Folks, if you’ve not yet registered for this year’s Frequent Traveler University session in the NYC area (April 27-29), time is running out. I’ve been monitoring the Milepoint thread on this event pretty regularly, and they are down to less than 20 available slots (as of this past Friday). There is no other event where you can learn from experts like Gary Leff, Brian Kelly (aka The Points Guy), Daraius Dubash (Million Mile Secrets), MommyPoints, Randy Petersen, and others.

You can catch up on all the details of the event in this Milepoint thread. I’ll be there to learn from the greats, and you should strongly consider attending if you’re interested in learning more about the miles and points game. The first MJonTravel reader that finds me gets an MJonTravel key chain and a free cocktail at happy hour!

Is it me, or is US Airways starting to put itself together? I’ve blogged previously about my positive experiences with the airline over the past several months, and today, things got even better. First, US Airways announced that it will begin nonstop service from my home airport, Washington National (DCA) to San Diego, California (SAN) in June. And then I learned the news I’ve really been waiting for, US Airways will finally move forward with inflight wi-fi across most of its mainline (A319/A320/A321) fleet AND Embraer 170/175/190 fleet. That’s awesome!

US Airways currently offers wi-fi on its A321 fleet. With the latest announcement, US will add wi-fi capabilities to its other Airbus narrow body aircraft and add GoGoVision capabilities which will offer customers access to movies, TV shows, games and other great content. This is good news for US Airways customers. I only wish the timeline for rollout to the mainline fleet was a little more aggressive than a fall 2012 start with completion in 2013. Guess I’ll take what I can get.

These are very positive moves by US Airways, and go a long way in making up for its paltry inflight entertainment offerings on domestic flights.

Take a look towards the right of the menu bar of the blog. You’ll now see buttons for Twitter and Facebook. Follow MJ on Travel on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. Looking forward to staying in touch with you in all kinds of ways!

Just catching up on a few things. As the absolute last person on earth to blog about AA Elite Rewards 2012, AA’s Double EQM offer for folks from certain states, and who knows what else, I thought a “catch up” post was in order. Hat tip to Gary and MommyPoints.

As Gary notes, AA’s Elite Rewards 2012 has been announced. It’s nice that they announced early this year as opposed to late summer last year. Note that the rewards are based on elite qualifying points (EQPs), and not miles. If you can fly this much, the rewards are quite nice, especially for Executive Platinums who can choose 2 rewards ranging from 35,000 bonus miles, 2 EVIP certificates (systemwide upgrades), Admirals Club membership, or gifting Gold status to a friend. Notice I said you can choose 2….so you could theoretically get 4 EVIP certs for hitting the rewards threshold which in the case of Executive Platinums is 125,000 EQPs. Of course, 70,000 miles might be more valuable to you in some cases…… but I really like those 4 EVIP certs….. too bad I can only day dream of being Executive Platinum for the time being. Click here, and then register with code ELTA2.

MommyPoints shares good news on double elite qualifying miles (EQMs) from American for residents in certain states. American had previously announced a promotion for residents of California, Illinois, and Texas to earn double EQMs for flights between Chicago O’Hare (ORD) and Los Angeles (LAX) or San Francisco (SFO). Better yet, flights between ORD and Orange County, CA (SNA) have now been added to the promotion. From Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), flights to LAX and SFO qualify. Click here to register.

As for me, I’m off to Atlanta tomorrow morning for a quick 2-night business trip. The whole world knows I prefer any of the three Atlanta area W Hotels to most anything else, but unfortunately, none of them are within walking distance of my job site in the A-T-L. And this week, that trumps everything since I’m packing a week’s worth of work into 2.5 days. So it’s back to my old standby, the Embassy Suites. Hey, at least I’ll be collecting triple Dividend Miles. My Delta Medallion upgrade has cleared, and life is good.

Registration for the Chicago Seminars is now open. This will be a great way to spend your weekend of October 12th learning about earning and burning miles. Visit these threads on Flyertalk or Milepoint for more information. The registration link is here. Rumor has it that there’s an informal evening session on Saturday hosted by yours truly. So if you’ve had enough miles and points for the day and are the least bit interested in learning about my take on cruising do’s and don’ts, sign up for The Cruising Crowd with Marshall Jackson. It’ll be something different. I may even say something about using miles and points to make your cruise one to remember.

You might remember my blogging about my own experiences with US Trial Preferred membership as well as those of my good friend from North Carolina. I get lots of questions about the program, and the number one question I receive is “If I buy Silver, but fly enough to earn Gold or Platinum, will they give me that status?” There’s plenty of evidence on the message boards that the answer to that question is yes. Now I have some real evidence as my friend wrote me this morning just to say “Gold Preferred.” He hit the qualifying miles late last week, and his new status posted overnight.

