4 Airlines, 3 Cities, 2 Wonders (USA on SQ, VS, VX and B6)

[ycp81]

After 2 days of snow, the weather was perfect on the 3rd and 4th day I was in New York! Cool temperature with sunny skies! Loved it! As this was not our first visit to NY and having been to the main tourist attractions, this trip was more of exploring the unexplored areas as well as shopping!

The ever famous Times Square!




One of the must-try cupcake chains, DC Cupcakes. Based on a reality TV show!




Candies and more candies!




Lunch and more of streets of New York.




Everyone's out at Central Park!




Evening in New York.






Delicious Italian food at a Zagat and Michelin rated restaurant. Chanced upon this small restaurant just behind the hotel.




Morning visit to Chelsea Market.






Grand Central Terminal and SoHo.




Pinkberry and more pizza! Last meal in New York before flying to Las Vegas...

[CarbonMan]

Nice pics! Those from Niagara reminded me of my last trip there many years ago, in late January. All my exposed appendages nearly fell off, and involuntary body movements were all that I could painfully remember of that trip. Hope you managed to get a Broadway show in NY. It's the one thing I look forward to sneaking out to do after work every time I'm there ... and of course the food.

[ycp81]

After New York, the next destination would be Las Vegas, mainly for another natural wonder, Grand Canyons! I had booked the flight, again on Jetblue for a rather low fare, to depart New York in the evening, reaching Las Vegas around midnight. Just in time for bed in Vegas.

Again, took the subway and AirTrain to JFK T5. Surprisingly, the terminal was very crowded! Totally different from 4 days ago when we were departing for Buffalo. Snaking queues were seen at the check-in desks as well as the bag-drop desks. This time round, I was able to obtain our boarding passes from the machines but the wait for bag-drop took another half hour! With Jetblue offering free baggage check-in, it is no wonder almost everyone wants to check in their bags. Also, there were lots of flights departing in the late evening as well!

Boarding pass on a paper printout.




Security was fast and we proceeded to Gate 2 for our flight, just before boarding commenced. The flight would end up almost full tonight! This would be my 2nd "long-haul" flight on Jetblue, the first being JFK to San Jose a few years back. Guess not many people flew on an A320 for 5+ hours!





10 March 2013
jetBlue
B6 199
New York John F Kennedy (JFK) - Las Vegas McCarran (LAS)
A320
N524JB "Blue Belle"
Economy Class

Blue Belle would be making the long-haul to Vegas tonight.




Boarding started by status, "Even-more space" seats, followed by row numbers. Again was welcomed aboard and proceeded to our seats. Not much description and pictures for this sector as the plane is of exact same configuration as the previous jetBlue A320 flight, and the flight was in total darkness for almost the entire journey. 3 cabin crew again on this A320, and flight time was a quick 4h50m, compared to the scheduled 5h48m. Captain was a jovial guy who welcomed us onboard through the intercom while standing on the aisle.

Pushed back on time and taxied to Rwy22R for takeoff. Not too long a queue for takeoff tonight.




Takeoff from Rwy22R, bound for Las Vegas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlP0jb87zsk


Lights over New York.




Again, we started on our DirectTV entertainment. Cabin lights were again, dimmed for the entire flight till landing preparations.




Cruising at 34,000ft.




Cabin service started, first with the offering of buy-on-board items of pillows, blankets and meal boxes, with apparently no takers, followed by drinks. Again, no carts were used and the crew took orders from a couple of rows at a time and serve them direct from the galley. That meant for a lot of walking for the crew! On offer were all the beverage selection from the inflight guide card (refer to my previous post on the JFK-BUF sector). We had cranberry juice, Arizona iced tea and bottles of water, served in whole cans with cups of ice. I was still very impressed with the quantity of beverages jetBlue have onboard!




After drinks were distributed, crew came down the aisle with snack baskets, again offering everything that was on the menu. We were free to grab as many as we wanted! We had the blue chips, corn chips, popcorn chips and the so delicious mixed nuts! That was a lot of snacking!




Then it was back for more channel-surfing followed by a nap. Passengers were free to go to the galley to grab additional snacks or drinks though.




Somewhere in Colorado.




From East to the West.

[ycp81]

Then the most unexpected thing happened! While we were nearing Las Vegas, a crew member came down the aisle distributing something, which turned out to be hot towels!! True, they were not the SQ cloth type but were still much appreciated! Apparently this is part of jetBlue's overnight service, which I did not expect to receive on this flight as it was not really a red-eye flight.




