elite status with my flights from Monterey to Barcelona last month.

I need to fly an additional 7,020 miles to reach American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum elite with this double EQM offer and a bump from 25% to 100% bonus miles on my flights. Elite points are a non factor for me in 2012. All my American Airlines flights in 2012 were discount fares and earned 0.5 elite points per mile. I am chasing elite miles to reach 50,000 elite miles for 2012.

Those double redeemable miles will help my flight award balance too.

Clue me in on cheap airfare if you see some good deals from California.

Ric Garrido, writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. You can follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed.

I just checked my American Airlines AAdvantage account to see how many miles I have for a flight award.

To my surprise I saw this on my account page:

Surely Gold is not too exciting for on-the-go frequent flyers, but AAdvantage Gold elite is a significant milestone for this loyalty traveler.

The Loyalty Traveler Saga

I quit my job as a frequent flyer analyst for a publishing company in March 2007. That was my fifth job in four years following my decision to leave elementary school classroom teaching as a profession. I was promoted once, laid off twice and quit jobs twice due to low pay (motivated me to launch Loyalty Traveler) and top-down aggravation and oversight (motivated me to go back to Loyalty Traveler self-employment).

I had status through butt-in-seat miles with all three alliances OneWorld, SkyTeam and Star Alliance in 2007. I vacationed in Singapore, Amsterdam, Alaska, Dresden, Prague, Buenos Aires, Argentina and Colonia, Uruguay in 2006-2007. I bought a marble penguin in Chile that sits on my fireplace mantel. I stayed in Atlanta, D.C. and New York (actually Newark, New Jersey for lower priced hotels) several times while I made a couple of trips to South America on Delta $500 business class mistake fares.

I started Loyalty Traveler blog in 2007. Loyalty Traveler as a business started in 2006, but within three months I was hired to write frequent flyer books. I used to be quite proficient at ITA and ExpertFlyer and finding loads of cheap airline fares to travel the world on mileage runs and mini-vacations. The experience of seeing how continual changes in frequent flyer programs  outdated books I was writing within weeks led me to move into blogging.

So why no elite airline status in 5 years?

No income for the first year of Loyalty Traveler from mid-2007 to mid-2008. Then projects started rolling in again. My travel started up again in late 2008.

Then 2009 rolled around. The economy went to shit. And so did our household in January 2009.

My wife went in for a routine medical exam to discover she had rectal cancer.

One day everything was falling into place and the next day everything fell apart again.

The doctor told her she could not work for 9 months and she would have immediate surgery followed by six months of regular chemotherapy with six weeks of radiation treatment.

We lost most of our income for the year. We spent our money on gas and prescription medicines, food and hotel rooms to take advantage of the most incredible hotel deals of the decade and give Kelley a break from staring at the walls of the living room and bedroom at home for weeks on end.

My days were filled with driving 150 miles roundtrip to take Kelley to the hospital in San Jose and during summer 2009 we drove 180 miles daily for a 15-minute hospital radiation treatment in Santa Clara. Kelley rested when she could and I did everything else. I look back over those months on Loyalty Traveler blog now and see I was posting fewer than half the days of the month.

Kelley finished her treatments in late September 2009. We have our fingers crossed she is cancer free when her three year check-up comes in the next couple of weeks.

2010 and 2011 I primarily drove around the western states in my car for travel. My car is a business deduction. Air travel is also a business deduction, but one that takes more out-of-pocket spending.

And Loyalty Traveler grew in readership over the years.

Hotel companies started contacting me for meetings and events and projects.

2012 is my Golden Year

Earning American AAdvantage Gold Elite in 2012 for miles flown holds a special significance for me. I might even reach Platinum elite with the remaining trips I have planned for 2012. I also have flown United, US Airways and Spirit this year.

Perhaps I will even go back to writing about frequent flyer programs on Loyalty Traveler.

A person commented to me at TBEX Girona, Spain that she was surprised to read that I had not been to Europe in five years.

Another travel blogger wrote the other day that most travel bloggers do not travel all that much. I do not travel as much as I would like, but I still have 50 nights or more in hotels each year.

