FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - DO RUN: Five or six (or more?) DOs in 2 weeks & SQ F, TG F, UA F, TG C, and more!
Old Feb 27, 2007, 11:55 pm
  #3  
alliance
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 2,333
Friday March 2, 2007 –

DO #1 – Friday Night Thai in LAS with the local LAS FTers (and visitors)


Sunnyhere posted the announcement on Feb 26 about this dinner. After triple checking the calendar to make sure that the 2nd was the Friday before the HOLA! DO II and that I wasn’t scheduled for anything critical… I started the search for airfare.

Finding last minute fares to LAS can be a challenge as most LAS flights sell out and there is so much demand that cheapies are the exception to the rule. I was seeing lots of $250+ fares. It wasn’t looking good for adding this DO to the start of my DO RUN... but thankfully after an hour of searching, I found a $98 fare PHX-LAS-DEN-PHX on US for Friday.

Of course, it got in to LAS at 9pm and got me in to DEN at 2:30am with a several hour layover before heading to PHX (which I need to get to tomorrow to catch my flights up to SFO for the HOLA! DO II). But the $98 fare was too good to turn down and so I took it and knew I would have to standby to get to LAS.

My original plan was to get to PHX around 5am and do US Airways’ confirmed standby for the ~2pm flight, which had space available when I went to bed last night. So I set the alarm for 4:30am. Woke up at 8am. That didn’t work.

So I get on ExpertFlyer and check the loads. Everything is zeroed out. Now to anyone other than a FTer, this might incite a panic of not making it to LAS in time for the dinner. However, I am a FTer. By being zeroed out, it meant I wouldn’t have to pay US’ $25 confirmed standby and could standby for free.

After a quick stop at the ATM to get some cash, I head to PHX. As plans for tomorrow are still not certain, I parked in my regular T2 parking and took the Gecko bus to T4. A quick elevator ride up to the departure level and I’m at security. WOW! What a zoo! I’m spoiled flying out of T2 most of the time. This place is packed. The line for security went through all of the cow-catchers and out towards the escalator.

An older gentlemen at the back of the line starts yelling for a US representative. One comes over and he says that he is going to miss his flight if she doesn’t let him use the first class line. She says, there’s nothing she can do and that if he wants to use the first class line he can buy a first class ticket.

A TSA agent is yelling at people that they can’t bring peanut butter or jelly unless it is in a 3.4 oz or smaller container. And then follows up with, “which means most peanut butter and jelly containers can’t be brought through the checkpoint.” He was not smiling or joking. Now were stopping peanut butter and jelly? Good grief.

I walk past the long line and show my boarding pass to the contract agent who is protecting the first class / *Gold line. While I’m waiting for two US captains in front of me having their ID badges checked, I see another TSA agent bring over a supervisor to see if a NIH (National Institute of Health) ID card is a valid form of ID. The supervisor says, “well, I’m pretty sure the NIH is a government agency, so let her use it this time.”

I head to the nearest US club in PHX to get an agent to put me on the standby list for the flight. She says that she can confirm me on the 2pm flight for $25 or put me on standby for the 10:10 flight. 10:10 please. She says it’s oversold by 4 and that I should head down to the gate right away.

After navigating through the utter and complete chaos of the US side of T4, I get to gate A10. I check with the gate agent to make sure I’m on the list and ask where I stand. He said there are still 6 people who have not checked in and that I’m #1 on the standby list (total of 5 on the list) thanks to my *G status. It’s nice to see that US honors *G for standby priority.

The gate agent calls me up a few minutes later and gives me a boarding pass for the flight. A window seat in row 4 (bulkhead). You can’t ask for much more than that standing by on a full flight.

US offered pre-boarding of F and special needs passengers and then waited a good minute or two before starting to board by zone. With my zone 1 BP, I was one of the first to board and quickly stowed my backpack and jacket and took my seat. The legroom in the bulkhead was decent. I was able to cross my legs without a problem. This row certainly is more comfortable than the right side of row 1 on most UA planes.

There was a little scene during boarding when an eager low-level elite whose upgrade did not clear kept going up to the flight attendants to see if he could take the open seat next to his wife in row 3 of F (her upgrade did clear). They kept telling him to go back and sit down. Then the wife got up and told the FAs that the GA said that only he can process the upgrade. The FA tells the wife that the GA will upgrade any open seats after boarding is done and it will be based on status level. Boarding finishes and the lucky jerk got upgraded at the last minute.

