I stayed at the Hyatt Place Orlando (near Universal Studios) for the past two nights. The location is excellent for Universal, in fact you could walk. (The hotel runs two shuttles in the morning and two in the afternoon).

I did find that the Hyatt Place breakfast now features hot items – which do not need to be paid for:

It features French Toast, a warm biscuit with tomato and cheeses and a bagel with cheese.

Welcome additions Hyatt!

The last Day of the MegaDO was neatly split between three activities – a tour of the Hyatt, a visit to the new  and very exclusive check-in for American’s best passengers at LAX and a visit to the LAX Museum and on board two aircraft.

Tour of Hyatt Century Plaza

A much larger group than expected opted for the morning walking tour of the hotel that we had all stayed at the night before. We were taken through the history of the property, how it was nearly demolished, and the famous people who had stayed there. We went through the underground link to the office building across the way and finally had a back-stage tour of the huge ballroom and the kitchen, where the resident star chef explained how it all operated. They can do up to 4,000 covers for a big event.

American Airlines Flagship Check-in

A very exclusive check-in, located between terminals 4 and 5 was introduced to MegaDO’ers. The entrance is shown below:

AA Flagship Check-in

Passengers eligible to use it are – F class on 3 class transcontinental domestic and international planes, Concierge Key and Five Star Service customers. VIPs seem to have access too. I cannot wait until my next AA flight from LA to make sure of this great service. There were suggestions it would come to other hub airports soon.

After the door is opened by the liveried doorman,  there is  a small check-in -2 desks- sleek modern design as shown below:

The staff were also welcoming MegaDo’ers travelling over the weekend – which was very nice of them:

The exit, leads to a lift right to the front of the security line – which also features the new TSApre service:

Flight Museum and Cathay / Qantas planes

The afternoon saw us once again on buses back to the LAX, but this time to the other side of the runway where this is a pretty good museum showing the history of air travel as it relates to LAX specifically. A large hot and cold food spread was laid on by the partner airlines with specialties from Hong Kong, Australia and the US featuring!

The organisers had managed to persuade Cathay to bring over one of the 777-300ER’s with the new business class seating.

New Cathay Business Class

We all had a chance to wander around the plane, try out the seats and even venture back to Economy before moving on to the Qantas A380:

This was the first time I had been on a QF A380, and only the second time on the A380 at all so it’s size continued to amaze me, as it did with many of my fellow visitors – it is a long way up those stairs!

Qantas First

Qantas Business - proved to the lie-flat

Qantas Coach

It appears that someone was a little nervous that we might all go mad and run on to the tarmac, so the LA Police were on standby. I’ve seen Southland!

A final picture or two:

Clearly LAX!

The event wound down as the sun set

After every one had been though the planes, eaten and drunk their fill, we returned to the buses – half going back to LAX for overnight stays at the airport and the other half going back to the Hyatt Century Plaza for one more night of the DO!

A great way to end the event!

I was asked yesterday whether I could post the balance of my pictures from the B737 production line as most MegaDO’ers could not take pictures. I cannot but say sorry for some of the quality!

Seats waiting to be installed

B-737 for American!

Nose cone being fitted

B-737's starting out

After arriving at Sea-Tac airport we were ushered up to a special TSA checkpoint for processing. This was the most amazing experience – helpful, friendly, even jokey TSA agents help us through their process. One held my bin whilst I got myself ready for X-ray (no back scatter machines here!). Although I know a couple of people had issues, I really wanted to the compliment the TSA on providing SUPERB agents to process us. If they could be cloned and delivered to every US checkpoint I’d be happy!

Once we got to the gate, it was announced (to thunderous applause) that the meal service was being replaced by more drinks service and that we could help ourselves to snacks and muffins for the flight.

Boarding was effortless and everyone was ready to go.

Then the usual warning sign, known to every frequent flyer went off – the man in the ‘Aircraft Maintenance’ hi-viz jacket went to the cockpit!

So it turned out that we had a mechanical problem which they needed to fix and then sign off the paperwork.

In the meantime however, something extraordinary happened – everyone had fun! When was the last time you had fun during a delay?

