Category: American Airlines

My Painful Experience (Not) Using AAdvantage Miles

~ Alvin ~ 3 Comments

I’m glad to be back in the game, though I was off to a bit of a painful start. And by a bit of a painful start, I mean a very painful start.

Booking a flight to Heathrow has always been on the cards, since I study there soon. Last Christmas, I purchased 270,000 AAdvantage miles as part of a Buy Miles promotion, so I’d be able to facilitiate these flights more cheaply.

I was certainly thrilled when American Airlines made it an option to book Etihad awards online from Asia to Europe, as it meant I could book my London flights off the system (British Airways releases a fair amount of award space on the route, though not nearly as much as Etihad – they didn’t have any seats for my first leg to London). Or so I thought.

Etihad’s A380 business class has been on my bucket list for a while

Continue reading “My Painful Experience (Not) Using AAdvantage Miles” →

Etihad Awards Bookable On AAdvantage Website!

~ Alvin ~ Leave a comment

Around a month or two ago, American Airlines started allowing Etihad awards to be bookable from Asia through to Europe, which was great news for us living in Hong Kong, since we can book Etihad awards the same way we can book Qatar Airways awards. This was particularly good news, since Etihad award space between Hong Kong and most of Europe is usually wide open in business class, and not too bad in first class.

Unfortunately Etihad award space wasn’t bookable through the aa.com website, and I’d always have to call American Airlines to book a flight on Etihad. Well, that changes today.

Etihad Airbus A330 Hong Kong Airport

Continue reading “Etihad Awards Bookable On AAdvantage Website!” →

How To Use Your Bonus AAdvantage Miles From Hong Kong

~ Alvin ~ Leave a comment

For the next couple of days, American Airlines is offering a 120,000-mile bonus for every 150,000 miles that you buy from their website (with smaller bonuses for smaller increments). If you have an AAdvantage account over 30 days old you’re eligible to purchase, but the bonus reduces every day after that (I’m not actually sure what they’re on about, since the website suggests the bonus is “reduced every day for the first 12 days”, but the bonus has stayed at 120,000 miles all along). This represents a value of 1.77 American cents (HK$0.14) per mile, which is pretty good (it reduces the value of a 150,000-mile roundtrip to Europe to US$2,660, or HK$20,800).

I’m sure most of you have already taken advantage of this offer, so that’s not the point of this post. Instead I want to point out some really nice redemptions that you can make with your extra miles (now that the promotion is almost over, and I’m sure those of you who usually take advantage of these deals have already done so).

Fly QSuites to Europe for the value of HK$20,800, or fly twice if you already have a bunch of miles at hand

Continue reading “How To Use Your Bonus AAdvantage Miles From Hong Kong” →

American Airlines 777 Catches Fire At Hong Kong Airport

~ Alvin ~ 1 Comment

Well, I’m thankful that this ended the way it did. Yesterday afternoon an American Airlines 777-300ER caught fire while loading cargo at Hong Kong Airport. This aircraft was slated to operate American Airlines’ flight from Hong Kong to Los Angeles, and was loading cargo when passengers waiting to board at gate 42 saw the blaze on their 777-300ER.

The aircraft that was involved was aircraft N727AN, a three-year-old 777 that had just flown in from Los Angeles the day prior.

Continue reading “American Airlines 777 Catches Fire At Hong Kong Airport” →

WOW: ~HK$16,000 Business Class Fares To The U.S.

~ Alvin ~ Leave a comment

American Airlines is an airline that I’ve wanted to try for long. As much as people rag on them, they offer a business class seat just as good as Cathay Pacific’s (as it’s the same seat), with Bose headphones, pajamas, WiFi, and other perks that you wouldn’t find on Cathay Pacific. However, they do price quite a bit between Hong Kong and the U.S., and I haven’t wracked up enough AAdvantage miles to be able to redeem flights to the United States. I’m not actually planning to visit the U.S. in the near future, though this could be valuable to those that do.

American Boeing 777-300ER Hong Kong Airport

Continue reading “WOW: ~HK$16,000 Business Class Fares To The U.S.” →

Remember American’s ~HK$3500 Transatlantic Business Class Fares? Well, Someone Was Luckier Than You

~ Alvin ~ Leave a comment

Admittedly I’m about eight months late in sharing this. Back in April, American Airlines had a lucrative ~HK$3,500 mistake business class fare from Washington to Beijing. While I wasn’t available to get to the US anytime soon due to my schedules, it was pretty fun to watch everyone meet up in Beijing and Shanghai.

Well, only today I managed to catch on something pretty interesting. Through multiple delays, cancellations and American’s reliable 777s, FlyerTalker elliottishere was rebooked from American business class to Cathay Pacific first class.

American Airlines Boeing 777-200 Business Class

Continue reading “Remember American’s ~HK$3500 Transatlantic Business Class Fares? Well, Someone Was Luckier Than You” →

The Biggest Douchewaffle I’ve Seen

~ j ~ Leave a comment

I meant to write this post when I was in New York, but my schedule was so packed that I didn’t even take a look at my computer.

As you may (or may not) know, I flew from Hong Kong to San Francisco for a summer camp before moving on to New York with American Airlines. I’ve (sarcastically) written in the past about how flying with them was bound to be a terrible experience. Much to my surprise, it wasn’t and the flight was amazing. (More on that in the review.)

IMG_0066

Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300ER Premium Economy Class

However, that’s not the point of this post. Sorry.

Continue reading “The Biggest Douchewaffle I’ve Seen” →