San Francisco to San Juan in 25 hours

[dfcatch]

Alrighty then - in AFF spirit - thought I would post a few running notes about my run to San Juan.

Also in keeping with a certain level of discretion - I won't post the exact run, plus I have positioned - so it's an experience TR - not a run-builder (there's enough clues on other threads).

Needless to say I'm today flying SFO to SJU in 25 hours and 40 minutes.

Currently in the LAX FL after flying down from SFO.

Few AFF related observations:

1/ Priority Boarding was perfect.
I was in whY for this flight so needed to be on first.

They started with the announcement for F, EXP and OW equivalent - so I went through the PB lane behind the F pax. (the general lane was empty as most pax remained seated).
There were two middle aged ladies in front of me, followed by a younger lady, followed by me.
As soon as the ladies got to the scanner the AAgent politely informed them that general boarding had not yet commenced, they left the lane, the other girl got the hint and left too, and I got welcomed on board

Why is it so so eAAsy for some AAirlines and their pAAsengers to do, and so diffiQult for others?

2/ Only 1 pax tried the "dump carry on in J overhead before walking back to row 852".

I was in first row of whY so got to observe it all.

Only one muppet - the rest were great.

I'm gonna leave out all the boring details and probably the food pics too (and some of the routing ).

I'm giving GoGo a miss too - as I'm running on the iPhone which doesn't have as good battery capacity as my soon to be purchased iPad. (thanks Bugayev for putting me on to the Mophie Powerstation though ).

 

[dfcatch]

I will just add that the Strip looks amazing from the air at night

 

[turtlemichael]

I'm doing the run in reverse in December. Probably not as free ranging as yours and only worth 270 SCs ! I read in another thread, I think on FT, you were asking about SJU hotels. Can you give a report on that, particularly if it is a HH or PC hotel, as I am in the process of making up my mind for a 5 night stay? Many thanks and enjoy the outing.

 

[dfcatch]

Shall do


So I'm now 4/6 flights down for this direction.

I must be getting old because I don't remember being this wrecked from a redeye before.

The AA BSI 738 is very nice but makes their older (not that old) 738s look dated.

Absolutely loving the Bose QC15s though

Had a snorer next to me and as soon as I switched them on - bliss

I'm not going to harp on - I'll simply state that Priority BoAArding has been perfect - first time, every time

 

[dfcatch]

I have to say that boarding early and people watching......

Is WAY more interesting on the US East Coast than it is on the west coast or Aus. (especially on Florida bound flights)

 

[dfcatch]

Have been meaning to update - but have been busy

I was about to post that every single flight has been on time and even to the gate early in some cases.

Whilst all my connections are legal - quite a few are quite "tight" in the event of any delay.

Murphy naturally struck....

I'm in ORD about to board to LAS then connect to LAX and SFO tonight.

35 mins delay now means my next flight will be boarding when I land in LAS (assuming we remain on time)....

Will be a true test of the PB lane

And my alternates out of LAS-SFO are zilch for tonight - I'm already on the last connection. I could reroute from here - but I won't as I don't want to risk ORC. I'll take my chances and make sure it's AA who reroute me, not me voluntarily

 

[Simo]

Sounds like ur having some fun,

Will keep following the thread.

 

[dfcatch]

Boom - landed in LAS, next flight boarding in 2 mins

 

[ReLoad]

Boom - landed in LAS, next flight boarding in 2 mins

Phew!
Always good to have a slice of luck

 

[serfty]

... prob. from an adjacent gate to boot

 

[dfcatch]

... prob. from an adjacent gate to boot

Indeed it was.... D10 - D8

Cpl of Q-Tags on board this flight too

No doubt connecting to QF 12/108/94/16/26

 

[ReLoad]

Did you have 5 seconds to put a quarter in a slot machine? You can't go to Vegas without at least having a tiny gamble?

 

[dfcatch]

No - but i thought about it when I had a midnight connection through there the other day

And besides - I gave all my quarters away

 

[serfty]

Did you have 5 seconds to put a quarter in a slot machine? You can't go to Vegas without at least having a tiny gamble?

Hmm, in the ½ dozen times I have been through there recently, I have avoided any urge.

