Tier Point Run to Hawaii in Nov 2021: Day 3 – New York JFK to Los Angeles LAX

By Nige on Sat 13 Nov 2021 at 05:46
Type: Post
Story: Tier Point Run to Hawaii in Nov 2021
Tags: American Airlines | Hilton | JFK | LAX | Los Angeles | New York | Trips | USA

I slept ok for about 4 hours, but by the time New York hit midnight I was wide awake.  I decided not to fight it – I struggle sleeping in at the best of times, so when I have critical timed stuff to do, there’s no chance. It’s the third day and I haven’t gone very far as yet.  Big day ahead though: it’s going to be a long day but I’ll reach my destination today!

I managed to print out the new style AA boarding cards to get me to Hawaii, but they include a QR code printed in the centre of the paper, which means if you fold your boarding passes into 4 quarters, the QR code is spliced through the middle – how daft is that?

I planned to catch the shuttle bus back to the airport at 3:30am, on the basis that security would be open by 4am (if it wasn’t open 24 hrs).  On websites that showed the live TSA wait times, they suggested T8 security was already open.  I can’t imagine that being true to be honest.

Although I had planned to catch the 3:30am shuttle bus, as is the norm for me, I ended up catching the 3am bus on the basis I was up and ready to go.  I was the only passenger on board and he took me directly to T8 rather than Federal Circle which meant I was back at the airport by about 3:15am.

Luckily security was indeed open – no TSA Pre-Check queue was open, nor indeed was it required.  There was one machine running and one person ahead of me.  She managed to create a queue of about 6 or 7 by the time she had finished messing around at the machine, unpacking everything.

Admiral’s Club on the C Concourse didn’t open until 4am and the Flagship Lounge on the B Concourse didn’t open until 4:30am, so I decided to take the opportunity of doing my normal walk the entire terminal to kill some time.  What I did notice was that Starbucks was no longer located on Concourse C at the end of a line of shops, but had relocated to just past security in the dining area.  That apparently opens at 5am, so I may need to pop in there!  😊

The Admiral’s Club welcomed me in and I had a wander around.  I helped myself to a toasted bun with some jam which was nice, before getting a decent replacement for my horrible boarding passes.

At 4:30am I walked back over to Concourse B to make use of the Flagship Lounge facilities which are much nicer and where the breakfast is always good.  Not that I am likely to have any problems in that regard on my flight to LAX.

Flight: AA0171 Equip: A321T
Sched Depart: 06:00 Actual: 05:54
Sched Arrival: 09:31 Actual: 08:46
Takeoff: 06:15 Landing: 08:40

My LAX flight left from Gate A6 and I checked this morning and there were 3 First Class seats still available.  I have previously been upgraded into First Class on this flight, I normally have a chance when it’s the last flight of the night.  Unfortunately, it was a no go this morning, so I had to gratefully accept a lie-flat business class seat next to someone I didn’t know.

The AA cabin crew were as efficient as always and we pushed back 5 mins ahead of schedule.  The take off and climb up to cruising altitude was smooth and the cabin crew didn’t hang around in dishing out drinks and breakfast.  I had the American breakfast with scrambled eggs, which were nice and fluffy.

I slept for about 2 hours and then watched Minari which is about a Korean family moving to Arkansas to farm the land and then the grandmother moves in.  It was well recommended by the critics but it’s not a feel-good movie.  Sub-titles reduce its charm as well.  Glad I watched it though.

We landed well ahead of schedule and we arrived into Gate 42A pretty close to the AA Lounge opposite Gate 40.  A brisk walk and I was checking in with the lounge dragon.

Follow the whole story here: Tier Point Run to Hawaii in Nov 2021