Vegas smells of cigars and cars
I’m in Las Vegas at the moment for a work thing, and there’s absolutely nothing to say about the place that hasn’t been said earlier and better by other people. But I did pick up a handy travel tip:
If you’re going on a long-haul flight and the first leg is a domestic one, when the travel agent says you need to be there three hours before take-off, they’re lying. And when you phone the airline to check, and they say the travel agent’s correct – “because you’re checking your bags all the way through, you need to be there early” – they’re lying too.
Airports suck at the best of times but they suck even more when you’re there two hours before the sodding check-in’s open.
11 Responses to “Vegas smells of cigars and cars”
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tm on April 30th, 2007
I see your fundamental problem here. I treat everything I’m told by travel agents and airlines with total suspicion until there is actually some concrete proof that they are correct and I’m wrong. I’ve still never even come close to missing a flight or even annoying them by showing up late…
Lis on April 30th, 2007
If I can be the Lisa Simpson of air travel: if you AREN’T there in that time frame and something goes wrong (excessively long queue) you don’t have a lot of rights. If you have been there for those hours, they are more obligated to reaccomodate you and your luggage. Same is true if you check luggage outside of their recommendation, they are less inclined to help when it doesn’t make it with you. That’s assuming they are EVER accomodating, which they are not.
Squander Two on May 1st, 2007
But, Lis, that doesn’t apply when they ask you to get there before they do. If something went wrong, they wouldn’t even have any way of knowing how long you’d been at the airport.
I don’t mind them telling you to get there preposterously early — I understand why they do it, and it makes a lot of sense. But I do object to them telling you to check in two hours early and then only opening the check-in desk an hour-and-a-half early. That’s just rude.
Actually, come to think of it…
> if you AREN’T there in that time frame and something goes wrong (excessively long queue) you don’t have a lot of rights.
Yeah, you do. Your rights are set out in the contract that comes with the ticket, not in the vague advice they give you over the phone.
tm on May 1st, 2007
>if you AREN’T there in that time frame and something goes wrong (excessively long queue)
And how exactly do they propose to prove you haven’t been in the airport for three hours kicking your heels anyway?
It’s an entirley different thing to say you have to clear security 20 mins before your departure than to ask you to check in so early you’re practically in a diffent calendar period.
tm on May 1st, 2007
oh and a three hour or so long queue implies total organisational failure on their part and is their (or the airport itselfs) fault as well.
James on May 2nd, 2007
Don’t forget – when you’re playing the slots in Vegas and the waitress comes around offering drinks, it’s not a hard sell – they’re free! (provided you’re gambling, even with 5 cent pieces)… although you need to tip her a dollar for getting them.
Ben on May 2nd, 2007
“I’m in Las Vegas at the moment for a work thing”
Hope you enjoy your work then ;-)
Gary on May 3rd, 2007
Oh Ben, you cynic… I don’t think it’s a place I’d go back to under my own steam. Too loud, too busy, too determined to part you from every last cent. I think I’m a country boy at heart: Vegas is too… everything.
And three days isn’t long enough to justify the travel. Two days there, three days not getting used to the time difference, two days travelling back. I’m hoping suicidal binge drinking means I’ll get to sleep at a sensible time, but I’m not holding my breath.
Gary on May 3rd, 2007
The whole age/sex/race balance in vegas is interesting, I think. The punters are generally really ugly – velour is king in vegas, jogging suits are de rigeur – while the staff are probably some of the most beautiful people the world has ever seen (bar the odd overly dramatic implants, that is) – there was one girl on the Venetian casino floor who looked like Keisha Sugababe, but even better looking. which is hard to imagine. But in terms of visitors there does seem to be a geodemographic gap – so for example the punters are overwhelmingly white and asian, but the asian folks are much younger and (apparently) more affluent; the whites generally seem to be on the run from retirement homes. Very few black people bar the odd honeymooner.
I don’t have a point, I just thought it was interesting.
Tony Kiernan on May 4th, 2007
>>but I’m not holding my breath.
Sometimes that works best.
Only reason I can think to go to Vegas is to see Penn & Telller. Bet you didn’t.
At least you felt at home with the other punters.
Gary on May 4th, 2007
I was including myself in the “generally ugly” comment.
I didn’t know about P&T until it was too late. Bah.