Our evening departure at 2045 from Auckland wasn’t like our usual. We had Kim’s parents Pat and Fiona with us, along with friends Matt and Steph. All of us are hopefully bound for Los Angeles on standby, and subject to space on the aircraft continuing to London Heathrow.
Before check-in, there was random manual baggage search. It’s part of new security requirements for travel to the USA since 9/11 I guess. Kim and I were randomly selected for this.
Today must have been our lucky day. We were given boarding passes all the way to London and likewise, our bags were tagged all the way as well. The airline must be confident of empty seats on both legs of the flight.
Then they requested that I had my checked-in baggage re-inspected (by the same team), otherwise I’d have to collect it and check it in again at Los Angeles while on transit. I gladly complied. It’s a requirement for citizens from select countries with a significant Muslim population; that’s me!
The biggest stress of the journey had been removed from us today. It is highly stressful to arrive in Los Angeles, clear immigration, collect luggage and go upstairs to check-in and wait to be confirmed on to the flight.
Once airside, Kim and I went to the Diners Lounge for a while. I had to report to the transfer desk early to be personally escorted to the gate for additional inspection of my hand baggage due to my nationality. One is required to spray one’s perfume, drink from one’s water bottle etc. Other nationalities are selected at random for the same checks.
We had arranged with the crew, whom we knew, for Kim’s elderly parents to take our business class seats, which had been given to us on a last-minute basis. As we boarded, we were pleasantly surprised that the crew directed us to business class as well. It was very nice to have the family of four flying in comfort.