There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!

Three words for you (and for hermorrine): Frequent. Flyer. Miles.

Now I do know you have no loyalty to any particular airline, and I don't want to put pressure on you or make assumptions about your future plans (either way), but you only need to make four transatlantic return trips with the same airline to get to 25,000 miles with most airlines, which is the level at which you can get free flights, bling-tastic upgrades and so forth. You certainly have been a fairly frequent flyer recently, so it's something to think about, at least. If you like, I'll give you more bumph and tips about this at your convenience.

I've never yet actually seen Takeshi's Castle - no Challenge ? here - though I have heard a fair amount about it and I do have a tape of Storm The Castle, the single episode that was produced of an American version. It's a lot of fun. Did I ever show you the wonderfully named Bang! Bang! Bang! when I was at Keble? The first third of the show is about intuition and contains some very strange but entertaining guessing games, the second third of the show is about inference (that'd be Mastermind, then) and the final third turns into Gladiators. It's very strange but rather cool. I also have Tokyo Friend Park II, which is large physical indoor games from a theme park, but it isn't as good. I'll bring the tape to Oxford if you like, though I dare say we'll all have far better things to do than to watch it. Certainly would cheer up a random breakfast, though.

Have fun in Chicago. I will be mentally cross-referencing your post with hermorrine's most recent one.

Frequent. Flyer. Miles.

*pats* Already done. He has an account with AA, I will sign up for one (again, unless I can get my old one reactivated), and I also signed up with Virgin on the off chance that will ever work. I know he also has some other thing that has to do with making purchases at stores that earns miles. The biggest problem is neither one of us is flying the same airline all the time - his first trip was on United, this one is American, next is American, and the one he just booked for Nimbus is US Airways. When you're looking for the cheapest price, you don't get to choose so much.

Have fun in Chicago. I will be mentally cross-referencing your post with hermorrine's most recent one.

I realize I left myself wide open for this, but did you HAVE to say it? :P!

Ahh, bollocks, too late. If I had realised this earlier then I could have told you how to get AA Gold status from these two return transatlantic flights with American alone (you could probably have got Platinum status from it if they're full fare coach, which presumably they aren't). Go to this rather fab unofficial AAdvantage site, click through, then open the "undocumented" tab and pick the "challenge" feature. Do look into this - it may well not be too late for you still to benefit from it.

I have happy memories of helping to earn seven thousand Sainsbury's Reward Points in my year next to Mark. These are normally earned by spending £7,000 at the aforementioned grocery, but - mostly by eating certain own-brand chocolate and yoghurt - we must have got what might reasonably be referred to as "truckloads" of points for a few hundred quid. It was fun.

I realize I left myself wide open for this, but did you HAVE to say it? :P!

Given that you didn't make your last comment friends only... erm, evidently yes, I did!

I look forward to imaginitive revenge on your part at some unspecified point in the future. :-D

Okay, we will both be sure to check that site out soon.

Why would I make a PSA friends only? :P Hmm, revenge... I must think on this. *rubs hands together*

Something to think about for the future, at least. For reference, how was your flight with American? I flew with them in '96 and wasn't impressed, not least because they charged money for hire of headphones to listen to the in-flight movie (at least, they did on the domestic JFK-LAX segment). However, I know they've recently started advertising that they've taken some of the rows of seats out to offer "more room without coach", and I'd be curious to know if tall Mr. R-J could tell the difference in practice.

Three cheap-economy returns within 90 days to Chicago would be enough to succeed on the Platinum challenge, I think. Preferred status does give you a few more options, especially when it comes to thinks like upgrades and free flights...

I saw the redoubtable Mr. Saeed al-Sahhaf’s fansite featured in the newspapers last week and made a mental note to LJ it. Thankfully someone out there’s on the ball and actually gets things done!

Have a great time in Chicago.