Ok so here I am, sitting in the airport (its 8:05am EST)....I like coming in early so that I avoid hassles. I didn’t get any hassles today, maybe because I remembered to shave. Anyway, I didn't have problems with airport security today...well, at least not here in
But it is not to say I didn’t have issues, there was traffic going into the airport, again it was a good thing that I left early. As soon as I got in I went to check in my bags and lo and behold I get shuffled to three queues. finally on the third queue I was attended to and served.....again.....issues, they couldn't figure out my ticket some how the airline screwed up my name...am not sure it was the airline or the travel agent but they got my name wrong on the ticket. somehow it showed up with an extra character space on the e-ticket and not on the reservation.....and as intelligent as airport ticketing systems go....they are not recognising it....with the intervention of some good people (they were still helpful since it was only 6:45 in the morning) they were able to fix it but again with the issues....they weren't able to give me my connecting flight's boarding pass......and I was hoping to breeze through LA international.
long story short, the ticket got squared away and I was happy......but not for long, one of my bags was overweight by 5 lbs. so I had to open both bags and transfer some stuff to even out the weight......its a good thing I always remember to pack my undergarments at the bottom of the suitcase.....that thing settled, I was on my way to go to my gate.
I picked a nice place to sit, right next to an AC outlet so I could use my laptop....I was all alone for a about half an hour, sitting quietly reading my e-books and guess what....a family with four kids sits next to me.....as big as the waiting area was...they had to chose the bench next to me....they were noisy, the kids were unruly....food was spilling....just your typical day at the airport...oh well, its time for me to get something to eat...I’m hungry.
Boarding the plane always has its nuances, people seem not to listen to the PA system, as soon as they hear that the flight is boarding, they crowd in front of the gate, just standing there knowing they won’t be allowed to enter anyway. They are always in a rush to get seated and once inside the plane they take forever to find their seat….that is something I cant understand….why is it that passengers have to check each and everyone of the seats while looking for their assigned seat numbers….go figure?....if you enter the plane and you are pointed to the general direction of your seat, look at the first number you find and match it with your seat number ( you should at least know your seat number by now), if your seat number is 32 and the first sit you see is 12….it means you keep walking past 20 more rows of seats…..you don’t have to bloody stop at every seat trying to check if 32 comes after 12…..and the funny thing about this is most people who travel are not first time travelers…..may be their first time in that particular airport or airline, but definitely not the first plane they have boarded….So I finally get seated and good enough I get rewarded for all of this waiting with an “exit” seat and no seatmate….cool, looking for a few hours of sleep, after all it is a 5 hour flight.
I was able to grab a few minutes of sleep at first, since I am on an aisle seat, the stewardess would tap my shoulder every time she and her refreshment cart would pass by. I was able to doze of again after the food service since most people didn’t get anything since you now buy food on domestic flights.
I arrived safely at LAX at 12:07 PST and now on to a new adventure the 10hr layover. Now here is the other thing that I have observed about people on planes, and this thing transcends all ethnic boundaries, whether you are an Asian, Caucasian, European or whatever, as soon as the plane comes to a stop, everybody removes their seatbelts, stands up, get on their mobile phones and start getting their bags. This is a wonder of air travel; would you get out of the plane faster if you stood up first? Would you be able to get your bags from the baggage claim area faster than anyone else? Would you clear customs and immigration ahead of all the passengers? It just completely amazes me to this day and mind you I have traveled a lot and have seen the same thing over and over again. That is why I try to leave the plane as late as possible.
I walk into Terminal 4 and asked for directions going to the Tom Bradley International Terminal…I got in without incidence and looked around for my ticket counter….and guess what, the counter opens at 4pm…so now I’m stuck in airport limbo before I can proceed to my gate. So I look around for the essentials….the food court, a coffee shop, restroom and a place to sit down. I got some Chinese food for lunch which was palatable enough. I scoured the gift shops, which were all over priced, for some souvenirs but decided otherwise. The duty-free shops were not any good either, well maybe because I did want to buy any smokes or liquor. So now I wait, it’s 2:30 PM and I am running out of options to do.
It is now 4:30pm and the ticketing counter is open, quite early for a 10pm flight, and now I know why. There was a long queue of passengers and each one having at least two huge boxes with them aside from their personal check-in luggage and their carry-ons and most of them are old people or senior citizen couples. It took me one and a half hours to get checked-in and I only spent 5 minutes on the counter.
The time is now 6:15pm and I am sitting at the gate…..still waiting for another 16 hour flight…this seems to take forever and mind you for an airport this big they should at least have facilities to entertain people who wait longer than 4 hours between flights. The nicest airport I have been to that looks after the passengers well being is the International airport in Singapore, they have lockers that you can rent so that you don’t have to tow your carry–on luggage everywhere you go, they have a hotel within the airport, nice restaurants not like this food outlets here at LAX, smoking lounges, wide screen TVs and the duty free shopping is second to none. Now that is an international airport. As big as a city as
This is the longest wait ever, and LAX is the worst airport I have been in, it is so noisy and the people seem to just not listen to what the announcements are. The only nice thing to happen during this long wait was that I came across Cindy Crawford at the terminal.
We board the flight an hour late….I don’t know why Filipinos travel with so much luggage…and these are old folks. It takes so long to board, bloody hell. So I sit myself on my assigned seat…the exit seat…I can fully stretch my legs and I started to make myself comfortable so that I could sleep…..but as my luck would have it, people are just so insensitive to other people…they couldn’t care less if they hit my legs while going to the bathroom or they grab on to my seat trying to walk the passage way…result….i wasn’t able to get to sleep longer than 15 mins at a time. I am so bloody tired. To make things worse we wait like an eternity for the luggage to come out of the carousel….I was praying that my luggage doesn’t get lost in all those boxes. I did get to see my luggage again I thought it was going to be with out issues….but as you guess it, my suitcase comes out damaged and it is a brand new suitcase at that. At least I am home…..can’t wait for my next trip…..cheers.
