(September 2022 cont.)
9/19/2022 Monday LAX-SFO-LAS-LAX
AS3342 LAX-SFO E175 $5.60+5000 AS miles
AS236 SFO-LAS A320
AS3338 LAS-LAX E175 $5.60+5000 AS miles
Leave home 427am
Car Parked 452am
Reach Airport 508am
Flight Departs 547am
Flight Arrives 718am
BART Departs 820am
BART Arrives 923am
Arrive Class 937am
Leave Class 333pm
BART Departs 347pm
BART Arrives 448pm
Flight Departs 606pm
Flight Arrives 1020pm
Airport Landside 1024pm
Reach Parking Lot 1040pm
Arrive Home 1108pm
Another week of commute..
Upgraded to first class as usual
Morning at SFO
Without me asking, bartender said, "ginger beer?" Yes please!
Fighting fare evasion on BART, I doubt if it works..
Flying back via Vegas just for fun. I guess I'm either psycho or enjoying my commute a bit too much..
AS236 SFO-LAS
LAS E gates
AS3338 LAS-LAX, upgraded to first class
Departing LAS, no strip view tonight..
The terminal was empty when we arrived at LAX. That's when you know it's getting super late.
Some ramen in little tokyo when I don't have class.
I collected enough stamps for a free ramen, and Japan is opening soon! Can't wait to visit this winter.
Still not interested.. no thanks. (Actually someone on social media asked if I was air marshal since I flew so much, I laughed so hard!)
9/21/2022 Wednesday LAX-SFO-LAX
AS997 LAX-SFO A320 $38.60
AS77 SFO-LAX A320 $38.60
Leave home 426am
Car Parked 451am
Reach Airport 511am
Flight Departs 601am
Flight Arrives 727am
BART Departs 821am
BART Arrives 929am
Arrive Class 942am
Leave Class 624pm
BART Departs 635pm
BART Arrives 746pm
Flight Departs 811pm
Flight Arrives 935pm
Airport Landside 939pm
Reach Parking Lot 956pm
Arrive Home 1124pm
Didn't clear UG after SDC but happy enough to be in Premium Class
Sunrise
Some Thai food near campus
FB is getting really aggressive with customized ads..
AS77 back to LAX as usual
LAX at night
BCD Tofu for late dinner/supper
Not everyone can accept tripes right..
9/23/2022 Friday LAX-OAK-LAS-LAX
WN783 LAX-OAK B737 $5.60+2655 WN points
WN1661 OAK-LAS B737
WN1762 LAS-LAX B737 $5.60+1361 WN points
Leave home 351am
Car Parked 415am
Reach Airport 429am
Flight Departs 527am
Flight Arrives 639am
BART Departs 656am
BART Arrives 756am
Arrive Class 810am
Leave Class 329pm
BART Departs 423pm
BART Arrives 510pm
Flight Departs 631pm
Flight Arrives 934pm
Airport Landside 942pm
Reach Parking Lot 1012pm
Arrive Home 1044pm
My Friday 8am class starts this week, for the next 8 weeks. So now I'm taking the 535am LAX-OAK flight for my 8am class. Yeah imagine that.
This commute schedule is brutal..
Bulkhead so I can get off the plane sooner.
Then BART broke down again, what's new. Barely made it to class on-time. Not a good start.
Supporting small businesses near campus
It's Friday night! And I wanted to have some fun, so I SDC to OAK-LAS-LAX and joined standby list for earlier flights.
Cleared standby, although only middle seats left..
The OAK-LAS flight departed late, as we reached LAS, the earlier LAS-LAX flight already started boarding. If you know me well, you should know I don't give up easily. So I rushed from C gates to B gates, which is like a mini marathon. They were about to close the gate and the super helpful GA managed to get me a confirmed seat after calling his helpdesk for 10min. They even held the plane for a few extra minutes just so I can get on the plane. I was running like a suspect in a police chase in the jetbridge after I got the boarding pass because I thought they would close the door any moment. FA heard my loud steps and told me to relax, "You are already here! Take a deep breath!" Very light load since it's going back to LA on a Friday night.
Strip view after taking off
Entire rear cabin was empty
Hobo first class!
9/26/2022 Monday LAX-SFO-LAS-LAX
AS3342 LAX-SFO E175 $5.60+5000 AS miles
AS236 SFO-LAS A320
AS3338 LAS-LAX E175 $5.60+5000 AS miles
Leave home 423am
Car Parked 448am
Reach Airport 506am
Flight Departs 559am
Flight Arrives 722am
BART Departs 817am
BART Arrives 923am
Arrive Class 940am
Leave Class 344pm
BART Departs 357pm
BART Arrives 501pm
Flight Departs 550pm
Flight Arrives 1016pm
Airport Landside 1036pm
Reach Parking Lot 1106pm
Arrive Home 1133pm
That Monday morning we had a group project due 10am, and we had been wrapping it up since Sunday night 8pm. All 3 team members pulled an all-nighter and even my alarm rang while I was awake! We submitted project at 410am and I rushed to brush my teeth and get changed. 10min later I left and drove to LAX. What an experience. At least we got the highest in the class..
I didn't know how I managed it, but it was crazy for sure.
Pineapple juice as usual
Upgraded to first class so a good nap was expected
Sunrise, it's another week
Our gate had some decorations for the delight flight, I was jealous..
