Not only did the group get tours of Flagship check-in, those of us flying home from Los Angeles were also given access to Flagship Checkin and the Flagship Lounge before our flight.
At the very far end of the American Airlines terminal, past the premium checkin area that I’m used to using (which has the escalator up to security after you prove your premium cabin or elite credentials) is a special doorway. There’s a staff member up fron with a list to check off your privileges.
Flagship checkin is open to three-cabin first class passengers, Five Star customers, and Concierge Key members. Unlike London, Executive Platinum status alone does not grant access.
There are two checkin positions and a comfortable seating area.
You’re walked from checkin through a doorway to an elevator which takes you up to security.
And once at security, in the premium line, there is a separate Flagship line that basically takes you to the front with no wait. What’s more, the premium checkin line had the nude-o-scope removed a few weeks ago making it a downright pleasant experience.
Through TSA I proceeded to the Flagship Lounge, entry via the Admiral’s Club. At Admiral’s Club checkin they hand you a key which you give to the attendant upon entering the more exclusive Flagship facility.
There’s comfortable seating, power, and internet. There’s premium liquor, and a hot and cold buffet. There were several other MegaDO participants in the lounge with me, and everyone seemed to feel that this was probably the best domestic lounge which is run by a domestic carrier. I probably prefer the Lufthansa Senator lounge at Dulles, mostly for the pretzels and gummy bears, and the United International First Class lounge in San Francisco (but not, for instance, in Chicago and Washington Dulles) comes close. But this really was a fantastic place to relax before flight.
It was finally time to board my flight home, Los Angeles – Chicago on an international 767-300 followed by a short hop back to DC. There were several MegaDOers on that first flight. Probably a very tough upgrade to clear..
Our last MegaDO afternoon was spent at the Flight Path Museum at the edge of LAX.
We had a lovely reception, and right behind the museum pulled up a Qantas A380 and a Cathay Pacific 777. We broke off into groups and got free run of each plane to do tours. The crew rest seats on the A380, checking out the new Cathay business class (it’s the US Airways seat to be sure, but US Airways has only rolled it out still to a limited subset of their fleet, but I think it’s the single best business seat out there and it’s also the one that’s going into the new American 777-300). Lots of photos, tons of folks now excited to fly Cathay first class (on miles, of course), and nothing intoxicates a frequent flyer than being up close and personal with a 380. Except tommy777, he much preferred being inside the engine of that Cathay 777.
The Cathay first class galley, love the toaster and that they make fresh eggs (rather than re-heating) onboard.
Cathay’s new business class seat is excellent, it’s the new US Airways seat and I don’t think US Airways gets enough credit for being first with the very best (IMHO) business seat in the industry. But US Airways hasn’t rolled it out fleetwide. Real kudos to Cathay for replacing their earlier full flat bed seat with this one. It’s also the new seat that American will be getting on their 777-300.
My home, of course, remains in first class… And the Qantas A380 first class seat sure didn’t look bad!
I admit, I’m not sure I want to be back here though:
Here’s sgy at the end of the event with Nicole from AAdvantage.
At the ceremonies we had incredibly gracious comments from our hosts, and then Tommy took stage to thank everyone that made this possible. The folks at American did an amazing job. Amazing doesn’t even begin to describe, really. It really was, as Tommy said, “B.M.E.” Suzanne, Jenn, Nicole and the rest of the team at American including Rob Friedman and all the execs who came into our Dallas launch. The exceptional folks at Hyatt — Jeff, Rene, Caroline, and Todd who joined us for the entire trip did so much for all of us, way beyond just providing a place to sleep. The entire oneworld alliance especially BA, JAL, Finnair, Qantas, and Cathay on top of American. And Brian the Points Guy for schlepping us from A to B by helping cover the buses. All the sponsors can be seen on the MegaDO website of course. But each and every one made extraordinary efforts to ensure that we all had truly the trip of a lifetime.
To read all about everything we learned from Jeff Zidell’s opening talk at the Hyatt Regency DFW, you can pick up the transcript at your local newsstand…
If you haven’t made a habit of it yet, starting clicking on over to MilepointTV where a growing number of video clips are being posted from the OWMD. AAdvantage contest video blogger winner Eric is putting experiences to the video to share with us all as are other members. Look for the typical “Producer Quality” videos from Milepoint member From NYC.
