KARFA

Aha, well spotted. Now corrected

Radiation Station

We took the flixbus from Boston to NYC and back in May 2022, as we were advised by some friends to avoid flying for such a short distance (I tried to book Amtrak and my payment never worked, no matter whether I used the website or app). It was okay on the first trip but the second trip was massively delayed by traffic and there wasn�t any toilet paper in the loo. They seem to generally provide a reasonable service and I can see who might have a use for it, but I would personally never use them again!

London Dude

I had a somewhat similar problem several years ago, when my LHR-SFO flight was cancelled at very short notice due to snow at LHR. At my request BA rebooked me on an LHR-LAX service on the same day, however I had a separate ticket on AA on a non-changeable discounted A fare for SFO-LAX-CUN, and the SFO-LAX flight was scheduled to depart more or less when I now landed at LAX. So I called AA on the US number for AAdvantage Platinum members (I was one at the time on top of being BA Gold) from the BA lounge at LHR, and explained that I had been planning to arrive at SFO on a BA flight that had just been cancelled due to snow, so could I please skip the first leg in the itinerary and board the CUN flight at LAX? The AA customer agent had no idea that LHR was snowed in, but they checked and confirmed that the BA flight to SFO had indeed been cancelled and agreed to waive the no-show clause for the first leg and let me board the CUN flight at LAX. So that was really cool of them and I really appreciate their flexibility under the circumstances.

krispy84

Which hotel is that in NYC? Great view!

PUCCI GALORE

What you describe truly is customer service.

London Dude

Indeed, and I really appreciated their willingness to bend the rules in light of the exceptional circumstances, rather than blindly apply them to the letter.

guv1976

KARFA, a great account of creative thinking that got you where you needed to be on time. The only other thing which I might have explored was whether there were other evening flights still available from LAX to either OAK or SJC -- whether on AA, AS, DL, or even WN (despite the latter's recent operational difficulties).

As for AA's policy re: IROPS protection on separate oneworld tickets, the current published policy is that protection will be given on separate oneworld tickets if both tickets are on a single PNR; the policy is silent about what happens when the tickets are on separate PNRs (the policy doesn't say yes, and it doesn't say no). The former policy used to explicitly offer protection even when the separate tickets were on separate PNRs.

Apparently there are some travel agents -- including at least one FT regular -- who are able to put separate tickets on a single PNR.

zrh2yvr

The joys of paper tickets were that everything could be done easily - on the ground - with little hassle - -. Now - everything is so linked and digitized it wants ticketing perfection and approvals before getting on a plane - thus - making it impossible to do things in a circumvented way.

our_kid

Great TR Karfa - and I do love the paradox of taking a Flixbus / National Express then jumping into 1K on a 777 TATL - we all do it

Geordie405

Excellent report. I had a good laugh at the "bit dim" characterisation of your fellow passenger! DTLA has never been the best of places but it really is sketchy AF now. My wife and I were in Traxx bar at Union Station on the 24th December before taking the train to Chicago and that was interesting. We had a female patron who had the bartender mix her a cocktail which she then refused to pay for, and asked for her tip from a previous drink to be given back to her. We had another patron leave briefly for a smoke outside, and who came back in bloody and beaten having been attacked by a homeless person whose request for change he'd rebuffed. Finally we had two (former) prisoners who'd been released earlier that day and who were enjoying probably their first beer in a long time while waiting for their respective trains home. They were actually perfectly pleasant, well-mannered, and respectful and appreciated my offer to buy them a beer!

When I was coming out to LA frequently in the early 2000s for work my firm would issue new visitors with a map of DTLA showing which areas were to be avoided and which were less dodgy. It's definitely got a lot worse over the years, and markedly so since COVID saw most of downtown become a business ghost town.

AutismoSupremo

Well, there�s the Central Jail on the right hand side when traveling out of Union Station on a train, or a 5-10 min walk from Patsaouras Bus Plaza, so it�s a place as good as any for a freedom beer

KARFA

this is at the hgi w 35th which is pretty much my go to hotel in Manhattan. Not the best but very well located to get around as it is right next to herald square subway and easy walking distance to penn station. And I love getting the Empire State Building facing rooms and having the window open listening to all the street sounds below.

dliesse

As you discovered, Amtrak, unfortunately, is not much of an option. Morning departure only, arriving San Jose about 8pm or so (theoretically, if it's not late -- there's a reason that train is nicknamed the Starlate).

If you or anyone else is ever in this situation again in San Francisco, you can take Caltrain to Millbrae and catch BART from there to the airport. Somebody actually planned a convenient transit connection in this country!

Enjoyed the report!

Stripe

I trust your judgment with respect to her dimness but, to be fair, a route up the east side of the bay to Oakland and Berkeley and then over to San Francisco was perfectly plausible. Anyway, congratulations on finding this bus option and pulling it off.

Thanks for that recommendation. I usually stay at the Embassy Suites (37th St) in that area. Tried the Doubletree once and don't recommend it.

Geordie405

The other rail option would be the San Joaquin route through the Central Valley but that's a bus from Union Station to Bakersfield and then a train from there north. You could change to the BART at Richmond. I haven't done the bus from LAX to Bakersfield although I have taken the Coast Starlight when it was diverted over Tehachapi. That's an impressive ride if you get the chance.