Flying to the USA on 9/11

03 October 2001 - Hong Kong, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Los Angeles etc.
Just back from an interesting vacation... Timing is everything...
On 8 September, Gerri, Alexis and Joe headed up to Hong Kong for a few days of shopping, dining in old favorite restaurants and re-visiting places Alexis barely remembers from when we lived there. We had a great time and Alexis got a bunch of new school clothes (including buying coats for the first time in her life...). We went and looked at the old school where Alexis went, Gerri taught and the apartment building we used to live in on South Bay Close (next to Repulse Bay).
Then on Tuesday, 11 September (a day that will long remain in people's memories for all the wrong reasons!) we boarded United Flight #2 which was to be a non-stop flight from Hong Kong to Los Angeles.
Just back from an interesting vacation... Timing is everything...
On 8 September, Gerri, Alexis and Joe headed up to Hong Kong for a few days of shopping, dining in old favorite restaurants and re-visiting places Alexis barely remembers from when we lived there. We had a great time and Alexis got a bunch of new school clothes (including buying coats for the first time in her life...). We went and looked at the old school where Alexis went, Gerri taught and the apartment building we used to live in on South Bay Close (next to Repulse Bay).
Then on Tuesday, 11 September (a day that will long remain in people's memories for all the wrong reasons!) we boarded United Flight #2 which was to be a non-stop flight from Hong Kong to Los Angeles.

At the beginning of the flight the Captain announced the flight would be a quick, 12 1/2 hours and they expected smooth sailing all the way. The flight went smoothly with the three of us dozing in and out. Alexis mentioned that the movies quit suddenly and I couldn't get the map to come up on the screen when I was checking where we were about 10 hours into the flight. I mentioned the movie/map issue to the flight attendant and she told me that there was a problem with the system so it had to be shut off. Didn't give it a lot of thought at the time. At 12 1/2 hours I was standing in the aisle talking to Gerri and Alexis and telling them to start getting their stuff together as we should be landing shortly. I thought it strange that we were still over water so late into the flight but figured there must be Santa Ana winds blowing so we might be landing from seaside which is not the norm at LAX but also not out of the question if the winds were blowing in from a different direction. An announcement was made saying we would be starting our decent in another hour. Seemed strange that the flight suddenly was taking almost 14 hours vs. 12 1/2 but I chalked it up to head winds.

An hour went by and we were still way up there but finally started to descend about 10 minutes later. I couldn't see land which surprised me but again, chalked it up to wind conditions in LA. The captain asked the flight attendants to be seated and I finally saw the coast. Strange though, it look very rural for a LAX landing... The guy sitting next to me said "oh we are up the coast by Oxnard/Ventura..." I accepted this but something just felt wrong... There was a large ship coming out of Marina Del Rey Harbor... (Big ships in Marina Del Rey? also noticed really blue water... clear blue water on the LA coastline? that isn't right...) We touched down and I looked out to see palm trees lining the runway which, if you have ever landed in LAX, know, is not the case. The runways do not run parallel with the coastline.

It was only after we pulled off the runway that the Captain came on and said "Some of you might have noticed that we have not landed at LAX, welcome to Honolulu, it will be explained in a few minutes". We pulled up to the gate and an agent came on and asked everyone to remain seated. It took a few minutes and some stern directions to get everyone back in their seats... There was a lot of "to-ing and fro-ing" with the agent saying "The reason you have been brought to Honolulu is"... interrupted. Again, "The reason you have been brought to Honolulu is"... interrupted. "The reason you have been brought to Honolulu is"... interrupted.

At this point people are getting irritated and starting to get up again. Then finally the agent comes back on and said "The reason you have been brought to Honolulu is for security reasons. The World Trade Center and Pentagon have been destroyed!"... Everyone sat back down. I have never heard the deafening silence I heard at that moment. 400 plus passengers were dumbfounded. It was then announced that no arrangements could be made for accommodation so everyone was on their own. There was no information available about when flights would continue we should simply contact United reservations.
I grabbed Gerri and Alexis and we started working our way out. An agent caught me by the arm and handed me a hotel confirmation saying there was a room for us at an airport hotel nearby (my 1k status with United Mileage Plus pays off again!). We went to immigration and customs... again it was very strange. 400 people quietly standing in line everyone with a shocked look on their face. Outside was just as strange as there were no private cars at the airport. We waited for a courtesy van to the hotel.
I grabbed Gerri and Alexis and we started working our way out. An agent caught me by the arm and handed me a hotel confirmation saying there was a room for us at an airport hotel nearby (my 1k status with United Mileage Plus pays off again!). We went to immigration and customs... again it was very strange. 400 people quietly standing in line everyone with a shocked look on their face. Outside was just as strange as there were no private cars at the airport. We waited for a courtesy van to the hotel.

