Day 281: Los Angeles – San Francisco
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Monday May 16th
It was an early start this morning, trying to get ready without disturbing my dorm-mates at 6:30am. I’d packed the night before though, so by 7am I had checked out and was waiting for the SuperShuttle to take me to the airport.
Surprisingly, the van was on time (full of movie people, on their way to shoot in Chicago), and as I was the last pick-up we arrived at the airport in half an hour. The traffic on the freeway was horrendous, as were the queues at the airport. Los Angeles – well, America in general – operates their airports and airlines so differently to those in the rest of the world. To begin with, there is curb-side check-in. All this does is clutters the footpath outside the terminals, adding to the congestion. There is no personal greeting or even personal service – everything needs to be done through a kiosk or online (i.e. check-in). Unlike Australia and Asia, the flight attendants and other airline personnel aren’t sexy, skinny, young women or hot gay males (sorry to stereotype, but you know what I mean!) – rather, they’re middle-age, overweight women with large bouffants who chew gum whilst ignoring you on the flight.
Another interesting concept is volunteering to give up your seat. Here, every flight is over-sold, so when you check-in to your flight you are asked if you’d be willing to give up your seat on the flight. If so, you nominate an amount that you’d be willing to accept (re-imbursed in travel vouchers) to be bumped to the next flight. I wasn’t in a hurry – I only had to be in San Francisco by 6pm for my Alcatraz tour – so I volunteered to be bumped if required, for a fee of $85. (I don’t t know if this is too little or too much – but this would pay for a flight between Buffalo and Boston, and so was an amount I was happy to accept).
Security at US airports is the strictest in the world. Everything needs to come out of your bag and off your person , including shoes and jumpers. They also have the much-debated x-ray scanners that can see right through to your body, for which you need to position your body like a criminal (legs spread, hands above your head) in order to be screened. Not fun at all!
Once I’d actually made it into the terminal, my first port of call was McDonalds for breakfast, as I’d left the hostel before the free breakfast had started, and an ATM to withdraw cash for the tour, which started Wednesday. When I made my way to the gate, the TV screen showed that the flight had moved gates, and had also been delayed an hour. The earlier flight to San Francisco had also been cancelled, so they now had to condense two flights into one. An announcement was made asking if anyone would give up their seat on this flight for a first class seat on the 4:30pm flight and $400 in travel vouchers – I was considering doing it, but someone snapped it up before the announcement was even finished. Imagine that, a first class seat and a $400 voucher – that would pay for all of my remaining flights on this trip!
Ten minutes later, they repeated the call, and no one else jumped up - so I did! Five minutes later, I'd been re-booked onto a flight at 4:30pm in a first class seat, and had a $400 voucher for Delta. This meant I would miss the Alcatraz tour that night, but I didn't care - I had $400, which would pay for all of my remaining flights in the US!!
That also meant that I now had about 6 hours to kill. I considered hopping on a bus and going into LA city, but instead headed to the international terminal, which is always good for some shopping and eating. There, I found a lounge which cost $15 an hour, so I paid the fee, pulled out my laptop and headed to the Delta website, to use my voucher.
Within the hour, all $400 was gone and I had three new flights booked - Buffalo - Boston, Boston - Washington, and New York - Sacramento. Not a bad deal for a few hours of my time! I still had quite a few hours to kill though, so I shopped, ate, read, and people watched ... for another five hours ... until the flight was called. As I was a 'Priority' member (meaning, I had a first-class seat), I got to skip the queues at security, and board at my leisure onto the flight.
'First-class' seats on a domestic flight are a bit of a waste. Yes, I got extra leg room, a dedicated flight attendant, and extra snacks - even before we departed - but on an hour long flight, it's not worth paying for out of your own pocket. (Of course, if someone else is paying, I'll always say yes!). We actually sat at the gate for another, and by the time we started taxiing it was 5:45pm.
The flight was smooth and my bag was already waiting for me at the carousel, as it had flown on my original flight to San Francisco. The weather was terrible, but I persevered with my option of taking public transport to the hostel, which worked out smoothly. After a half hour train ride, a quick walk, and a half hour queue to check-in at the hostel, I was finally in the room - 13.5 hours after I'd left my LA hostel!
The hostel is really cool, and there's only 4 of us in the dorm - we even have our own bathroom. The beds don't creak either, and the doonas are so comfy. There are actually two older ladies on one bunk, and I'm sharing the other with a girl from Korea - everyone is very friendly, so I'm happy with my choice!