Our fun was generated by a wonderful team of AA ramp and gate agents who quickly spotted that the flight was something special. Within a few minutes they had raided the galleys of inbound flight to keep the liquor carts full, someone had found several more bottles of champagne, and someone had even gone to the snack bar and procured sandwiches and pizza!  During this the staff produced AA hi-Viz jackets and hats which Tommy auctioned off for the charity.

Three hours when everything was fixed and we were ready to go, everyone was sad to leave the best ground crew we could ever have asked for.

I have to confess that, as a child growing up, jumbo jets meant the Boeing 747 range of aircraft. Aspirational, huge and a plane that spoke to luxury travel to exotic destinations. Its place in history is secure as the plane that opened up international air travel to everyone.

It was with excitement that day three came as I have never been able to visit the Boeing plant in Seattle. I don’t drive (stop laughing), and that make it inaccessible.

On the morning of the visit, I was told that I was considered ‘Press’ because of the blog and so would be allowed to take pictures in the B737 production line we were going to visit that day. In addition, our guides explained we would be the first non-airline visitors to the Customer Experience building which usually pays host to airline execs with deep pockets or large cheque books. I knew it was going to be a great day.

The bus had about 25-30 OWMD attendees on it when we pulled out from the Hyatt Regency Bellvue. About thirty minutes later we arrived at a non-descript building on an estate of such buildings. However, once you went inside you realised what it really was – Boeing, through and through:

Tommy777 explains the arrangements

We were left to roam freely amongst the mockups of the 737, 747-8, 777 and 787. The 747-8 was great – the new LED lighting creates this wonderful open feel and mood lighting allows the airline to match the feel of the cabin to time of day, type of destination etc. Visually it makes the plane look larger in my view, although I am told it is not:

747-800 lower deck interior

Stairs to upper deck

Upper Deck

I was especially impressed with the work that Boeing has done with the interior of the 737. New bins, a more open cabin (the person on the aisle can stand up with hitting their head on the bins) and new lighting, inspired by the 787 lighting, change the feel of the workhorse of the industry:

737 new interior

Some lucky souls were allowed on the Boeing simulator, although I did see at least one person produce a very ‘interesting’ landing:

Simulator at Boeing

We left the Customer Experience Center and went to the 737 production line(s) building. As you might imagine it was huge – 35 planes a month rolling off the production line on two lines. Back order of thousands of these aircraft.

Aircraft at the start of the process

We came across aircraft being made for a certain European Airline:

As close as I propose to get to a Ryanair plane

The productions were impressive, and Boeing were happy for us to take picture everywhere except the engine assembly area, which is pretty understandable. After their time in the production line, and once fitted out with seats, the planes arrive at the end of the process before airworthiness tests occur and customer acceptance.

Ryanair plane awaiting fitting of airstairs (left of picture)

This was a great visit and the first time I had been to any aircraft production line.

Our next visit was the Museum of Flight which covers the history of aviation with some excellent exhibits on the aircraft of World War 1 and 2. The highlight however, are the Concorde, original 747-100 aircraft and the former Air Force One aircraft:

Concorde

Former Presidential Plane

The first 747!

After the visit we were driven back to Sea-Tac to board the plane to LAX! (or so we thought ….. more to follow)

The second day of the MEGADO was all things AA. Starting with a presentation about AA, some inside peeps in to their 777-300 interiors, new safety video and new kiosk interface.

We started the day with presentations from several senior executives at AA, covering everything from AAdvantage through to their technology rollout and new offerings in the cabins. Gleff has covered this in the MegaDo blog.

After a great lunch, under the wings of a DC-3 in the AA museum at DFW we met the crew for our flight to Seattle:

Lunch and the DC-3

The afternoon was the bit that really interested me – a chance to understand some the training and safety procedures onboard. Some brave soles volunteered to do a water rescue – raft and all, and we all got a chance to go down a two person slide.

One of the senior training pilots took us to the building where AA has its wide range of training simulators. We learned about pilot training, and re qualification We couldn’t go inside one, as this is prohibited for non-US nationals since 9/11.

