While getting working on the review for the return flight from India, I actually came across a second flight that I had missed from earlier this year. This flight is from back in July (and was, in fact, the only flight I took in either July or August). I had driven down to LA with Valerie, and then I booked a ticket back on an Alaska Airlines flight. I attached my American Airlines number to the flight, and I did successfully clear an upgrade in advance! But the best part of visiting LAX for me is being able to go to the Qantas First Lounge, which I can access using my British Airways status. Unlike when my BA number is attached to the reservation, access the lounge with two separate statuses on the tickets is far from seamless. However, we were able to access the lounge in the end.
Most of this report will take place in the Qantas lounge because a one-hour nighttime flight from LA to SF is far from exciting. Whenever I visit this lounge, I schedule it around a meal time because that’s the best part of the lounge in my opinion. For appetizers, we ordered the asparagus with roasted red pepper puree and the buffalo mozzarella with prosciutto.
Next came the entrees. As is tradition, I ordered a ham sandwich. In this case, it was a croque madame. It was fine, but it wasn’t as good as previous times. The surprise star of the meal was the sweet and spicy grilled chicken. I don’t usually like grilled chicken, but it was excellent. I also ordered a Pimm’s Cup because this lounge has one of the few bars that I’ve been to that immediately knew what I was asking for (it’s a British summer drink).
Normally, I don’t bother with dessert, but I saw that there was mango mousse option, so we ordered a mousse and a plum and almond cake. Neither dessert was especially exciting, but I did enjoy trying them. After the meal, it was, unfortunately, time to return to reality and head to terminal 6 for the short flight to San Francisco. But at least I’d gotten upgraded to First Class!
The walk from the lounge to Terminal 6 is somewhat long, about 15 minutes, so I had to leave the lounge before boarding even began. I even made it to the gate in time for priority boarding, which is a rarity for me. Since I had gotten a free upgrade a few days out, I was able to get a seat on the single side of the cabin (but not row 1 sadly).
The short flight to SF was pretty uneventful. Drinks were served individually, and a snack box was passed around that included their standard fare of popcorn, potato chips, and snack bars.
In summary, the lounge at LAX was as excellent as always (5/5). The single seat on E175s is great, but the bulkhead seat is a bit better (4/5). The drinks and snacks offering was standard (3/5), and there was little service to speak of (and no pre-departure beverages) (3/5). The IFE was weak, with only some streaming entertainment (2/5). Overall, this journey gets a 17/25, which is propped up strongly by the excellent Qantas lounge.
This flight cost about $103, which I paid for using an Alaska Airlines gift card that I had gotten from Costco for 10% off, so the flight ended up costing only $93, but I also only earned 1 point per dollar, since it coded as a Costco purchase.
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