Am I setting myself up to miss my flight?
Aug 24, 2018, 6:21 pm
#16
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Please forgive me if my response seems unsympathetic, but I'm having a great deal of trouble understanding why you are choosing to put yourself in this dilemma. Is this other person truly a friend, or is this someone of influence you are trying to impress and/or curry favor with? The way you describe it, you are doing this person a big favor by driving them to LAX when your flight leaves out of SNA. People take carbs and Uber to LAX from all over the greater Los Angeles area every day. It's really no big deal. Yet you are willing to potentially miss your flight, pay a considerable sum to change your flight and then possibly eat the cost of a theater ticket. All because you are afraid to ask this other person if they can be dropped off earlier at LAX, or take a cab/Uber? Why is that?
I personally hate Uber/Lyft... I much rather have a "professional" (yes yes, whatever that means) driver vs a gig-economy driver. So I'm leaning away from putting her in that position... to be honest maybe she doesn't care at all, but I would hate if someone that invited me on this trip was then like "Hey, I'm too busy to get you to LAX, I called an Uber for you".
It would be one thing if might flights were honestly too tight and that was the only option, but this is me being opportunistic with my travel plans which might be adding to the guilt of just calling an uber for her. The Cirque show was never part of the original plan, she won't be doing it, it was a complete after thought and just luck that it happens to fall within my travel days. Originally I was just trying to force a long layover in Seattle so I could hit Pike Place market, now I'm stuffing another night into my trip and getting home Sunday (before work Monday morning) instead of Saturday just so I can cram in the show as well...
I'll chat with her and see what her feelings are on taking an uber, but I know personally it makes me feel kinda guilty because it's just that I want to do more.
(Also, I really just should have flown into LAX to begin with, I don't know what I was thinking originally planning SNA and booking my outbound flight already... it was all to avoid LA traffic... but people fly into LAX for a reason, they need the flight options, lol)
(Further proof of the crazy stuff I force on myself with my travels is she's flying in a day after me because of her schedule, I didn't want to give up a day at Disney, so I'll be up at 5am to depart my home city, land at SNA by 11am so I can be at Disney by 1, actually made a 1pm lunch reservation, spend the day at Disney, maybe fit in a little nap at the Disney hotel, and then go pick her up at LAX at 2am! All so the next morning we can hit Disney and spend the whole day there. I probably have some brain problem, I can never make my trips relaxing.... )
Aug 24, 2018, 6:52 pm
#20
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... I really just should have flown into LAX to begin with, I don't know what I was thinking originally planning SNA and booking my outbound flight already... it was all to avoid LA traffic... but people fly into LAX for a reason, they need the flight options, lol ... I probably have some brain problem, I can never make my trips relaxing.... )
Aug 24, 2018, 6:53 pm
#21
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 216
I can see that you are trying to be considerate, which is lovely. I think you have two options, and you and she can decide which works better. Either you both get up an hour earlier to get her to the airport an hour earlier, which gives you time to get where you need to be without risking stress and traffic and missing your flight. Or you get her an Uber, or perhaps a limo, to the airport, and you both sleep in. It sounds like the cost to change your flights or miss Cirque is more than a nice car? If it were me I'd value an extra hour of sleep and would happily take a taxi/Uber. Honestly, just talk to her. I'm pretty sure she'd rather have you happy and relaxed and enjoying yourself, than stressed out and worried about flights and driving and rental cars and traffic and and and....
Aug 24, 2018, 6:57 pm
#22
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(actually, if I drove it, I’d probably do 101-Highland-La Brea-Manchester, although that’s not the best use of an A4 ... says the guy whose son just got an S6 V10)
Last edited by jrl767; Aug 24, 2018 at 7:04 pm
Aug 24, 2018, 7:00 pm
#23
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So from the points I'm getting, would 8:30am drop off push me into the "most likely make it category" or am I still on the bleeding edge of screwing myself over?
The cost of missing the flight would be big (probably missed Cirque show, ~$300). However, I have a last ditch option of picking a 11:55am Alaska flight out of SNA (instead of the Delta 11:25am). The only cost to that is I don't get to use my Amex points via Delta transfer for a free flight. Instead I pay $278 and give up the E175 for a 737-800. If this is looking insane to everyone I'll give up the single F seat rows that the Delta E175 offers and switch to AS and cough up the money. I haven't booked that return flight yet. I gain 30 minutes on a slightly later flight and I could still aim for 8:30am drop off at LAX for my friend. (Total time I have from LAX to flight leaving SNA would then be 3 hours and 25 min)
I'm not a huge fan of rushing through airports or making really tight schedules, but at the same time every time I find myself packing a trip so damn full that I get stressed somewhere and am always in a rush... soooo, I can't help it :P (Hence the added Cirque show, the vacation is the week in LA doing 3 Halloween events and Disney 3 days and Universal a day, I just realized I connect through Seattle and there happens to be a touring Cirque show that same day, so lets pack that in too!)
The cost of missing the flight would be big (probably missed Cirque show, ~$300). However, I have a last ditch option of picking a 11:55am Alaska flight out of SNA (instead of the Delta 11:25am). The only cost to that is I don't get to use my Amex points via Delta transfer for a free flight. Instead I pay $278 and give up the E175 for a 737-800. If this is looking insane to everyone I'll give up the single F seat rows that the Delta E175 offers and switch to AS and cough up the money. I haven't booked that return flight yet. I gain 30 minutes on a slightly later flight and I could still aim for 8:30am drop off at LAX for my friend. (Total time I have from LAX to flight leaving SNA would then be 3 hours and 25 min)
I'm not a huge fan of rushing through airports or making really tight schedules, but at the same time every time I find myself packing a trip so damn full that I get stressed somewhere and am always in a rush... soooo, I can't help it :P (Hence the added Cirque show, the vacation is the week in LA doing 3 Halloween events and Disney 3 days and Universal a day, I just realized I connect through Seattle and there happens to be a touring Cirque show that same day, so lets pack that in too!)
Tell your friend to get an uber.
Aug 24, 2018, 7:55 pm
#24
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Aug 24, 2018, 8:00 pm
#25
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I second getting an uber.
At least for me (and my friends/family) airport pickups and drop offs aren’t expected. I think the increase in rideshare services have changed attitudes a great deal, because we were all doing more pickups/dropoffs 10-15 years ago. I honestly can’t remember the last time someone picked me up at the airport, or the last time I did an airport run for someone else.
In your case, you’ve got a really good reason why it’s not feasible to drop her off at LAX, and I’m sure your reasons would be accepted given the situation.
At least for me (and my friends/family) airport pickups and drop offs aren’t expected. I think the increase in rideshare services have changed attitudes a great deal, because we were all doing more pickups/dropoffs 10-15 years ago. I honestly can’t remember the last time someone picked me up at the airport, or the last time I did an airport run for someone else.
In your case, you’ve got a really good reason why it’s not feasible to drop her off at LAX, and I’m sure your reasons would be accepted given the situation.
Aug 24, 2018, 8:16 pm
#26
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Aug 25, 2018, 5:34 am
#30
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I'm not sure how much the Uber cost would be from the Universal Studios area (staying at the Hilton there) and just feels like of "not classy" or something to just put her on an Uber at ~7:30am and sending her off to LAX...
It's an option that I can certainly ask her if she minds... she honestly might not care... but I don't know, it's just not the first thing I would think of doing...
It's an option that I can certainly ask her if she minds... she honestly might not care... but I don't know, it's just not the first thing I would think of doing...
