Good Morning from the opposite side of the Pacific Ocean. I arrived in Los Angeles around 6am local time, and continued on this morning to arrive in Seattle just after lunch. The first flight this morning was good with trip time of about 12.5 hours. But even though I got no sleep on the flight I am still feeling pretty good at the moment.
Flying Virgin Australia
The flight from Brisbane to Los Angeles was a first for me having never flown with Virgin before. The first impressions were definetly positive and continued the whole way through the flight. I would not hesitate to recommend a friend to fly with them, or to book again in the future. There is a few reasons for me to say this,
- Same service as Qantas, just a better price.
- Good Food, 3 choices for lunch, 2 choices at Breakfast and also multiple snacks along the way.
- In-flight entertainment system, was one of the better ones I have used, it was fast to load, and the touch screen was good. Only downfall here is a fairly basic route map option.
Unless another option comes along I think Virgin will be my choice for crossing the Pacific in future.
Through the Airport
Once we landed in Los Angeles the process seemd to take a lot longer than last time. But even once I was though the customs interview, I was still waiting for my luggage. The time it took today was no problem as I had booked an afternoon flight for the next flight to Seattle. I wanted to ensure there would be no conflicts if there were any delays.
The onwards flight to Seattle was with Virgin America and I had booked a 3.30pm flight. Since I was flying the same day and did not want to carry my baggage I decided to go and see if I could check it in early. It turns out I had the right booking and asked the right questions and soon had my booking changed to a 9.15 flight.
Virgin America
On my last trip to America the travel agent just gave me the best priced options. But when looking to book this trip I felt a little more comfortable about doing my own bookings for flights. In doing this research I discover some rather good prices for flying First Class with Virgin America.
Making it a short story I could get the flight from Los Angeles to Seattle, a 2 hour 45 minute flight for $250. The price was all inclusive, first class seat, priorty security & boarding, luggage, inflight entertainment & meals. I did not pay much different to this for an economy seat when I visited Melbourne last year.
It was a rather good deal for the flight. The fact that I had booked this ticket for first class also helped to get the flight change on the day. If I had booked economy I would have had to pay extra to change the flight. Very happy to not have to spend around six hours waiting for my original flight.
I have booked another two flights with Virgin America in First Class over the next two weeks. While I would like to say that it is something I could get used to, I think it is more a current deal on the prices. Looking at some other flights it was looking much more expensive.
In Seattle
It was good to arrive into Seattle a bit earlier than expected. I was able to get a number of things done that I had been planning to do in the morning. After getting checked into the hotel I got some credit for my US sim card. Before making use of the Couch Surfing website to meet a local for coffee. There were not to many useful pictures today, but will try and have some ready for your tomorrow.