Note the sim(ulator) in the backgound

We were then taken to the AA Ops room which I have to say was huge. We were lucky to be able to watch as the staff handled all of AA’s flight dispatching and were able to visit the room AA uses in case of an unusual incident – not just crashes, but urgent call up of planes for the US Government, or severe weather disruption:

AA Ops Room

Emergency Ops Room

The next part of the visit began to get very exciting.  We got to witness how aircrew would evacuate a S-80, including an explanation of the detachable tail cone. It was pretty hectic as crew went about their job of shouting instructions and showing people where to get out of the plane. Even experience flyers were impressed with the clarity, firmness and directness of the staff. They took the drill absolutely seriously, but were really happy to talk about their procedures:

Awaiting the S-80 Drill

We then moved on to the 757 trainer. This trainer was able to move, simulate the sound of the slide deploying, and lock exits to simulate them being blocked. The even injected smoke in to the cabin to authenticity!

Smoke in the cabin

We all got a little caught out, as we had not actually evacuated the S-80, but the 757 crew soon barked the appropriate orders and we got out of the door double quick I have to say.  Again, the staff were generous with their time and information, but too soon we had to move on to witness other members of the DO getting wet. (Not being even a poor swimmer, I was not getting in to 7 feet of water!).

Brave soles inflate their life vests - after they leave the aircraft!

Once in the water the gallant DO’ers formed a circle around the flight attendant (who knew they had Orange life vests before today?)

Group in the water, forming up in to a circle

Certain of the more famous members of Milepoint took part too:

Randy Petersen in the drink

Tommy777

The next trick was entering the life raft, which most participants said was pretty hard as it’s a long way up, and the raft is not really that large:

In the raft preparing to erect the covering

Under cover

Other members of our group (the dry ones) went down the two person evac slide mock-up:

Impressive pile-up occurred at the bottom – which is why the safety announcement asks people to stay at the bottom to help people off.

Pile-up!

Other slide participants:

After the fun was over we boarding the buses again and were taken back to DFW. Staff were ready to meet us, show us to the TSA line (yes even MegaDOers are not exempt from their clutches), and on to the gate. The departure boards showed the flight to Seattle:

We boarded AA9454 to Seattle

 Overview – I like many was totally impressed with how American opened up their doors and facility to the MegaDo’ers. They were generous with their information, helpful and friendly in a way that you don’t see too often in the hard pressed airline industry today. The staff we met were consummate professionals, who gave freely of their time and knowledge. Everyone of them was genuinely warm, more than happy to answer the same question, even if they had to answer it for the 4th time that day. It was a day even more interesting and fun than I had hoped.

I was luckier than most as I arrived in Dallas a day early, and did not partake in the London section of the DO. This meant that I avoided the cancellation of the return flight, and the great efforts that AA made to fix things. The evening reception was full of stories of how impressed people were with AA – how the rebookings were handled, being met at their flights and taken to their connections, and the way in which AA made it up to them.

The Reception itself was great – live music, an open bar (serving Bombay Sapphire – what more can I ask?), a huge range of food to suit every taste and a presentation from Jeff Zindell from Hyatt Gold Passport. Hyatt are a huge sponsor of the OWMD event and so they could have chosen to do a ‘aren’t we wonderful’ presentation. Instead, Jeff knew his audience and appealed to both their knowledge of Gold Passport as their sense of fun!

JZ's presentation

We also discovered that Oprah calls Jeff – JZ – or that is what he claimed! Of course there was the serious business of announcing the new promo from Hyatt which starts from 1 Feb (just after all my stays finish of course!) MommyPoints has covered it here.

New Gold Passport cards are coming

There was a great live auction where the was a great package which benefited a great charity, which Hyatt also supports. The charity benefited to the tune of over $2000 from attendees who were able to bid on a NASCAR package. A great way to spend the evening.

I have to say Hyatt and AA certainly pulled out all the stops last night, and as a MegaDo first timer I am looking forward to the second day.

If you cannot attend, one of my fellow bloggers is running a contest to win a SWAG bag.