As we pulled out of the gate I spotted the US Nevada flag livery plane. There was a long line waiting for takeoff… but we still took-off on-time. There was a NW 757 with winglets that we drove by on the wait to position and hold. During take-off, I got a nice view of the new PHX tower. It was a smooth climb and we got nice views of downtown Phoenix and of the Phoenix sprawl.

Typical of US flights that I have been on, the F flight attendant started drink service for the people in the first few rows of Y. I got a nice full plastic cup of Diet Coke.

It was a short and uneventful flight. I read a bit and enjoyed the views of the Grand Canyon. We started our approach and after a bumpy descent we landed in LAS ahead of schedule. A walk through the yucky old B terminal of LAS and I made my way to the US lounge. This lounge is nothing special, but it is quiet and there is a friendly agent who for $25 confirmed me on the 11:59pm non-stop LAS-PHX tonight (to save me the overnight in DEN and give me options to standby for early flights out of PHX tomorrow).

I got on the free wifi in the club and responded to some PMs and posts on FT before starting some work that I need to finish before heading out on the town. I may get a ride to the dinner by Sunnyhere - who graciously offered a free ride from wherever - or I may take a cab or find my own way to the dinner at 7pm tonight.


(added since first update)

So I worked for a couple hours in the US club. I then decided to head down to the strip for a few hours to try my luck a bit and visit some of my favorite spots.

There’s nothing like an entertaining cab ride in LAS. This was no exception, and I knew this was going to be a great LAS visit as soon as I got in my cab:

Cab driver: Where to?
Me: MGM
Cab driver (screaming): I’m not taking you to f***ing MGM.
Me: Umm… why?
Cab driver: My last fare was to MGM and the meter was 9.70 and she gave me $10 and asked for a receipt. So I grabbed a ratty napkin and wrote her this receipt (he sticks it in my face).
Me (laughing): Mind if I take a picture of that?
Cab driver: Ok, you’re cool, I’ll take you to MGM.
Me: Thanks.

The cab driver then spent the rest of the trip complaining about he hates driving a cab since the traffic got so bad and since his vision has gone downhill and he can’t drive at night. Fare ended up at 9.00 and I gave him lucky 13. Probably too much for how much he was griping about bad tips - but he was funny and didn't us pulled over like the cab driver on my last LAS trip did.

I walked around the south end of the strip for awhile, and ended up at Luxor to check out my favorite pyramid in vegas. I called Sunnyhere and he graciously offered to pick me up at the Luxor on his way to the DO. I waited at a lame lobby bar at Luxor for a few minutes before FourWheels called to say that she and Sunnyhere were a block away.

They picked me up and after some expert driving to avoid some cops that were on our tail, Sunnyhere took us to an organic supermarket similar to Trader Joes where we grabbed some snacks.

We were the first to arrive to the DO, and the overly hospitable restaurant hosts kept trying to seat us even though we were waiting for their other staff members to setup a big table for our group. Our FT Thai experts started ordering appetizers and gave out recommendations to the Thai challenged in our group. Some of the food was great and some was okay. A few of the dishes seemed more like Chinese fusion than Thai… I left full and satisfied.

Here are some pics of the DO.

The LAS FTers were outstanding hosts (FourWheels too! – although with how long she has been in LAS [a week] she might be considered one too ). We spent several hours talking about living in Las Vegas, where to get good sushi, UA vs. US vs. NW/CO, mileage earning strategies, award travel, and living the FT life.

Trekwars2000
was awesome and gave me a ride back to the airport (but I think just about everyone else did too – so you all rock!). I tried to talk my way on the 11pm flight instead of the 11:59pm flight, but there was no budging with out spending another $25. I passed on the offer and checked my e-mail in the club for an hour and then headed to the gate.

We took off and landed on-time and after a 15 min wait for the bus to take me from T4 to T2 to get to my car, I was on my way home to take a shower and take an hour nap before heading back to T2 to start my trip to DO #2.

Last edited by alliance; Mar 5, 2007 at 9:45 pm
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