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Fantastic report!
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Thank you for this excellent report with pictures ^
And thank you for your service! :-: |
Originally Posted by choch345
(Post 25033382)
Fantastic report!
Originally Posted by aSiAnRiCk
(Post 25038829)
Thank you for this excellent report with pictures ^
And thank you for your service! :-: |
Lounge Review: American Airlines Admirals Club SFO
When we landed in SFO, Kev and I didn't feel real well. It might have been because of us traveling all over the place for 5 straight days (or the 2 bottles of champagne and the multiple glasses of Johnny Walker Blue).
We landed on time and headed straight for the Global Entry kiosks. This was mine and Kev's first time using Global Entry and I can't stress enough how crucial it is. The non-American line had to be a good 2 hours long (going significantly down the hallway in International G). The American line was still AT LEAST over an hour, if not significantly more. With GE, we went straight to the kiosks, swiped our passport and answered a few questions and we were off! Maybe 1 minute. Pretty freaking awesome. Breezing through, we then went to baggage claim and probably had to wait around 10-15 minutes for our bags to come out. Had we not had bags, we probably could have gone from the aircraft door to our cars in less than 15 minutes. That's unreal. We grabbed our bags and took the train over to Terminal 2 for our Virgin America flight to Vegas! We thought about going over to the American Express Centurion Lounge in Terminal 3, but decided it wasn't worth going through security twice (at the terminals don't connect airside). After a quick check-in at the Virgin America desks, we were through security (with TSA-PreCheck of course) and to the AA Admirals Club! As I've mentioned in previous posts, I've done the majority of the flying in my young life on US Air - for better or for worse. I'm only starting to get acquainted with Admirals Clubs - and by Admirals Clubs, I mean the actual AC's not the old US Air lounges that have been rebranded. http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...9830962202.jpg Upon entering the AC in SFO I was taken aback. It was so nice! http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...9830999880.jpg We walked in, had our cards swiped and went to grab some comfy chairs. Then it hit us. With all this traveling and not even knowing what day it was (or what timezone that we were in), we had forgotten that the NCAA tournament games had already started for the day. Naturally, we reversed course and headed straight to the bar! http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...9831140917.jpg Kevin claims to be a doctor. However, he couldn't give me a single good medical reason for our sicknesses. Not wanting to be sick AND sober, I decided to get a beer, or maybe two (three). We sat down at the bar for about an hour and a half watching basketball before we headed out to our gate. But back to the lounge. It was a very good size and boasted some pretty good tarmac views, actually letting you see the big boy planes leaving from Terminal G as well. http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...9831351323.jpg View of the front door from the inside. Reception desk is to the left. I apologize for not getting the closeup shots of the food and drinks that everyone likes. Since I was (hungover as hell) sick I didn't even really go near the food, although Kev did bring me and him a delicious Admirals Club cookie or two. Did I mention the lounge has tons of seating? Because it does. It also has some showers, which would have been useful if we brought clothes to change into... http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...5707652817.jpg http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...9836758259.jpg http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...9836806663.jpg Sorry it's so dark. It was such a bright, sunny day that it was tough to get some good pictures! It's hard to tell from the picture above but in the center of the lounge is a beautiful title floor with a tree in the center. That tree, the fireplace to the right of it, the open layout and the big windows over looking the arriving and departing planes just made this a really beautiful lounge. I really just don't even think my crappy pictures do this lounge justice, and I would get to the lounge early to spend some time here - the true test of a lounge - pass! This is the best domestic US Lounge I've ever been to. Now, I haven't been to a ton of 'em, but that should tell you how nice this lounge was. I could make the argument that the Centurion Lounge in Vegas is better, but honestly on a beautiful SFO day with those windows going along the entire side and college basketball on all the TV's, I couldn't ask for a better experience! Kev has actually been to several Admiral Clubs (8 or 9) and says this is probably his favorite now. Next up - Kevin and I lose our Virgin America Virginity! http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...0070620905.jpg |
It keeps getting better :)
Kevin couldn't give you a good medical reason for the sicknesses, sto you decided to get a beer, or maybe two (three) I'm loving this! |
Originally Posted by lgts
(Post 25059239)
It keeps getting better :)
Kevin couldn't give you a good medical reason for the sicknesses, sto you decided to get a beer, or maybe two (three) I'm loving this! |
Flight Review: Virgin America Economy Class SFO-LAS
With our time coming to a close at the Admirals Club and already seeing some great basketball in the first few games of the tournament from the lounge, we headed to our gate at 54B for VA 908 to Las Vegas! Let the real Bachelor Party begin!
