Saturday will go down as one of the greatest days I have ever spent with my two-year-old son, Augustine. We spent the day at Los Angeles International Airport of course…
Although hardly unique for male toddlers, my son is very much into airplanes…especially takeoffs and landings. He enjoys watching Lufthansa safety videos as much as I do and his toy airplanes are currently his most prized possessions (other than his blanket…a gift from SWISS a couple years ago during his first trip to Zurich).
The original plan was to go on a father-son day trip to SFO, but the last-minute fares were simply too expensive to justify. I’m not going to drop $280 each to go eat lunch at the Yankee Pier or SFO Centurion Lounge. Taking him to the City would have been too big an endeavor. I hit up my friend who has a JetSmarter membership to check on flying private, but there were no empty leg flights available.
So I figured we’d just head down to the airport and do some plane spotting. We parked near the In-N-Out on Sepulveda Boulevard and within minutes Augustine was delighted to see a United 787 landing.
But although a day at In-N-Out is not bad, I wanted to take him into the airport so we could get a little closer look at the airplanes. Thankfully, I have a friend who works at the airport and was able to arrange a way through security and even into a couple of lounges. I even told Augustine to take his “suitcase” along.
We began with brunch in the Star Alliance Lounge. Augustine was happy with some fruit and toast (and a sip of daddy’s coffee) but was most fascinated by the planes parked below and flying overhead.
Next, just for kicks, we checked out the Korean Air Lounge. Augustine and I agreed…it is still terrible, although Augustine did have a second banana.
We spent the next hour walking from gate to gate checking out the airplanes. I tried to teach him the names of the jets, though I’m not sure he remembered any of it. But he did repeat “seven four seven” when we came to a beautiful KLM Queen waiting to depart to Amsterdam.
He seemed most excited by a Delta A350 departing for Shanghai. I don’t understand why it was departing from Tom Bradley Terminal instead of Terminal 2 or 3, but it is a beautiful aircraft.
It was time for lunch and our next destination was Terminal 1 to try Rock & Brews, the latest addition to the Priority Pass portfolio at LAX. I’ll review this restaurant separately, but the lunch was very, very tasty. We had $28/each in credit and ordered a chicken quesadilla, a Santa Maria Tri-Tip sandwich, and Santa Maria Tri-Tip tacos. The service was slow, but the food was excellent.
After a cappuccino at Urth Café (Augustine loves to sip the foam from my cup), we headed back to the car, catching an Asiana 777, SAS A330, and Air Tahiti Nui A340.
Augustine quickly fell asleep, napping on the way home.
CONCLUSION
Now Augustine wakes up every morning and asks me if we are going to the airport. I tell him, no son…not today. But we’ll go back soon. And we will indeed.
Fun! I think the Delta A350 was fascinating because the black around the flight deck windows looks like a super cool mask 🙂
how were you able to enter Star alliance lounge without a ticket?
I address this in story above.
I’m not sure how accurate this is, but it seems like the PVG flight leaves from TBIT because of the lack of gate space at T2 or T3.
This is fantastic.
When my wife was pregnant with our second kid, I would take my then 2 year old to SFO and ride the airport train around and around the terminals, looking at planes, until we’d stop in the international terminal for a latte and apple juice and a couple of pastries. Some of my favorite memories of him as a little one.
Embrace all those moments of the younger years, it goes too fast.
If you get to DC, take your son the new air and space complex out by the airport, it’s fantastic and excellent for air traffic watching as well.
I can second this. Watching your three year old stand underneath a space shuttle is a wonderful sight.
My daughters both like going to plane spot near LAX. There’s a great spot off Imperial Highway on a hill (offering good views since you can see the airport from above), at the corner of Sheldon St. and Imperial Ave. There are tables and benches and always lots of people plane spotting (including some avgeeks with notebooks and telephoto lenses on their cameras). While not in the airport, it’s right down the block from a dog park (another favorite of my girls). The view you have is roughly aligned with the south end of TBIT, so there are great views of all planes taking off and landing on the south runways.
Best of all, parking is free and plentiful on the residential streets.
Clutter’s Park! It is definitely one of the better plane-spotting spots for LAX. Good place to pick up a donut and coffee down the street on Main, and enjoy the views. And let’s not forget about the Proud Bird on Aviation, also a great place to spot, just a lot more expensive than a trip to In-N-Out.
Good stuff. I really should take my son to Founder’s Plaza to look at planes sometime. He demands that I bring home a toy plane when I travel somewhere, so he’d probably enjoy some real planespotting. If only it weren’t so darned far to the airport…
And I bet he likes his new duck! 😉
Awesome. Picking up Mommy from the airport is also fun, especially when you have a toy plane in the car
I think Augustine and my two-year-old would be great friends. They could talk about planes all day long.
My kid is currently very interested in wheel chocks, for some reason, so he’s always looking for them when we see planes parked at the gate. Also, his new thing is an intense interest in the catering trucks. I assume he likes how they go up and down. This is all in addition to the planes themselves, of course 🙂
So the PP restaurant didn’t ask to see a boarding pass? I thought they were supposed to do that.
They didn’t.
Great article!! While at LAX did you happen to check on the progress (or lack thereof) of the centurion lounge? Any idea (guess) when it will open?
I looked. Did not see any progress.
Matthew,
I love this post! One of my earliest aviation memories was of a trip to Los Angeles fromasterag and of that exact view of the KLM 747 moments before we boarded!
I will be on DL7 (A350) LAX-HND in May, after they switch to that aircraft. The current flights also depart from TBIT (not T2 or T3).
Any LAX folks know how I can access DL Sky Lounge in T2 and avoid the lousy KAL lounge at TBIT? I hope I can check my bags at domestic, not sure if they have check-in for DL at TBIT for flights departing there. Looking very much forward to the new suite!!!
There is a bus connection at T2, T3 and TBIT that runs airside to connect DL pax. Check in at T2/T3. Pro tip, use the sky club at T2, it’s much larger than the ones in T3
Great post and a fun read.
Also, was this ‘friend’ at LAX, how you call a fully refundable booking ? 😛
This sounds like a made up story. You probably booked a refundable ticket for both and canceled it. TSA doesn’t usually allow for people to go past security unless they have a BOARDING PASS. Are you doing a trip report for both you and your son? Walla, Allah is going to punish you for your actions.
Thank you for making our day… Great story, beautiful pictures…
My pleasure!
A great story and better yet great memories. I’m consistently amazed how much our littles remember and I suspect Augustine will remember his day at the airport with daddy for a long time.
Last year we took the kids to Annapolis to see the Blue Angels during commencement week and as long as I live I will never forget the look of pure unadulterated joy and excitement on my sons face as an F/A-18 ripped over his head in full burner. He’s daddies boy alright.
What a cutie Augustine is!
Fantastic way to spend time with your little one. I have two boys and we usually do “boys only stuff” and they love it. As @Heather said above, enjoy every second with him since time flies.