Tier Point Run to Las Vegas in Feb 2022: Day 1 – New York JFK to Los Angeles LAX

I don’t think my heart has ever beaten so fast as I jogged with a full rucksack out of T7, over the road, up the stairs and onto the Air Train platform.  There was a train just about to leave; was it the one I wanted?  Yep – think so, so I jumped on.  Luckily it was the correct one – next stop was T8.

At T8, I rushed down the escalator ahead of everyone else and jogged through the terminal to security.  The Express Connections queue was longer than the TSA Pre queue, so I ducked under the barrier and then pushed in front of two additional passengers.

I then jumped ahead of passengers waiting in the xray machine queue and luckily once I walked through, I didn’t hear any beeps, which could have delayed me further.

My next flight was leaving from Gate 45, which meant there was a further 3 mins jog from the top end of T8 (airside of security) down the escalators, through the tunnel under the runway, up the escalators and on to the concourse on the far side of the terminal.  Luckily Gate 45 is not far away at that point. I’m not sure I would have made it, if it was one of the gates at the other end of that same concourse! I may not have made it in one piece!

On the way to Gate 45, I came across two travellators, both were under maintenance – were the gods conspiring against me?  I finally arrived at Gate 45, joining the end of the boarding queue for Group 5 – onboard into seat 6F.  Aircraft door to aircraft door it was 15 mins.  Not bad for an old codger like me.

I was now breathing very heavily and sweating like nobody’s business.  It must have taken me at least 20 mins to cool down once I was in my seat.  The important thing was that I made the flight and avoided having to deal with an IRROPS situation.  I was back on track.

The aircraft pushed back a few mins early and I was pleased to be on my final flight of the day. It’s been one heck of a long day involving 3 flights so far. This was my fourth.

The Inflight Entertainment System (IFE) is a decent one on AA’s A321T and they normally have an excellent selection of movies. I decided to watch “About Time” which I must have watched about 5 times now, but it’s a great film with great actors. I might know what’s going to happen next, but it’s still a joy to watch.

After a drinks and nuts service, dinner was served and I went for a very nice pasta. Again, AA is normally really good in respect to food on the transcontinental flights and today was no different.

After dinner, I snoozed for about 2 hours or so. After a seriously long day, I was well knackered.

We arrived into Gate 48C and I noticed that the exit route from Terminal 4 had changed.  Rather than descend the escalator/stairs in the same place as the connection tunnels to T5, T6 and T7, it’s been moved to just past the AA Flagship lounge, opposite Gate 40.

Getting out on to the street was easy enough and I walked through the airport and on to Century Boulevard to walk the mile to the Hilton LAX.  As always, LAX was mad busy with cars so it was effectively one very large traffic jam.  Still loads of building work going on around the airport. 

I had checked in online at the Hilton LAX and as normal, I had to stop by the Front Desk to allow me to get a digital key.  What’s the point of no-contact digital check-in if you have to visit the front desk? The queue for checking in at the hotel was fairly long and it took me a further 15 mins of waiting for a check-in agent before I got into my room.

Follow the whole story here: Tier Point Run to Las Vegas in Feb 2022