The meaning of travel is relative to each person’s travel experience.

For some people travel means leaving the country and being on the road or in the air for months at a time or even all the time. For some people travel means being in a hostel or a tent or a luxury resort or in the homes of friends and family for holidays.

I decided thirty years ago, after backpacking on the road for months in the northeast U.S and across Canada, that I wanted a true companion to share the travel adventures with me. My wife Kelley has been with me for 30 years. We live about 500 yards from where we first met in Monterey in college.

People who meet me often ask, “Do you travel all the time?”

I tell them I like to travel away from home about every six weeks.

Frequent travelers wonder why I don’t travel more. My response is typically something like:

I live in Monterey, California. I like to travel, but I have no desire to travel all the time to other places. Monterey is a fine place to be. And my home in Monterey is filled with cats and my wife who all love me and miss my companionship when I am away.

And now the frequent flyer elite status is a Loyalty Traveler milestone.

Being American Airlines AAdvantage Gold feels good.

Unfortunately, I do not have the video evidence to share the bin reel fun on American Airlines during yesterday’s flight from Chicago to San Francisco. I didn’t turn on my camera to videotape the five minute overhead bin reloading scene until the last 17 seconds of the departure delay.

Perhaps I should buy a new videocamera and hit the airways and airwaves in 2012 with my new blog “Bin Reel Fun Flying“.

We are the 99% of Flyers

I felt this week like I am truly one of the 99% of infrequent flyers who suffer in steerage while the 1% enjoy the great benefits of modern travel as members of the frequently flying elite.

This year has been my lowest flight miles since 1996. I have flown over one million butt-in-seat miles in the past 15 years, yet this year I have flown less than 10,000 miles. I have traveled more miles in 2011 in my car.

Arriving early to the airport used to mean making your flight, but now it seems the real AAdvantage of boarding earlier means avoiding the fight – for bin space.

Check-in Upsell for American Airlines Group 1 Boarding

American Airlines self-serve kiosk check in showed me I was currently in Boarding Group 2. There was an upsell offer on the screen to pay $9 and enter the ranks of Boarding Group 1.

“Be among the first to board during general boarding and have earlier access to overhead bin space.”

I passed on joining the ranks of Boarding Group 1.

I checked my roller suitcase and my computer bag easily fit under the seat on my outbound flight to Chicago. My outbound flight last Sunday was the first time where I had a broken seat tray. There was some inconvenience in not having a tray for a 4.5 hour flight. Accommodating seatmates allowed me to occupy some of their tray space. We flying citizens of the 99% have to stick together and help each other out.

Over, Under, Sideways, Down

Another first time experience for this million mile butt-in-seat flyer occurred after the American Airlines plane was fully loaded, and I mean fully loaded with no empty seats on the 737. The flight attendant came through the aisle just before takeoff and there were three bins stuffed with luggage that she was incapable of latching the bin doors. She gave a few bags a nudge and the bins still did not latch. She then made an announcement to the passengers that the flight would not take off until all the overhead bins were latched.

And ended the passenger announcement with the warning she couldn’t (or wouldn’t) move passengers’ bags!

A few volunteers in the aisle seats unfastened their seatbelts and for the next five minutes I watched puzzle challenge competition as suitcases were pushed, prodded, pulled out into the aisle, rearranged and reversed in at least three bins around my seat. This was an audience participation challenge with suggestions from still seatbelted viewers in the middle and window seats as to what the best arrangement of suitcases might be for the troublesome overhead bin latches.

The scene would have made an entertaining YouTube video, but I only filmed the last 17 seconds and it isn’t particularly interesting without the preceding five minutes of American Airlines bin reel fun.

Anyone looking for a travel blog niche should consider a “Bin Reel” video channel. These checked bag fees have certainly created more opportunity for overhead bin drama; primarily in the portion of the plane occupied by the 99%.

Most of us 99% are just trying to reduce the cost of airline travel by freely occupying the shared overhead bin space around us. Of course, there is little profit in that kind of consumer attitude.