I was supposed to fly Tuesday to JFK, but when I dropped my kids off at school, my six-year-old started crying and said, “Daddy, do you really have to go to New York today?” My heart sank. On the drive home to grab my bag and have my wife take me to LAX, I thought, I don’t really need to leave today. I can postpone a day so I’m only away for two nights instead of three.
When I went to pick them up after school, you should’ve seen their faces. My daughter hugged me so tight for a solid 30 seconds. It was worth it.
I’ve got to tell you, I really do not enjoy leaving my kids. If I had it my way, I’d travel with them 24/7, especially while they’re young, cute, and innocent.
Postponing my flight meant I needed a new ticket. I had a JetBlue credit that was about to expire (which is so lame since I paid cash for it), but JetBlue wanted $375 for a one-way ticket. I priced out my options using cash and miles, and United had the best deal: 15,000 miles plus $5.60. American wanted 17,000 miles, but I went with United for a few reasons:
They fly to Newark (EWR), and I was going to a conference on the West Side, so it’s much quicker and cheaper to get there from EWR.
United has a mix of aircraft, including the 787-10, which I’d much rather fly than American’s mix of single-aisle planes (A321T and A321XLR) or their old 777-200.
United’s flight had a lot of empty seats, so I was pretty sure I could snag an empty middle seat next to me—which I did.
Some observations:
I arrived at United’s curb exactly 55 minutes before my flight. I had entered LAX about 10 minutes earlier, but it took that long just to navigate the Terminal 7 “shortcut,” as traffic officers were holding two lanes at every other light to relieve congestion in the horseshoe.
After long goodbyes with my family, I zipped through TSA thanks to CLEAR and TSA Pre. I went from curb to terminal in just a few minutes.
Next to my gate was a Randy’s Donuts, which is a LA icon famous for its giant rooftop donut and classic pastries.
One of the gate agents at LAX wasn’t very friendly while directing passengers to the correct boarding door. If you got in the wrong line, she wasn’t letting anyone slide.
The flight attendants—a mix of L.A.- and New York–based—were friendly. They handed out sanitizing wipes at the door, just like they started doing during the pandemic.
United’s app is far superior to American’s.
United offers a choice of three free snacks (stroopwafels, a savory snack mix, and Undercover Quinoa Crisps). They also sell food onboard, which you can pay for with either cash or miles.
You don’t even need to pull out your credit card if they already have it on file—which they did. I had the Hot Honey Chicken & Waffle sandwich ($9 or 1,100 miles). I paid cash, and it was good.
United also offers Wi-Fi for a much more reasonable price: $8 or 800 miles if you’re a MileagePlus member ($10 or 1,000 miles if you’re not) for the entire flight, compared to American’s $29 (though they’ve started offering free Wi-Fi on some aircraft, which I still haven’t managed to find).
They also offer free messaging, so if all you care about is texting (no photos), you don’t need to spend a dime.
Flight time was a quick 4 hours and 21 minutes (per FlightAware). It was supposed to be 4 hours and 12 minutes but we lost some ground.
Gate departure: 8:17 a.m. PST
Takeoff: 8:40 a.m. PST
Landing: 4:01 p.m. EST
Gate arrival: 4:09 p.m. EST
I wished I wasn’t in the middle section because on the lefthand side of the plane had amazing views of the island of Manhattan!