It was an early start this morning, trying to get ready without disturbing my dorm-mates at 6:30am. I’d packed the night before though, so by 7am I had checked out and was waiting for the SuperShuttle to take me to the airport.
Surprisingly, the van was on time (full of movie people, on their way to shoot in Chicago), and as I was the last pick-up we arrived at the airport in half an hour. The traffic on the freeway was horrendous, as were the queues at the airport. Los Angeles – well, America in general – operates their airports and airlines so differently to those in the rest of the world. To begin with, there is curb-side check-in. All this does is clutters the footpath outside the terminals, adding to the congestion. There is no personal greeting or even personal service – everything needs to be done through a kiosk or online (i.e. check-in). Unlike Australia and Asia, the flight attendants and other airline personnel aren’t sexy, skinny, young women or hot gay males (sorry to stereotype, but you know what I mean!) – rather, they’re middle-age, overweight women with large bouffants who chew gum whilst ignoring you on the flight.
Another interesting concept is volunteering to give up your seat. Here, every flight is over-sold, so when you check-in to your flight you are asked if you’d be willing to give up your seat on the flight. If so, you nominate an amount that you’d be willing to accept (re-imbursed in travel vouchers) to be bumped to the next flight. I wasn’t in a hurry – I only had to be in San Francisco by 6pm for my Alcatraz tour – so I volunteered to be bumped if required, for a fee of $85. (I don’t t know if this is too little or too much – but this would pay for a flight between Buffalo and Boston, and so was an amount I was happy to accept).
Security at US airports is the strictest in the world. Everything needs to come out of your bag and off your person , including shoes and jumpers. They also have the much-debated x-ray scanners that can see right through to your body, for which you need to position your body like a criminal (legs spread, hands above your head) in order to be screened. Not fun at all!
Once I’d actually made it into the terminal, my first port of call was McDonalds for breakfast, as I’d left the hostel before the free breakfast had started, and an ATM to withdraw cash for the tour, which started Wednesday. When I made my way to the gate, the TV screen showed that the flight had moved gates, and had also been delayed an hour. The earlier flight to San Francisco had also been cancelled, so they now had to condense two flights into one. An announcement was made asking if anyone would give up their seat on this flight for a first class seat on the 4:30pm flight and $400 in travel vouchers – I was considering doing it, but someone snapped it up before the announcement was even finished. Imagine that, a first class seat and a $400 voucher – that would pay for all of my remaining flights on this trip!
Ten minutes later, they repeated the call, and no one else jumped up - so I did! Five minutes later, I'd been re-booked onto a flight at 4:30pm in a first class seat, and had a $400 voucher for Delta. This meant I would miss the Alcatraz tour that night, but I didn't care - I had $400, which would pay for all of my remaining flights in the US!!
That also meant that I now had about 6 hours to kill. I considered hopping on a bus and going into LA city, but instead headed to the international terminal, which is always good for some shopping and eating. There, I found a lounge which cost $15 an hour, so I paid the fee, pulled out my laptop and headed to the Delta website, to use my voucher.
Within the hour, all $400 was gone and I had three new flights booked - Buffalo - Boston, Boston - Washington, and New York - Sacramento. Not a bad deal for a few hours of my time! I still had quite a few hours to kill though, so I shopped, ate, read, and people watched ... for another five hours ... until the flight was called. As I was a 'Priority' member (meaning, I had a first-class seat), I got to skip the queues at security, and board at my leisure onto the flight.
'First-class' seats on a domestic flight are a bit of a waste. Yes, I got extra leg room, a dedicated flight attendant, and extra snacks - even before we departed - but on an hour long flight, it's not worth paying for out of your own pocket. (Of course, if someone else is paying, I'll always say yes!). We actually sat at the gate for another, and by the time we started taxiing it was 5:45pm.
The flight was smooth and my bag was already waiting for me at the carousel, as it had flown on my original flight to San Francisco. The weather was terrible, but I persevered with my option of taking public transport to the hostel, which worked out smoothly. After a half hour train ride, a quick walk, and a half hour queue to check-in at the hostel, I was finally in the room - 13.5 hours after I'd left my LA hostel!
The hostel is really cool, and there's only 4 of us in the dorm - we even have our own bathroom. The beds don't creak either, and the doonas are so comfy. There are actually two older ladies on one bunk, and I'm sharing the other with a girl from Korea - everyone is very friendly, so I'm happy with my choice!
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