We soon made our descend into Las Vegas, with the crew switching on the cabin lights and preparing the cabin for arrival just less than 10min prior to touchdown!

Approaching Las Vegas.




And lower..




Touchdown on Rwy25L, almost 45min early!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTonfLh4v9I


Well, our early arrival was of no use as the gate was still occupied by another jetBlue aircraft awaiting pushback. So we had to wait on the taxiway for almost 20mins!




It was till the other aircraft was pushed back that we got to dock at the gate at the new Terminal 3.




Disembarking.




Seat for the last 5hrs.




View of Blue Belle again. It was another comfortable flight on jetBlue!




You know you are in Vegas when the first thing you see as you disembarked into the terminal are jackpot machines!




More slot machines!




Welcome to Vegas!




Even slot machines at the baggage claim area!




After getting our bags, it was off for the pre-paid shuttle for the short ride to our all-suites hotel, Platinum Hotel, for the night.

[ycp81]

Las Vegas!

The next day was spent entirely in Las Vegas, including exploring the strip and having one of its magnificent and affordable buffets. It was bright and sunny as usual during the day in the middle of the desert.




First up was to Bellagio for its lunch buffet!






Followed by walking down the Strip to digest all the food!






Caesar's Palace.








The Forum Shops








More of the Strip

[ycp81]

The Mirage by day.




Treasure Island




Sunset @ Wynn




Fashion Show Mall for some shopping!




When night falls, Vegas comes to life!






Sirens vs Pirates @ Treasure Island




Volcano erupts!




After eruption..




Caesar @ night




Sin City alright...




Fountains @ Bellagio

[ycp81]

Grand Canyons

Following day was the highlight, visit to Grand Canyons! We booked a full day-trip to the South Rim for a very low rate of less than 70USD per person, on a rather endurable 5-hr bus ride each way.

Through the desert.




First stop, Hoover Dam. Time to take those "dam" pictures!








McDonalds, an USA creation.




Finally reached the magnificent Grand Canyons!!








Humans are like puny ants in front of the Canyons...




Another look-out point.






Back to Vegas in the evening.

[Handiman]

Very nice TR with a lot of pics , thanks for sharing mate !

[ycp81]

Last city to go, San Francisco! This would also be my 6th flight sector on this trip. Again, took the pre-booked shuttle for the short ride to McCarran Terminal 3, where Virgin America would be departing from. On this sector, I had the choice of flying Virgin America, Southwest or United, but chose Virgin America due to all the hype about this stylish airline, even though Southwest offered free bag check-in but this is payable on VX. We pre-paid for our bags for USD25 each during online check-in, which is the same rate as on United. Also, at the time of my flight, VX passengers are also eligible to earn Krisflyer miles, but apparently these has not been posted yet into my account (but I would wait for a couple of weeks more as the website said to allow 4-6 wks before the miles would appear).

Arriving at McCarran T3, with view of The Strip behind.




Flying Virgin America today!




Virgin America check-in area.




We had arrived slightly more than 2hrs before departure and the check-in and baggage drop counters were not staffed yet. However we used the check-in machines to print our boarding passes.




Boring-looking self-service printed boarding pass. Should have gotten the boarding passes from the check-in counters as they looked cooler!




Waiting for the baggage drop counters to open. There was already a short queue. Counters opened on the dot and very soon, our bags were on their way.




With the many departures, there was a rather long queue for security, which took probably 20min. Not the worst I have encountered, but considered the worst for this trip. After security is the sterile boarding area with shops. Noticed that in USA, the flight information display is sorted by destinations instead of departure times!




Slots everywhere again! But apparently no one is playing... Guess everyone had enough of jackpots...




Shops in the terminal. We chilled out at Starbucks for a while.




Followed by some plane-spotting. Air Canada A320 had just arrived.




"Killer Whale" Frontier A320




Very cool signage at our departure gate!

[ycp81]

The more traditional flight information display. Our fboarding would be delayed for 20min due to low ceilings in the Bay Area. Not surprising as it occurs rather frequently. However it was not reflected on the information display.




Slots machine right at the gate.




Our A320 to SFO.




Close-up. It is named "sol plane".





13 March 2013
Virgin America
VX 905
Las Vegas McCarran (LAS) - San Francisco (SFO)
A320
N844VA "sol plane"
Economy Class


Headsets, in 3 different colours, are available for purchase at the gate for USD2 each.




Boarding was called by classes and row numbers and was strictly enforced. Down the gangway to aircraft, with an interesting signage spotted.




Welcomed aboard and passed through First Class with only 8 seats. The white leather-cladded seats looked good!




However it was off into Main Cabin for me...




