CHAPTER 6...continued
Then they started the slow trek down the ramp towards my eagerly awaiting hands...tossed the first one (Mrs QF WP's) onto our trolley and turned around to await mine...where are you, come on down, bag!?? There it is!! Yes...now reach out and lift..ugh...now, where do we go???? What time is it....s**t, it's 11.05pm, will we make it?? Why does LAX have to be so big??
We were out to the roadway but with a plan we had hatched whilst we were waiting. I was to hot foot it with the luggage to TBIT while Mrs QF WP followed along with our carry-on...there was no other way - at least if I was in the line, checking in the two bags with my ticket, hopefully my wife would turn up before I finished.
Torn between caring about the safety of my wife (after all, she was alone, with 2 carry-ony, increasingly further away from me) and trying to get us on board our flight, I ran with the trolley..thankfully, all wheels on this one wanted to head in the same direction!
"Excuse me please, I'm in a hurry"..."thanks alot"....as I manouevered my way between people and hopefully still in the sight of Mrs QF WP, I encountered the usual airline paxs with no idea - dumped bags in the middle of the walkway, people walking 4-abreast; quickly - look back - is she still there. Yes,
now keep going. I almost took out some newly arrived Asians who were confused at my yelling and flapping arms so I just decided to run through them...."sorry!" Whew, lucky I'm fit...this is a decent run......
screeech!!!!!
Here it is - TBIT!! Feelings of relief welled up inside me...perhaps we'd make it after all. I looked behind me in the distance - where was Mrs QF WP?? There she is...Wave!!!! Did she see me..yes!! OK, let's go inside!!!!!
Thankfully I knew where I was going...but it was right at the end of the Check-in Desks at the far end. Great, there are some QF staffers...what's he doing standing up on the counter?? S***, he's taking down the Flight Card from the Counter.
"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!"
Internally, I collapsed
. All this effort, 12 hours of travelling across the country to get here - don't you tell me we can't get on this flight
They can't have closed it?? I looked at my TAG watch - 11.20pm. Was it the right time after all the time zone changes that I had made to it today???
Oh, no....don't tell me it's wrong...
I was desperate as I thought the reaction that Mrs QF WP would share with me (and the whole Terminal
). I had to get us on this flight! Who looks like the most senior person here?? There...that guy in the QF suit...I'll approach him.
So I did. Being hypersensitive at that point, a little more brusquely than usual I rammed my QF Plat card in front of the CSA's face (one day, I'd love to apologise to him properly for that...), dropped our tickets and passports on top of his counter. "I'd like to check in for this flight, we're both in Business Class" (having used points to upgrade). (
God, here I am sounding like one of those self-opinionated FF tossers I strive not to be like)
He looked around a little bemused "We?", he said, opening and looking at my ticket and probably thinking - "he's in B class, mere Economy!!" At this stage he hadn't even looked at his computer.
"Ah, yes, my wife is just behind me, we've had to run from T6...it's a long story"...
"Well, I'm sorry but we've closed..and anyway, I can't check her in if she's not here" he monotoned.
"No", I thought, "not an officious boffin, not this time
please!!"
Catching a couple of deep breaths to calm myself and approach this negotiation with a clear head, I said "No, here she is"...as I had spied her making her way over towards the counter (thankfully, she had followed my directions to the letter). She looked concerningly at me, the CSA and the empty board above the counter. I could tell she was biting her lip and would errupt into fireball of emotion if I made the wrong move here
.
I looked back at the CSA and said quietly "Please check our booking, we need to make this flight". I think he saw my tension-packed wife and innately understood that his ears would be assailed if he too, made the wrong move here
.
I watched as he quickly and quietly tapped away into his computer...then a fleeting look of consternation crossed his face and he became obsequious. In one of the quickest International Check-ins in my life he did everything at once - called over the bag boy to take our bags to the scanner, printed out the BP's and checked our Passports and handed everything back to me with a flourish and a "Thank you for flying Qantas today, Mrs and Mrs QF WP".
I quietly thanked him and flashed him a look of gratitude that he didn't miss. I handed Mrs QF WP her travel documents, we picked up ou carry-on and started to speed our way to the security queue.
It wasn't until handing our BP's to the security gate officer that I looked at them for the first time - we were allocated seats in the First Class Cabin (this flight was 3 class sold as 2). Now I understood...
