We originally planned to fly to LAX on the day of our international flight to Singapore, but when my wife had a hearing scheduled in San Diego two days earlier, that changed our plans. It was unfortunate, as I had managed to use Regional Upgrade certificates on a DeltaOne-configured A350 which would have have given us lay-flat seats for the trip from ATL to LAX. In the end, we flew on a regular domestic A321 to San Diego, using those same certificates to upgrade to First Class.

The flight was around $350 per person, but as I mentioned in the introduction post, my wife’s airfare was covered by her law firm. Our flight was at 6pm so we headed to the airport at 3pm in a Lyft figuring it would take about an hour at that time of day. Unfortunately, it was also the Thursday before Spring Break so it took closer to 90 minutes. We had a bit of time at the SkyClub in Concourse B and then headed to our gate. Because my wife was still in an ankle boot after her January surgery, we were able to pre-board so she didn’t have to stand in the jetway too long.

We were offered pre-departure beverages of our choice, which is never a guarantee these days. After takeoff, we had another round of beverages. My wife had a Coke Zero and I had a Woodford.

Dinner was served about an hour after takeoff. We had pre-selected our choices a few days before the flight. She had the short rib and I had the meatloaf, which was surprisingly good. It was served with a tasty salad, creamy risotto, asparagus and a lemon bar for dessert.

Following dinner, the flight attendant mostly disappeared although she did emerge with the snack basket about 90 minutes before landing. I started watching the Netflix adaptation of 3-Body Problem which I had downloaded to my iPad.

As the flight progressed, we watched some of the NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen games using Live TV. Overall, it was a pleasant, but long flight at almost five hours. We landed in San Diego at around 8pm local time and as we walked through the airport, I couldn’t help feeling for the folks about to head back east on the short red-eye flights to Atlanta, Detroit, etc. with no possibility of a lay-flat seat. We got an Uber to the Manchester Grand Hyatt and settled in for the night.

Up Next: Manchester Grand Hyatt Review

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