Off to baggage claim, board the buses, and out to the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza. No formal reception during the evening, but Hyatt had drink vouchers for us to be used in the bar. (Go, Hyatt!)
In the morning at breakfast we drew winners in the raffle.
Oh those eVIP upgrades, the packages of 60,000 miles apiece, the free tickets, the swag — I think Tommy called most of the items “underwear.” Lots of first class pajamas!!
Official tally isn’t out yet, but I believe the raffle alone raised about $15,000.
After the raffle it was off to tour Flagship check-in, I admit I wanted to see it but hadn’t taken a spot since slots were limited and demand way exceeded supply. Not to worry — American extended actual Flagship Checkin privileges to everyone on the MegaDO that would be flying home over the next two days on American. That’ll be in my last installment, still to come, but next up is the Flightpath Museum….
On arrival at Seatac it was straight up the stairs, there was no reason for most of us to check a bag (hey, we’re just that good, and I brought pre-addressed FedEx slips to send home any excess swag). There was a dedicated TSA lane for the MegaDO which we were through quickly. I thought about heading over to the Alaska Airlines lounge using my Priority Pass Select card, I could’ve guested some folks in at a fee as well, but that was a rather far trip down the terminal. So just headed down towards the gate instead. Tommy desperately wanted me to bring him a gin and tonic to the gate, sadly I couldn’t manage to convince any of the establishments in the A concourse to give me on in a “to go cup.” Hah.
Down at the gate American set up a ton of snacks for passengers to bring onboard. We had an amazing meal on the flight the night before. But service takes away, Seattle – Los Angeles was a much shorter flight, and most people really just wanted some cocktails and to be able to party on the flight — not take their seats and do a meal service. Even though American was prepared to provide their new onboard menus again we asked them to skip the service and move straight to the onboard fun.
This turned out to be a slight miscalculation on our part, although in many ways it added to the fun. Turns out we had a small mechanical delay, and that we ultimately needed to have a part brought in. I’ve never been so well-informed on a flight, the AA executives on board had real-time information and were the ones briefing the pilot. Flight attendants kept folks happy with a drink service, but as the delay crept on we began to realize that people were going to need food.
But how do you cater a full 757 at the last minute? You send Tommy, Gary, and three volunteers into the terminal scrounging for food. Tommy’s team stopped at the pizza place directly adjacent to our gate. Pizza takes awhile to make, but they managed to bake enough for the first class cabin. I, on the other hand, ran down the terminal. My erstwhile companion on this adventure spotted a Manchu Wok. Oh my. I thought, “Not. A Good. Idea.” Not exactly easy to eat or self-contained, I doubted very much anyone wanted to fly for 2.5 hours with a plane full of Chinese leftovers.
Fortunately there was a bagel shop as well, and they could make sandwiches. Only they were closing. I begged. I pleaded. And I told them this was gonna be cool, because it would be the biggest order of their lives. They started making sandwiches, and I told them to just keep going until we had figured out how we were going to load and transport every item of pre-prepared food that they had. All-in, between pre-made and fresh, we purchased 136 sandwiches and 10 salads. The station manager was there with his credit card, and his team helped board the food and return the carts and trays to the bagel shop afterward. Everyone would be fed. And the sandwiches were all passed out in under 3 minutes, since the aircraft was ready and it was time to take off!
While all of this was going on, the group whiled away the delay with some really cool auctions. A full $10,000 was raised for Susan G Komen just during the flight delay. American auctioned off 25,000 elite qualifying miles. The ground crew started coming up with things to give away as well, like maintenance jackets and even full fluorescent maintenance suits. ingy donated — and then promptly won back — an autographed safety card. Bottles of champagne were auctioned off, since our supply of champagne was limited.
After lots of winners, and a mad rush for sandwiches, it was time to take off. For another flight of our lives. Our crew was fantastic, we even had one of the stars of American’s new safety video and she gave a live rendition for the group.
Midway through the flight, though, we had a problem. An unruly passenger. Would we have law enforcement meeting us at the plane? Suzanne Rubin got up to announce the situation to the group. The flight attendants had just written up an incident report on… Tommy Danielsen.. and she read it off. Tommy apparently was unruly as ever, but this is a MegaDO flight, that’s just how we roll.
Suzanne also had another announcement for the group. She said that she’d been trying all throughout the trip to come up with an excuse to give everyone more miles. And in the end she finally had to concoct our delay in order to do it. Everyone was getting an extra 10,000 redeemable and elite qualifying miles. Wow.
Every single person I spoke with — on the flight, at breakfast the next morning, and throughout the next day (including then on the way home Sunday as well) said that the delay was the single greatest thing that could possibly have happened. It just meant two more hours on the party plane, and how many of us wouldn’t have traded those two hours for the uber-generous compensation that Suzanne came up with on the spot?
Our flight took an amazing path, different from every other Seattle-Los Angeles flight that day, we routed over to the West of San Francisco to get an amazing view of the City. Thanks to hillrider for the detail:
As a private pilot I would like to make sure that the fantastic folks at American Airlines, the dispatcher, Captain Bob and first officer Jim get recognition for routing our incredible flight over the West of San Francisco, so that we all could get an amazing view of this fabulous city in a crystal-clear night.
Below is the path we took:
Here’s the detail of the fly-by of San Francisco:
For comparison, all flights on the same route tonight took a more direct path—and definitely much less scenic—like this one:
In the last minutes of the flight our cabin crew came forward to share their own thanks with the group. Hopefully it wasn’t because the crew received the largest haul of AApplause certificates in the history of the airline, I think they truly enjoyed themselves on the charter with us and they did get to play along on our tours. It was great to have them with us, they were an outstanding group. And their expression of appreciation to us of all things really underscored how remarkable these people were.
As it was time to land, we all counted down in unison once again and touched down as well all completed the count. Our landing music was Brick House. It was a truly special flight, and archetypical of what led Tommy to declare it BME: Best. MegaDO. Ever.
We all boarded designated buses that would take us through our tours in different orders so that we wouldn’t overwhelm any given facility. We had several private, special activities for the day:
The Customer Experience Center. Boeing’s customers and not the public come here. There are interior mockups of their aircraft, it’s a place to see all the neat things they can do with the planes.
The 737 factory in Renton. There are no public tours currently of this facility, we got to see several jets in production.
The Boeing store, we got a discount on our swag. I couldn’t resist a yellow 787 tie…
A museum stop, we not only got to see the original Air Force One but also were given run of the inside of the very first 747-100, something that hasn’t been permitted for anyone in years.
At the Customer Experience Center we were treated to some pretty cool mockups, and a bit of flight simulator time (some of which was auctioned off for charity).
My first visit was the interior of the 747-800.
Naturally though I gravitated towards the first class cabin.
So did Todd Tomlin from Hyatt
And so did Ben Mutzabaugh of USA Today. Sorry, Ben, newspaper budgets being what they are these days I doubt you’ll find yourself up front too often on business trips! Stick with us MegaDOers a bit more, though, and you might just unlock those secrets..
Here’s Melinda consoling The Points Guy that his beloved Delta doesn’t even offer first class award redemptions.
There’s something special about climbing that staircase!
Up on the top deck, they’ve laid the space out the way I’d like to travel.
After chillin’ with a 787 interior and a 737 too, it was time to head on to the Renton 737 factory. They were sure busy, assembling one 737 after another, there’s a reason this puppy remains the all-time most popular.
Even top notch aircraft assembly workers need snacks:
The closest I’ll ever get to a Ryanair aircraft:
Next top? The Boeing shop for a bit of memorabilia at 10% off:
Lots of cool stuff to buy:
Melinda in pink gets The Points Guy to consider it for his own wardrobe:
We left a bit lighter in the wallet, a bit heavier in the Boeing-branded closet department!
Last stop of the tour? Museum time!
It was such an exhausting day! Ingy (aka The Frugal Travel Guy) decided to take a nap.
Boeing had so much to show us, in such a compressed amount of time, that we ate our lunches onboard the buses. Which were, of course, over-catered. An amazing experience, these folks really went all out for us setting up a real VIP experience. I’m not much of a “how stuff works” kind of guy, I just want to enjoy the finished product, but I was truly impressed. Then by a quarter to 3pm we boarded the buses again to head for the airport.
After charter touchdown in Seattle, we headed for the buses. Those with checked bags found them coming out on the carousel even as the first of us arrived at claim area number two. The Seattle station manager and his team were a wonder — a theme that would be consistently recurring over the next 24 hours.
Out to door 00 and waiting Boeing buses, each one loaded in turn to take folks out to the Hyatt Regency Bellevue, a place I fortunately had more time to stay at back in late August where I had an enormous suite and found some neat eateries and shops across the street, most especially a soup dumpling place that the lack of time for a repeat was my biggest regret on this trip.
I’ve never seen such an efficient check-in as the hotel put on for us, they had tables set up just inside the bus loading area with the room s pre-keyed, you gave them your name and they gave you your key. Since credit cards were provided with the reservations, they didn’t insist on a card swipe, everyone was waiting to go and even handed their checkin amenity on the spot. A few items of confusion, I did run into someone that had confirmed a suite upgrade for the single night stay that hadn’t been pre-blocked into their suite. But I admit I wish I had confirmed a suite and not been given it — on a one-night stay in Dallas the previous evening a MegaDOer received 15,000 Gold Passport points for that inconvenience. Downgrade me, baby!!
Fortunately I found myself upgraded (thanks, Ed), a suite is always nice even on a short one nighter!
Right away it was up to the second floor for a Japan Airlines reception which can be summed up thusly: “Boeing 787.” The Boston flight launches in April and they’re clearly – and justifiably – proud. In addition to sporting cocktails and snacks for the group they ran a trivia contest where they gave away a business class seat on the inaugural flight. Now, Ed and I both avoid buying the raffle tickets, bidding on auctions are different and so is making direct contributions, there’s much more transparency that way. With the raffle I don’t want to win because I always worry it would look funny. But I jumped in on the trivia, there’s total transparency, everyone stood on one or another side of a line in the middle of the room to publicly declare their A/B true/false answers to questions like the name of the JAL lounges and what certain airport city codes stand for. I knew the first several but not the wing span of the 787, so I was out midway through the contest. The final winner, our fearless logistics leader PIzzaman.
After a (very) little bit of sleep it was time to check out of the hotel, the property had staff outside the breakfast room with iPads handling our checkouts quickly and efficiently. A bit of breakfast and we heard from Boeing about what we’d be seeing that day.
At one point during the MegaDO three separate Presidents of the American AAdvantage program were with us — Rob Friedman, Maya Leibman, and Suzanne Rubin.
Riding back with the crew to the hotel in Seattle on Thursday night, they all commented about Rob Friedman, how down to earth he is, how well they connect with him, and how much they appreciate that.
Meanwhile, Maya commented during the event how much she missed running AAdvantage. We learned that when she was promoted to be the airline’s Chief Information Officer she was genuinely disappointed because she’d have to leave the program (takin’ one for the team!). I think she genuinely misses us all, Suzanne elaborated on traveling together with Maya as they were each working — Suzanne on the upcoming MegaDO, and Maya on IT stuff that Suzanne tried to explain to me but that I didn’t understand — and how Maya lit up at what was on Suzanne’s screen.
Of course I really think Suzanne had a phenomenal time as well, she sure took to the group, seemed to have a really great time, and was an awesome sport. Maya built a phenomenal relationship with her frequent flyers over the course of 18 months, and Suzanne is already on her way to doing the same, and with the launch of the MegaDO at the very beginning of her tenure I suspect she’s building that rapport even more quickly than Maya did.
And Maya really was a great sport, a personality that set her apart from most heads of programs, I remember at the Frequent Traveler Awards last April at Citi Field the emcee was actor Robert Wuhl and he was telling all sorts of jokes — from giving out his frequent flyer numbers as he’d announce a winning program (as though miles in his account could influence the results) to recommending the ability to earn miles for sex (though his wife told him if that was a feature of the program, that she’d want an upgrade). Well, in a pretty button-downed crowed Maya took the stage and realizing that bad weather meant that her colleagues and PR staff had all had their flights cancelled, she was alone and unmonitored, and gave back to Wuhl as good as she got.
Maya emailed right after we had boarded our flight last night,
I miss you guys a ton and really wish I could be there. Instead I’ll be reading about big data and the hadoop ecosystem
Fortunately, with the stories you’ll hear in some of the upcoming blog posts — Suzanne giving up her simulator slot at Boeing to an eager MegaDO participant and raising money for Komen in the process, and her snap onboard decision to award miles for our flight delay (and her announced reason for doing so) — we’re fortunate to have another head of AAdvantage who really connects with her customers. And we’re so fortunate for that.
If you have a winning ticket and have not claimed your prize, please find Melinda and Tommy today — they’re at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza of course, and will be going to the Flight Path museum this afternoon for the Qantas/Cathay program.
It’s much better to get your prizes to you on-site!