When I first planned by trip for the few days before the One World MegaDO I planned to go to Las Vegas. I found quite a good deal on a one bedroom suite at The Signature, part of the MGM Complex. I paid about £100, through Jetsetter. (Sponsored Link).  I had some referral cash so this seemed a good deal. In the end it was not such a good deal as The Signature was offering room around $100 when I checked a few days in advance of my stay.

In fact when I read TripAdvisor, I became a little concerned about a couple of reviews which mentioned problems when using reservations made through Luxury Suites International. It turned out that Jetsetter’s offer was through LSI. The property seems to be primarily a timeshare location with some of the rooms rented when unoccupied on a short or long term basis.

The day before I was due to check in I called LSI to confirm which Tower I would be staying in. There are 3.

Upon arrival at the hotel the cab stopped at Security and the Guard confirmed that I was at Tower 1. The cab ride from the airport was about $15. There was no queue at check-in, but as I was there at 2pm, I was warned that the room might not be ready. However, after a little tapping, my room was confirmed on the 30th floor. The agent explained how the hotel worked and where I might find things I needed.

On arrival at the room, my first impression was very good:

Living Room

The living room had a large balcony with a good view of the airport:

Airport View from Balcony

There was a kitchen area and a bathroom (with a shower) in the lounge area.

The bedroom was large, with two windows, and a desk which held the TV also.

Bedroom

The bathroom was large, with a shower and jacuzzi bath:

Bathroom

There were plenty of towels, and bathrobes in the cupboard.

There is a covered walk way which links The Signature to the MGM, and the Monorail. It takes about 10 minutes. There was a Starbucks in the lobby, and a small shop selling sodas, cookies, crackers and beer/wine. The prices in the shop were high, $3 for a small bottle of coke.

I ordered room service which was priced about what I would expect, arrived on time and tasty and well presented.

I left fairly early in the morning and had to walk to Tower 2 as the Tower 1 (and 3) Receptions close overnight. Check-out was easy and taxis were plentiful and outside the door.

OVERVIEW: A pleasant stay where the amenities would have been great if I had been there for more than one night. I would return, but book directly through the hotel web site where the prices seem better.

Background  or “it was all about service”

My Mileage Plus account tells me that I have been a member since 15 April 1989. I was 29 and came to visit a friend in the US. In those days British Airways worked closely with United, and my flight to Chicago was on BA, with a connection to Denver on a United DC-10. In those days international flights were bussed to an arrivals facility in the bottom of a car park. Being an inexperienced flyer I was towards the back of the line, and so only got to the gate for the flight to Denver at the last minute. The gate agent said that he didn’t recognise the boarding pass and gave me a new one. Once on board I found that the seat was in First Class. During the flight my row was the last to get meal choice and my seatmate threw a strop when he couldn’t have what he wanted. I gave him mine, and the flight attendant gave me a bottle of champagne as a ‘thank you’. I was sold!

Years later, with United not flying to London I became a TWA person. When PanAm collapsed, United came to London and did a double-miles promo for about 4 months. I went back to try them. On my second weekend to the West Coast the check-in agent recognised me and gave me an upgrade on the 747-SP that ran to Seattle. I was sold again!

The Experience or “how forgiving can I be?”

Endless miles later, I came across the pilots dispute – or ‘The Summer of Discontent’ when unhappy pilots would call in sick at the last minute leading to endless flight cancellations. I continued to fly as I needed to go places and United excelled itself once in a while. I built relationships with the staff I grew to know in London and the US. The 1K Room staff in San Francisco, were friends. I had some of the staff from London round to my house for a dinner party.

Through at least one bankruptcy which wrote off my $1,000 of UA shares, I continued to travel.  The years when Systemwide upgrades only applied to Y or B fares (making them useless), UA joining Star Alliance and endless changes to Mileage Plus I have continued to fly.

The Recent Past or “there were signals but I ignored them”

A few years back United stopped sending out US Domestic Upgrade Certificates based on the number of miles flown. In the old days you were awarded 4 certificates (each valid for 500 miles of domestic upgrades) for each 10,000 miles flown. This was changed to Unlimited Domestic Upgrades based on status. These were to be processed at a window in advance of travel – 120 hours, 100 hours, 96 hours etc based on status. This change of course, meant huge upgrade lists at the airport, with passengers no longer getting upgrades if they booked cheaper fares.

