V-Flyer

Hello

We are looking to book a rental car for our 5 night stay in LA next month and I am pondering whether it is worth it and also whether it would be a good idea for hubby to drive after an 11.5 hour flight at what would be 3 am our time.Hopefully he can snooze a bit on the flight as we are in UC.
The cost is just under £200 so not a big issue.

As we have moved onto the VS23 we will arrive a bit later than planned. I am guessing if we land at 7pm, by the time we have cleared customs and collected luggage it could be approaching 9pm, it'll be dark and unfamiliar.
He thinks he will be fine of course. ii)

We have about 40k miles between us so I was wondering whether I should book a transfer using some of the miles (17.5k I think).
We are staying in one of the Disney onsite hotels for 3 nights then onto Santa Monica for 2.
I am not sure we would need a car other than for the LAX-Anaheim and Anaheim-SM part of our trip.
Does anyone have experience of this journey and locations that might be able to help us decide ?

Many thanks
L2H

Hi L2H
I dont have any direct experience however I think that driving after a long haul flight in the dark on unfamiliar roads could be a bit tricky, though not impossible obviously. I have driven back from LHR after long hauls before but that was in the day time although still a bit tough.
I personally would look to book a CDC to collect you and family from LAX. In terms of using your mileage to book this, hmm, Im not sure its the best use of miles but i guess it comes down to length of journey, cost etc. Perhaps contact VS UC CS and ask them to recommend a CDC?

Hi

Personally I would look to book myself into an Airport Hotel at LAX and pick up the car in the am, some of the hotels are within walking distance of the hire car depots.

Thanks

I'd book something like Super Shuttle to get you to Anaheim - you can book shared or private vans for very reasonable rates. You won't need a car while in Anaheim.

It is not a good use of miles booking a CDC, and could they be better saved for future flights?

Hi L2H

I agree with Neil that you really won't need a car whilst in Anaheim, or in my opinion in Santa Monica either. We were met by friends at LAX and their car wasn't used from the moment we arrived at Disney until we left for Santa Monica where their car was left in the Hotels Valet until they left the following day.

However having recently done the beginning of your trip LAX-Disney-Santa Monica they are nowhere as near to each other as the map indicates (about an hour between each).

Shuttle LAX- Disney http://www.supershuttle.com/Locations/D ... uttle.aspx

Shuttle Santa Monica-LAX
http://www.santamonica.com/visitors/pla ... portation/

Some of the bigger Hotels in Anaheim and Santa Monica have Car Rental depots if the need arises.

I hope some of this is helpful.

Dominic

Thanks all , very helpful as always.

I think the only reason I would want to hang onto the miles is for the return leg of our trip from SFO-LHR, we are booked in S. I am not sure that it's likely any Gs will come up though, especially for 3?
Can someone do a load check for me - departing SFO on 7/9/13.

Will have a look at all the above information, I tend to agree regarding use of car and maybe we could rent one a couple of days into our trip from Anaheim.
Thanks again

L2H

Hi L2H

Flightstats is showing at least 9 seats still unsold in UC for your flight.

I would keep checking to see if anything comes up, a quick call to FC and they might be able to tell you if any G fares have been released so far, I have been told that none have been for my flight in September but will be available at some point.

Dominic

Thanks Dominic, you're a star !

Agreed, 17,500 miles for a CDC is a waste. Virgin sell miles for 1.5p so by their valuation a glorified cab costs over £250! Save the miles for a flight upgrade - much better value.

Having flown on the VS23 several times myself, I also agree that I wouldn't want to drive straight after landing. The car rental places are off airport so you have to catch a bus which can take up to half an hour, and the LA freeways can be a challenge even for the most alert local drivers!

Book a shuttle, that way you'll probably be in Anaheim before you'd even have picked up your car at LAX. If you find you need a car when you get there, you can rent one locally.

I agree with the others who've said not to drive -- the jetlag on arrival at LAX can be pretty bad on the first evening, and even if you've slept on the flight I wouldn't recommend it.

Ok, thanks again all. I will look at the shuttles
This time in 4 weeks ))))

Agreed on shuttles - lots of them, and not too expensive either.

See you are off to Maui as well - Where will you be staying?

If you happen to be staying at the Hyatt Regency, you must say "Aloha" to the parrot that says, erm, "Aloha" - oh, and the other one that mews like a cat...

We visited LA in March and chose to drive (we stayed in Universal City).

We didn't need the car for Universal/Hollywood attractions but found it very useful when visiting Anaheim, Malibu, Santa Monica, etc, where we didn't have to rely on public transport for these much longer journeys, have to pay taxi fares or be restricted by tour company itineraries.

Also, LAX does not have any onsite car rental depots. You have to catch a free bus to the offsite depots which will add another 20 mins or so onto the process. We arrived on VS007 and still caught the back end of the legendary I-405 rush hour.

LA freeway driving can be stressful the first time, with it's 'on-ramp (slip road) metering' and car-pool lanes (generally not an issue if there's at least two of you in the car but good to be aware of). The freeways also seem to have exits at every mile, with many 'exit-only'.

I would advise renting a car if planing to visit other cities in the area. If you do drive, I recommend reading the online California Drivers Handbook which covers some of the points above.

lovetoholiday wrote:Ok, thanks again all. I will look at the shuttles
This time in 4 weeks ))))

I've done the shuttle a few times, primarily because the SNA-SFO flight with United is one of the first to go when it gets foggy at SFO, so I usually shuttled across to LAX and gotten on standby for LAX to SFO...anyway, the shuttles are easy and it'll make the flight more enjoyable as your hubby will be able to have a glass of champers or two.