With no time to see the TBIT lounge (like we were missing anything!), we hustled through security and began to look for Gate 102. Then I realised it was the
second last Gate in the concourse!! Boarding, according to the nearest monitor, was on
Final Call, so Mrs QF WP started to get worried that they would close the flight. Less concerned than her, I kept pace by striding out...along the walkways we went to gain distance.
We made it to the Gate where there was still about 50 pax to board. Making a bee-line for the First & Business queue on the RHS, showed our BP's and walked down the airbridge.
Airline & Flight Number: QF156 LAX/AKL
Rego: ?? (B747-400)
Seats: 3E & F (F cabin, sold as J)
SDT: 11.55pm
Pushback: 12.28am, ADT: 12.45am
Crew on Board: Captain Mike Fitzgerald, F/O Ky Hansen, CSS Susan Love, FSD Trevor McIntyre, FA's in F & J - Yoshiko, Mark, Jacqueline, Esther and Terence.
FSD Trevor McIntyre met us at the door, wecomed us on board and indicated for us to turn left into nirvana....the First Class cabin.
FA Mark met us as we walked to our seats and asked whether we'd like a pre-flight beverage - water, OJ or champagne. "Just leave us with the darn bottle after the day we've had" almost escaped my mouth, but I thought better of sharing that with him, smiled and said "Charles Heidsieck, that would be just lovely".
He came back with the requested Champagne and LO'ccitane en Provence in-flight pack. Needless, to say, Mrs QF WP snaffled those...we had our own "in flight packs" from previous sectors that we'd use here.
Captain Fitzgerald made an announcement at 11.50pm that the flight was going to be slightly delayed leaving as one of the pax had been offloaded but not notified to QF and his bags were still on board. Ground staff knew where the bags were so they were extricating them now.
Less than 25 mins after we were airborne, the crew started preparations for the supper. First Class levels of service are so hard to take - everything is done for you, table taken out of the slot, pristine white cloth laid out and your meal served. QF's J & F trained crew really perform well in the service standards, IMHO (perhaps not as good as other carriers, but still acceptable to us!).
Photo's this sector:
Photo 21A - LAX/AKL J menu
Photo 22 - LAX/AKL Mrs QF WP Supper
Photo 23 - LAX/AKL QF WP Supper
Photo 24 - LAX/AKL QF WP Dessert
The meals were excellent. My special meal was seared Chicken with vegetables; while Mrs QF WP chose the Chicken, Leek and Pasta Soup. We both chose the Leuwin Estate 2000 Cabernet Merlot to accompany our meals.
For those who want to know the difference between the Valrhona chocolates - Caribe is dark chocolate, Jivara is milk.
We hurried our meals as we were physically drained from the emotional rollercoaster of a day and wanted some serious shuteye on this long overnight sector. I popped another one of my sleeping pills, changed into my QF First PJ's that I had packed in my carry-on, reclined the seat into a bed, pulled up the duvet and snuggled into my pillow as the worries of the day slowly melted into the black void that became sleep...
In what only felt like the next minute, I was rising from a deep level of unconsciousness to the delightful breakfast smells of coffee (although I don't drink it) and cooked meals. I stretched, yawned, took off my eye shades and pulled out my ear plugs. Checking my watch, I groggily tried to remember whether I'd changed to NZ time last night. I must have, because according to my watch it was 6.30am and there was light streaming in through 1A & K's open shades. Thinking of what time I'd gone to bed last night, I ended up calculating I'd had 8 hours sleep - at the maximum end of my sleep capabilities on board.
I tottered off past the Galley and into the toilet. After doing what needed to be done and looking out the extended window, I wandered back to my seat a changed man (pun intended
). Now my stomach was reminding me it felt neglected, so I put my seat back into the upright position while my personal butler (FA Mark) served us....
Photo's this sector:
Photo 25 - LAX/AKL Mrs QF WP Breakfast
Photo 26 - LAX/AKL QF WP Breakfast (Fruit)
Photo 27 - LAX/AKL QF WP Breakfast (Hot Dish)
Mmmmmm, I needed that! After a couple of strong teas, I settled back into playing on the IFE (as it was too short to see a movie through) and waiting for the eventual touchdown, which came at 9.35am on Runway 05L. We taxied to Gate 11, next to an AirNZ QK-NCN and parked. After thanking Mark for his excellent service on this flight, we de-planed and started the long walk through the concourse to Customs, Security and our friends waiting in the seated viewing area - a weekend of R&R, food and fun awaited...
(edited to correct spelling, as usual)
[This message has been edited by QF WP (edited Feb 21, 2004).]