This trip has two objectives: attend a fund raiser for
Center for Asian Christianity at Brisbane School of Theology, and audit a
course on Christian Counselling at BST.
There is no rhyme or reason to the cost of air
tickets. When I firsh thought about
making this trip, I saw fares around $1,500.
A few days later, they went up to $2,100. I decided to book seats with award miles, and
use cash to buy them if fares became reasonable again. They didn’t for a long time, until Qantas
announced a two-day sale for around $850 from west coast to Australia. Sure
enough, United matched them, and my EWR-SYD-BNE roundtrip tickets cost less
than $1,200, a relative bargain even with the $50 penalty I had to pay for
canceling the award tickets. Other
airlines (such as QF) can get from EWR-BNE with one-stop, on United it takes
two stops. I still decided to go with
them so I can earn miles in the Mileage Plus program, and I can get economy
plus seats.
Saturday 5/26. My original flight was the 5:20 pm EWR-LAX
flight. I noticed earlier that UA1600
had several empty business class seats, so I went through a slight convoluted
process to get on it. First I talked to
the check-in agent to get upgraded to first class on my 5:20 flight, which I
had to use a certificate to get. (She
told me these “premium service” routes do not do complimentary upgrades.) She couldn’t get me on the 4:20 flight as
there were no coach seats available (as my booking is coach despite already
having a business class ticket in my hands.)
I then went to the gate and asked (nicely) the gate agent what she could
do, and – voila – here I am in seat 4B, a lie-flat seat. The meal was better than coach, but still
only so-so. Make no mistake about it, I
am grateful.
LAX was uncharacteristically
quiet when I got off the plane. There
were scarcely any people at security, and the United lounge was quite
empty. I had about 3 hours before the next
flight, so I settled myself in the lounge, and had a phone call with Kin H
about some church personnel issues. When
I got ready to go to the gate for the SYD flight, the airport was again its
usual hustle and bustle. (I was told by
CS it might have been the basketball game.)
When I landed at around 7 pm, LAX, including the United Lounge pictured here, was very quiet. Perhaps a basketball playoff was taking place?
I used this United display to begin my talk a couple of days later.
The display is new in the "Map" application of United Airlines entertainment.
Monday 5/28. UA839 was quite empty in coach, many
passengers had entire row to himself/herself.
I found the seats uncomfortable to lie down in, but managed to sleep
quite a bit with the TRTL pillow and a pillow, leaning against the window. Immigration was straightforward with the
automated system.
Even though I booked the Qantas
flight through United, I had to check in in person at SYD. The process of transferring to Qantas was
more complicated than I thought. First
you follow these signs that take you to the other side of the terminal, then
you check in, go through security, and board a flight for the domestic terminal
(T3 for Qantas.) I again took advantage
of the Priority Pass and ordered a large breakfast.
We have done many SYD-BNE trips
before, with low-cost carriers that herd their passengers along like
cattle. Qantas certainly has been a
different experience. First, T3 is quite
civilized and modern-looking, boarding was via a jetway, and there is free food
(even though only a chocolate bar and coffee) on board, and on this flight free
WiFi. Best of all for the passenger is
the light load – again I have the entire row to myself. Let’s hope the route is profitable enough so
they don’t have to withdraw from it.
Morning was breaking as the plane touched down at SYD.
Breakfast served before landing was okay.
Priority Pass gives me credit to buy up to A$36 worth of food per visit. This is the "big breakfast" offered by Bar Roma at SYD Terminal 3.
The load on this Qantas flight was light. And it offered free wifi.
I was seated in Row 22, and there were few people behind me.
Ling and Wally were at the gate
when I deplaned – in Australia non-passengers can get to the gate area after
being screened. The drive to their home
took around 30 minutes. Ling had
prepared lunch already. Wally went back
BST and Ling and I chatted for a while.
I did take a short stroll around the neighborhood.
Dinner was prepared by Ling:
stewed beef brisket (2 varieties).
Accommodations: Wally’s and
Ling’s apartment in Middle Park (4 nights.)
Tuesday 5/29. Ling and Wally went to BST in the morning;
Ling helps out in the kitchen Tuesdays and Fridays. I stayed behind to prepare my short talk for
the dinner tonight.
