Southern California – 2019 15 –The LONG Goodbye

Libby · 9 Jun 21, 06:34 PM

I’ve been an absolute failure with this trip report and nearly 2 years on I can’t find my trip notes. So … I’m going to continue with some photos and things I remember. Sorry the next entries will be very brief, but I hope you enjoy the photos.

Southern California – 2019 15 –The LONG Goodbye
Wednesday August 21st 2019

A short report for a very long day.

We’re flying home today and need to leave Anaheim at lunchtime to return our car and drop our bags at LAX.

We’ve already done online check in and a lovely CM was able to print off our boarding cards for us. The CM and her badge were very proud to tell us she was from Yorkshire but from her accent and use of outdated English such as “back to blighty” we guessed it had been many years since she’d actually lived there.

Having the documents printed meant one less hassle at the airport … or so we thought.

We decided to have cinnamon buns at our hotel this morning and got these rather fancy pastries (I preferred Starbucks.)

Then we had time to do some last minute shopping at DTD before vacating our room and packing up the car to leave.

We’d given ourselves an extra hour to get to the airport as we’d heard the traffic can be very slow getting to LAX. Added to that all the car hire locations were a shuttle ride away from the airport so we thought better early than miss the plane.

The traffic wasn’t too bad and we arrived with plenty of time to spare. Dropped off the car, used the facilities and then hopped on a bus to the airport.

When we arrive at the airport our BA flight isn’t showing. The BA one before and the BA one after are there but ours isn’t. After what seems an age we decide to queue up to try and check in anyway.

The check in staff member recognises my colourful case from when we arrived two weeks before and the case didn’t. Now he tells us the flight is delayed 4 hours and gives us each a $19 voucher for a meal. While we are queuing we get an email from BA telling us the flight is delayed. Families with small children are quite angry when they find out it is delayed and we had not been informed sooner. The outbound flight had been directed to Manchester to have a fault rectified before continuing. That means BA had known for at least 10 hours we’d be delayed and if they'd had informed us promptly the families could have had an extra day on the beach or at DL rather than at an airport.

We would have had to extend our car hire to do anything else and as there were only 2 of us it wasn’t such an issue, but it was boring.

We used the airport wifi to contact our daughter and asked her to reschedule our taxi for the next morning.
Once we were through security there were many more facilities and we spent one of our vouchers on a meal at Pret a Manger. (No change could be given from the voucher so if you were on your own you would have to plan your food carefully.)

Then we passed the time (over 8 hours!) window shopping, reading, etc., etc.

I quite liked the lift shaft that had different moving scenes projected onto it.

About an hour before our flight we had a meal at KFC but it was awful.
Eventually the flight arrived and we were about 5 hours late taking off.
I always find the flight home worse than the one out. This one was very bumpy (we wondered if the pilot had been instructed to try and make up an hour as after 4 hours the EU compensation rules would kick in.)

The food was horrible – probably the food we should have had 5 hours earlier – and not appropriate for the time of day we were eating.
We ended up landing 4½ hours late. Longer once we’d got a gate and disembarked.

Once at LHR the taxi was waiting and it only took about 20 minutes to drive back home. We dumped our luggage in the hall and had a quick shower before heading to bed for a couple of hours sleep.
The next day we put in a claim for compensation via the BA website. It took weeks for them to process but in the end we received just over £1000 for the two of us. That’s not bad for 5 hours “work”.
We’re hoping to get back to California and maybe do Anaheim and San Francisco. Lots to plan and replan but hopefully by 2023 we might just do it.
Thanks for reading.

9 Jun 21, 06:34 PM	#1
	9 Jun 21, 06:34 PM Libby Imagineer
Libby Imagineer Join Date: Nov 03	Southern California – 2019 15 –The LONG Goodbye I’ve been an absolute failure with this trip report and nearly 2 years on I can’t find my trip notes. So … I’m going to continue with some photos and things I remember. Sorry the next entries will be very brief, but I hope you enjoy the photos. Southern California – 2019 15 –The LONG Goodbye Wednesday August 21st 2019 A short report for a very long day. We’re flying home today and need to leave Anaheim at lunchtime to return our car and drop our bags at LAX. We’ve already done online check in and a lovely CM was able to print off our boarding cards for us. The CM and her badge were very proud to tell us she was from Yorkshire but from her accent and use of outdated English such as “back to blighty” we guessed it had been many years since she’d actually lived there. Having the documents printed meant one less hassle at the airport … or so we thought. We decided to have cinnamon buns at our hotel this morning and got these rather fancy pastries (I preferred Starbucks.) Then we had time to do some last minute shopping at DTD before vacating our room and packing up the car to leave. We’d given ourselves an extra hour to get to the airport as we’d heard the traffic can be very slow getting to LAX. Added to that all the car hire locations were a shuttle ride away from the airport so we thought better early than miss the plane. The traffic wasn’t too bad and we arrived with plenty of time to spare. Dropped off the car, used the facilities and then hopped on a bus to the airport. When we arrive at the airport our BA flight isn’t showing. The BA one before and the BA one after are there but ours isn’t. After what seems an age we decide to queue up to try and check in anyway. The check in staff member recognises my colourful case from when we arrived two weeks before and the case didn’t. Now he tells us the flight is delayed 4 hours and gives us each a $19 voucher for a meal. While we are queuing we get an email from BA telling us the flight is delayed. Families with small children are quite angry when they find out it is delayed and we had not been informed sooner. The outbound flight had been directed to Manchester to have a fault rectified before continuing. That means BA had known for at least 10 hours we’d be delayed and if they'd had informed us promptly the families could have had an extra day on the beach or at DL rather than at an airport. We would have had to extend our car hire to do anything else and as there were only 2 of us it wasn’t such an issue, but it was boring. We used the airport wifi to contact our daughter and asked her to reschedule our taxi for the next morning. Once we were through security there were many more facilities and we spent one of our vouchers on a meal at Pret a Manger. (No change could be given from the voucher so if you were on your own you would have to plan your food carefully.) Then we passed the time (over 8 hours!) window shopping, reading, etc., etc. I quite liked the lift shaft that had different moving scenes projected onto it. About an hour before our flight we had a meal at KFC but it was awful. Eventually the flight arrived and we were about 5 hours late taking off. I always find the flight home worse than the one out. This one was very bumpy (we wondered if the pilot had been instructed to try and make up an hour as after 4 hours the EU compensation rules would kick in.) The food was horrible – probably the food we should have had 5 hours earlier – and not appropriate for the time of day we were eating. We ended up landing 4½ hours late. Longer once we’d got a gate and disembarked. Once at LHR the taxi was waiting and it only took about 20 minutes to drive back home. We dumped our luggage in the hall and had a quick shower before heading to bed for a couple of hours sleep. The next day we put in a claim for compensation via the BA website. It took weeks for them to process but in the end we received just over £1000 for the two of us. That’s not bad for 5 hours “work”. We’re hoping to get back to California and maybe do Anaheim and San Francisco. Lots to plan and replan but hopefully by 2023 we might just do it. Thanks for reading.