Vivinavi : Los Angeles : (United States) Los Angeles

• 倍金萬
• 2019/12/20 (Fri) 13:08
• Report

ANA is adding another flight to Haneda starting March 29, 2020.

The existing flight has the advantage of arriving at HND early in the morning at 05:00, which gives you a full day, but some people have a hard time biorhythmically. I took this flight a long time ago, and I felt the same way.

The new flight,

LAX 17:05 - 21:15 HND

is a late night arrival. Still, this is a little better than the 22:30 arrival time of the previous Delta flight to HND. If the flight arrives at 9:15pm, I can get to my hotel in the city center with time to spare.

Also, ANA will handle international flights at Haneda Terminal 2, which used to be used only for domestic flights, so the above flights may also arrive at Terminal 2. The Haneda International Terminal will be renamed "Haneda Terminal 3" to reflect this change.

• 倍金萬
• 2019/12/23 (Mon) 11:42
• Report

Although not directly related to the Japanese community or Japanese-affiliated airlines, as many of you are aware, Boeing's new flagship 737-MAX aircraft have crashed twice between last year and this year, killing a total of 346 people. In response, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has suspended all 737-MAX flights.

The cause is said to be MCAS, the computer software used to control the aircraft, which is still being improved, but the FAA is now making a final evaluation. AA, UA, and Southwest will resume flights in March or April next year.

The following YouTube video is a bit too technical but goes into detail on how MCAS was involved.

https://youtu.be/cQ1DseELk-I

• 🛩
• 2019/12/23 (Mon) 13:27
• Report

It's nice that they stopped flying the 737-MAX, but I wonder how they are filling the gap.

• 倍金萬
• 2019/12/24 (Tue) 08:52
• Report

The B737 has been in service since 1968 and is still flying in significant numbers, rivaling the Airbus A320 as a 100-seat plus midsize aircraft. Therefore, even if -MAXs are grounded, it seems that each company is responding by reducing the number of flights or even carrying out the ones that have been left out in the rain on the tarmac as desert-bound.

• 倍金萬
• 2019/12/25 (Wed) 09:47
• Report

U.S. Passport Renewal

My U.S. passport will expire next April, so I prepared my documents and sent them to the National Passport Processing Center to have passport photos made and pasted.

I made the passport photo using Passport Photo, a smartphone app. The cheapest way to make passport photos is to take a selfie with this free app and process the image as instructed to create a jpg file containing four 2"x2" photos and one 4"x6" print. Send this to Costco's online print order and it will be ready in 2 days.

The 4"x6" print costs 17 cents and I ordered 2 just in case, so 37 cents with tax. I went to the Costco store to pick up my order, but since I didn't have anything else to buy, I paid only 37 cents.

You can also create a passport renewal document by simply filling in the information on the screen at

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports.html

and then print it out and sign it. Print it out, sign it, and then attach a 2"x2" photo to it with a Stapler. I sent it with my passport to an address in Irving TX in a 3 Day Priority Mail envelope (12-1/2" x 9-1/2") $ 7.35 that comes with USPS Tracking.

travel.state.gov above also says "use a mailing method that is Tracking/Trace-able" so USPS 3 Day Priority Mail is the cheapest method. If you choose email, the receipt will have a Tracking No. in the email and you can click on the Tracking No. from your computer screen to see where you are or where it has been delivered to.