About a year ago I became concerned about a little announcement that United slipped out as it became clear that the merger with Continental was coming. The announcement was that 1K members (flyers doing more than 100,000 miles per annum), would earn their 6 Systemwide Upgrades when they crossed the 100,000 threashold. This seems OK, but in reality it meant than multi-Million Mile flyers (who are guaranteed a status level regardless of their actual flying in a year) would no longer get the SWUs unless they flew the 100,000 miles needed. Of course,  PR spin doesn’t allow the change to be announced as being bad for some of their best flyers, it gets released as a neutral statement that seemed almost clerical in nature.

Now or “does even United know what is happening?”

3-Million Miles – 6 Systemwide Upgrades or not? Does UA know?

With the United/Continental merger, United has had to recalculate the way in which they work out each members Million Mile status as Continental has typically used a different method. These recalculations have now posted and United has shown the effect of merging on a special web site. For me this is the result:

This should mean that I will be “1K for life”. However, as identified above, this won’t earn me 6 Systemwide upgrades unless I fly the 100,000 miles each year. On the good side at 4 million miles I would become ‘Global Services for life’.

However, a United employee who posts on Flyertalk.Com as UAInsider stated on that 3 Million Milers would still receive their 6 Systemwides, regardless of how many miles they flew. Problem – there is nothing anywhere on UA’s web site. So does United know what is doing?

Who gets an upgrade? or ‘We knew change was coming…but is this right?’

United has changed upgrade priority so that a General Member (GM) using miles to upgrade, will receive their upgrade ahead of a 1K member waiting for their Unlimited Domestic Upgrade to clear. This is a big loss to 1K’s. (Of course, Global Services members trump even the GM on miles).

However, more concerning are some data points that UA is selling upgrades to non-status members when there are status members on the waitlist for upgrades. Continental didn’t so this before the merger, but there seem to be several cases mentioned in this thread on Flyertalk. In the example, the non-status child of a member was offered an upgrade on the self-service check-in machine, whilst elites languished on the upgrade list. This really is another unpleasant change in the merger. You can read more about the new Upgrades here.

Finale – or ‘Watch this space’

The much ridiculed welcome message from the new President of United, Jeff Smisek, talks about ‘changes we think you’ll like’. I have to say that at the moment, I am unsure whether any of the changes will be liked by this Mileage Plus member. I will keep this under review, and am awaiting confirmation from United about what is really happening.

View towards airport terminal

I have stayed at this property several times over the past few years. It is well located within the terminal building, and 10 minutes after landing I was at check-in.

At check-in it was noticeably busier than I have ever seen it before, as there was a dance event going on in the hotel. This should have sounded warning bells, but I let it pass.

I had a FedEx delivered to the hotel, and after waiting for delivery for over an hour I went to the bell desk. They were too busy (by their own admission) to get the FedEx and eventually a member of the front desk staff brought it up.

The hotel was pretty busy and so there was no Diamond Upgrade available. I received a standard room, although it was an outside room (as opposed to an Atrium room).

King Room, Outside View

The room, on the 7th floor was at the end of the short corridor from the lifts. This meant, unfortunately that half of the guests staying on the 7th floor had to pass my room. During the night the noise was substantial and I did not rest well.

The hotel offers Diamond members a voucher for their Restaurants buffet which includes hot and cold items. It opens at 6.30 am and I was one of the first through the door. Apart from the usual selection of pastries, cereal etc, there were scrambled eggs, sausage and a sweet warm item – a sort of blackcurrant scone/souffle which was spectacular. The service was efficient and friendly and I enjoyed breakfast.

Check-out was fine, with the internet and breakfast taken off the bill correctly.

SUMMARY

Disappointed that no Diamond upgrade was given, but understandable. Stay spoilt by noise from other guests. The hotels service appeared to suffer when busy.

Pictures from the room:

View of pool from room