Aussie Flyer

I checked in online but found seat allocation was not available. The flight was showing as being very full on seatcounter.com. I made my way to the airport and printed my economy class boarding pass at the kiosk and did my bag drop. Then made my wasy through security and onto the airport train to the satellite terminal. This was the first week of Continental Airlines being in Star Alliance so I decided to take advantage and use the President's Club as it is now a Star Alliance Gold lounge, there would be no lounge available here if it were not for CO joining the alliance. Thanks CO! self check-in rather quiet looking United check-in area inter-terminal train station take an elevator upstairs at this sign to go to the Presidents Club I anticipated problems with the lounge attendant with regards to whether I was allowed access to the club, and I was quite right. For a start this lounge attendant has no idea what airline 'bmi' is, nor does she know the Star Alliance Go...

I stayed 2 nights at this hotel, a Saturday and a Sunday night. You can get VERY cheap rates through the Hilton website, and they include HHonors points and night credits for status. Also, you can earn Frequent Flyer miles (1000 miles a night for BMI for example). Frequent flyer points is the main reason I chose to stay here when there is so many cheap options in Vegas.  The huge Hilton sign out the front Check-in was relatively smooth, I chose to pay cash for everything and left a small cash deposit of about USD75 for incidentals. There is 3 different towers you could be staying in, I was in the centre one, with a Las Vegas strip view. You do not have to walk across the casino floor itself to get the the lifts, however you do skirt around it. 2 double beds in my room, quite comfortable. Simple furnishings Big screen TV Considering the age of the hotel I was very happy with my room. It had all the mod cons, and a nice modern big flat screen TV. I found the room to be very spa...

The next leg of my journey was to be on an Airbus A320 from United Airlines, Los Angeles to Las Vegas. After clearing customs and leaving my checked bag I made my way back up to the departures level at LAX Terminal 7. Already having my boarding pass I joined the TSA security queue, I did not realise that Star Gold with United could go through the elite security line so I joined the first queue I saw. A security person noticed me clutching my gold boarding pass and took me out of the line to the express lane, how fantastic! After the usual shoes off security check I roamed around the terminal and decided on some McDonalds for breakfast, knowing that the lounges in the USA have very little food other than cheese and crackers! United's Terminal 7 - LAX View of the apron, several Embraer 120 Brasilia's at the front LAX icon - seems some work is under way! I went and visited the United Red Carpet Club at Terminal 7 - the staff there had no issue with my bmi Diamond Club card th...

After finishing work at 0630 I went home for a 2 hour nap before the very long journey to the United States of America. Today would be my first visit to the USA since I was 15 years old ( in 1997). I took a taxi for the short trip to Melbourne Tullamarine airport for my 12 noon departure. I arrived at the terminal about 10am and headed for the United check-in. United Check-in at Melbourne airport Check-in was busy but the premium check-in area had no queue. I was checked in very promptly by a lovely check-in agent who confirmed I was crediting today's flights to bmi (British Midland). It was nice for a check-in agent to actually know who bmi was, although she did call it British Midland (the name used prior to 2001). I was invited to use the United Red Carpet Club, and given boarding passes in gold (for Star Alliance Gold and premium pax). I had 3 boarding passes in total, one for the first hop of United 840, Melbourne to Sydney, then another for the next hop of United 840 fro...