Beijing Olympics: What time is it in China; Olympics schedule; American Airlines upgrade changes

Good morning, travelers! All the best 8/8/08 luck today, whether you are getting married in Las Vegas, taking your best shot at a casino around the world or are traveling in Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. The 8/8/08 numerical configuration is not just the start of the Beijing Olympics but also represents the alignment of Chinese culture’s most celebrated number. Read: The number 8 is more than enough for the Olympics — and Chinese Americans.

Olympics in Beijing | Did you wake up this morning and want to know if you’d missed the opening ceremonies? To find out what time it is in Beijing, check out the World Clock. Beijing is  15 hours ahead of Los Angeles. The opening ceremonies began at 8 p.m in Beijing, but NBC-TV coverage is being delayed until 8 p.m. in your time zone. What sport are you most excited about and do you know which individual athletes you’re cheering for yet? Here is the schedule that shows which Games will be playing on which days. Get caught up on the Los Angeles Times Olympics: Ticket to Beijing.

Frequent Flier news | If you regularly use frequent flier miles with American Airlines, note that there is a charge to upgrade, effective Oct. 1, 2008. American Airlines has a web page explaining its AAdvantage Award changes. Most notably, if you are trying to upgrade on a flight between the continental U.S. / Canada / Mexico / the Caribbean or between North America and Central America, you will be charged 15,000 miles plus a $50 co-payment. The upgrade charge for travel between North America and Europe, Japan, China, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile or Uruguay will be 25,000 miles plus a $350 co-payment.

Travel Website | If watching the 2008 Summer Olympic Games has your inner athlete itching to get out, check out Travel + Leisure’s “Do-It-Yourself Olympics” article. There is a slide show of past Olympic venues that are open to the public.

–Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times blogger

[Photo: Lars Baron Bongarts/Getty Images]

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 8, 2008 at 7:36 am by Jen Leo and is filed under Good Morning, News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.