Looked like it was AS1352 to BOS
Security line was insane, even it's a Monday morning..
Also there was a strike and demonstrations outside terminal 2 and 3..
Well I admit I'm flying back home via Vegas just for personal achievement, trying to reach 250 segments by the end of the year, as it would probably the most I've flown within a calendar year.
Lucky to get UG again!
Did you see Jupiter?
same BA flight departing from two different gates, one on-time, the other delayed.. sounds alright..
Ginger beer courtesy of SFO lounge
This reminds me of time-space diagram taught in a class..
AS3338 back to LAX
Over the strip
Empty terminal as expected upon arrival
Beef tongue!
9/28/2022 Wednesday LAX-SFO-LAX
AS997 LAX-SFO A320 $38.60
AS77 SFO-LAX B738 $38.60
Leave home 420am
Car Parked 446am
Reach Airport 514am
Flight Departs 558am
Flight Arrives 728am
BART Departs 846am
BART Arrives 958am
Arrive Class 1009am
Leave Class 559pm
BART Departs 622pm
BART Arrives 731pm
Flight Departs 818pm
Flight Arrives 941pm
Airport Landside 946pm
Reach Parking Lot 1002pm
Arrive Home 1036pm
I boarded the plane, lifted window shade with a bit extra force, and window frame came off. I turned around, told FA sorry I think I broke the window frame.. (facepalm). FA was surprised (of course). Maintenance got onboard and filed paperwork to defer repaid order, so we pushed back on time. A week later I took the same flight with the same aircraft, and I will update how they fixed it in my October trip report.
To make it worse I was wearing a 787 shirt on A320, so hopefully they don't think it's intentional..
Need some ginger beer to recharge
Still on-strike outside T2
Empty check-in counter on a typical Wednesday night
They call it chicken al pastor.. Okay I'm not judging it.
Last minute equipment swap, 739 to 738, row 4 pax bumped into main cabin, feel bad for them..
Thursday night I checked in for my UA flight, of course I was the first to checkin given the strange connection..
9/30/2022 Friday LAX-OAK/SFO-RDD-LAX
WN783 LAX-OAK B737 $5.60+2655 WN points
UA4791 SFO-RDD CRJ7
UA5493 RDD-LAX CRJ2 $15.60+6500 AV miles
Leave home 357am
Car Parked 422am
Reach Airport 434am
Flight Departs 528am
Flight Arrives 651am
BART Departs 654am
BART Arrives 733am
Arrive Class 755am
Leave Class 351pm
BART Departs 412pm
BART Arrives 514pm
Flight Departs 628pm
Flight Arrives 951pm
Airport Landside 959pm
Reach Parking Lot 1013pm
Arrive Home 1042pm
Another 535am flight..
Bulkhead window, ideal for nap
Landed OAK
Flying back from SFO, I booked SFO-RDD-LAX using AV miles since it was the only saver level award available that day, and connection was reasonable.
I always weigh myself when I see those machines just to check if I gained/lost weight since I started this commute. Luckily it remained the same!
Long security lines at T3
So I walked to T2 for security, barely anyone in line.
Plus I can access AS lounge even when flying other airlines.
Bike cop
CRJ700 to Redding, CA.
UA 772 to LHR
Arrived Redding, the parking lot was right next to tarmac.
Our ride from SFO.
Small terminal, with only 1 gate. I had to flag down a UA employee so I could enter the waiting area directly without exiting and going thru TSA again.
As we started boarding for the LAX flight, the gate agent tapped my shoulder: "Thanks for connecting thru Redding, a small city with an airport! Come back and see us okay?"
I laughed "Sure!"
Our CRJ200 to LAX
First time riding CRJ200, I heard enough bad reviews about it so I came prepared.
Well, it's not as bad as I thought, except sitting at window exit row, my legs felt like frozen meat in Costco warehouse after landing in LAX.
Ayce japanese BBQ, because I need to treat myself after another month of epic commute!
Summary:
September 2022
15 trips to school, 34 flights (22 AS, 9 WN, 2 UA, 1 B6), used SDC 25 times.
BART: $123.90
Airport Parking: $89.00
Gas: $217.79
AS: $358.08 (after 20% off from gift cards) PLUS 55000 miles
WN: $107.04 PLUS 12048 points
AV: $15.60 PLUS 6500 miles
Excluding mileage value and AS voucher I got for exchanging to earlier/later flight, cash total: $911.41
This is higher than expected due to increasing gas price, parking at LAX economy lot ($30) and SNA ($20) 1X each, and traveling to campus 4X weekly instead of 3X weekly for some of the weeks. Although BART had 50% off in September, that didn't offset the commute cost significantly. With skyrocketing gas price in socal and BART back to full price, my October commute cost may be even higher than September.
2 months done. 8 more to go. I have to admit I get used to this crazy schedule quite well. In October trip report there will be some crazier itineraries such as OAK-SEA-LAX. Well I chose this commute and I'm doing quite well IMHO. I will have my first midterm next week, although someone (cough cough) is a bit skeptical about my course performance so far, the midterm would be a great opportunity to show how much I understand the course material. Thanks for reading this long update for my September commute and I will see you next month! Oh Happy Halloween btw, maybe you will see me wearing a special costume made from boxed water wandering in Sea-Tac on Oct 31st!
