ONT-LAX, EMB-120, N295SW, Seat 9B
Scheduled Departure Time: 1200, Departure Time: 1204
Scheduled Arrive Time: 1238, Arrival Time: 1222

According to the EasyChicken the plane looked pretty wide open on the seating chart, perhaps just 15 of the 30 seats taken however seat 9C was supposed to have someone in it. Perhaps this would be a good time to brag about how good the seats in 9B and 9C are. They have about 4-5 feet of legroom (think C class type pitch). They provide ample room to put the carry on in the seat in front of you and not even have your feet hit it no matter how hard you might try. It also provides enough room to cross your legs and do about anything. That said the only downside is that there is no tray table.

This flight was uneventful to say the least. Someone was sitting in 9C – the only 1K to board. Even though all the seats behind us and the row in front of us were open, neither of us opted to move. We both know that row 9 is better than anything else. Cruising Altitude was 4000 feet to LAX. A take off to the west, slight turn to the left and then slight turn to the right (to put us into the LAX approach) and before we knew it we were landing on 24R at LAX. Total flight time was a little over the quoted 15 minutes at 18 minutes. In those short 18 minutes 1 more segment was added to my total for the year as well as 1000 more miles.

LAX Airport

After the “long taxi” from 24R to Terminal 8 (though in this case it was only like 8 minutes) we parked and I got off the plane at about 1238. I talked with the FA during the flight and found out that the Ontario plane was continuing to SBP so I knew my plane was on-time. However, not I was in a bit of a dilemma. I had just 23 minutes until the flight was supposed to board and 43 until it was leaving and I was hungry and wouldn’t have a shot to get anything in SBP with just a 20 minute turn (not that there is anything there anyway – in fact there is nothing insides security). The CO club had free cheese, granola bars and crackers and was in Terminal 6. This is about a 7 minute walk. There is also a smoking lounge right across from the Club so I should be able to kill two birds with one stone – smoke and eat for free.

So I power walked to the CO club. Quickly went to the restroom, grabbed 6 packets of cheese and crackers, 4 granola bars and ordered a Bud Light from the bar. I also took this chance to refill my water bottle with good filtered water. In the time it took me to drink the beer I quickly hopped onto FT and post the first part of this report and then headed out of the club at about 5 till 1. I walked across the way to the smoking cage and had a 4 minute power smoke before heading back to Terminal 8 land.

I arrived at the gate at about 1307 and boarding hadn’t even begun. All this rush was for nothing. Boarding started at 1311 and we were done with the door closed by 1318.

LAX-SBP, EMB-120, N295SW, Seat 9B
Scheduled Departure Time: 1321, Departure Time: 1338
Scheduled Arrive Time: 1419, Arrival Time: 1417

Well, same plane and as suspected no real new story. The FA greeted me with a “long time no see.” I was in my normal 9B with no one in 9C. There were 18 out of 30 seats filled. The FA had to move the couple that was behind me in 10BC up to 7BC for W/B reasons. I am glad she didn’t ask me to move, but I don’t think FAs can get many people in 9B or C to move.

After a 14 minute taxi to runway 24L (for the northbound departure) we were airborne and on our way to SBP. There was no quoted flight time on this flight so I don’t know where the flight plan was taking us but I assume it is something to the effect of out over SBA, SMX and then up to SBP. Quickly after takeoff a beverage service was offered and I had a diet coke. It was brought in the normal “little cup” but that was fine because it sat on the seat next to me fine. When I asked for a refill the FA told me she would just refill it a little at a time instead of bringing me a can because it was sitting so well on the seat next to me.

There was little to no turbulence on this flight – that is the way that I like it. I used to get sick on the EMBs and the RJs, but now it isn’t an issue – however, the Brazzy is a nice ride on a clear day.
After we got settled and in a nice cruising altitude, I caught up on this trip report and then put some Curb Your Enthusiasm on and had all my cheese and crackers and one granola bar.

Upon decent the final 8 minutes were pretty bumpy before the landing. We deplaned at about 1421.

SLO Airport

Well my 20 minute turn didn’t go quite as planned. Fortunately there was a crew change preventing a 10 minute turn. The reason I say this is because SBP doesn’t deplane into a secure area – it is a one “gate” airport and deplaning passengers go into baggage claim and the non-sterile area. However, due to this crew change and because I was outside it allowed for a quick smoke before clearing into the secure area. There was no line at TSA and even after the smoke and re-clearing security they weren’t boarding the flight to LAX yet.
On the flight to LAX there was a grand total of 7 people and this number includes the 2 pilots and 1 FA. It was like a chartered flight – except for the free booze. We boarded the airplane at about 1435 and left on time.

SBP-LAX, EMB-120, N295SW, Seat 9B
Scheduled Departure Time: 1441, Departure Time: 1448
Scheduled Arrive Time: 15xx, Arrival Time: 1528

Well with the light passenger load there was nothing to report. The climb out (to be expected because of the conditions on the decent in) was bumpy, but after about 3 minutes (and I presume 5000 ft) it cleared up. I quickly caught up on the report, ordered a diet coke and started the DVD.