http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...0069214183.jpg Airline: Virgin America Airlines Route: VA908 SFO-LAS Cabin: Y Plane: A320 Seats: 14 E and 14 F Flight time: 1.5 hours Still suffering from an unknown illness, we jumped on to what turned out to be a nice flight on Virgin America. It was the first Virgin American flight for the both of us, and we were impressed by the cabin staff, the in-flight entertainment and the decorating of the cabin with those bright colors. http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...0069750283.jpg http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...7207912974.jpg The seats I wished we were in... Coming off a trip being all on business and first class flights across the Pacific, it was back to reality with this quick economy hop to LAS. It was an hour and a half flight, so not an issue at all, and I actually really enjoyed soaking in the plane and the experience, being our first time and all. I can absolutely see the appeal for flyers in the VA market. VA seems to run a very good airline - if only their frequent flyer program compared (Delta anyone?). http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...7208041180.jpg He did not feel nearly as good as he looked! Kev pretty much fell asleep the entire flight, but I was busy playing with the IFE and watching college basketball....in the air! This was by far the best part of the flight. Since we were flying on the first Thursday of March Madness (kinda the whole reason we were going to Vegas that weekend), there was live college basketball on multiple channels - and I was watching them at 30,000 feet! So. Cool. http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...0070409320.jpg Watching march madness in the sky, I couldn't be happier - minus the mystery sickness. http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...0070620905.jpg Some pretty awesome views of the mountains! Not too many photos being a quick flight on a jam-packed plane, but a great experience. It was such a great change from the normal, domestic economy flights I've always taken. This flight was fun. Now, on the way to Vegas, everyone is usually in a very good mood, and it was a beautiful, sunny day, so that may have helped. But it was something that really stuck out to me. The flight attendants, on a short flight, were extremely attentive and always smiling. The ordering options on the touch screens were so cool, and the food/drinks you order came pretty quickly (I didn't order anything, but the guy next to me ordered a few brews!). Everything from the easy, friendly check-in desks, to the awesome in flight entertainment, I give this flight a big thumbs up! Not living anywhere near where Virgin America flights operate, I rarely even have an opportunity to take them. But from now on, if I do have that opportunity on short domestic hops, and the price is even close to competitive, I'd chose them - hands down! Next up: My visit to the PACKED LAS Centurion Lounge! http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...7208263764.jpg |
Great report, thanks for sharing!
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Originally Posted by manyesh
(Post 25138424)
Great report, thanks for sharing!
|
Lounge Review: American Express Centurion Lounge LAS
We last left off with me and Kevin landing in Vegas after what was a great first experience with Virgin America.
After a few fantastic days celebrating my brother's impending [complete loss of freedom] marriage, it was unfortunately finally time to head back to reality in North Carolina. I got to the airport in plenty of time for my red-eye flight back to Charlotte, so I stopped by and spent about an hour and a half in the AMEX Centurion Lounge LAS - the original! Rolling through security and heading to terminal D, I arrived at the lounge (across from gate D1) with plenty of time to enjoy a good stay! http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...7396225533.jpg Exterior entrance - fancy! After a quick swipe and a flashing of the boarding pass, I was in the lounge. Unlike Kevin who's fortunate enough to transit through Dallas Fort-Worth and go to the Centurion Lounge DFW, this was actually my very first Centurion Lounge! http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...7208263764.jpg Classic AMEX interior entrance wall - really cool! http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...7396253568.jpg Front desk! Seating: With a lot of late night and red-eye flights out of LAS, the lounge was actually quite full. I still managed to grab a seat near the bar, but I think I was pretty lucky! Kevin told me that when he went in there (earlier in that same day than me) it was standing room only, and he had to stand and eat his food for about the first 10 minutes! http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...7396298570.jpg View of the bar from the hallway - my seat was just to the right of this photo. http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...7396334526.jpg Dinner is served! Food: You can find the CL food information on there website so I won't go into it in much detail, but I had a turkey sandwich, some type of gnocchi pasta, and a some beef dish almost served in thin bread (I'm sorry for the poor description - I'm in no way a "foodie"). The quality of the food was very high, with other options I decided not to try (salad, vegetables, etc.). By far above and beyond anything you ever get in any domestic US lounge. http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...7396432981.jpg Down one of the main hallways of the lounge. Something that should be pointed out is that, while I was in there at least, the Wi-Fi was fantastic. http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...7396479556.jpg Tables outside the Kid's Room! Very cool amenity. Being still fairly [hungover] tired from the week or so bender, I stayed away from the very nice bar they have, and just stuck to water. Also, coming from the hotel, I didn't need a shower, although I'm sure it's nice! One major downside was the crowd. I can't speak to this from a broad standpoint, as I have only been to one of them, but the lounge was so overly crowded it was almost uncomfortable. All of the "Semi-Private Workstations" were being used for people to set up shop and pass out for hours. It felt less like a nice lounge and more like the terminal during long delays; people just laying around everywhere with what seemed like everything they owned...A lot of this may have to do with the overall size of the lounge - it's only about have the size of the lounge in DFW! With that being said, I would continue to come back to this lounge time and again. It passes my test (if I would specifically budget time before my flight to go enjoy it), which means it must be pretty decent! Next up: The miraculous story of the once-lost luggage! http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...7396639551.jpg |
The story of the lost luggage.
We’re finally finishing this trip report! It was quite the adventure, and like every trip, had its ups and downs. As I previously mentioned in our first segment of the trip, I had quite my own adventure with my luggage. It’s finally time to discuss that!