The free airport WiFi is good though.

 

[dfcatch]

OK - so I'm slack and only just getting around to completing this TR.

Some basics first....

As I think it was Kempvet who mentioned - these are full-on type runs and I was significantly more exhausted than my previous runs.
Previously I had done the SFO-LAX-SEA which I guess is the Sesame Street run, easy, pleasurable and doable in a day (subject to schedules).

I had also done LAX-DFW-TPA after arriving on QF11 which was tiring at the time as I had arrived in whY on a 744.

But this is another beast - even though I was starting in the afternoon from SFO, a 25-hour run in one direction with the red-eye ex-LAS is hard. It's quite tough to get sleep on a flight that is only around 3 hours long. A LAX/SFO - JFK redeye is much more practicable in terms of sleep.

It was around 26 hours from take off to hotel room in the end.

Interestingly it was the first time my aircraft has ever required de-icing out of LAX . That was a first for me.

The return was a lot easier to handle - 18 hours from SJU-SFO, I was "standard" tired at the end of the day (which was around 1am SJU time).

Funnily enough - the only comments I got were at checkin. Firstly at the LAX A/C when I requested my onward BPs - "oh my you're flying to x and x and x and x... Oh hang on... There's a 5th BP!!

And checking in in SJU:

AAgent: Where are you flying to sir?

Me: MIA and then onto LAX.

AAgent: Oh my! You're flying around the world today!

Me: Something like that

 

[dfcatch]

Cont....

As noted further up.... A lot of the connections were tight. I got lucky with no significant weather. And my only real delays were on the west coast with some weather around SFO and LAX.

My contingency was pretty straightforward - I had no significant plans for the day or two after my flights (no planned return to Aus for example). In the event of a major disruption/misconnect, the only issues were pre booked hotel/car hire. Had I have lost on those bookings, I would have tried to claim the loss on TI. Otherwise - minimal risk in the event of a problem.

I won't comment too much on lounges (unless someone has particular questions) as lounges are covered extensively in other threads.

The A/C at ORD tried very hard to offer me the 3 minute walk to the F/L, but as my connections were on the H pier I was happy to stay at the main A/C. Personally - with the exception of food if you want it, I have always preferred the H concourse A/C as I like the view of the apron.

It was my first time using the Premium Lounge in the E concourse at MIA as my departure was E5. I quite liked the lounge, plenty of space, food, booze and showers when I was there.

That said I've never had a problem at either the D15 or D30 lounges at MIA, but YMMV.

And the nice thing was never having to explain myself to someone named Martinez, Marquis Jr or Diego.

 

[dfcatch]

SJU Hotels

Ok - so getting a taxi in SJU is easy, they operate on a set fare depending on zone that hotel is in, around $12-15 plus $1 per bag.

I stayed at the Doubletree which is pretty centrally located in the Condado area (but not near the beach). Staff were excellent, value good, breakfast included, room was clean and nice. I was upgraded to a poolside balcony room, best rooms in the complex, there's 10 of them.

The pool and jacuzzi area was nice to hang out in, although the jacuzzi was a bit too hot for my liking for the tropics (1st world problem).

Was quite convenient to get into Old San Juan and spend the day walking around the forts and the old city. I can recommend El Jibarito (the hillbilly) on Calle Sol for lunch. Great Puerto Rican food and not too touristy considering it's in a tourist area.

If the Old City is your goal - the Sheraton Old San Juan is very conveniently located.

If doing a straight turnaround I would go with the Hampton Inn which is right next to the airport in Isla Verde.

Personally, next time I'm in SJU I would probably stay at the Hampton Inn and check out the Isla Verde area. I would be tempted with the El San Juan at the right price, but the reviews on FT are pretty off-putting, so I would hesitate.

I did however notice that there was a Best Western at the actual airport itself..... So - interested if there are reviews out there (could be useful for those literally just doing a turnaround).

 

[ReLoad]

Nice work dfcatch good intel

 

[Princess Fiona]

Sounds good
Fingers crossed everything runs according to plan for me when I attempt to replicate that run from LAX in June

 

[turtlemichael]

Nice work dfcatch good intel

Yes, thanks dfcatch, particularly for the hotel information.