AMR, American Airline’s parent company, filed for Chapter 11 protection this morning.

My regional upgrade cleared a few weeks ago for last night’s LAX-JFK p.s. redeye, allowing me to grab one of the six exit row seats in business class. From Row 9:

That seat back pocket is so far away!  For comparison, I flew in seat 5B (next to door 2L) in July.

I’m a bit late to the party today, but I found the resubtitled version of the introduction done by Jeff Smisek, President and CEO of United, to be hilarious.

(Hat tip: Frequently Flying)

One of the main tipping factors for my decision to do OneWorldMegaDo was the ability to challenge for AA Executive Platinum from my status with United/Continental.  I sent an email with a screenshot of my Continental Platinum credentials on Sunday night and received my response today:

``` Dear Chris,

Thank you for your email to American Airlines. I appreciate the opportunity to respond.

Thank you for sending us the documentation we requested. In appreciation of your participation in the 2012 oneworld MegaDo, we have registered you for a fee-waived AAdvantage elite challenge.

To earn AAdvantage Executive Platinum® membership through February 2013, simply travel 20,000 elite qualifying miles between October 9, 2011 and January 13, 2012 on flights marketed and operated by American Airlines, American Eagle, or AmericanConnection®. To date, you have already earned 12,375 elite qualifying miles toward your goal.

Once you complete this challenge, expect your credentials in three to five weeks. Of course, your new benefits will be effective immediately, once your account reflects that you’ve met the challenge criteria.

We hope you enjoy the oneworld MegaDo! See you in January!

Again, thank you for giving me the opportunity to respond. I look forward to assisting you in the future.

Regards,

American Airlines ```

With my two trips to San Francisco booked, I’ll be sitting comfortably with Executive Platinum in early January.  The real challenge will be requalifying for United 1K and AA EXP next year with 200k flight miles.

Over the summer, I applied for and received a few credit cards:  The Starwood Amex (30k signup bonus), the Amex Premier Rewards Gold Card (75k signup bonus, after much argument with Amex), the Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa (40k bonus), and the Continental OnePass Plus Mastercard (50k bonus).  Amongst the cards in my wallet (or drawer), my “Schwab” Visa was the only card I had with a waived forex fee.  That card is now dead and I’ve received a less rewarding BankAmericard instead.

As a result, I went in search for forex-free credit cards in this round of applications.  The Points Guy has a recent list of these cards.

Amongst the offerings from Amex are the Mercedes-Benz Platinum card (50k bonus, $475 annual fee) and the ordinary, unbranded Platinum card ($450 annual fee) with reports of a 50k bonus application working.  Unlike the “bump the bonus” nonsense of the summer, this application is actually advertises a 50k bonus.  Ordinarily, the $200 annual airline fee credit the card provides is nearly useless to me:  With elite status comes free checked bags, free standby, free same day changes and so on.  FlyerTalk has numerous reports of elites using the credit towards buying gift cards on an airline of their choice.  Since I expect to spend at least $200 more with American Airlines next year, my effective cost of the card is $250.  The remaining perks are the signup bonus and lounge access.  Needless to say, I applied and was approved for an Amex Platinum.

Chase has a few intriguing offers.  The Hyatt Visa turns into two free nights in suites thanks to having Diamond status with Hyatt.  The Priority Club offers one free night in any Intercontinental hotel each year and approximately 1.5 free nights as a signup bonus.  Between British Airways gutting its award chart last week and the lack of a 100k offer, the British Airways visa lacks appeal.  The Chase Sapphire has a 50k signup offer and provides reasonable earning rates for spending on travel and food (which account for most of my spending outside of my monthly rent check).

When I applied for the Sapphire, I got the dreaded “your application is pending review” message.  I called the reconsideration line (888-245-0625) and shifted my credit line from the OnePass Plus card to a new Sapphire card.  With OnePass being folded into Mileage Plus, my OnePass Plus card would likely turn into a MileagePlus Explorer card and disqualify me for any future signup bonuses from that card.  Nonetheless, I’ve been loathe to give it up as its rental car CDW coverage seems better than my other cards.  (When I called, they could enumerate clear terms and limits, but they could tell me whether certain cars were covered, cars that were beyond the limits offered by Amex, for example.)

As my second Seattle-area Hyatt visit last weekend, I stayed at the Hotel Sierra Redmond.  For this stay, I booked a one bedroom king with a balcony.

The bathroom and vanity:

As a one bedroom, the sitting area was more well defined.

A simple, yet functional desk:

A more nicely finished kitchenette than the Hotel Sierra Bellevue:

The front desk desk also asked for my preference in Diamond amenity, although the clerk spent a minute trying to see if it could be credited to US Airways (like the rest of my stay was).   Since the acquisition of Hotel Sierra two months ago by Hyatt, it seems the check-in clerks have been reasonably well-trained.  Three days after my stay, I received an email offering me the ability to sign up to earn “Stash Hotel Rewards.”  A quick glance at the website showed that it seems to be an independent hotelier rewards program, leaving me to chalk up the email as a legacy of the acquisition.