Let’s flashback to the first day of our trip. I’ve arrived at my small local airport (OAJ) with plenty of time before my flight. I check my bag, go through security, and wait for the flight. I have a little over an hour layover in Charlotte and everything seemed to be on track. We begin to board about 10 minutes later than originally scheduled, but no worries, I thought, I’ll have plenty of time. Then everything started to really go downhill (I go into detail of a little bit of this in my very first post of this report)! I get to the stairs of the CRJ-200 where the off-going first officer greets me. He then asks me why I’m boarding, to which I naturally say because the gate agent told me to. He told me to go back to the terminal as they had to switch flight crews and they were not ready for us. Okay, not a problem. I’ll be fine. I’ve taken this flight many times, and I know they can make up time in the air. Even with this delay, I’ll be fine…right? After arriving back in the terminal and waiting a few minutes, the gate agent drops the bombshell, out of nowhere: mechanical problems – an indefinite delay! Sh*t had officially hit the fan at this point. I’m already on the phone with the AA Platinum line, but no one is picking up. I think fast and leave the airside of the terminal, go back through security, and straight for the US Air ticket desk. OAJ has two gates. Yes, TWO gates. One for U.S. Airways and one for Delta. Delta was boarding their flight to Atlanta (which luckily for me had been delayed over an hour) and about to close the flight. I frantically try to get on the flight and I succeed! My new booking to SFO now looks like this: OAJ-ATL (Delta), ATL-LAX-SFO (AA/US) All of the airline staff there were fantastic, and I literally saw them take my bag off the US flight and roll it over to my new Delta flight. Great! Sweet. I got it all figured out, I’ll be set. I board my flight for Atlanta with renewed hopes that my entire trip wouldn’t be ruined! As we’re taxiing, I look at all my new boarding passes. As of now, my connection in ATL is 20 minutes….WHAT??? Okay, I’m screwed. I go on my flight app, and I can’t find the ATL-LAX AA flight. What is going on? Oh wait, there it is, already delayed 3 hours. The plot thickens. So as I’m flying to ATL, I know that when I land there I’m already going to need another set of flights. As soon as our wheels hit the ground, I dial the AA Platinum line and get new flights lined up, which actually work better, as I get to meet Kevin in DFW. Here’s what my 3rd itinerary of the day looks like: ATL-DFW-SFO (AA) Great! This will absolutely be fine, no problems. But wait, what about my bags?? I go up to the gate agent for my new flight, and tell him my issue. No lie, he pretty much tells me “If your bags make it, they make it”. Thanks bro! Spoiler alert: They don’t make it. Let us skip a few flights and go to Tokyo’s Haneda airport. Upon arrival, we headed over to the baggage carousel. With 3 different flight itineraries that were supposed to send me all around to different cities, I knew for a fact my bag wouldn’t make it. But, we needed to get Kev’s bag anyway, so over we went. While waiting, a Japan Airlines baggage agent came up and approached me by name. “Mr. Caldwell?” “Yes?” “Your bag is not here” Fantastic! I mean I knew it wasn’t, but my fears were now officially confirmed. We then continued to sort through this process with forms for about an hour. I had to explain my day to them, and show them all my different flights and flight numbers and baggage tags and whatnot. It was even confusing me at this point. I’m so screwed. My bag could literally be in one of about 5 cities throughout the US and Asia. Oh, and I took three different airlines. I give myself about a 5% chance at this point. I tell her how we are only in Tokyo for the day, and that we had a connecting flight to Seoul that evening. I asked them that if they found it to send it to the Park Hyatt Seoul, and gave them the hotel contact information. Our parting instructions were to head to the JAL baggage desk in Seoul when we arrived that night. I figured that was codeword for “I’m passing your problem off to them”, but it turned out I couldn’t be more wrong! Upon landing the Seoul, we heeded her instructions and headed to the JAL baggage desk. We were kind of in a hurry to catch the KAL bus Kev wrote about earlier, so there wasn’t time to mess around! This is where the story turns from miserable to inspiring. The woman at the baggage desk asked for my name, and when I gave it to her, immediately found a hand-written note about my situation. She said, “Your bag will be delivered to the Park Hyatt Seoul tomorrow morning”. WHAT?!?! That is freaking amazing! I couldn’t believe it, and I remained skeptical until I got my eyes on my luggage. http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...7396639551.jpg Reunited and it feels so good! Although the bag didn’t actually arrive until the next evening, it actually made it! It looks like it flew on a direct flight to Seoul from the U.S., so possibly on Singapore or Korean Air. I don’t know how they did it, but they really pulled off a baggage miracle! http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...8293803190.jpg The famous hand written "Rush" bag tag! So that’s the story. It had been a crazy first two days or so of the trip, and it was fantastic to finally be able to change my clothes! Our first trip report series is now complete! Thanks so much for following along! Don't worry, we've got another one coming up (I may start it tonight or tomorrow) chronicling my brother's Honeymoon to Abu Dhabi and the Maldives! http://www.pointsmd.com/wp-content/u...8294005943.jpg |
Thanks for the update. Glad to hear about the bag, wow, who would have thought that you would be reunited with it??
Eagerly waiting for the next TR.^^:D |
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