Day 78 - LA / San Fransisco (USA) - The I Love United Airlines Fan Club

SARCASM DOESN'T BECOME ME. Today's update is from an overpriced internet terminal at the boarding gate in LA. The start of today was great fun... we strolled down Hollywood Boulevard, checking out all the stars in the pavement (in New York people can tell that you are a tourist because you are always looking up - because of all the impressive skyscrapers - in LA people can tell you are a tourist because you are always looking at the pavement!). Then found a spot to check out the Hollywood sign (looks small when you are about 10 miles from it). The Chinese movie theatre (Mans I think it is called) was pretty cool - we might have seen a movie there but we had already seen Superman the night before. Apparently one of the people working in the hostel that we stayed at was the sister of the actor who played Superman - just goes to show how everyone in Hollywood is involved with Hollywood!). Finished the tourist trifecta with a 2 hour tour through Beverly Hills, Hollywood, LA etc. seeing where all the stars live and shop! Only saw one "star" though... Dr Phil's wife (worth a couple of points though). Finally we started our applications for the "I love United Airlines" fan club. We thought that getting to the airport 1.5 hours before our flight left would be sufficient, but the clock ticked down and with 15 minutes before the backage checkin closed (it closes 45 minutes prior to a flight leaving) I went in search of a United Airlines attendant to answer my question of "what the heck do we do given the damn line isn't moving anywhere". Alas, attendants are overrated apparently and hence couldn't be found. I ended up asking at the checkin counter (with the glare of everyone else in line thinking that I was pushing in). The answer "too bad, just line up". At this point the application for the fan club was pretty well completed, but I just needed a few more kicks in the teeth. Finally half an hour before our flight left we made it to the counter - "sorry, can't get you on the flight, how early did you arrive?" ... "1.5 hours ago..grrr" ... "ok, I've got you booked on the next flight an hour later, and you should be able to make your connection to Sydney"... "Ahhh... that connection is in 2 weeks"... "Oh." ... "Alrighty, your flights are all sorted, bye." ... "Thanks, but what about our baggage... the 2 bags you already asked us about?"... "Oh, let me just have those tickets back... there you go, done"... head on over to security where they will kick you some more. Security did ... they made us line up for another half hour. I don't know how anyone gets off the ground with United! Anyway, our new flight is delayed an hour and my internet time is up... i'm off to post that fan club application and have a bourbon. Thanks for choosing to fly with my blog.
LESSON FOR THE DAY: Australian service is actually pretty good!