Hello Community Southwest:
Here's a Photo Trip Report to LAS with a Southwest Hotels stay at Vegas that took place on the Monday after Tropical Storm Hilary came through Southern California, August 21. This was the last of the three trips I booked way back during Southwest's June 40% off sale...and miraculously this trip was not seriously impacted nor had to be rebooked despite it being scheduled through an active tropical storm travel advisory. I had originally booked the outbound trip for the Monday afternoon out of ONT with the return flight early next morning.
I was closer to ONT this time around instead of my usual airport at SAN. This trip also had a key special moment which I'll get into at the end of the post. This is what the outside of the airport looked like less than 24 hours after the storm:
Parking at ONT...$18 to park onsite at ONT overnight with about a 200 yard walk to the Southwest Terminal 4...Not bad considering onsite parking at SAN was $38. ONT also had the option to prepay for parking like most major airports. Much like a typical boarding pass, ONT's pre-paid parking vouchers use QR codes that get scanned at both the entry and exit toll booths...Scan and go!
As Hilary came through California, Southwest cancelled several of its flights through the weekend and into Monday morning. Once the storm passed through Monday, business was returning to normal at ONT with a number of flights including my departure to LAS running but late out of the gate which I assume was due to lingering weather and getting people rebooked and boarded.
My 3:55pm flight filled up! I usually check back on the sales booking page as departure date approaches to get a rough idea of how full the flight will be (this helps me to decide to buy Upgraded Boarding or not as this trip was booked as WGA+).
For the record, this is what the same page looked like during the sale when I booked this trip:
When I checked in at 24 hours prior, placed at B45. I predicted this flight will be full upon checking this page and I was right. Bought Upgraded Boarding and somehow I got that A1 spot!
I gave the TSA experience a Green Smiley at ONT's "FeedbackNow" kiosk. TSA staff kept the PreCheck lane flowing and were friendly.
Gotta LUV the old-school Gate CSA counters with the LED status monitors.
Went over to a quiet spot to take care of a few extra things since my flight is a little tardy...
...and then the bird arrives!
The humble remains of Hilary...
And my free hotel shuttle ride arrives...
I booked the night at the Silver Sevens via Southwest Hotels. Booking and Check-in went smoothly. I was surprised that the grand total after taxes and resort fee totaled just under $75, almost $5 less than the neighboring no-frills budget motels...
No debating this one...I booked the resort! The Incidentals deposit was $100 taken at the desk. I've left a review on TripAdvisor of the detailed experience.
Room Type: 1 King Deluxe
Rapid Rewards Points: 500
Took care of my business in Vegas and came back to the inn just before 10pm.
Remember these old-school neon signs?
Enjoying some quiet time in the courtyard before bedtime.
How about another A1 spot...on the lift...not really!
The Room
Time to go back to LAS!
And the California One arrives!
And now for that special moment: This trip--specifically the inbound flight--was SoCalFlyer97's 25th Southwest flight for 2023! Can anybody who has A-List guess what that means?
Safe Travels!
Prior Trips