I believe this isn’t just a fluke, but is the way they want the program to work. It can make sense to buy the Trial Gold program if you have a lot of international travel coming up just for the Star Gold status alone. But if you are looking at just domestic flights, and know you’ll fly enough to hit the higher status levels, suck it up as a Silver for a bit and earn your advanced status by flying (and save a couple hundred bucks too). Hey, maybe it will make you appreciate that higher status just a little more.

Reader S writes:

Hey MJ, I’ve been following your blog for a few years and want to thank you for the content and I wanted to ask you, the Cruise Expert, a question as I’ve only taken one cruise before in my life.

I’m in the process of making travel arrangements for my in-laws (yes, I deserve an award to fly to Sicily for a vacation and subsequent cruise on the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas around the eastern Mediterranean.  Anyway, my question is about booking cruises, specifically Royal Caribbean cruises, and what site/method you normally choose in order to find the best price. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks! 

MJ Responds:

Hello. Thanks for reading, and your email. There is no best way to book a cruise. In the past, I’ve booked cruises on my own direct with the cruise line. However, since about 2008, I’ve been working with a local travel agent I like. I don’t necessarily need an agent to help me book a cruise…especially a basic Bahamas or Caribbean run, but I like working with our agent, so we use her exclusively. Not to mention, it helps them begin to know your likes and dislikes. We took a big trip to Europe in 2010 which included an 11-night cruise of the Med. Our travel agent arranged a private tour of the ancient city of Ephesus for us and our friends, a total of 6 people. We had our own guide and our own transportation.

I have not personally utilized any of the online travel agencies for cruises, but I understand cruise411.com and crucon.com have been useful to many people. With most of the big lines, the price is the same whether booking with an agent or directly with the cruise line. What you may sometimes find is an agent (either online or traditional) that might offer a booking incentive for using them that effectively lowers the cost of the cruise, but you’ll have to hunt for them. Basically, there is no right or wrong way to do it. Just go with what you are most comfortable with. Feel free to email anytime with questions.

If you haven’t taken Darren’s advice recently posted on his Frequently Flying blog, it’s time to do so. If you have a United or Continental booking for travel after March 1, I recommend printing your receipt and itinerary now. I know United says the conversion is coming around March 3rd, but better safe than sorry. I have a United.com booked award flight on United and a Continental.com booked award on Lufthansa for flights in October and November. I have printed my receipts and itineraries and have also made a note of my Lufthansa confirmation codes. I’m probably being anal, but I’d be less than honest if I said I wasn’t just a tiny bit concerned that my award space is going to get messed up in the conversion. Get to printing!

Already blogged about by MommyPoints, but I wanted to talk about it anyway! Registration for this year’s Frequent Traveler University in the New York area is now open for April 27-29. The event will be held at the Sheraton Meadowlands not far from Newark Airport (EWR). I’m looking forward to attending and learning a lot from super-bloggers Gary Leff, The Points Guy, and others. Hope to see you there! Here’s a summary of the event based on what I’ve read:

• Friday night – A complimentary cocktail party sponsored by Milepoint.com. (Yes, I’ll be there! )

• Saturday –  Learn from the best in the business, including Randy Petersen and blogger Gary Leff as well as The Points Guy, Brian Kelly.

• On Sunday, interact with the largest frequent flyer and hotel programs in the world, including Mileage Plus, AAdvantage, SPG and Hyatt Gold Passport. (Really looking forward to this!)

• The introduction of the best credit card learning program “Credit Card Lions Den.”  The credit card programs will present their most popular cards in front of everyone, then watch the worlds biggest experts on travel credit cards bloggers critique the credit cards and make the right recommendation for you! On the panel you will find Brian Kelly (The Points Guy) Gary Leff (View From the Wing) and Randy Petersen. (Awesome!!!!)

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to attend! Last year’s FT University was awesome, and I’ve been looking forward to another. You can keep up with the latest in this Milepoint thread which contains a link to the registration page as well as hotel booking information. Looking forward to seeing you there!

This card will be going away very soon. This might be a great opportunity to pad your soon to be combined MileagePlus/OnePass balance. Don’t miss out. You can apply for the card here (Note – Link removed by MJ). I did several months ago, and it’s a good part of the reason Mrs MJ on Travel and I are flying to Rome in First Class this fall. (Disclosure: I will receive a commission if you apply for and are approved through the link provided. Not necessary that you apply here, especially if you have a better bonus offer, but always appreciated.)

Be warned, you apparently can’t take a bonus from both the Continental card and the United card. The United card currently has a better bonus and will likely be better for you. This is very much a YMMV situation, and in fact, I have removed the links to the application page, and as best I can tell, no one applied for the card from here. Many people are eligible for a 60,000 mile MileagePlus Explorer card. You can check for eligibility by logging into your MileagePlus account.