I had my NEXUS interview last weekend at the Blaine, Washington enrollment center.  Admittedly, the Canadian officer was rather puzzled by my place of residence in New York but went along with it after I explained why I wanted NEXUS:  “I find cheap airfares for weekends and go jetsetting.  I’d like to visit Canada with minimal fuss at the border.”  In an impressive show of government efficiency, I was approved at my interview last Sunday and received my card this past Thursday. Since I got into the Seattle area on Friday night, I went hotel hopping to score two last hits for the U.S. Airways Grand Slam.  I managed to find two Hotel Sierras (now owned by Hyatt) in the area at $90 per night two weeks in advance.  While I didn’t manage to find a third Hyatt stay in my schedule to stack the “Possibilities” promotion, these stays worked out nicely as other hit-eligible hotels in the area had more expensive rates. When I checked-in, the front desk clerk recognized my Hyatt Diamond status and asked for my choice of Diamond amenity:  500 Hyatt Gold Passport points or a $5 market credit.  With no desire to eat an overpriced bag of candies or a drink, I took the points.  The clerk was also able to tie my US Airways number to the stay.  From my reading of Hyatt’s policies, it is necessary to do this at check-in rather than in advance as Hilton allows. I booked a king bed studio and received one. Hotel Sierras seem to have marketed themselves more into the extended stay arena and feature kitchenettes:

I woke up rather late so I came in to the breakfast area right at its official close time (10AM), so it meant that they had stopped putting out more food.  Since I was going to be meeting a friend for lunch, this wasn’t that much of a problem.  I was able to grab a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee and be on my way.

During StarMegaDo3, the existing Hyatt Diamonds raved about the value of having a private line agent.  A few weeks ago, I decided to request to have one assigned to me without fully recognizing the immediate value.  I now do.  On Tuesday evening I noticed that my stay for this hotel had credited to Hyatt (according to FlyerTalk, this is apparently typical with Hyatt) and without the Diamond amenity, so I sent an email over to my PLA.  I received a response the next day asking for confirmation of my US Airways number and found that everything had been taken care of a few hours later when I checked my Gold Passport account.  No phone calls.  No hold music.  No frustration at ensuring my Gold Passport number is recognized by the automated prompts.  Asynchronous, yet responsive interaction is something I wish I could have with the airlines I fly.

The United Airlines representative on FlyerTalk announced that OnePass numbers would become the permanent account numbers of MileagePlus today.

Last year, I flew rather extensively for interviews on American.   I ended up adding my AAdvantage number at the airport with every flight, so I memorized its seven digits.  I got my OnePass number this year and memorize its eight digits.  Somehow, I cannot remember my Mileage Plus number’s eleven digits in their entirety, despite using it rather frequently this year and having it since 1999.

I guess it’s time to get my Mileage Plus Purge Data printout…

So I stayed at two Hyatt-flagged hotels this weekend.   This afternoon, I got an email from Hyatt:

Thank you for participating in our latest Hyatt Gold Passport™ promotion. You’re just 2 night(s) away from your first reward of 5,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points. As a reminder, you’ll earn 5,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points for every three eligible nights you stay at any Hyatt™ worldwide through November 15. It’s the perfect time to earn points quickly. And with no blackout dates, it’s always the perfect time to redeem them. After all, points are really possibilities waiting to happen. So what possibilities will you discover?

Given that the promotion ends tonight, I do not think I’m going to get two more nights in…

Carlson is opening its first Radisson Blu in the United States.  For the first 50k registrants, staying one night will yield a 50k Carlson Club point bonus.   Based on the Carlson award chart, this ranges from 1 to 5 free nights for a single stay, depending on category.

Amtrak sent out an email informing Guest Rewards members that its partnership with Continental Airlines OnePass is ending December 31, 2011:

While the Continental® OnePass® program will formally end in December, we’re happy to inform you that a new Amtrak Guest Rewards® partnership with the United MileagePlus® program is in the works. In the meantime, here’s what the changes mean for you as an Amtrak Guest Rewards member: •  December 31, 2011 is the last day that Amtrak Guest Rewards members will be able to convert Continental OnePass miles to Amtrak Guest Rewards points •  Members may convert OnePass miles to Amtrak Guest Rewards points in increments of 5,000 miles for 5,000 points •  To convert your miles, contact the OnePass service center. Eligible members* may convert Amtrak Guest Rewards points to OnePass miles at through December 31, 2011. Transfer of points and miles will not be a benefit of the new partnership with United MileagePlus. As always, thank you for your continued loyalty.

The Wandering Aramean points out that this asks more questions than it answers for other partnerships.  AGR Insider on FlyerTalk says a partnership with United MileagePlus is in the works.

Last month, I managed to get an invite on FlyerTalk to United Airline’s Fleet Week events at its SFO maintenance base.

United had four of its planes out for display: An A320 used for the plane pull, its A320 in United’s retrolivery, a Boeing 737 in Continental’s retrolivery, and an internationally configured Boeing 777.

Additionally, the Blue Angels were based on the nearby ramp for during their participation in the Fleet Week activities.

N456UA, a United A320, was used for a human-powered plane pull.

United had both of its retrolivery-bearing planes.  I had flown on N475UA, an A320 from Chicago to New York LaGuardia the previous week:

The Continental Boeing 737 in its Blue Skyways livery was nearby.  I was on this plane for StarMegaDo3.

The cockpit door was open; but when I went through,we couldn’t stop to sit down.

Keeping with the retro theme, a restored service truck was positioned nearby as well.

Additionally, N783UA, an internationally configured Boeing 777 was on hand for walkthroughs.

Earlier in the day, the emergency slide was opened up.

One of the massive hangers for United’s 747’s was open, albeit sans 747:

Slightly removed from the rest of the action was the engine maintenance building with a number of jet engines on display in various states of disassembly, including a jet configured in a testing pit: