The Inca ‘Flight Path,’ or ‘A Mileage Burn To Write Home About’....

 

Correspondent’s note: I’m going to break this trip report up into the ‘what and why’ first, with a second post covering the ‘where and how.’  In other words, this is the how to book and why to book, with the experience based info coming next.

 

Yes, everyone has this shot.  Yes, it's worth going and taking it yourself, especially if you do it in style! 

In May, Mrs. Cruising Altitude and I did our second international mileage burn in as many years.  I have to say, that both trips, (the first being our Oneworld Explorer tour of Europe) turned out to be an amazing use of miles.  Great value throughout, reasonably ‘bookable,’ and a totally memorable trip to somewhere I might not have thought to go otherwise.

Awhile ago, some other savvy folks we’ve met in our travels, told us unequivocally that we “had to go to Tambo Del Inka, on a miles and points deal, and drink lots of Pisco Sours and coca tea.  Oh, and yeah... probably go to Machu Picchu at some point.”  Well then, who am I to decline such specific advice??

Welcome to Tambo Del Inka...

....Have a [large] Pisco Sour.

As you may or may not know, Tambo Del Inka is a stunning, relatively new, Starwood Luxury Collection resort in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, high up in the Peruvian Andes.  The resort is well designed, and tastefully constructed to fit in with the natural surroundings.  On one side rooms face a rushing river lined with towering eucalyptus trees, and the other has views of a year-round glacier.  The grounds are beautifully up-kept, and the facilities include a unique indoor/outdoor pool, water spa, gorgeous architecture featuring towering timber beams to the ceiling, and a reasonably priced, but fantastic restaurant.  

Quiet and peaceful grounds.

Indoor/outdoor pool and spa.

The resort has only been open for a few years, and so is not yet showing age.  Plus, for the environmentally conscious, it meets LEED standards.  A rarity in foreign construction, but feels good given the natural treasures this area holds.  

The town of Urubamba itself is next to the resort, and is easily walkable if you want to explore.  It’s not a ‘tourist area’ per se, but can be interesting to check out to take in some local culture.  While we were there there was a several day festival going on, complete with parades, dancers, and music.  What’s most useful about the proximity though is possibly that you can get a WAY better deal on transportation to the train stations, airport, and archeological sites by just walking a few blocks from the resort down to the nearest gas station and picking up a local taxi.  Tambo’s travel agency on site will happily arrange tours for you…. for double or more the price.  

Urubamba festival

View from the front of the Tambo lobby

For the nuts and bolts of this booking-  Tambo Del Inka, perhaps because of it’s remote location, does have ongoing decent availability for cash & points nights throughout the year, especially if booked far in advance.  At its hotel tier, it requires 6000 starpoints and $110.00 per night.  Worth it.  No question. The added great thing about cash & points is that those nights are generally completely refundable.  One not here though- as this is a ‘resort property’ make sure you keep on top of what the ‘cancel-by’ date is.  This property requires about 3 weeks’ notice to cancel, though I’ve had good luck getting around these rules by calling the Starwood Platinum line and pleading my case.  

Room selection-wise, if you can’t get one of the ground level suites that have a private patio, I’d go for the side facing the river (where we were).  It’s quiet, and with the placement of the trees, really feels like you’re out in nature.  Plus, you can open the sliding windows and listen to the water.

Tambo Del Inka is beautiful from any angle...

As an added note, this property is good with Platinum recognition.  While we ended up there during a peak time when the resort was fully committed and weren’t put in a suite, they did offer to move us for the portion of our stay that they had a suite available (we turned it down because our room was plenty nice), and apologized that they couldn’t confirm a suite and offered both extra points, and the free breakfast, rather than just one or the other.  Plus, for Plat guests they take an additional 15% off the restaurant and bar prices, which made the already good prices due to the exchange rate even better.  The 1:3 rate of dollars to soles was awesome, and resulted in wonderful dinners out for 2 people coming in around $30, with drinks.  

The 'riverside' rooms.

Both the lobby, and the restaurant feature huge fireplaces.  Walking into Tambo at the end of a day of adventuring is like getting a hug...especially when it comes with a warm cup of coca tea.

So….given all of the above, how does one get here???

That’s the best part!

I knew that LAN flies nonstop from LAX to Lima a couple times per day, and does it for a stunning 30k AA miles each way in business class.  Knowing this, and that I needed two tickets, I pulled out the calendar FAR in advance (ie. 331 days), and got on the phone.  The tickets can be booked as a Oneworld partner award, and I recommend booking them as one way tickets initially so you don’t have to wait until 331 days before your return date to book the outbound.  As a bonus, for the same mileage, you can add on the connecting flight LIM-Cuzco, which is where you need to get to to visit the Sacred Valley.  

On the phone, the booking was fairly simple, and stress free, as being an EXP my mileage tickets are fully refundable up to the day of travel.  Plus, no big taxes and fees here- only about $36 per ticket, round trip!  Done and done.

Now...now...for the best, best part.  When I booked the tickets, the flight was on a 767-300, with a 2-2 config in J.  Fair enough, sounds good to me.  However, several months later, I found out that AA had reassigned me a new FF# due to an alleged hack of their database.  Annoyed, I called to find out what was happening, and ended up on the phone with an AAgent for 2 hours because my flights hadn’t moved over to my new profile, and in the moving, they lost my seat assignments.  

Anyhow… when the Lima itinerary was pulled up, the agent asked what seats I wanted, “it’s a 2-2-2 configuration” she said.  Wait, WHAT NOW??  I knew something was up, so I asked her what the plane type was showing as. It was….wait for it…. now a brand spanking new 787-900 Dreamliner that LAN just took delivery of at the start of the year.  

Cue avgeek meltdown.  

This plane’s so new, SeatGuru didn’t even have a map for it, and I couldn’t find any reviews, other than previews of the new cabin config and seats from LAN itself.     

Extremely spacious 2-2-2 lie-flat seat config. 

787-900 J cabin

Not bad at ALL- 8+ hours on the Dreamliner in J (there’s no F on this plane, so J is the pointy end) for 60k miles and $36.  I didn’t even mind (too much) that LAN only released tickets on the later departure from LAX that arrived LIM at about 11pm, and the return was a redeye.  I booked a layover hotel in LIM, and we slept a bit and then took a morning flight to CUZ.  The connections in and out of CUZ go at least once an hour, so that was no issue at all.

All in all, this trip can be a fantastic value- luxury plane and resort for very low points, miles, and cash.  Not too many times can you get 4 nights in a 5 star resort, and round trip airfare on this kind of flight for two for around $500!  

Let's go!

Up next- the trip report itself.  TBIT’s new lounge, LAN J service, and adventures- salt pools, Inka ruins, fun at altitude, fast and slow taxi drivers, and more Inka ruins….

The ONE Time Silver Is Top Tier...

"Silver Elite"

This has been a long time coming, but as I just put over 200 miles on this shiny,  new, Audi A4 Quattro, I decided to make time.  The review at hand- "The car rental that doesn't suck." (their words, but mine as well)  This truly eloquent company is Silvercar, and yes, the internet has already sung its praises, but here's my take:

Renting from Silvercar has a certain 'Bond. James Bond.' appeal to it, as much as any reasonably priced car service can.  It's the 'Uber Black' of rentals, if you will.  No, you probably don't 'need' the horsepower or the bling to get to your airport hotel or to see the in-laws, but it sure doesn't hurt.  Plus, it feels good to roll up to 'that meeting,' or to take a client out to dinner with a little panache.

Glamour shot...

Quattro

So far, I've rented at two of their locations- SFO and ORD.  Adding to the international 'man of mystery' feel, the pick up instructions at each location are different.  Awhile ago, when I rented at SFO, it was a covert-feeling multi-step process involving a non-Silvercar marked van, a location inside an offsite general use airport parking garage, and a guy with an iphone guarding two A4s parked in a corner.  The website generally just directs you to 'text us when you've landed, and we'll give you the details' ie., 'your mission, should you choose to accept it.'  But, when the benefit of finding the place is taking one of these for a weekend in Sonoma, I'll happily accept the challenge.

Never seen a National Ex aisle look like this!

 Thankfully, the staff are uniformly polite, young, and enthusiastic.  Little surprise, given that it's the 'tech startup' of rental cars.  Today I was dropped off personally at ORD in my actual rental car, eliminating any extra stops, or transferring of luggage.  I approve.

The Pros-
 -Guaranteed silver (get it??) current year Audi A4.  Every single time.  No picked over lots, or third-in-a-goddamn-row Malibus that always pull to the right. (I'm looking at you, Hertz 'gold')
-No base models here, they're all quattro all wheel drive.
-Slick rental app.
-Cars come (mostly) fully loaded, including some nice extras like nav, wifi, working bluetooth & sirius radio.
-Car charger to USB adapter included. 
-Concierge-feeling customer service.
-Feeling elite without paying (too bad) of a price.

VERY THOUGHTFUL

The Cons:
-Severely limited locations, so it can't be your 'go-to' everywhere.
-On average, cars seem to have a decent amount of miles on them, at least in comparison to some of the very low mileage I can usually find on a well stocked National aisle.
-As they're new, and not a main line car rental, getting to their lot is a different experience at each location, and you need to be aware of the instructions before you go to pick up.
-No real elite program, or accrual of free days.
-If you need a bigger car, you'll have to go elsewhere. 

In short, I happily pick Silvercar where possible, and where they're price-compeditive.  Surprisingly, even with the premium fleet, they can meet this criteria pretty often.  The only hesitation I have is missing out on status and free day credits with National....but it passes about the time I hit 60mph!

Happy driving,

~CruisingAAltitude 

2014 Mileage Season in Review, Pt 1: No Kai Tak Heart Attack :(

Very retro-post, but hopefully still with some good trip tips going into this year's mileage season early:

Once again, I'm at the end of the year on a much appreciated trip to relax with family by the beach.  This year, it's a week in Puerto Vallarta on the Riviera Nyarit.  The weather is beautiful, the view is stunning, and it seems like a perfect chance to give a rundown of this year's mileage adventures.  As detailed earlier [Here], this season's trips were made up of two weekends in Asia for a total of just over 40,000 qualifying miles.  As it turned out due to some late breaking work travel, I happily ended up somewhat over my 100k goal, but I'm not complaining.  Maybe it just means I'll get my 'welcome to EXP' package from AA earlier than May, like I did last year.

Nyarit sunset from Villa Del Palmar- Flamingos

All in all, the trips were a great success and great little 'milecations'... as much as flying 17 hours for a one night stop can be.  The first trip was the most complex, with 3 Asian destinations with long(ish) stops.  Thankfully, the upgrades cleared on both the TPac segments on AA's 777-300ER, making the flights very enjoyable.  I managed to catch some good rest, and watched The Birdcage for probably the 126th time in my life.  For some reason, long flights make me want to re-watch my favorites.

After landing in HKG, I took the Airport Express train, which goes pretty much nonstop from the airport to Kowloon and then onto Central, so it's hard to get lost.  And by 'pretty much nonstop' I mean it just stops at Tsing Yi.  So, just, don't get off at Tsing Yi and you're good!  It's about a $20-something round trip if you buy both ways when you get there, which beats a taxi for sure.

Side note here- I'm honestly sad I didn't start flying to Hong Kong ten years ago to get to experience the "Kai Tak Heart Attack" approach at the old airport in Kowloon.  The old flight path required entering a 47-degree turn at under 1000 ft AGL (usually closer to 600ft), and exiting the turn at 150ft!!  It was called the "turn at the checkerboard," due to an orange and white checkerboard painted on a mountain that served as a visual waypoint.

The rest of the short final approach took the plane so close to the buildings of Kowloon that passengers would report being able to see people inside their apartments watching TV!!  Yes, yes, this probably sounds like the 6th circle of hell to any nervous fliers, but it really was a feat of good piloting, and a part of aviation history.

For the true AvGeeks, here's the chart for the Kai Tak approach, showing the location of the checkerboard-

Sadly though, the checkerboard is no longer maintained, and is getting progressively deteriorated and overgrown.  However, 'checkerboard hill' can still be visited by way of Kowloon Tsai Park.  I didn't have time to go check it out on these runs, but maybe another time.  As long as AA keeps flying the DFW-HKG route with such good prices, I'll probably get another chance.

Okay, okay, well I know none of that was really applicable to this trip report as I flew into the new(ish) Chek Lap Kok airport....but sometimes I get distracted by aviation history and big planes landing near tall buildings.  It happens, and we're just going to have to deal with that from time to time.

Anyway....

Since this run only gave us a short overnight in HKG, we went right to the JW Marriott in Central.  It's a short one stop after the Airport Express, and is built over the Admiralty train station, so it's very easy to find your way.  My traveling buddy for this run  was top-tier with Marriott, so we ended up in a nice room on a top floor with access to their impressive executive lounge.  The views were great, though the Marriott is towered over by the Conrad next door.

Dinner at the JWMarriott Lounge

And the first breakfast the next morning.  They have dragonfruit.  I love dragonfruit.

One thing to know about this, and other area hotels, is that their hosted lounge hours close early- most before 8pm.  So, given that AA137 from Dallas lands at 6:30, it's a tight schedule to get checked in in time to make use of them.  However, if you happen to get there on time, it's a great way to watch the nightly 'Symphony of Lights' laser show that lights up on both sides of the city.

After a quick sleep, we headed back to the HKG airport on the Airport Express.  Since the next flight down to Jakarta was on Cathay Pacific metal, I got to check in at the Cathay 'First Class/OW Emerald' desk, which is actually a row of individual kiosks with personal greeters and assistance.  Very nice, and exactly what you'd expect from a truly top tier airline at their home base.

I sure feel welcome, wouldn't you?

Up next (of course) was some quality time at Cathay's flagship lounge 'The Wing' for breakfast at the fully hosted restaurant 'The Haven.'  It serves both menu options, and a full buffet.  Hong Kong is one of my favorite cities in the world, the least of reasons why being it's got to be one of the only places where you can get Chinese/English fusion breakfast- congee (a traditional rice soup) with preserved egg, next to baked beans on toast.  As an aside, The Wing is only one of several high end airport lounges available to One World flyers at HKG.  However, it is one of only two that have a true 'first class' section, along with the newly opened Qantas lounge at the other end of the terminal.  The business class side is also quite nice, and has a made to order noodle bar.

The shower amenities at The Wing are also possibly the best in the system.  The shower suites are 'rainfall' showers with the water falling directly from the ceiling.  

A culturally complex breakfast...

Also noteworthy, is the champagne bar, which keeps Veuve Clicquot on ice all day long.  We enjoyed a glass with breakfast (all day is 5PM in airports, remember), and then whipped out the paper cups we'd brought from the AC stateside to get a little 'pre departure beverage' to go.  The CX servers were caught between being horrified at us pouring $70 champagne into coffee cups, and their overly polite CX indoctrination as they watched us do it, and tried to ignore our blatant bad manners.  The sweatshirt and track shoe 'mileage run uniform' didn't help our case either. 

"The Champagne Bar"

Our own "PDB"

Speaking of departure... up next- the CGK turn, and onto the redeye up to Tokyo.

~CruisingAltitude
 

Let's Do That Again....

Yes, this picture I took of 'AA through the years' at ORD hangs in my office.  Don't judge....

As it's the opening week of my Mileage Season, I'm obliged to honor my tradition of posting the layout of my travel plans on the way to 100k and EXP status for 'One More Year.'  This will be the fourth time I've said 'One More Year,' for those keeping track at home.

I thought last year's mega-mileage runs would cure me of this hobby.  I mean, booking yourself 48 solid flight hours over a long weekend should logically deter a reasonable person from wanting to get back on a plane for the foreseeable future.  But, as has been made clear, mileage runners aren't reasonable people.  At least not about this.

Honestly, even with the jetlag, the hours in economy seating, warmed-over food, Chinese smog in Shanghai, and questionable connections in snowstorms, I had a blast.  I met new people, saw things and places I didn't even know I was looking for, and learned to navigate cities and airports as foreign as they come.

So, in four short days, I'm off on the first of this year's two long-haul runs.... and I can't wait.  

I think 'Donkey' said it best...

As any mileage runner who's in it for the status level knows, the adventure can be a by-product of the goal of reaching 25, 50, or 100k miles.  So, for those wondering where the mileage runs are this year, and why, here's an overview of this season's itineraries-

This season is comprised of two long weekends headed West over the Pacific from Dallas to various destinations in Asia.  Weekend one is the longer of the two, coming in at around 22,600 elite qualifying miles, with a flight path from LAX-DFW on the red eye to meet up with a mid-morning nonstop to Hong Kong.  I then have a night at an airport hotel, before heading out the next morning from HKG to Jakarta, Indonesia.  There's about 8 hours on the ground there, enough time to go relax a little at a close-by Sheraton resort (on points, of course), before an overnight flight to Tokyo Narita.  Then about twelve hours of daylight time there to go into the city and see a few things, before hopping on the return NRT-DFW-LAX trip back home again.  Simple, right? 

The flights look like this:

via Great Circle Mapper.  Sidenote- the circumference of the Earth is only slightly longer than this run.

What's fun about this run is that it allows some time on the ground in each city, but not so much that the time changes start to get disruptive.  I don't have any specific plans of where to go during the stopovers, so I can relax, or not.  Secondly, I'm really looking forward to getting back to the NRT airport lounge.  Last season I had a great layover there including a nice massage, shower, and some fantastic food and drink.  Plus, the premiere lounge in HKG, 'The Wing,' is constantly in the running for the best airport lounge in the OneWorld system.

As for the other bits of intrigue about this run- the outbound is on AA's 777-300er, which I've previously reviewed.  It's AA's biggest and shiniest plane, at least in the forward cabins. If you're lucky enough for an upgrade to clear, is a fantastic way to sleep away a 16+ hr trans-pacific flight.  The inter-asia flights are on Cathay Pacific and JAL, both of whom offer fantastic service, even in economy.  The longer leg on JAL up to Tokyo is being flown on a large plane, and reports from other mileage runners are coming back that it's nearly empty, letting passengers spread out and take rows to themselves- the economy traveler's 'lie-flat suite.'

The second weekend is a simpler riff on the first.  It's a two night trip to Hong Kong, with time for a stay at the Sheraton in the city.  I'll hopefully have just finished qualifying for SPG Platinum status by then, so hoping for lounge access and a nice upgrade.  No actual appointments, so free to stay on my original timezone if I choose.  The flight path originates in ORD, so I found some milesaver award positioning flights to accommodate.  All in all, the flights look like this:

Also, for comparison's sake, here's the links to previous years' posts on this topic can be found here:
2013 (Johannesburg, ZA and Shanghai)
2012 (Four times to Boston and back)
2009 (NYC and Boston) (yes, my first entry!)

Since I always see people who are curious about mileage running, or deciding whether it's worth it, or if they're finding good deals, asking about it I'll lay out the nuts and bolts of the 'mileage math' for these runs.  They were similar in price, both sub-5 cents per mile ("cpm"), and as I had a $400 voucher from last year when I took a flight change at AA's request, I was able to get a combined 3.5 cpm for the 40,504 elite-qualifying miles these trips will net me.  (yes, that number's even a palindrome, has to be good luck!)  With the status-based doubling for redeemable miles I'm earning 81,008 at 1.7cpm to put towards future travel or upgrades.  Even without the voucher, most people would consider these flights decent mileage runs for status.

'Congratulations, your mileage runs come with a free first class trip to Urubamba, Peru!'

As an example of what this many miles can get you, I took the miles I earned last year and booked myself and Mrs. CruisingAltitude on LAN's 1st class flights to Lima, Peru and onwards to Cusco to go to the Sacred Valley next year at a rate of 60,000 miles per ticket round trip.

Paying cash for these would start at around $4,000.  So, in this example those 60,000 miles earned at 1.7cpm means the ticket 'cost' just over $1,000.  Even this is over-priced as the mileage runs were also a way to gain all the benefits of Executive Platinum status, which on their own far outweigh the cash spent on the tickets.  In a sense, the trip to Peru is a fun side effect of making status.

I booked us at the Tambo Del Inka Resort in Urubamba.  Rumored to be one of the most beautiful SPG properties in the system.  Also one of the best of this level for cash & points redemptions, making stays here start at $110 per night + points.

Indoor/Outdoor pool and spa at Tambo Del Inka.  The resort also features its own train station on the line to Machu Picchu.

Okay....I've probably lost 90% of readers at this point.  For the 10% of you who still care, there's more rambling on this subject on [this post] from last year.  Good luck.

At this point in my mileage running career, I keep wavering between being a little sheepish about it all, and wanting to share my adventures.  One thing that constantly surprises me is how many people actually want to learn about it, even if only to comment on how ridiculous it is.  As mileage season generally lines up with the holidays and time spent with family (most of whom we have to fly to see), I usually end up recounting the latest set of adventures on these visits.  There was enough discussion of it last year after I got back from my JNB  and PVG runs that the first holiday toast (not given by me) was aptly concluded with:

 "....And my flight to be with you all tonight cost me $500 round trip, but it came with about 3 new sweaters."

Sounds like a decent deal to me.

Until the next flight,

~CruisingAltitude 

One World, Three Days, Part III- The Road Home....

LHR T-3 Lounge.  Showered, fed & ready to board my flight home.

As I've said in my previous posts, the majority of my fellow mileage runners were only on the ground in Jo'Burg for a brisk 18 hours before flying back home.  After returning from the Lion Park, we said our goodbyes, and I turned in for the night at the Hilton.  And by 'night,' I mean a 2 hour nap before dinner, followed by a few more hours of sleep and waking up at 4 am to watch rugby, the local news...and more rugby.  I almost sorta know some of the rules at this point.  But, do not ask me about them...

This 10 hour time change side-effect would be all well and good on a mileage run usually.  Honestly, it's just one more part of the insanity that can make it an adventure.  Case in point my trip to Hong Kong this year- I've considered skipping the hotel night entirely since it'll be the middle of my 'day' and just seeing the sights at night, then heading back to sleep it off on the 16 hour flight home.  No muss, no fuss, no jetlag.

However, in the case of Jo'Burg, I'd combined a few business meetings with the trip, and so needed to be on my game at 10 am to meet some industry folks, and then on to a second meeting in the afternoon.  Won't lie, that was a little rough.  If I'm tempted to do this again, I'll probably limit it to one meeting... or none.   Still, the meetings went well, and the second colleague kindly took me back to JNB to catch my outbound flight.  Or so I thought.

As previously posted, I didn't realize until I got to the check-in line that my passport was still safely locked up in my room at the Hilton back in Sandton.  Low point of the trip.  Suffice to say I got really familiar with the Gautrain.

To end the suspense, yes, I did get back to the airport in time, passport in hand.  I have to give another nod to the service at the Hilton Sandton here.  They had it ready and waiting for me at the front desk to get me on my way in plenty of time.

As also previously discussed, upon arrival I learned of an equipment change from one BA 747 to another, which removed several rows of economy, one of them the unlimited legroom exit row I was seated in.  But as very occasionally happens in the twisted world of mileage running, my annoyance...surprise...anger, or whatever it was at that point, was eventually assuaged by a surprise status-based upgrade to a 'World Traveler Plus" seat instead.  While not to be equated with a true upgrade to business class or better, 'WT+' on this plane is somewhat like AA's 737 domestic F service, less as much personal attention, but with an added little footrest.  Soft product gets a little better as well- there's a menu, and your food comes in real glasses and on plates, rather than the 'microwave meal' trays served in back.   At that point in the weekend, that was all I needed to forgive BA, and to get a little sleep on the trip back across the continent to LHR. 

