As part of their ongoing 30th anniversary promotion, AA announced today that they were giving triple miles (or, more specifically, triple the usual amount of miles) for donations to the airline's two pet charities. So if you make a donation to Susan G. Komen for the Cure® or American’s Miles In Support of All Who Serve (which benefits the USO), you'll get 30 miles for every dollar donated.

I wouldn't necessarily buy miles at $.033/mile, but for a donation (especially if you ...

Dear flight attendant,

It's called a "mixed drink" because it's supposed to be served mixed. If I wanted bloody mary mix with a vodka floater, I would have ordered it that way.

Sincerely,

- josh

Last week, I had a day of meetings in San Francisco. I'm well over the 125,000 elite qualifying miles I set out to earn this year on American Airlines, so I thought I'd try a different airline for the quick flights from LAX.

A number of my friends have been recommending Virgin America to me, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

This, then, is the recorded experiences on Virgin America of someone who flies almost exclusively ...

I'm currently sitting on AA flt 1104 STL-LGA. I've got a few free GoGo coupons, and this particular MD-82 has internet (and DC power), so here I am surfing at 35,000 feet. (I don't have an altimeter in my pocket, but FlightAware says 35,000 feet, and I believe them.)

Anyway... here are my hot nuts, which I took care to photograph (with my new iPhone, natch) because the hot nut mix has been an issue of much controversy of late on AA forums.

As far as I ...

Let this be a lesson to you.

Start a spreadsheet right now. On the top row, put in the amount of EQMs you have right now. Then, in subsequent rows, list flights you plan to take (broken up into segments), along with the mileage you'll earn for each segment. Include mileage from double EQM promos and class-of-service bonuses.

What happens if you don't do that? You end up 134 miles short.

I flew a ton in the last month or so, during which time AA was running a double-EQM ...

I'm currently reading an interesting book by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. It's called Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. The book is basically about the ways that we can "nudge" people to make good decisions without eliminating their freedom of choice. For example, workers in a school cafeteria can "nudge" students to make healthier choices by giving prime placement to healthy foods. Kids can still choose junk food, but the ...