Upgrade to First came through - I'm so excited!

[opusman]

Good luck....hope it comes through for you

Me too So much for T-48 for WPs!

 

[MH_fan]

I wish my upgrade would come through for QF9 tomorrow :evil: T-28 and 3 empty seats in F still showing on EF, but no text, no love

I hope it does! It is so worth it.

 

[chrisb]

Me too So much for T-48 for WPs!

It does say they'll start processing from 48 hours out. Keeping 3 seats free in F until the hours before the flight seems reasonable - if I regularly paid for F then last minute availability would be one of the expectations and probably used quite regularly for business execs on emergency travel.

 

[RooFlyer]

It does say they'll start processing from 48 hours out. Keeping 3 seats free in F until the hours before the flight seems reasonable - if I regularly paid for F then last minute availability would be one of the expectations and probably used quite regularly for business execs on emergency travel.

Interestingly, my recent text came through at almost exactly T-60 :shock:

 

[markis10]

It does say they'll start processing from 48 hours out. Keeping 3 seats free in F until the hours before the flight seems reasonable - if I regularly paid for F then last minute availability would be one of the expectations and probably used quite regularly for business execs on emergency travel.

Also means they can advertise F, J, W and Y having at least three seats on offer for sale.

 

[Berlin]

Yep no food in under 2 hours I think it is.

Nope- it is no food for flights up to 3 hours unfortunately. I know this as I fly Dallas-Indianapolis quite frequently and that is 3 hours on the dot one way (no food) and 3:10 the other way (lovely hot dinner).

 

[chrisb]

Also means they can advertise F, J, W and Y having at least three seats on offer for sale.

And fill the platinum Y seat guarantee without having to bump people.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Nope- it is no food for flights up to 3 hours unfortunately. I know this as I fly Dallas-Indianapolis quite frequently and that is 3 hours on the dot one way (no food) and 3:10 the other way (lovely hot dinner).

That is a long time - particularly when the only food in the lounges is paid. I've had food on a couple of flights - chose the salad option both times and it was very nice. As I said - we are really spoilt by Qantas

 

[serfty]

Nope- it is no food for flights up to 3 hours unfortunately. I know this as I fly Dallas-Indianapolis quite frequently and that is 3 hours on the dot one way (no food) and 3:10 the other way (lovely hot dinner).

With AA, the rule is actually two hours, but can vary with "markets".

More here: North American / Caribbean Meal Service and Food For Sale Program (See the section on "Complimentary First Class Food Service")

 

[RooFlyer]

With AA, the rule is actually two hours, but can vary with "markets".

More here: North American / Caribbean Meal Service and Food For Sale Program (See the section on "Complimentary First Class Food Service")

Whoa! Thanks for that serfty! Without that link I may have missed out on:

"Chef driven meals" ?? - do they mean the cook threw in the apron and brought back a box of burgers from Maccas?

"Buffalo chicken salad garnished with bleu cheese". as a "domestic feature".


Good Lord.

 

[Kefci2000]

Me too So much for T-48 for WPs!

Mine came through at T-40 tonight around 9pm for Wednesday 1.05pm QF11 J to F SYD-LAX

looking forward to degustation and then a great sleep having only ever done F from MEL-SIN and only got to snooze last 2 hours

paid for work ticket on new Amex card (reimbursed) and got bonus 22k points so half of upgrade!!!!! ;-))))

 

[MH_fan]

Congrats on the upgrade. The upgrade is so worth it on these long flights. Got to fully enjoy the degustation (with plenty of champagne), sleep a solid 6 hours (which is what I normally only need), have a lovely breakfast and then topped it all off with a lovely (long) hot shower at the AA Admirals Club on my transit before my flight to SFO. It also only took me about 20 mins to get from the plane, through immigration and to T4. It was another 10-15 mins to get through security at T4. 35-40 mins for a transit is pretty amazing for LAX.

 

[Kefci2000]

Congrats on the upgrade. The upgrade is so worth it on these long flights. Got to fully enjoy the degustation (with plenty of champagne), sleep a solid 6 hours (which is what I normally only need), have a lovely breakfast and then topped it all off with a lovely (long) hot shower at the AA Admirals Club on my transit before my flight to SFO. It also only took me about 20 mins to get from the plane, through immigration and to T4. It was another 10-15 mins to get through security at T4. 35-40 mins for a transit is pretty amazing for LAX.

Thanks, any tips on gettin through immigration so quickly or did you get "escorted through"??

Glad you enjoyed it, makes me even more happy I booked QF11 over QF107 all the way to JFK.

AA4 in J will be slumming it by comparison.......

