Yesterday, I, Marshall Jackson, being of sound mind and body rode in Zone 5 and survived. Why you ask? I booked a flight on US Airways, and credited the trip to my statusless Dividend Miles account. I had nabbed an aisle seat on the flight I wanted, but US Airways decision to take down their entire Sunday operation at DCA meant I had no airplane for my 8:30am flight. The next best option was a 1:45pm connection over Charlotte in seat 12E, Zone 5. I was glad to get it. I stopped by the US Airways Club in hopes something would be better…but the attendant wouldn’t even look for a new seat. “No seats to Charlotte all day” she said. At least she was pleasant about it, but I do sometimes wonder why she couldn’t just humor me and check anyway?

I resigned myself to a sucky 1-hour flight and I wasn’t disappointed. I wormed my way on board, and by nothing more than luck (and good packing skill) I was able to shove my carry on into the overhead wheels first. That was really all I cared about as I could surely survive 1 hour in a center seat as long as I didn’t have to suffer the indignity of baggage claim at my final destination. I took my assigned center seat. The aisle seat was occupied, but not the window. I waited…waited some more…and finally was joined by a deadheading US Airways pilot. Is it wrong of me to wonder why he could not have taken the center seat and me the window? Oh….that window seat is a “Choice” seat that US Airways tries to sell for a fee. Go figure.

In the end, I lived to tell about it. Though I do have to ask….is it just me or does US Airways have the tightest pitch in coach of any domestic legacy airline? There just wasn’t much room between my knees and the seat in front of me. Thank goodness its occupant didn’t recline. The flight attendants were pleasant enough, I got a whole can of Diet Coke, and the seat itself was recently upholstered and clean. I’d say the US Airways short-haul coach product isn’t exactly refined, but it met my needs for a 1 hour flight. I missed Delta’s wi-fi, but I don’t know that I would have used it on this flight. Not because it was short, but simply because there’s hardly enough room to unfurl my laptop and do anything with it.

I got to Charlotte close to on time, and was reminded of how much I like that airport. It’s an almost pleasant airport to change planes. So pleasant that I wish I would have had the time to stay longer. But alas, I had to boogie to make my connection to Fort Lauderdale, a tale from a different zone. Blog post soon.

Yes, you read that headline correctly. It’s true. There are times when I really do love Delta Air Lines, and Hurricane Irene has led me to blog about just one of those. You’ve heard me mention Delta’s out front social media team from time to time and their really forward thinking (for a big old legacy airline) approach to emerging media. There is no better testament to that than the @DeltaAssist Twitter feed. DeltaAssist is one whole helluva lot more than another marketing mouthpiece that may or may not be outsourced, it’s direct access to customer service agents that know how to actually fix things.

Things like getting you rebooked off canceled flights, rerouted through alternative airports, or in my most recent case, canceling your trip and processing your refund when a hurricane interrupts your flights. As it became clear that flying from DC to North Carolina was a no-win proposition during a hurricane affecting both places over the course of a weekend, I turned to @DeltaAssist to help me out. Delta had posted their storm policy allowing for penalty free changes or refunds (in the case of cancellations or significant delays). It was obvious I wasn’t getting to where I needed to go and back on the same calendar days as planned. There are times when that’s actually OK, but when faced with business flights on Monday after the weekend personal trip, I just could tolerate the delay.

Mere mortals might call Delta’s 800 number during a hurricane and wait 3 hours to speak to someone. Travelers in the know will reach out to Delta’s wonderful @DeltaAssist folks who helped me fix things in minutes, processed my refund, and even apologized for the flight problems that neither of us could do anything about. @DeltaAssist rocks! Frankly, I’m a little surprised that other airlines haven’t found the wherewithal to peruse something similar. But then again, other “legacy” airlines are way behind Delta in this regard. Here’s to hoping they catch up.

Surf on over to usairways.com/gs11 and register. Promotion period officially begins on September 14th. Analysis and experiences soon to follow! Let’s get started!