Seat pitch looked decent at 32".




Cool purple cabin lights, with trance music playing in the background. Felt just like in a club! Interesting!!




Out the window. What a patriotic wingtip fence!




Boarding in progress, with crew assisting pax. There were 2 crew in Main cabin and 1 crew serving First today.

[ycp81]

Legroom is more than decent for this short hop. Seat pocket has innovative small separated compartments to place your stuff.




Safety card, wifi guide and airsick bag.




Even though the IFE monitors are touch-screen enabled, handsets are also available under the armrests.




Which can be removed for use when required.




United A319 taxiing away. United operates from the mid-concourse D which could be reached by a people-mover from Terminal 3.




Frontier also departing.




Soon, boarding was completed and we started out pushback. Flight time was announced as 1h20m. The pilot came on and announced that even though we would be starting our taxi, ATC had only cleared us to depart to SFO at 1150am, and thus we would need to hold on the taxiway.


Pushback with safety video playing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2XVBNtXMt8


United B739 passing by.




American B738 pushing back as well.




Taxi with safety video ending.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZINpxWg8C24


A row of aircraft queuing for takeoff.




We waiting on the taxiway for our departure slot while watching planes takeoff and land. A Delta CRJ departing.




Westjet B738 to somewhere in Canada.




Spirit-ing away.

[ycp81]

Air Canada before us. Finally we are next!




Still more planes behind, with the mountains right ahead.




Took off right on the dot at 1150hrs from Rwy25R.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASsdorb1xJo


Mountains and desert.




Nice and dry landscape.




Service announcement was made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl6V8ue-cEE


Lets take a look at the Red IFE system. It consists of more than 20 'live' TV channels, MTVs, CDs, flight map and the very cool inflight food/beverage ordering system!




On VX, only drinks are free. Snacks and meal boxes are payable (unless you are seated in Main Cabin Select) by swiping your credit card under the screen. On this short flight, a round of beverage service and snack sales was conducted for the entire cabin, so the inflight order system is kinda useless. What are the free drinks on offer?










And the buy-on-board snacks on offer.




And meal boxes, which were apparently snapped up by Main Cabin Select passengers.




Still very dry out there...

[ycp81]

Watching a documentary on Tiger Farming.




Friendly Virgin America crew starting the beverage service as well as handing out ordered snacks and meal boxes.




Flight map uses Google Map! We are currently at 30,000ft.




Great weather for flying.




The new Pope was announced 'Live' at 30,000 feet!




I has a cranberry juice as well as a bottle of water.




We further climbed to 36,000ft.




Video taken inflight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dsl_QxsIBVk


Beautiful snow-capped mountains.




More mountains.




Really nice views throughout the flight.




Cabin view again.




Greenery shall appear after passing this mountain range.

[ycp81]

Starting our descent into San Francisco.




Built up area with lush greenery now. It is amazing how the landscape can change from dry deserts to snow-capped mountains to lush green forests and fields within 1hr!




Making some turns before setting up on finals across the bay.




Descending across the bay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa32zdB_DQM


Landing on Rwy28R, 20min behind schedule. Not the fault of the airline though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGP6FqNbMhk


Taxi to Terminal 2, which houses Virgin America and American Airlines.




Reached the gate. UA A320 taxied by.




ANA B773ER landing in the distance.




Another VX docking beside us.




My leather economy seat.




Disembarking.




A look at Main Cabin again.




This plane would be going up to Philadelphia. Wait a minute... Singapore Airlines SQ1311 to Philadelphia? Nope, not a new SQ destination but new codeshares on VX. Almost all the VX flights departing at that period of time from SFO had SQ-code affixed as well! Guess it is to enable transfer from the arrival SQ16.




Overall a short and interesting flight on Virgin America. Really a different flying experience from the normal carriers out there. With the reports that VX is currently bleeding real badly, I really hope that this unique carrier could eventually survive the very competitive US airspace. Hopefully with the alliance with SQ, things might look up a bit better for VX.


Some shots of Terminal 2, which consists of quite a number of gates surrounding some eateries.

[ycp81]

Satisfied my pinkberry crave right after touchdown in the terminal!




Towards the exit.




Claiming our bags.




From Terminal 2, we would need to take the shuttle train to the BART station at the international terminal.




SQ Albino departing as SQ15 to ICN and SIN!




The BART was really convenient to reach our hotel, Hotel Nikko, at Powell. After check-in, it was time to explore the city of Frisco! Firstly, of course the iconic San Francisco trolley!






And trams.




Union Square




Chinatown




Sutter St




Sunset