1 Million Miles

News Article #1

News Article#2

Ok.. so I actually got to a Million a few days ago.

Work commitments and work travel (another 11,000 miles) have kept me from updating the blog.

So some totals -
Mileage earned: 1,003,625
Current Flight Segments in Aeroplan account: 276
Days I have been in an airplane: 56 out of the last 61.
Favorite Air Canada aircraft: B767-300
Times I have seen March of the Penguins: 0
I never actually got thru it without falling asleep.

and finally..weight change: +8lbs.

I attribute it to the lack of on board fruit plates in November led to increased consumption of cookies in the Maple Leaf Lounges..and what's a cookie without a glass of Baileys????

What's next? Well I have travelled 3/4 a way around the world in the last 3.5 days and completed my bi annual simulator session in Frankfurt (Calgary Frankfurt on Air Canada :) )

I am now in Hong Kong. Within 4 hrs of moving into my apartment I had a house guest. Fellow mileage runner Sean, in the middle of 6 back to back transpacific segments, rang me up and took advantage of my fresh digs to shower and sleep the 8 short hrs between his flights to from Chicago - to Chicago. Then back to Bangkok!

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What's next?

Well I can recommend the following blog or a very good friend who is the IT Manager on the MV Constellation Celebrity Cruise ship:

Carrie's Cruise Ship Blog

Those who have not checked out Flyertalk really need to

FLYERTALK

The information is as current as you will find anywhere, the people friendly, and the chance you will score some $20 Business Class tickets to Shanghai very high :)


I myself need to get to bed in a prone position for some serious rest,

Thank you to everyone at Air Canada, Aeroplan, and Flyertalk. This past two months has been a fantastic experience, and I met some truly exceptional people.

Thank you all, and good night.

Marc

875,000+

For those keeping score I have earned 875,000K (+/-500) as of this very moment.

I have 9 flying days to complete another 45,000 or so actual miles that will equate to the remaining 125K I need.

I think I have managed to change work dates as well... fingers crossed. We are getting there!!!

Marc

Golf Carts

Next time you are passing thru YVR keep a lookout for Air Canada's fancy painted golf carts. The come in various sizes for twosomes or foursomes, and are done in 13 different painted styles. (I have been led to believe there are 13 - I have seen 11 so far..but YVR is a big place.

UPDATE: I have now met Wayne D who works for Air Canada with these carts. There are 20 of them! Keep an eye out.


















Pictured are the TCA 60th Anniversary Cart, the Beautiful British Columbia Cart, The Australia Cart, and the Dreams Take Flight 10th Anniversary Cart

Karma

Having managed a free opup on AC137 (way oversold in economy) I was presented with a means to repay fate.

Leaving the MLL (Maple Leaf Lounge), I noticed a small piece of plastic on the floor. When I went to pick it up, I found it to be a Sony Memory card for a digital camera. Closer examination revealed the owners name written in small letters on the stick.

Being the creative problem solver I am, I nipped back into the MLL and asked the agent to run the name in the computer for this evenings departure to Toronto. Sure enough I found out they were on the same flight I was and sitting in 37E.

I wandered down to the gate and upon boarding presented the item to the onboard Purser with the passenger’s details. He ensured it got to her and relayed her thanks to me back up front after the “delivery”.

All in a days “work”.

Just think, if I never purchased this pass, I would never be on this redeye to Toronto and never found the item on my way to the flight…Perhaps I should bill her $7000 for the Memory stick??

So…whats been going on.

I realize that the blog isn’t as current as most would like. Its just the keeping on doing this requires a lot of time and the time I am not flying I do have to devote to family and work.

Lots is happening on both those fronts. However, we will soldier on.

As far as my travels with Air Canada have gone, 99% of them have been without incident. Occasionally there is a weather delay (who knew Winnipeg was going to receive 33cm of snow yesterday..) or fog out here on the coast, but all in its been positive.



Mileage total.

I am now closing in on a million. To date I have earned 416,000 (actually in account) 270,000 Threshold bonus (yet to post – First week of December Aeroplan tells me)
And 81 boarding passes totaling 65,000 (+ 32,500 and 16,250 bonus’) and 1500ish from the second payment to flight pass (online booking points)

Total actually earned and flown is 801,250

I have another 40 K of travel planned by the 20th (which will give me 70K in my account)
So going into the home stretch of the last 10 days I will need to earn 129,000 points OR
75,000 actual miles ( 7500 a day (which was the original daily requirement – so I am on track )

Unfortunately, my work schedule is now threatening to take me to Frankfurt for the last week of the month. This will entirely undermine my attempts and leave me rather short!! (depending on whether they fly me on Air Canada to Europe or not J)

I will update this in the coming days to reflect my progress

Countdown to a million....

Although actual "in the account" miles are lacking, miles earned and not yet credited are now over 760,000 miles. I have 65 boarding passes that have yet to credit (plus their associated bonuses) and the threshold gifts have yet to post.

From The Ground - Week Five Date Night

This week's date night took place in Anaheim. I was on business in the LA area and Marc's pass allowed him to join me for the Friday evening. I had been to the Disney resort in California about 18 months ago and was eager to go again.

Marc was not impressed with the drive from LAX to Anaheim for two reasons; firstly, it's Los Angeles, so a 30 mile drive takes an hour and a half at 5pm on a friday, and second, my rental car, a Chevy Aveo, did not impress him...at all.

I must first explain that I am a travel snob. I want to sit in 1A on every flight I take. The only airline I will make an exception for is Singapore Airlines as I find their Raffles Class product fantastic. In terms of hotels, if my room number is not preceded with the word "suite", I am not happy. But with rental cars...I just don't care. You can rent me a 25 year old Le Car and it doesn't matter to me. I only love one car - and that's the one I own. I wouldn't trade it for the world, so when it comes to renting a compact or an intermediate - whatever - doesn't matter. Marc wasn't impressed with the ride - even when I pushed it to 145kph on the freeway. Even I was worried that some of the Aveo's plastic bits were going melt from the speed.

We went to Downtown Disney for dinner at Tortilla Joe's, and walk around the shops. My big purchase was a candy apple which later that evening I decided to consume before I went to bed. Now, for those of you that do not regularly consume the equivalent of a ten pound bag of sugar before you go to sleep, you will understand the tummy ache I had all night. Even the next morning, I showered, dressed and was out of the room in search of toast and tea, even before Marc knew what day it was. The sugar hangover I had was unbelievable. It lasted all the way to the airport, and I must have looked like hell because as I entered the Alaska Boardroom they just looked at me and asked, "Advil or Tylenol?".

Yup - you didn't read incorrectly. Alaska Airlines MVP Gold. That's right! I have NO status on Air Canada...would've been Prestige this year, but they changed the rules on me. So I give my money to Alaska..correction - I give my employers money to Alaska.

Back in Business

Well, that was quick. Air Canada has outdone themselves. I posted the below comment while I was in Toronto, just prior to boarding AC137 . On landing in Vancouver, I had am email that it was fixed. All is working now!

Tommorow.

Vancouver to Victoria
Victoria to Vancouver

massage, rinse, and repeat.

Grounded....

An IT issue with between Air Canada and IBM seems to have caused my flight pass to disappear. :)

I am still flying on some previously booked flights, but come Monday I am not booked.
AC is working very hard to fix the problem.
Just one more hiccup on the way to my Million.

In the event of rapid depressurization, oxygen masks will fall..

So there I was, watching "Supercross" the movie, praying that Supercross 2 is never made and totally not understanding how Air Canada picked this as a movie for all the month of November..When all the sudden Pop..flop.. there are 3 emergency oxygen masks hanging in front of me. Just me.

Being me, I think 2 thoughts, 1."OK..so I am the only one that gets to breath, I better get ready to defend my oxygen." and 2. "Obviously this is a mistake, I would look really stupid if I put it on and activated the O2" (and cost AC some $$ and a delay to fix the system.)

I flag a passing FA, she is as bewildered as me. In the end the system was stuffed back into the overhead area. The Captain later decided that it might not deploy should I actually need to use it, so it was pried open by my seat mate with a credit card and left hanging for the duration of the flight.

Musing...more to come.

Apologies for the lack of updates- things are getting hectic.

Updates on my totals:

Boarding passes in my possession = 213

Miles flown = 169,000+ Status miles

Bonuses = 295,000+

Total Miles Earned = 464,000+










Oy! My Ass

The A321 seat is getting to me. The only piece of leather in the plane is the piece that holds up the safety briefing cards in front me..…why isn’t this soft, supple leather under my butt?

Half a burger.

My snack delivery service failed me Monday night – my order of a Harvey’s hamburger was – half a burger. I had ordered a full burger, but Harveys was closed. Instead Beth went to Burger King and got a double cheese burger. Since I had only ordered a “burger” she thought it was ok to eat half first…I arrived to find a half eaten double burger… When the subject was broached, she looked me in the eye and said.. “if you don’t want it, I will finish it.”

From The Ground - A girlfriend's perspective...part II

The gas fumes from constantly filling up the gas tank due to trips to the airport must be getting to me. I’m starting to unravel…here’s the evidence.

The other day I’m standing in the kitchen and yell into the bedroom – “Would you like anything to drink?”

“Uh ya, grab me an apple juice!” he replies. I lean further into the fridge thinking…apple juice... apple juice…I don’t remember buying apple juice anytime in the past five years. I shake my head, pour him a glass of Crystal Light, walk into the bedroom and hand it to him. He thanked me, looked at it oddly, and started to open his mouth to say something. I left the room.

Two days later – same kitchen, same question. “Would you like a drink?” I ask.

“I’ll have a Guinness please!” he says. That’s when I lose it.

“Look Dude – this isn’t the freaking Maple Leaf Lounge! We don’t have a fridge full of 50 varieties of soft drinks and 25 beers to choose from. Right now you can have Crystal Light, Diet Coke, skim milk or tap water.” I embellish this statement with arms flailing, even though he can’t see me. “And while we are on this topic, there is no choice of entrée at dinner. EVER. And I’m gonna be straight with you buddy, if you don’t like tacos and bagels you’re in the wrong house.”

And just because I was annoyed – I shot this out of my mouth also; “One more thing, I realize you don’t have time to do as much laundry as usual, and lord knows I won’t do it – but, those jeans you found from a few years ago that are tapered at the bottom? They aren’t a good look for you or anyone that isn’t wearing cowboy boots and riding a bucking bronco. These jeans are banned from being seen anywhere but the Calgary Stampede, and from now on we will refer to them as the “Stampede Jeans”. If you wear them outside of Calgary you will be openly mocked.”

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m usually a polite, shy creature who couldn’t be sweeter if you added sugar…it’s gotta be those gas fumes.