Note: I wanted to add that as reader Rob pointed out in the comments, the terms and conditions state that registration begins on September 1. However, the gs11 home page says register now. This is a your mileage may vary situation. I actually went ahead and successfully registered, but I’m going to set a calendar reminder to jog my memory to check in again on 9/1.

Hurricane Irene has already impacted my plans next week. Monday, I’m flying to Fort Lauderdale on business, and planned to take the 8:30am nonstop on US Airways. This morning around 11:30am, I received an email from the airline that my flight had already been canceled. Bummer! They provided a number to call and I got right through to an agent who rebooked me on a connection over Charlotte departing at 1:45pm. Fingers crossed that happens. I am working on a tight timeline next week, and don’t have much slack in my schedule for problems, but what’s one to do? I’m actually pleased that having updated my US Airways “Be Notified” profile, I received a relatively timely notification of my flight cancelation.

That said, I’m still a tiny bit surprised that they decided to cancel a Monday flight now. Turns out, US Airways has canned its entire operation at DCA for all of Sunday so there won’t be an airplane in place for my Monday morning flight. I won’t question their decision from the comfort of my couch, but I will say that it seems aggressive to put it mildly.

Pack your patience if you’re traveling on Monday. It could be a fun day at the airport.

As Irene mania grips my adopted hometown and Nation’s Capitol, Starwood announces the scoop on its Q3 promo, “SPG Triple Up.” Earn double Starwood points on your stays, and if the stay includes a Thursday or a Sunday, you get triple points. As Washington, DC triples up on bread and batteries, I’ll be getting ready to start tripling up on SPG points come September 6. You preview the scoop at spg.com/tripleup. Thankfully, I’ve already tripled up on batteries and soup.

Now that I’ve had a little time to digest the news on changes to American’s very popular million miler program, I thought I’d weigh in with a little more commentary on it since I first posted Monday afternoon. To bring you up to date, American emailed its AAdvantage members Monday afternoon with the news that had long been rumored, it was making changes to its million miler program. In summary, beginning December 1, 2011, only base miles flown on American, American Eagle, and American Connection as well as its AAdvantage airline partners will count towards million miler status. There’s one caveat in that holders of the Citi AAdvantage Executive MasterCard will be able to count their miles charged and posted to statements through December 1, 2012 as long as the account is open and in good standing as of December 1, 2011. You can read American’s announcement on the program at aa.com/millionmiler.

As you may have read in this space before, I am a million miler AAdvantage Gold lifetime member. I’ll admit it here, if I’d known then (as in 4 or 5 years ago) what I know now, I’d be a 2 million miler lifetime Platinum. However, hindsight is always 20/20, and I’ve got what I’ve got, 1.2 million miles and lifetime Gold. Truth told, if my work life finds me flying American more, I’m in good position to make my way to lifetime Platinum between now and retirement.

Back in the day, I can see why a total program earned counter might have made sense. It certainly was easy to keep track of. But nowadays with so many options to earn miles, I can only imagine that the ranks of “lifetime” members was beginning to get a little crowded in the eyes of the folks at AAdvantage. Not to mention, their program was shockingly generous in this regard compared to its primary competitors. There’s nothing wrong, at heart, with being more generous, but if things remained the way they were (and are through November 30, 2011), I can’t help but think that the benefits of holding status for all members would have begun to become negatively impacted in a more noticeable way.

I’ve been on a bit of a flying hiatus with American since a number of completely avoidable “issues” last year. That said, I’ve been continuing to fly American when it made sense from a scheduling perspective, just not going out of my way to fly them. Nevertheless, AAdvantage is the granddaddy of all mileage programs in my opinion, and for me, mostly beats all the rest. Sure, I can always find something or another with most any program that I like better than the way AAdvantage handles one or two things. But overall, AAdvantage is tops, and it still is, even after this million miler tweak.

