LOS ANGELES
I had a couple of hours transit in Los Angeles, which going by my past experiences is barely enough time to do anything by the time have cleared immigration at T2 (which can have over 1000 passengers in the non-US line), customs, pre-security boarding pass check and security. Indeed on the through flights, which have similar transit times, I have sometimes not bothered attempting to visit the lounge when told of how big the immigration queues and on other times have literally arrived airside only to go straight to reboarding the aircraft.
So I had some trepidation about this transit. For it was vitally important to me, and to my fellow passengers, that I got a shower here. Why? As I've already said, the transits in the islands are hot and humid, so I get sticky. Add long flights both into and out of Los Angeles. Add a couple more flights beyond London Heathrow. Add in that there are no showers available to me at these onward airports. So in about 2 days of nonstop travel (not counting most of a day at work beforehand) I have only 2 opportunities to shower - in Auckland and in Los Angeles.
As a seasoned flyer, I was prepared by having everything ready for when the seatbelt sign came off I was up and in a well-practiced move grabbed my carry-ons from the overhead locker and past the seats in front of me before those seated there had even gotten themselves out of their seats. While I waited for the door to open I adjusted my carry-ons for comfort and prepared for swift walk/run to immigration. I was second off the aircraft and first to arrive at immigration.
I was stunned to see a full bank of immigration officers and not a single passenger at any counter or waiting in line. It was as if there had been no international (excluding Canada due to pre-clearance) flights arriving and they've just opened up. Obviously not the case - there were passengers on the other side of immigration collecting bags for example. This I was not expecting. I have arrived at LAX T2 way too many times and I have never not had queues. Sometimes, on a good day the queue might only be 15 minutes. On a bad day well over an hour.
Thinking back, I probably stopped short for a moment to wonder at it all, before regaining my senses and heading through the zigzag before the other passengers past me. The officer could see I'd travelled to and through USA many, many times and thus processed quickly and easily. A slight pause at customs where I got tangled up with a very dazed looking european backpacker type. The customs form checker took a while to explain she needed to take the red line, and then said to me "what are you waiting for, you're good to go". Great - please hand me back my form.
Upstairs I sped to security feeling good. Again no queue at pre-security boarding pass check and even the security queue consisted of 1 passenger and 5 TSA agents (who took quite a while to screen for some strange reason
).
Arriving at the nice NZ lounge on the mezzanine level the agent at the door is dealing with a NZ Gold Elite passenger who is asking for an on departure upgrade. It seems the process is slightly convoluted in that the agent has to contact Airpoints to do it. She notices I'm back again and welcomes me in. Before I head to the shower I ask her to take my visa waiver stub which they'd stapled all the way through my passport
So in less than 10 minutes I'd made my way from gate through immigration and security to the lounge and into a shower. Amazing at most airports, and stunning at LAX. I had to pinch myself that I wasn't dreaming. And why can't it always be like this?
After I was refreshed I had just enough time to check some emails and post a bit of this report before boarding was called some 60 minutes prior to departure.