jb747
Enthusiast
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2010
- Posts
- 12,493
Well, six months down the road from retiring, and I ventured back on to a QF A380, for a 'boys trip' to Las Vegas with my son. The impulse to just wander around as if I owned the aircraft is still pretty strong.
We booked in PE. Commercial tickets, just like everyone else. Contrary to the opinion of some on here, staff travel is a really good way to ruin a holiday. I chose seats 28A/B, after looking through one of the aircraft before I retired. My logic was mainly that there was nobody behind us, so we wouldn't have people grabbing the seat backs any time they wanted to move. They proved to be perfectly reasonable seats.
Our connection to Las Vegas was with American Airlines, and the timing was as offered by the QF booking engine. Tighter than I really wanted, but it was within their booking rules, and on the same PNR, so any issues would really be QFs. I did wonder how that might go though.
The aircraft (QF93) pushed back in Melbourne a few minutes late, but nothing of note. Taxi was very slow, as it the airport seemed pretty busy. By the time we took off, we'd probably lost about 25 minutes. Bring on another north south runway.
The flight itself was smooth and PE was quite comfortable. It was worth the extra money from economy, and you would have to think twice about paying more to move further forward. I'd certainly use it again, especially for any flights that are mostly daytime (body clock). The one negative to the seat position was that it was last in the meal service, which meant that the choices had disappeared. The young FA solved that by getting a couple of meals from J.
Taxiway works in LA slowed things further, and by the time we arrived at the gate we were about 50 minutes late. As we exited the local staff had boarding passes and priority paperwork for us. With US immigration and customs yet to come, I figured our chances of getting to the AA flight were slim. The automated kiosks rejected us both (expected as we were on the same ESTA, and my son has not been to the US in over 20 years). The express queue to be done manually was amazingly short, and the officer had us both done in just a few minutes. My hopes of making the AA flight started to rise. Off to get our luggage....which just didn't appear until almost the end. Hopes diminishing again.
For years I'd seen, and walked past, the access-way for people with connections to make. So, I had no idea what was at the top of the corridor. There were agents for Delta, United, etc, but as AA passengers we were told to just drop our luggage on the conveyor and go to security. I left the luggage, wondering if we'd ever see it again. Security took about 10 minutes, and we were into the AA terminal. We got to the gate as just about the last passengers, and the aircraft pushed back a couple of minutes early.
On board the AA 321, things were a bit basic. In fact it was all a bit different. The flight to Vegas was thankfully short, at about 50 minutes, and we landed ahead of schedule. Our luggage was again just about last off, so I did have time to wonder where it was.
Vegas itself I enjoyed. Six shows, some machine gun shooting, various exhibitions, and a trip to the Grand Canyon (Maverick Helicopters) filled our time.
For the return journey, our connections were not as tight, but I made an attempt to move forward one flight. Apparently that was not part of the code sharing, so it didn't happen. The AA staff in Vegas were very helpful, and pleasant to deal with. We had a number of hours to fill in the terminal before our flight, and as airports go it was quite a decent place.
The collection of passengers on the return flight were, well, interesting. One group in particular were particularly patience testing for the cabin crew. But again the flight was short, and on time.
It was nice in LA to be able to totally avoid their security lines. Via tunnel and various corridors, we went straight from airside at AA to airside in Tom Bradley.
Our flight home was chockers. For whatever reason, QF12 had been cancelled, and all of the other flights were now carrying as many of the 12's passengers as possible. Yet another reason to avoid staff travel. Back into the same seats, at 28A/B. The flight pushed back a couple of minutes early, and was nicely ahead of schedule in Melbourne. The flight was again smooth, but I'm totally convinced that the Pacific has become appreciably wider since I retired. This time I'd thought ahead, and pre-ordered our meal choices.
Continuing a theme...our luggage was just about last off....but it made it.
We booked in PE. Commercial tickets, just like everyone else. Contrary to the opinion of some on here, staff travel is a really good way to ruin a holiday. I chose seats 28A/B, after looking through one of the aircraft before I retired. My logic was mainly that there was nobody behind us, so we wouldn't have people grabbing the seat backs any time they wanted to move. They proved to be perfectly reasonable seats.
Our connection to Las Vegas was with American Airlines, and the timing was as offered by the QF booking engine. Tighter than I really wanted, but it was within their booking rules, and on the same PNR, so any issues would really be QFs. I did wonder how that might go though.
The aircraft (QF93) pushed back in Melbourne a few minutes late, but nothing of note. Taxi was very slow, as it the airport seemed pretty busy. By the time we took off, we'd probably lost about 25 minutes. Bring on another north south runway.
The flight itself was smooth and PE was quite comfortable. It was worth the extra money from economy, and you would have to think twice about paying more to move further forward. I'd certainly use it again, especially for any flights that are mostly daytime (body clock). The one negative to the seat position was that it was last in the meal service, which meant that the choices had disappeared. The young FA solved that by getting a couple of meals from J.
Taxiway works in LA slowed things further, and by the time we arrived at the gate we were about 50 minutes late. As we exited the local staff had boarding passes and priority paperwork for us. With US immigration and customs yet to come, I figured our chances of getting to the AA flight were slim. The automated kiosks rejected us both (expected as we were on the same ESTA, and my son has not been to the US in over 20 years). The express queue to be done manually was amazingly short, and the officer had us both done in just a few minutes. My hopes of making the AA flight started to rise. Off to get our luggage....which just didn't appear until almost the end. Hopes diminishing again.
For years I'd seen, and walked past, the access-way for people with connections to make. So, I had no idea what was at the top of the corridor. There were agents for Delta, United, etc, but as AA passengers we were told to just drop our luggage on the conveyor and go to security. I left the luggage, wondering if we'd ever see it again. Security took about 10 minutes, and we were into the AA terminal. We got to the gate as just about the last passengers, and the aircraft pushed back a couple of minutes early.
On board the AA 321, things were a bit basic. In fact it was all a bit different. The flight to Vegas was thankfully short, at about 50 minutes, and we landed ahead of schedule. Our luggage was again just about last off, so I did have time to wonder where it was.
Vegas itself I enjoyed. Six shows, some machine gun shooting, various exhibitions, and a trip to the Grand Canyon (Maverick Helicopters) filled our time.
For the return journey, our connections were not as tight, but I made an attempt to move forward one flight. Apparently that was not part of the code sharing, so it didn't happen. The AA staff in Vegas were very helpful, and pleasant to deal with. We had a number of hours to fill in the terminal before our flight, and as airports go it was quite a decent place.
The collection of passengers on the return flight were, well, interesting. One group in particular were particularly patience testing for the cabin crew. But again the flight was short, and on time.
It was nice in LA to be able to totally avoid their security lines. Via tunnel and various corridors, we went straight from airside at AA to airside in Tom Bradley.
Our flight home was chockers. For whatever reason, QF12 had been cancelled, and all of the other flights were now carrying as many of the 12's passengers as possible. Yet another reason to avoid staff travel. Back into the same seats, at 28A/B. The flight pushed back a couple of minutes early, and was nicely ahead of schedule in Melbourne. The flight was again smooth, but I'm totally convinced that the Pacific has become appreciably wider since I retired. This time I'd thought ahead, and pre-ordered our meal choices.
Continuing a theme...our luggage was just about last off....but it made it.
