American Adventures – Part 1 – Sydney to Tampa

Very early start on Monday, arriving at Sydney airport at 6am.

Due to potential delays, travellers are advised to allow 4 hours to check in and pass through security. A few months back, Alan Joyce, the CEO of QANTAS declared that travellers were ‘not match fit’ and that they were contributing to delays at airports. After seeing the bovinesque manner in which people mosey through the airport and security, I actually have to agree with him. There are many, many signs leading up to the security screening, advising travellers via words and diagrams what items need to go in bins to pass through X-ray. Yet, dozens of travellers stood doe-eyed with their large jackets on, getting annoyed that they could not walk through the metal detector.

Having said the above, there is a lack of open security screening stations, which can potentially be put down to staff shortages.

Be prepared, get your shit together. It will make your life and the lives of your fellow travellers a bit easier.

The overall vibe of Sydney Airport departures is ‘bare bones’. The duty free stores are in full force but there is a lack of variety in food outlets and those that are open are busy and expensive.

One part of our trip from Sydney to Tampa that had kept me awake at night was our 85-minute layover between arriving in San Francisco and our connecting flight to Tampa. We had been assured many times by our local Flight Centre team that this was more than enough time between flights and that if it was not possible to make the flight, United could not sell the ticket as a connection. They also told us that we would not have to collect or re-check our checked bag.

BOY! Was this all wrong!

We were firstly blessed by the fact that our Sydney to San Fran flight was running approx 30 mins early. We grabbed our bags and briskly walked toward customs. The lineup was already a few hundred people long, as a flight from Melbourne had landed at a similar time. We dutifully lined up and prayed. Many people around us were also concerned as they were connecting to Chicago, Washington, Newark, etc. In a stroke of luck, the line attendant opened the rope to allow a dozen of us into the line for US citizens. This saved as likely an hour in line.

Next, we raced to collect our bag, which arrived after a short wait. By this stage, we were about 15 mins from boarding opening for our flight, and I was starting to freak out. We continued on to connections/ re-check, where we dropped our previously checked bag and continued power walking toward our gate. My mood at this point was optimistic.

As we approached our gate, we were greeted by several thousand people, all lined up to go through security checks to board their flights. My heart sank. These lines were barely moving and would take many hours to get through. At this point, our flight had boarded and was about 10 mins from leaving. Rewinding back 30 hours or so, when we were doing our check-in the day before we flew out, we tossed up paying extra for Premier Access, an upgrade-type thing with United that allows priority boarding and security. It was a few hundred dollars but we ultimately agreed it was an investment in getting on the plane with our carry-on luggage, and we were really concerned about the short turnaround we had between landing in San Fran and flying out to Tampa. Like a vision, the sign for Premier Access in the security line appeared. We rolled up; at this point, I was on the verge of a panic attack, were screened by security and sprinted toward our gate. It was at this point that I was both surprised by the impact of adrenalin on my ability to run and also on how seriously unfit I am.

With minutes to spare, we arrived at the gate. Because we were so late, the cabin was full, so had to check all of our carry-on bags, but we took our seats – grubby, sweaty, relieved – for the next leg of our flight to Tampa.

We landed in Tampa at 4:30pm local time. Tampa airport has many different hubs, all connected by a train system. These trains come and go every three minutes and get you from arrival gates to baggage claim, then on to car rental. We got hints of how hot it was outside as the train doors opened but didn’t really feel the wall of heat and humidity until we emerged into the covered car park to collect our vehicle.

Next, we were hurtling down the road, on the wrong side of the road, on our way to our accommodation for a much-needed shower and some dinner.

In what felt like the longest Monday in history (because it kinda was), we finally hit Denny’s for some dinner and returned to the hotel for some sleep.

Day one down, and what a roller coaster of a day it was.

Please learn from our experience. Do not try to book a domestic connecting flight from San Francisco to anywhere else in the US with anything less than a 3 hour gap, or risk missing your connecting flight!