WT+ Seat

Little amenity kit

See, AA??  They still do make these.  Get yourselves together & stock them again.

In retrospect, while getting the hotel for the night seemed like a way to soften the journey, I'm not so sure.  The prospect of getting right back on another flight after only one day on the ground sounds painful, but so is encountering the 10 hour time change for just one day.  One of the good things about an ultra long haul run, like this, or an around the world itinerary, is that your body never really has to conceptualize what you're doing.  For the most part, you're just on planes and in lounges, and you can doze off whenever your brain decides it's 'night.'  Not to say it's not fun to get out and see the destination you just took 2 days flying to get to, but in my humble opinion, one day and a few adventures may be enough- sleep it off on the flight home.

Speaking of sleeping it off, fast forward to the second segment of my return trip- my first chance to experience the new business class on AA's 777-300ER that they keep advertizing.  My review- I give it about an 8 out of 10.  It definitely puts any of AA's other hard product to shame.  And considering that the previous configuration on the 777-200 was 2-3-2 angle lie flat where the middle seat of the '3' section is basically trapped unless they're the type to wake up their neighbor and get them to sit back up, or are prepared to do a flying leap over them to get to the restroom (guilty)... the shaming is immense. 

777-200 business class.  These are due for retrofit in the next year or two, 

thankfully.

In comparison- here's a panoramic of the 77W J cabin.  Yeah, no more needs to be said.

The '77W' business class cabin is 52 seats deep, with a 1-2-1 all aisle access configuration.  The seats are truly lie-flat, and come with an adjustable large-ish screen TV, with a decent range of entertainment, and Bose headphones.  As a side-note, this summer I managed to get both myself and Mrs. CruisingAltitude seats on this plane from DFW-LHR on our way to Rome, and it got rave reviews from her as well. 

PLENTY of space to stretch out and sleep!

Good sized screen, but low resolution.

Bose, slippers & menu

My only complaints about the service is that the seats could use personal air vents, because I always end up way too hot since the air doesn't circulate well, and that they need to suck it up and put at least one more FA on these routes.  52 is way to many passengers to really give personal service to with their current staffing.  Soft product was fine.  After all my flights, I enjoyed my meal, but then really just wanted to sleep, which I did.  I think I passed out for a solid 7-8 hours, which was most of the flight time from LHR to DFW. 

Seat and entertainment controls.  That's a light, not an air vent.

1st course

Second course- fillet.

Pre-landing snack.  Okay, pizza on the 'Flagship' service....Really, AA??

Upon arrival in DFW, I had a bit of time, so I stopped in at the AmEx Centurion Lounge for a last meal before boarding the final flight back to LAX.  I'm sure I've said it before, but this lounge is definitely worth a visit if you get the chance.  It features a decent buffet, open bar with great options including designer craft cocktails, and a 10-deep complimentary wine list (not just free well drinks and 2 wine choices like the Admiral's Club), and free massages, facials, and manicures (if you can get a slot that works for your layover).  The only downside, and what keeps me retaining my AC membership, is that the agents there obviously don't work for the airline, so they're no help with seat issues, re-booking, or the like.

Lunch...dinner, maybe depending on what timezone you choose.  Way better than in-flight.

So.  That's really that, then.  The final flight was a quick & easy one back to LAX.  Having had a decent amount of sleep on the way back, I drove home thinking '22.6k miles done, and I feel like I could turn around and do it again!'  Which, though probably a delirious result of all that time in low-oxygen environments, was a good attitude as I had booked myself for a second run 3 weeks later that took me to Shanghai, Tokyo, and back in a weekend.  Oh, and it started in Chicago, so I had to get there first.

I suppose that normal people are right to consider 'extreme' mileage running like this to be insane.  But to that I say- Have you ever flown to Africa just to feed a giraffe, and pet a lion cub? 

Yeah, didn't think so.... :)

~CruisingAltitude

One more giraffe...for good luck.