Quick flight, before I knew it we were on the downwind leg just north of LAX at 1520 getting ready for landing. We got cleared to land on 25L which was a surprise to me and pretty rare by my experience. They let us fly the whole base leg past the 24 runways and land on the south runways – which of course cuts the taxi time to the gate in more than half.

LAX Airport (again)

With a little more of a layover this time I did the same thing as before and did the T8 to T6 shuffle to get a beer and some internet access. I made a quick update to this post, had a cold beer and some peanuts then a smoke and it was back to T8 land. I got to gate 88A and the flight to ONT was just beginning boarding.

LAX-ONT, EMB-120, N295SW, Seat 9B
Scheduled Departure Time: 1628, Departure Time: 1635
Scheduled Arrive Time: 1709, Arrival Time: 1657

Yet again I was on the same SkyWest Brazzy – so much for diversity today. Again there was a crew swap so the FA didn’t recognize me. This was just your standard LAX-ONT flight. We did get to taxi from the gate to the end of the runway without anyone else in front of us for a quick departure from runway 25L.

One thing I did notice is that we turned to the south before the coastline. I know this is prohibited, but I am curious if there are exceptions to this rule (like this LAX-ONT route). The flight plan took us parallel to the coast before a left turn over Long Beach and then following Route 91 into Riverside before a turn base to final and a landing on the right ONT runway.

The flight was only a little bumpy on climb out of LAX until I’d say 1500 feet. Other than that is was smooth sailing on the short 22 minute flight.

ONT Airport (Again)

Wow, this is a ghost town on a Saturday evening. There is like 3 planes sitting at the whole airport and a total of 4 ExpressJet departures and 2 more UA departures for the evening – that is it for Terminal 2 tonight. Thankfully Carl’s Jr. was still open until at least 6 so I got two more of the Chicken Sandwiches for like $3.60 total. After getting the sandwiches I decided to head outside and eat dinner, while enjoying the weather and the evening Sunset. Oh yeah, and of course, I caught up on the report.

I re-cleared security a little after 6pm and watched ESPN news on TV in the bar before the flight started boarding over 10 minutes early.

ONT-SFO, CRJ-200, Nxxxyy, Seat 8B
Scheduled Departure Time: 1858, Departure Time: 1858
Scheduled Arrive Time: 2017, Arrival Time: 2004

After starting boarding early, the GA must have actually done what would have logically made sense – and shut the door early, rather than have us sit on the RJ for an extra 15 minutes. So we pushed early and had wheels up at scheduled departure time.

This was a typical RJ ride – much like the one on the way down with the only difference being that the sun was set. So I got a look at the LA Basin on the way out from the left side of the aircraft then after we cleared the LA area I plugged in the DVD and ordered an OJ and a Black coffee.

The ride was nice and there was a great sunset once we got up to our cruising altitude. It was one of those sunsets you can only see from 30000+ feet – marvelous.

Our decent bought us in over the south bay area, passing just to the west of SJC and in for a northern landing on runway 29L. After a nice long deceleration we made an easy left turn off the runway and were at the gate in about 45 seconds.

SFO Airport (Again)

This time I had a layover of about two hours. My flight home to LAS is scheduled to leave at 2220 with an arrival just before midnight. I was pretty pooped at this point, with my upper back (neck area/shoulders) and quads hurting and my lower back stiff I just walked over the Gate 74 and parked at the SFO Workplace stations. I refilled my water, plugged in the laptop and watched my DVD until boarding for Vegas was announced.

At 30 minutes prior to departure boarding was announced for the flight to Vegas. There were no 1Ks on the flight and I was the only one to board with Zone 1 – kind of weird… It felt like I was on the red carpet.

SFO-LAX, A-320, N496UA, Seat 4C
Scheduled Departure Time: 2220, Departure Time: 2240
Scheduled Arrive Time: 2347, Arrival Time: 2339

A quick boarding provided an on-time door closure and we pushed back from the gate right on time. After a longer taxi than normal (we ended up by the US Airways, NWA, Air Tran terminal) I think we took off from 29L.
The pilot announced flight time at 1h10m, but said that the winds in Vegas were out of the north at 30 gusting to 45. This is the worst wind situation for LAS because the primary runway is 25. The pilot mentioned that there might be delays if they have to funnel in all the arrivals on Runway 1.

However, at this point I was pooped and slept pretty much the whole flight to LAS. I woke up to an announcement from the pilot that we were 70 miles from LAS. Minutes later I looked out the left window and the valley looked a little weird and I quickly realized we were flying the northern approach for arrivals on runway 1L, a true rare experience. The only time I have ever landed on 1L is on flight out of SoCal and once from MSP.
The flight was a little bumpy due to the high winds but not too bad a ride especially considering I had just ridden 6 props/RJ’s in a row. The landing was good and the arrival on runway 1L saved about 10 minutes of flight time as we landed at 2339.

Vegas

After we arrived I quickly took the tram to the main terminal and quickly hopped on the shuttle to economy. I was home just after 1215am and in bed by 1245.