Yesterday, TSA officers screened 2,757,802 passengers at airport checkpoints nationwide, and we were among them as we flew from Honolulu to Los Angeles on American Airlines. Here’s what our trip was like – from leaving our hotel in Honolulu to arriving back home.
After sending yesterday’s newsletter, we packed up our hotel room (above is the view from room 2215 in the Rainbow Tower of the Hilton Hawaiian Village) and headed to HNL.
First challenge: Finding my rental car in the Hilton’s massive self-park garage. Fortunately, I took a photo of the space number and floor.
Second challenge: Remembering to find a gas station and to fill up before returning our rental. I used Waze and took the longer route to avoid the freeway so I could find one. After filling up ($4.74 a gallon for 87), I got back on the freeway, and without traffic, it took less than 30 minutes to reach HNL.
Next stop: I returned my Avis rental. I made one mistake: following Waze without paying attention because I was chatting with my wife. I was in the right lane, but when I looked at Waze, it seemed like the exit was still a quarter mile ahead. I should have just looked at the actual map, as I was already in the right lane. That mistake cost us about 10 minutes.
When we landed at HNL a week ago, I foolishly followed signs to the car rental and boarded a packed, delayed shuttle, only to discover it was just a short walk from Terminal 2. I didn’t make the same mistake this time.
Next stop: Agriculture Inspection. Passengers traveling to the Continental U.S. must undergo inspection by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. All baggage, including checked and carry-on items, must be inspected. In the past, I’ve never waited more than five minutes, but a friend warned me that the lines might be longer due to government cuts. Fortunately, we timed it right and just missed the rush.
We then checked in at American Airlines for flight 162. Both the economy and priority lanes were short, but the agents were dealing with passengers who seemed to have issues, so it took a bit longer than expected.
Once our bags were checked, we walked a few steps to Clear and were escorted to TSA PreCheck. If you don’t have PreCheck but have Clear, you’ll need to go to the next checkpoint. It took us just three minutes to clear security.
We made our way to the Admirals Club, which, in my humble opinion, has the friendliest staff of any club I’ve visited. They send an email ahead with location details and even responded to my inquiry about how long the agriculture inspection takes.
The lounge also has great food. While we were there, they had a pancake machine, chicken curry with rice and Shanghai noodles.
American Airlines moved up boarding times to 45 minutes, so our 1:45 pm flight boarded at exactly 1 pm (they send you a push notification). I love walking to the gates at HNL because the terminal is open-air and offers great plane spotting, like these two beautiful birds flanking our A321neo plane.
It looks like HNL has installed a new feature to encourage travelers to take photos and post on social media.
I used 20,000 miles each for this flight, but when I booked, all the Main Cabin Extra seats in the front were taken. The only available seats for four together were behind the exit row. I don’t like being that far back, and it seemed odd that only one side of the plane had extra legroom, so I set a seat alert on ExpertFlyer and checked regularly. About 24 hours before the flight, a bulkhead seat opened up, and I grabbed it along with the window seat across the aisle. All had extra legroom.
As usual, the kids brought candies for the crew, and the pilots signed their logbooks. The captain was amazing, letting each of them sit in the captain’s seat and giving them a quick lesson on flying a plane. They loved it.
I sat with our kids while my wife took the window seat, since I needed room to work. We had fun, as you can see from the photo above, and my wife didn’t get up once during the 4:53-hour flight because her seatmates didn’t. She didn’t want to disturb them when they were eating with their tray tables down and she didn’t want to disturb them once they fell asleep so she felt trapped.
When we landed, the kids were so happy to hug her after the five-hour separation!
Instead of rushing to baggage claim, we went to the Admirals Club, which was conveniently located near our arrival gate in Terminal 5. It was empty, so everyone had a clean place to use the restroom, grab some snacks, and freshen up.
I thought our bags were already on the way because my AA app stopped showing tracking, but to my surprise, the bags hadn’t been unloaded yet. A friendly baggage handler at the nearby carousel told me they’d be down in a few minutes, and sure enough, he was right. This was much better than our last trip on AA— here’s why you shouldn’t trust the airline’s baggage tracking.
Normally, a friend would pick us up, but I didn’t want to bother them at 10:30pm. Instead of schlepping the kids to LAXit, I just ordered a black car from Uber (or you can use Lyft) for curbside pickup. It took two minutes and was one of the smartest moves of the night.
KEEP READING
–Trip Report: LAX-JFK in American Airlines Flagship First Class with Conan O’Brien
–American Airlines Flight Attendant Warns: Doing This With Your Luggage Tag Could Put You at Risk
–American Airlines Flight Attendant Shares Her Top 3 Pet Peeves
–Trip Report: Los Angeles to Philadelphia on American Airlines
–Grab a Tissue: Southwest Airlines Pilot Delivers Emotional Tribute to Veteran’s German Shepherd Service Dog on Her Last Flight
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