 

[MH_fan]

Thanks, any tips on gettin through immigration so quickly or did you get "escorted through"??

Glad you enjoyed it, makes me even more happy I booked QF11 over QF107 all the way to JFK.

AA4 in J will be slumming it by comparison.......

No escort to/through immigration. I realised that they hold J class passengers back to allow the F class passengers to get ahead to immigration. When QF11 arrives, it coincides with a China Eastern arrival. When you get to the immigration hall, keep walking towards the middle/end counters. They seem to be shorter/emptier than the first few that you reach. Also, don't be in a line where there are lots of mainland Chinese passengers (and they tend to be in the first few lines that you'll come across). They never fill out the paperwork properly and they don't understand English very well, so those lines take forever and put the immigration officers in a bad mood. The First Host usually waits for F passengers by the baggage carousel, if you have checked luggage, and they will supposedly assist you with the transfer. I didn't have checked luggage and I know where to go anyway, so didn't need their services. You will be guided to an express immigration counter if QF11 is late and you have a tight connection (as long as you've checked in for your AA flight when you checked in for QF11).

 

[dfcatch]

I have had some amazing FAs in QF First on QF11 - Elise and Mark are two standouts.

When you have a good CSM it really seems to set the mood for the whole cabin crew too

 

[serfty]

No escort to/through immigration.....

~30 is about the norm (for those who know where they are going) in my experience.

If one does not dally on the walk from the aircraft to the hall, every non US person you pass is conceivably 30 seconds less waiting at immigration. No checked luggage and heading up towards the centre of immigration as advised also helps.

Note that on exiting TBIT, turn right then right again to see en escalator heading up to the departures level. Take that then head South along the 'sidewalk' -it curves to the left and you are at T4. If you have Priority AAccess continue on past both curb side check-in areas (with attendant 'sky caps') then enter the premium check-in area. I normally already have my AA BP's and simply head up the escalator to premium security. (shoes, belt off is the go there ...)

 

[Berlin]

~30 is about the norm (for those who know where they are going) in my experience.
If one does not dally on the walk from the aircraft to the hall, every non US person you pass is conceivably 30 seconds less waiting at immigration. No checked luggage and heading up towards the centre of immigration as advised also helps.
Note that on exiting TBIT, turn right then right again to see en escalator heading up to the departures level. Take that then head South along the 'sidewalk' -it curves to the left and you are at T4. If you have Priority AAccess continue on past both curb side check-in areas (with attendant 'sky caps') then enter the premium check-in area. I normally already have my AA BP's and simply head up the escalator to premium security. (shoes, belt off is the go there ...)

Thanks a lot for that detailed description- I've done it once or twice before but got a bit nervous about my flight this Friday when I'm connecting from QF11 to AA4 which is quite tight for LAX. Now, 2 hours and 15 minutes should not be "tight" really but it's LAX we're talking about so any information will be useful. I will vividly remember the 30 seconds rule when I rush pass all those Chinese on my way to immigration

 

[MH_fan]

The bit that takes the longest is immigration. I have looked back and seen the long queues. I now understand why people stress when flying Y and trying to catch connecting flights when the transit time is 1.5 hours or less. Connecting to T4 is easy coz it's only next door. Imagine a terminal further away and connecting to an airline that is not related to OneWorld!

 

[MH_fan]

I will vividly remember the 30 seconds rule when I rush pass all those Chinese on my way to immigration

That's the real secret...

 

[RooFlyer]

Here's an entry for the LAX "plane door to T4 lounge sprint" record.

QF93 landed at LAX on time at 6:35am, but was just beaten to the gates by QF15, who was early.

Out of the plane at 6:45 (third off) - at one of the new (distant) gates. 'Brisk' walk to shed the cob-webs, and run into a mass of QF15 pax. Damn! A few nifty passing manoeuvres; enter the immigration hall to see long queues. Double damn!

Into survival mode. Keep walking, keep walking, queues getting shorter. Ah! Last queue for non US citizens and I'm second in line, with 4 booths processing.

Out of immigration and the bag is already on carousel 1 (these guys know how to do priority baggage!). Grab it, and then no-one in the customs queue.

Onto bag-drop, and I'm into the fresh air at 7:00am. 15 minutes from plane to curb.

5 minutes walk to the T4 premium security queue (very entertaining guy doing BP/passport cheques); 8 pax in front of me. I'm through in 5 more minutes and in the AA Flounge at 7:15am.

30 minutes from plane to T4 Flounge (and I'm no spring chicken), but I reckon you could cut 10 mins off that if you were first off QF15, with a shorter distance to immigration and then short queues at the entrance to immigration.