American AAdvantage has just released information on changes to its million miler program. As of December 1, 2011, miles earned from flying American, American Eagle, and American Connection will count towards million miler status as well as mileage earned flying any eligible participating AAdvantage partner airline. There’s one more way to earn miles that count. Get the Citi AAdvantage Executive MasterCard. As long as you have the account by December 1, 2011, any miles earned from charges through that post to statements through December 1, 2011.

Importantly, current program to date miles as well as miles posted through November 30, 2011, will count towards million miler status in the new program. In other words, your current million miler status is safe as far as I can tell. Visit aa.com/millionmiler for more details from AA.

US Airways has released some more details on it’s upcoming Grand Slam promotion. Surf over to http://shopping.usairways.com/en-US/dividendmiles/grandslamrules.html for more.

Hat tip to TPG.

Just letting the world know that all is well here at the palatial worldwide headquarters of MJ on Travel in northwest DC. Nothing like an earthquake on a day you’re working from home to spice things up a bit. Suffice it to say my rural eastern North Carolina born and bred self has not experienced anything just like that. I heard the quake before I felt it. As far as I can tell, no harm done. A few cabinet doors swung open and a couple of toiletries dropped out of the medicine cabinet. All things being equal, this 96 year old row house held up just fine.

If you’re flying this afternoon, pack your patient pants. This could be a humdinger of a day at the airport if you’re flying from the mid-Atlantic and northeast.

Delta announced the grand opening of their newest Atlanta Sky Club on the D Concourse Monday via their great blog. This new club follows some real improvements in their Atlanta Club offerings (A-17, B-10 (Did I ever mention how much I disliked the old B-10 club?)) as well as other new and renovated clubs across the system. I love the open feel and modern decor of their latest Clubs, and I think other customers will too.

Aside from a modern feel, I’ve noted a focus on the little things business travelers value, slightly improved snack offerings, some reasonably comfortable furniture, and most importantly for me….lots of power outlets. Delta’s new cyber bar concept is a big winner for me. I tend to fly Delta on business trips, and I appreciate having a place to camp out that’s clean with room for my laptop, iPhone, BlackBerry, and access to a power outlet that I don’t need a crowbar and a jar of vaseline to access. The DCA Sky Club’s cyber bar is depicted below.

DCA Sky Club Cyber Bar

From my perspective, Delta’s new Sky Clubs are a cut above the rest in the domestic US market. I’ve been doing a little complaining here lately about Sky Miles, but Sky Clubs are one of several things Delta is doing right. I’ll check out those new Sky Club digs in Atlanta this weekend as long as Irene doesn’t cancel my flight, and share my experience with you.

Yes, I’m genuinely pleased  that US Airways is going to have its Grand Slam promo again this year. As you’ve read on the blog, I’m dabbling in Dividend Miles again after a several-year hiatus, and it’s kind of fun. More details about the promo have slowly surfaced as covered over at Mommy Points and View From the Wing. Apparently, the promotion will run from September 14th to November 14th, and you will be able to register at usairways.com/grandslam when the promotion becomes available.

You’ll be able to earn “hits” from up to 6 different hotel stays. I’ve already switched my Hilton HHonors “My Way” choice from “points and points” to points and miles, and I’ll do the same for Marriott stays during the promotion period as well. Could this be the straw that finally breaks and forces me to check in and out of more than 1 hotel in a multi-day stay in the same city? (I know, I’m ashamed that I haven’t done so yet!) Favored car rental profiles have been updated to reflect US Airways as my rental reward partner of choice. Just so happens that September is shaping up to be a big travel month for me with plenty of hotel stays and car rentals planned. Assuming everything pans out, Grand Slam could be very good to me.

One wrinkle this year is that to get your 40th “hit” in the promo, you will need to be a US Airways preferred member. That little requirement makes it a virtual certainty that I will be trying US Airways Preferred status on for size in a few weeks. Admittedly, I’ll need to do the math on the payoff for US Airways’ “Trial Preferred” program fee versus what I’ll be receiving for that 40th hit, but I’m just about ready to pull the trigger. Is US Airways going to win a customer out of this? Maybe so. I’ll keep you posted along the way.