Mel-lax-ord

[rechoboam]

Got to the airport about 4 hours early after hearing about various industrial problems at the airport. Was through in 20 minutes...
Took a look at the plane:


Headed to the J lounge. Breakfast OK, coffee terrible but after that they announced the barista had arrived. Well it sounded like the "breaster" had arrived but I worked it out. Coffee was good.
Boarding I noted that there was priority J boarding but we all then ended up together in the waiting area anyway.
Was blown away by the amount of space in J:


It was like a big living room. Seat next to me empty too. Take off was remarkable, upstairs you could barely tell we had left the ground.

Meal and wine were good, I liked the entree a lot:



But I do like mushrooms.
I found the bed comfortable (have never had the new Skybed before). But I barely slept, probably because i normally go to bed at midnight and this flight basically gets into LAX midnight Melbourne time. Which made me wonder whether I absolutely needed to go J.

Spectacular early morning arrival into LAX with the sun shining over Catalina and the hills around LA.
I saw people waving priority cards for the QF flight to NYC, and for some other flight leaving in 1.5 hours (we had arrived 30 minutes late after a delay due to strike action). I asked for one - I had a 2 hour connection, but couldn't get one.

Queued for half an hour at immigration, then my bag was coming right through, queued 15 minutes for customs and went straight through. Bag checked back through to ORD, I ran up the stairs outside to the right for my AA connection. Security was very straightforward, by now I was dehydrated from all the running around, ducked into Admiral's Loungein T4 for about 4 glasses of some red cordial in the funny low wide plastic cups they have in the USA.

Row 2 on the 767 was fine, in fact I slept 2-3 hours, the seat almost goes flat (but it's a shocking old rattly plane). Weird cheesy food - I ate a chocolate biscuit.

Chicago has been great, mostly work, but the food is delicious, on Saturday night the scents coming from the restaurants are amazing (Cuban meat, Indian food).

Went to the Bears game, "we" won handsomely:

Don't know why the photo is sideways.

Will update with the next flights.
At this point I think I'll save my money and go Y+ MEL-LAX and maybe stay the night in LA next time. Would be interested to hear your comments.

 

[rechoboam]

Stayed in the Dana hotel near the shopping area, State St Nth. Much better option than a huge anonymous chain. Interestingly due to the wonders of modern technology SWMBO had done all the shopping online in advance and it was all in my room on arrival. Something I would heavily recommend to any male. EDIT: they credit 500 QFF points (or any airline I think) per stay as do many US hotels.

$60 for Nikes for kids, I don't blame her.

So jetlagged I couldn't get out of the hotel for lunch or dinner on day 1, the food was incredible, with far-out unfiltered vodkas (think colour and consistency of coconut cream) which I didn't even get to try in Japan.
Have been very busy with business meetings but managed to get to a Mexican and Indian (as in Asia) restaurant and went back to Aja at the Dana again, this was seriously good for a hotel restaurant.
Flying back tomorrow. Absolutely hooked on the US, it was great. The people have been so friendly and helpful...thinking back to my last holiday in Queensland the contrast is pretty sad.
I don't envisage too much drama on the way back but will report on my A380 adventure in due course. The only problem is that I watched all ten episodes of 'the (US) Office' on the way over and finished them off...

 

[rechoboam]

Got to ORD really early because of rain, we were trying to beat the traffic. At check-in they told me that there were 70mph winds headed in, and me plane (the 767) hadn't yet arrived from Heathrow so I gladly accepted their offer of an earlier flight. Lost my F seat but ended up in the economy bulkhead. Next to a lady who was arguing with her husband for the first fifteen minutes about whether turning your phone off meant putting it in airline mode or really, umm, turning it off. They called CC over to arbitrate. I loved the views over Nevada, was on the wrong side for seeing LAS but we flew right over the Grand Canyon viewing area.

I was reading about the AA fleet enhancements. Not sure when all that will happen but the brand new 738s with wi-fi sound like a real improvement for QF trips connecting through the US.

I arrived at T4 at LAX clutching various boarding passes, FF cards and realised that I don't actually have my QC card which must be safely at home in Australia. My J ticket seems to have let me in to Admiral's Club and they are telling me I can get in to the Oneworld lounge with my J ticket to Australia...?

 

[serfty]

...
I arrived at T4 at LAX clutching various boarding passes, FF cards and realised that I don't actually have my QC card which must be safely at home in Australia. My J ticket seems to have let me in to Admiral's Club and they are telling me I can get in to the Oneworld lounge with my J ticket to Australia...?

Absolutely ... entry to business lounge in this case is via "Class of Service".

 

[nonpop]

Dana Hotel is great, especially for the money. Stayed there several times of the last few weeks as I passed in and out of ORD. I always use the Dana. I hope you went up top to the bar. And location is perfect to everything. You picked a great spot.

And BTW ... don't ever question if you need to fly J class ... the answer is always YES especially when you find yourself at the back of the bus on a long haul and it is a late departing bird e.g LAX > SYD.

 

[rechoboam]

Nonpop, as I left the hotel I realised I hadn't remembered to get to the bar. The bar was one reason I wanted to try the hotel but back-to-back meetings and jetlag left me reeling. Loved the downstairs bar and restaurant though. My only criticism was that the room was loud on the weekend at night, I'm sure many hotels have the same issue but Dana would benefit from some more soundproofing at least in these rooms...I knew I wouldn't be there much so it was a very modest room.

Anyway as the AFFers indicated I could get into the Oneworld lounge but I couldn't find a comfortable seat. Luckily I had anticipated that and had spent a reasonable amount of time in the Admiral's club, had a shower, caught up with emails etc.
Interminable bus to the terminal - felt so much longer than the walk through on arrival - and then a huge walk through TBIT livened up only by all the posters promising a better experience in the future.
Pretty full J cabin. Late to depart as they had to offload someone's baggage, not sure why, perhaps a little worse for wear.... Apart from the welcome glass of French champagne, no alcohol, which worked out well for sleep. I might cut down the in-flight drinking in the future. I was exhausted and fell asleep before desert, slept for eight hours, the only problem being that I woke up hourly to turn from left to right and vice versa.
Everything pretty straightforward all the way to Australian airspace at which point we were told we were commencing our descent - to Sydney!
Low cloud at Melbourne meant we needed more fuel so we sat at Sydney for a while waiting for that, then for something else...eventually got up in the air, circled just before LIZZI I think as the fog had caused bad congestion, and then a descent towards runway 16. I have to say I was pretty taken aback to see how low the cloud was, and a little surprised to see the little Saab turboprop that had landed shortly before...
Thanks for everyones' advice, it made the trip a lot easier.
My impressions: the US was great, the people friendly and helpful, and (most surprisingly of all) the food was absolutely fantastic. The scenery I saw out the window of the 767 was breathtaking and I can't wait to go back for a holiday and see it close up.

 

[nonpop]

And forgot to mention ... the Dana Hotel is a QFF partner. 1,000 points per stay posted without issue.