It’s time for a reader photo. Thanks to Kai for sending in this one.

Correct Answer: Kyoto JR Station – Mall Area
Winner: David S. Miller

If you’d like your photo featured, please email it to me at onemileatatime@hotmail.com, along with the correct answer.

I’ll be doing a mileage run from Tampa to Seattle tomorrow, and I’ve gotta say, I’m kind of proud of my routing. It involves five segments and includes quite some nice coast-hopping. My routing tomorrow is one of the many reasons I’m not looking forward to the Continental merger — ain’t no way in hell they’re gonna keep allowing this stuff.

But getting in over 4,500 miles on a one-way domestic trip is pretty darn good, in my opinion. I won’t explicitly post my routing, but it shouldn’t be that hard to figure out. And I’ll be tweeting from each city tomorrow, so I’m sure you’ll be able to catch on then. And of course you’ll see at least two pictures of my hot nuts, three pictures of airline meals, four pictures of gate lice, and five pictures of the TSA.

Oh, and to add to all of it I’ll be doing a bit of an “experiment” tomorrow. I’ll be flying in an undershirt (don’t worry, it’ll be fresh), shorts, and Vans. Despite being young I never seem to get questioned or kicked out of elite lines despite constantly hearing this from others, so am kind of curious to see how it all works out. And of course I’ll be tweeting about how that turns out, along with posting pictures of anyone that’s an a$$ to me.

It all adds up to a fun day!

I can’t even begin to say how exciting this is. For the first time in at least a year I see Singapore Airlines first class award availability between the US and Asia on the ANA tool. Now in fairness there have been other opportunities to snag first class space, but not through most programs. Lufthansa, for example, has a special relationship with Singapore Airlines, and somehow Continental seems to have access to some availability, even when nothing shows on the ANA tool (I’m not sure if they’re doing manual sells or what).

But now I’m seeing space on SQ11/12 (the Los Angeles to Singapore via Tokyo Narita flight). The bad news is that it’s only short notice. I’m not seeing any space more than four days before departure, but hell, with Singapore Airlines I’ll take what I can get. Given that they haven’t released any space between the US and Asia to all Star Alliance partners in first class in a long time, this is huge progress. Now here’s to hoping we see a bit of availability further out!

Even more exciting is that they’re not just releasing the space on the through flight (Los Angeles to Singapore) as they did in the past, but they’re also releasing space on the individual segments. So the award space is also showing up when only searching for a Los Angeles to Tokyo flight as well as just searching a Tokyo to Singapore flight.

Also, I’m noticing that ANA seems to be opening up some first class award space really close to departure as well. We’re talking 2-5 days before departure. But I do see the odd first class seat between most of their US gateways and Tokyo Narita on several days.

I might have some time for a quick trip in a few weeks, in which case I might just plan something with only a couple of days advance notice. The opportunity to fly Singapore Airlines in first class again and to finally try ANA first class is too much to pass up. Might even try to squeeze in Asiana first class.

It’s time for a reader photo. Thanks to Nadia for sending in this one.

Correct Answer: Lok Ma Chau border crossing on train station from Shenzhen to Hong Kong
Winner: caelus

If you’d like your photo featured, please email it to me at onemileatatime@hotmail.com, along with the correct answer.

…and yeah, sadly these are all true. I’ve experienced them firsthand.

1. Your seatmate tells you how her daughter, who is seated across the aisle, is a huge slut. She then asks if you’re single. No thanks, mom!
2. You sit next to a young female in first class who’s a non-rev and is very interesting to talk to. You later find out that her dad is a pilot you know. You’re then asked if you know a certain flight attendant. Amazingly enough, you do. When asking why, you’re told it’s because her dad cheated on her mom with this flight attendant. Good to know!
3. Your seatmate (who is in the window seat while you’re in the aisle) on a redeye gets food poisoned and proceeds to nearly pass out, only to crap in his pants. Once he changes his pants and is good to go, you ask if he’ll be ok. The response is “yeah, but I might have to use the bathroom a few more times.” So much for getting any sleep!
4. A fellow passenger pisses off the flight attendants. No, really. Learn from her. Urinating (a lot) in the rear galley of a 757 isn’t a good idea. Neither are drugs and copious amounts of alcohol before boarding a flight, unless you enjoy being met by cops upon landing.
5. And of course, as I was griping about last week, the passengers seated across from you are making out, while the male passenger attempts to “massage” himself.

Gosh, I could go on and on, but those were a few of my favorites. Anyone have any to add?

OK, this is sad and funny at the same time. A Canadian citizen was crossing the US/Canada border to go on a shopping trip in the US with his wife and decided to record the interaction.

Now it’s clear he had an agenda when he showed up at the border with a recording device, and at first I thought the US immigration offer was being very rude, but the second guy had the patience of a saint. It’s rare I’ll agree with the approach taken by US immigration officers, but in this case I will. The guy recording this is a douchebag and I’m betting his body language was even worse than his (verbal) attitude.