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It's Like Christmastime in the LBC
So, I love Long Beach, now. To be specific, I love the Long Beach Airport.
The Long Beach Airport is tiny. Its greatest claim to fame is being the intended endpoint for Douglas "Wrong-Way" Corrigan's famous trans-Atlantic flight. But a while ago, a little East Coast upstart called Jet Blue decided they'd like to expand to the LA market. It found out about this little terminal, leased all of the available space, and made it its West Coast hub, surprising all of its larger competitors, and leaving them no way to get into that airport. And as Jet Blue increases its profile in LA, more people have been driving the extra miles to get to the Long Beach terminal instead of LAX.
The whole thing (sans airstrips, of course) is smaller than most high schools. The main building is ticketing on the bottom floor and a small cafe on the top. There's also a small snack bar and newsstand. The gate areas are attached to bungalow-like buildings, and almost all of the non-secure waiting areas are outside or are shaded under ledges. It would be a horror to fly into or out of if it were raining, but while I was there, like most clichedly perfect SoCal days, it was nice to be able to hang around outside in the sun instead in the suffocation of a massive gray building.
There wasn't much traffic, and there weren't any lines, although both of those may be due to my penchant for getting to the airport early. The plane was late due to winds, and the Jet Blue staff apologized by offering free bottled water to those waiting and, later, by landing in D.C. on time. Getting on the plane was also quicker because we boarded from the front and the back of the plane at the same time. Man, why can't more places do that?
Jet Blue was its own niceness, expecially when seated in the spacious emergency exit aisle. I spent most of the flight watching the Game Show Network, which deserves its own mention elsewhere.
When I returned to that airport, things were again beautiful. I made my way to the long-term parking lot ($6/day), where the shuttle driver dropped people off as close to their cars as he could get. I found my keys, settled into the car, said "Tablesaw, you've survived another vacation," and started the car.
Except that I didn't. Or rather, it didn't. After much key turning, it became clear that, over the previous four days, my battery had died.
I started the long walk toward the opening looking to find a phone, when I saw the shuttle driver outside of his shuttle. I thought he might be willing and able to help. This thought was reinforced by seeing him fill up another parker's flat tire using one of those nifty compressed-air-in-a-can things. He promised to call the main people to get some help. He came back on his shuttle run and stopped the shuttle to tell me that jumper cables were on the way, and soon, a helpful young woman named Paloma came around with jumper cables and a specialized car-jumping battery. It took about twenty minutes to fix the slightly-too-large clamps on my cars slightly-too-small terminals, but Paloma's determination never flagged, and eventually, my car was restarted, to much rejoicing by us both. I thanked her and drove home to unload my belongings at my house and my car at my mechanic's.
To sum up: Yay Long Beach Airport. Lots of sun. Pretty. Don't go when rain. Helpful and cheap parking lot. Will go again soon.
The Long Beach Airport is tiny. Its greatest claim to fame is being the intended endpoint for Douglas "Wrong-Way" Corrigan's famous trans-Atlantic flight. But a while ago, a little East Coast upstart called Jet Blue decided they'd like to expand to the LA market. It found out about this little terminal, leased all of the available space, and made it its West Coast hub, surprising all of its larger competitors, and leaving them no way to get into that airport. And as Jet Blue increases its profile in LA, more people have been driving the extra miles to get to the Long Beach terminal instead of LAX.
The whole thing (sans airstrips, of course) is smaller than most high schools. The main building is ticketing on the bottom floor and a small cafe on the top. There's also a small snack bar and newsstand. The gate areas are attached to bungalow-like buildings, and almost all of the non-secure waiting areas are outside or are shaded under ledges. It would be a horror to fly into or out of if it were raining, but while I was there, like most clichedly perfect SoCal days, it was nice to be able to hang around outside in the sun instead in the suffocation of a massive gray building.
There wasn't much traffic, and there weren't any lines, although both of those may be due to my penchant for getting to the airport early. The plane was late due to winds, and the Jet Blue staff apologized by offering free bottled water to those waiting and, later, by landing in D.C. on time. Getting on the plane was also quicker because we boarded from the front and the back of the plane at the same time. Man, why can't more places do that?
Jet Blue was its own niceness, expecially when seated in the spacious emergency exit aisle. I spent most of the flight watching the Game Show Network, which deserves its own mention elsewhere.
When I returned to that airport, things were again beautiful. I made my way to the long-term parking lot ($6/day), where the shuttle driver dropped people off as close to their cars as he could get. I found my keys, settled into the car, said "Tablesaw, you've survived another vacation," and started the car.
Except that I didn't. Or rather, it didn't. After much key turning, it became clear that, over the previous four days, my battery had died.
I started the long walk toward the opening looking to find a phone, when I saw the shuttle driver outside of his shuttle. I thought he might be willing and able to help. This thought was reinforced by seeing him fill up another parker's flat tire using one of those nifty compressed-air-in-a-can things. He promised to call the main people to get some help. He came back on his shuttle run and stopped the shuttle to tell me that jumper cables were on the way, and soon, a helpful young woman named Paloma came around with jumper cables and a specialized car-jumping battery. It took about twenty minutes to fix the slightly-too-large clamps on my cars slightly-too-small terminals, but Paloma's determination never flagged, and eventually, my car was restarted, to much rejoicing by us both. I thanked her and drove home to unload my belongings at my house and my car at my mechanic's.
To sum up: Yay Long Beach Airport. Lots of sun. Pretty. Don't go when rain. Helpful and cheap parking lot. Will go again soon.
no subject
watching the Game Show Network
I LOVE the GSN! Well, at least I did before they added the more modern games like Who's Wants to Be a Millionaire?. It's not that I don't like those new games, but I really dig the older ones. :-) I hope your review of the GSN was going to be a good one.
And again, welcome back to LA. Hopefully your car won't cost you a fortune and a half.
no subject
then again, i condone movie-watching on longer flights.
oh the joys of my own inconsistency. haven't worked it out.
glad you wrote this entry. jet blue's success is even less of a mystery now. they have some very clever people helping them fly.