Last month, my partner and I arrived at LAX on AY001 (travelling business class and our experience with that is another story). We were on a Finnair RTW ticket issued by a travel agent.
Prior to departure from Australia, on the Finnair website and under my booking reference, I booked a "transfer" from LAX to our downtown hotel. The cost was around $A105 that I paid in full. Sure, I didn't read all the fine print but what I expected was what I had experienced at several other airports during my extensive retirement travels. Someone with an Ipad showing my name would be at the arrival area.
Not so. After several inquiries, I was told to get the "shuttle" to the parking lot and wait at the Uber stand. As luck would have it, the US SIM card I had purchased for my Iphone did not activate. Nor could I connect to the Telstra $10 a day roaming.
We took the shuttle to the car park. It was a dreadful crowded experience with pushing and shoving all the way. Another story for another time.
To cut a long story short, without the benefit of my mobile phone and through the assistance of a helpful stranger, I was able to contact the third party supplier of what turned out to be a Uber. After about an hour the designated vehicle turned up with a driver who did not speak a word of English.
En route the vehicle (a Toyota Sienna) was involved in a serious accident on the 110 freeway. It was not the driver's fault but the Toyota Sienna would have been a writeoff. Fortunately, we were not injured but suffered severe whiplash. For more than half an hour, we were left for dead with traffic screaming by. The time was around 7.40pm. The driver was also not seriously injured and spent the entire time on his mobile phone. No concern about us. Eventually, the fire rescue people arrived followed by the Highway Patrol who organised for a tow truck to tow our vehicle off the freeway lanes (that we closed for the short time it took). Still no one came to ask how we were.
Eventually, the Highway Patrol Officer took a statement, photographed our passports and said she would organise to take us off the freeway to safety - as it turned out in the back of what we would know as a "divvy van". The only light moment of the episode may have been when the officer said the "cage" where we were placed was where the "bad people" normally go - and we were certainly not bad people.
We were taken to the Highway Patrol head office - on the outskirts of downtown LA - where an officer attempted to call a cab (my mobile still not working). Eventually, two other officers came to our rescue saying it was an unsafe area for us to be left hanging around and, as an act of duty, they would take us to our hotel and safety. That they did and we arrived five and a half hours after our landing at LAX.
I contacted Finnair who said "not their problem" because I had responded to what they considered an advertisement on their website.
I contacted the third party supplier, CarTrawler, who advised to allow 20-30 business days for a response to my case number. No response as yet. The accident was on 18 September.
I contacted Uber (with some difficulty because the ride wasn't ordered direct by me) and got a curt response saying "nothing doing for privacy reasons".
Travel insurance confirmed not applicable because we were not injured as such.
It was a traumatic experience being left on the freeway and to put it bluntly both my partner and I (retirees and experienced travellers) were coughting ourselves.
We've both saw our respective doctors immediately after returning home with the advice that the whiplash pain would ease and disappear as nature took its course: possibly not completely gone for up to three weeks.
I share our experience for the information of our AFF colleagues and wonder if anyone else on here from Australia has been in a similar predicament in Los Angeles.
Paul in Melbourne
Prior to departure from Australia, on the Finnair website and under my booking reference, I booked a "transfer" from LAX to our downtown hotel. The cost was around $A105 that I paid in full. Sure, I didn't read all the fine print but what I expected was what I had experienced at several other airports during my extensive retirement travels. Someone with an Ipad showing my name would be at the arrival area.
Not so. After several inquiries, I was told to get the "shuttle" to the parking lot and wait at the Uber stand. As luck would have it, the US SIM card I had purchased for my Iphone did not activate. Nor could I connect to the Telstra $10 a day roaming.
We took the shuttle to the car park. It was a dreadful crowded experience with pushing and shoving all the way. Another story for another time.
To cut a long story short, without the benefit of my mobile phone and through the assistance of a helpful stranger, I was able to contact the third party supplier of what turned out to be a Uber. After about an hour the designated vehicle turned up with a driver who did not speak a word of English.
En route the vehicle (a Toyota Sienna) was involved in a serious accident on the 110 freeway. It was not the driver's fault but the Toyota Sienna would have been a writeoff. Fortunately, we were not injured but suffered severe whiplash. For more than half an hour, we were left for dead with traffic screaming by. The time was around 7.40pm. The driver was also not seriously injured and spent the entire time on his mobile phone. No concern about us. Eventually, the fire rescue people arrived followed by the Highway Patrol who organised for a tow truck to tow our vehicle off the freeway lanes (that we closed for the short time it took). Still no one came to ask how we were.
Eventually, the Highway Patrol Officer took a statement, photographed our passports and said she would organise to take us off the freeway to safety - as it turned out in the back of what we would know as a "divvy van". The only light moment of the episode may have been when the officer said the "cage" where we were placed was where the "bad people" normally go - and we were certainly not bad people.
We were taken to the Highway Patrol head office - on the outskirts of downtown LA - where an officer attempted to call a cab (my mobile still not working). Eventually, two other officers came to our rescue saying it was an unsafe area for us to be left hanging around and, as an act of duty, they would take us to our hotel and safety. That they did and we arrived five and a half hours after our landing at LAX.
I contacted Finnair who said "not their problem" because I had responded to what they considered an advertisement on their website.
I contacted the third party supplier, CarTrawler, who advised to allow 20-30 business days for a response to my case number. No response as yet. The accident was on 18 September.
I contacted Uber (with some difficulty because the ride wasn't ordered direct by me) and got a curt response saying "nothing doing for privacy reasons".
Travel insurance confirmed not applicable because we were not injured as such.
It was a traumatic experience being left on the freeway and to put it bluntly both my partner and I (retirees and experienced travellers) were coughting ourselves.
We've both saw our respective doctors immediately after returning home with the advice that the whiplash pain would ease and disappear as nature took its course: possibly not completely gone for up to three weeks.
I share our experience for the information of our AFF colleagues and wonder if anyone else on here from Australia has been in a similar predicament in Los Angeles.
Paul in Melbourne
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