While I would not recommend the Honolulu Airport Hotel for people planning on spending leisure time in Hawaii we were glad to have a roof over our heads and a place to watch CNN and find out what was going on... Would have been nice if the air-conditioning worked though especially because when you opened the windows... the freeway noise made it impossible to hear anything else... (I know... I'm whining...)
It was surprisingly easy to get through to United reservations but the bad part was, they had no information to give. They just kept saying to standby and keep calling back every couple of hours. 3 days we sat by the phone... The hotel was full of other folks just like ourselves along with the flight crew from our flight. Everyone was friendly and asked each other if any had heard anything different... At 5am we finally got the word that we would be leaving at 1pm. The only flights operating would be those 8 flights that had been diverted to Hawaii from different parts of Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
It was surprisingly easy to get through to United reservations but the bad part was, they had no information to give. They just kept saying to standby and keep calling back every couple of hours. 3 days we sat by the phone... The hotel was full of other folks just like ourselves along with the flight crew from our flight. Everyone was friendly and asked each other if any had heard anything different... At 5am we finally got the word that we would be leaving at 1pm. The only flights operating would be those 8 flights that had been diverted to Hawaii from different parts of Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

We left for the airport at 9am (it was 4 minutes away) for a 1pm flight as we were told to get there very early. The departure area had armed military posted every couple of feet. The lines were long but not unreasonable. Again, the crowds were surprisingly quite and very patient. Procedures took a little longer than usual otherwise there were no visible differences terms of security. We were told that we could get to LAX but they knew nothing about our onward flight to Las Vegas.
The take-off was delayed 30 minutes but by 1:30 we were winging our way to LAX. The flight had the same crew, same passengers and everyone was seating in the same seats... The same seats that were empty 3 days before were empty on the continuing flight. It still felt somewhat surreal.
Landed LAX at 9PM. Approaching the gate you couldn't help but notice how little movement there was on the ground. There were aircraft parked everywhere, lights off and nobody readying them for take-off. Walking from the gate to baggage claim was strange as there were no other people in the terminal except those of us coming off flight #2. No people greeting family and friends, no other passengers rushing to get on other flights, no shops/snack bars open, no airline personnel manning all the gates and customer service counters.
The take-off was delayed 30 minutes but by 1:30 we were winging our way to LAX. The flight had the same crew, same passengers and everyone was seating in the same seats... The same seats that were empty 3 days before were empty on the continuing flight. It still felt somewhat surreal.
Landed LAX at 9PM. Approaching the gate you couldn't help but notice how little movement there was on the ground. There were aircraft parked everywhere, lights off and nobody readying them for take-off. Walking from the gate to baggage claim was strange as there were no other people in the terminal except those of us coming off flight #2. No people greeting family and friends, no other passengers rushing to get on other flights, no shops/snack bars open, no airline personnel manning all the gates and customer service counters.

The baggage came relatively quick... Outside was just like inside... No private cars in sight. Lots of police and that was about it. Waited for the Hertz courtesy bus and on the way to the lot we saw police road blocks in front of all the airport entrances... At the Hertz lot there were cars stacked on top of each other. No one was renting cars and according to the agent they had hundreds of extra cars on the lot as those people who had been stuck in other locations had rented cars, driven back to LA and left the cars at the lot.

At 10pm we were on the freeway heading for Las Vegas... A couple days late... we pulled up to our hotel at 2:30am.
Flights were still out of the question so we drove from Vegas to Santa Barbara where we spent a very short week getting Alexis all set-up for school:
As you can see the dorm rooms are not spacious but that is probably the only thing negative one could say about UCSB. Campus is located on the beach, has huge open areas with lots of trees and is in a great part of the country. Life isn't bad for this new university student!
Then it was on to see family and friends:
Everything got very rushed and turned into a quick meal or visit here and there. We got to spend a day with JR, a meal with Jeanne and Rick, a couple visits with Dick and Shirley. Gerri stayed in LA for an extra week to spend time with Kathy. We also got to spend some time with Jacky.
Flights were still out of the question so we drove from Vegas to Santa Barbara where we spent a very short week getting Alexis all set-up for school:
As you can see the dorm rooms are not spacious but that is probably the only thing negative one could say about UCSB. Campus is located on the beach, has huge open areas with lots of trees and is in a great part of the country. Life isn't bad for this new university student!
Then it was on to see family and friends:
Everything got very rushed and turned into a quick meal or visit here and there. We got to spend a day with JR, a meal with Jeanne and Rick, a couple visits with Dick and Shirley. Gerri stayed in LA for an extra week to spend time with Kathy. We also got to spend some time with Jacky.

Joe headed back to Singapore on 30 September. He is still grumbling about the 4 hour check-in process he had to go through at LAX... Gerri got through a bit quicker but it got complicated when she and Kathy realized they had left Gerri's medicines back in Santa Ana after they arrived at LAX... Kathy gets the Mario Andretti award for driving back and forth to get the medicine while Gerri went through the check-in process....
Great to catch up with people, disappointed how short the time was...
Great to catch up with people, disappointed how short the time was...