At about 3 pm I got an Uber to
get to BST. The 15 km trip took about 15
minutes, and cost a modest A$25 or so.
The fundraising dinner drew many
more people than any of us initially expected: 90. We heard different people speak about the
Center for Asian Christianity, and I gave a short talk on Anne’s and my
involvement.
The BST CAC Inaugural Fundraising Dinner.
I used the photo I took at the United Lounge in LAX to start my short talk.
It was around 10 pm that we left
Toowong to head back to the apartment.
Wednesday 5/30. For the next three days I would be auditing
this “intensive” course on principles of Christian counseling. 9 to 5 every day, including Friday.
Thursday 5/31. Andrew P and I had lunch at the Jephson Hotel
in town just to catch up.
Friday 6/1. Today’s class was interrupted by BST’s Chapel
and lunch (with Ling also helped prepare.)
After class Ling, Wally & I went to a restaurant nearby to have a
meal. They dropped me off at the airport
hotel afterwards. Tomorrow’s first
flight is at 6 am. This short trip is
quickly coming to a close.
Accommodation: Ibis Brisbane
Airport (1 night.)
Saturday 6/2. I was able to go to bed at around 10 pm, so
waking up at 4 am this morning wasn’t that difficult. This trip has turned me into a morning
person! The walk to the domestic
terminal from the hotel was a little over 5 minutes.
While it was easy enough to buy
the UA/QF ticket on the UA website, the check-in process isn’t as smooth as one
would expect. First, I couldn’t check in
at the Brisbane Qantas domestic counter, and international check-In had a
line. It moved fast enough, and I was at
the gate at around 5:25 am for a 6 am flight – boarding is at 5:40 am. They could only do the BNE-SYD segment, and I
would have to check in at United when I get to SYD.
Today’s QF flight was quite
crowded, and internet was somewhat sporadic, but I managed to watch a couple of
episodes of Brockmire. Breakfast was
cereal and a small pastry. All good.
It was somewhat complicated to
get from the domestic to the international terminal. Since I plan to hand-carry everything on
United, I checked luggage to SYD on QF (they have a 7 kg hand luggage limit, I
don’t travel that light.) What I ended
up doing was claim my luggage, go through security again, and get to Gate 15
for the bus transfer.
My original itinerary was
SYD-LAX-EWR. The SYD-LAX segment was
quite full, and my row was full. My next
quest, therefore, was to see if I could change my flights to SYD-IAH-EWR. I remember last time I tried to change an
international flight, the agent at LAX said it was impossible, but perhaps
folks at SYD were friendlier? They were,
Helena didn’t know what to do, but asked a couple of her colleagues to help out
– the easy answer would be “not allowed.”
She even gave me one of these “express” cards so I could get through
security faster – turned out not be necessary.
And there is an empty middle seat next to me.
I started the process at around
8 am, the Houston flight left at 9:15 am, I still managed to grab something to
eat at the Singapore lounge. Quite efficient,
I must say. The flight attendants were a
bit “grumpy” (for lack of better word) on this flight, but I wouldn’t let that
bother me.
Arrival at Houston was a little
about 9:15 am local time. Mobile
Passport again made the immigration process very straightforward. Signs then led me to TSA security – I didn’t
get pre-check for this flight, and it wasn’t available at this convenient
location – which put me back on the airside.
Priority Pass gave me access to
the KLM Lounge, but other than cereal and pastries not much was on offer. I then took the Sky Train to Terminal C for
my IAH-EWR flight. I wanted to switch my
seat to an Exit Window, so talked to agent at the Gate. I also joked I was always the one not making
the upgrade, as I was the next in line this time and all seats were taken.
A red light when I scanned my
boarding pass for boarding indicated that I was indeed upgraded. This 767 was recently retrofitted to Polaris
Business. The seats were lie-flat, but I
couldn’t tell any difference between this and other lie-flat seats I have flown
in. Appreciative, nonetheless. Two good experiences in one trip – albeit a
long one.
Polaris Business Class in the Boeing 767.
The New Jersey I came back to
was hot and humid as I found out stepping out of the terminal. Anne came by to pick me up.
