rechoboam
Active Member
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2010
- Posts
- 920
Hi all,
I just thought I would share briefly some impressions of my recent trip MEL-LA-NY especially flights.
So the flight there was great, I love the A380 J cabin. CC were fine. As I have found before, formalities at LAX were absolutely fine. For some reason, this time I managed to get an express pass through immigration. Someone standing to the right after disembarking was handing out the passes. I think they had my name?? I wasn't on the QF flight to NY though, which was the reason I didn't get an express pass last time. It was funny as I had told the OH that the process of handing over bags at LAX for transfer to the domestic flight was chaotic. As usual they chucked the bags into some random corner of the crowded hall, and the OH was convinced they wouldn't arrive, but by now I'm used to it.
The connection was pretty tight this time and I spent enough time in the Admiral's lounge to have some water and check my email, and have some cranberry juice the taste of which reminds me of the USA every time.
Straight on to the flight to NY - no recollection sorry, I know the seats were really very good, not at all lie-flat but easy to sleep in J. I woke up over New Jersey in time to take great pics of Manhattan, we went in a massive circle around JFK before landing.
On the way to town the first thing we saw was a bunch of people playing cricket! I said to the driver, I assume this is a West Indian neighbourhood- it was.
We stayed in Midtown which has not much character but we walked to Broadway, shops, up to Central Park so we would do that again. I have to say though that a small hotel on the upper east side, or something down in SoHo might be more interesting as long as you find somewhere quiet.
On the flight back to LAX we had again 3 minutes in the Admiral's lounge in NY, which did look OK. AA staff were really friendly as I have always found to be the case. The lounge in LAX is pretty good, I think with reasonable food (at a cost) and four drink vouchers between two of us, coughtails etc included. We had the window seats on the way back from LAX which I haven't had before. They are fantastic. The storage locker is great for computers etc as long as you don't forget them. And you can easily step over the aisle person if you need to. I took temazepam - which I haven't done for years - and had the unusual experience of falling asleep during initial ascent, waking up when the seat belt light went off, flattening the seat and sleeping for the next eleven hours. I woke up in time to watch 4 episodes of a sitcom, eat breakfast and disembark. The only problem is that the seats are so narrow I have to wake up to turn over. It's ironic given that the seat pitch is unbelievably generous. I wonder what it would be like on Singapore etc. Anyway I bought these seats at the Valentine's day sale and was very happy indeed with the value. CC on the way back were very professional but pretty disengaged, which suited me fine especially as i was asleep the whole time. The in charge shook hands with all J passengers at the end which was a nice touch.
All in all the flying was fine except for one thing, the premium boarding line at LAX was a disaster. They called for priority passengers to board. Everyone queued up in the boarding line (previously at LAX I have had an empty lane and it wasn't a problem). People were continually being turned away at the head of the queue by the hapless crew. So we went up to where that was happening and flashed our passes. So this woman starts screeching at us that the line starts somewhere behind her. Whatever...we weren't in the mood to argue...too tired...so we join the queue which isn't moving at all and somehow drift to the front where the same woman is screeching at the ground crew that she "couldn't check in downstairs!!! she needs to be let on now!!! she couldn't check in!!". That was pretty weird. I've never seen another airline have these problems with setting up two queues.
And I reached SG after the first flight, although I have no hope of getting beyond that for many years!
I just thought I would share briefly some impressions of my recent trip MEL-LA-NY especially flights.
So the flight there was great, I love the A380 J cabin. CC were fine. As I have found before, formalities at LAX were absolutely fine. For some reason, this time I managed to get an express pass through immigration. Someone standing to the right after disembarking was handing out the passes. I think they had my name?? I wasn't on the QF flight to NY though, which was the reason I didn't get an express pass last time. It was funny as I had told the OH that the process of handing over bags at LAX for transfer to the domestic flight was chaotic. As usual they chucked the bags into some random corner of the crowded hall, and the OH was convinced they wouldn't arrive, but by now I'm used to it.
The connection was pretty tight this time and I spent enough time in the Admiral's lounge to have some water and check my email, and have some cranberry juice the taste of which reminds me of the USA every time.
Straight on to the flight to NY - no recollection sorry, I know the seats were really very good, not at all lie-flat but easy to sleep in J. I woke up over New Jersey in time to take great pics of Manhattan, we went in a massive circle around JFK before landing.
On the way to town the first thing we saw was a bunch of people playing cricket! I said to the driver, I assume this is a West Indian neighbourhood- it was.
We stayed in Midtown which has not much character but we walked to Broadway, shops, up to Central Park so we would do that again. I have to say though that a small hotel on the upper east side, or something down in SoHo might be more interesting as long as you find somewhere quiet.
On the flight back to LAX we had again 3 minutes in the Admiral's lounge in NY, which did look OK. AA staff were really friendly as I have always found to be the case. The lounge in LAX is pretty good, I think with reasonable food (at a cost) and four drink vouchers between two of us, coughtails etc included. We had the window seats on the way back from LAX which I haven't had before. They are fantastic. The storage locker is great for computers etc as long as you don't forget them. And you can easily step over the aisle person if you need to. I took temazepam - which I haven't done for years - and had the unusual experience of falling asleep during initial ascent, waking up when the seat belt light went off, flattening the seat and sleeping for the next eleven hours. I woke up in time to watch 4 episodes of a sitcom, eat breakfast and disembark. The only problem is that the seats are so narrow I have to wake up to turn over. It's ironic given that the seat pitch is unbelievably generous. I wonder what it would be like on Singapore etc. Anyway I bought these seats at the Valentine's day sale and was very happy indeed with the value. CC on the way back were very professional but pretty disengaged, which suited me fine especially as i was asleep the whole time. The in charge shook hands with all J passengers at the end which was a nice touch.
All in all the flying was fine except for one thing, the premium boarding line at LAX was a disaster. They called for priority passengers to board. Everyone queued up in the boarding line (previously at LAX I have had an empty lane and it wasn't a problem). People were continually being turned away at the head of the queue by the hapless crew. So we went up to where that was happening and flashed our passes. So this woman starts screeching at us that the line starts somewhere behind her. Whatever...we weren't in the mood to argue...too tired...so we join the queue which isn't moving at all and somehow drift to the front where the same woman is screeching at the ground crew that she "couldn't check in downstairs!!! she needs to be let on now!!! she couldn't check in!!". That was pretty weird. I've never seen another airline have these problems with setting up two queues.
And I reached SG after the first flight, although I have no hope of getting beyond that for many years!
