Question about timing of flights

[CarolineM 0]

Stewart's flight gets into LAX at 10:58.

How much time should we give him to catch a connection? About what time should his next flight leave?

TIA.

[scy 0]

Personally, I would give at least 2 hours between arriving in LAX and the next flight out. You never know how long immigration will take.

[Ameristralian 0]

Yeah you really have no clue Karoline. They could take their time, you could have some issues getting off the plane, you just never know. I'd go 3 hours. Wasn't an issue for Natalia, she had a 7 hour layover. Ick.

[meauxna 15]

The International terminal at LAX can be quite a hike from the domestic terminals. Clearing Immigration is a crapshoot in that you don't know how many other flights will arrive at about the same time, and how many of them will have other 'special needs' passengers aboard. The processing itself only takes about 15 minutes.

He can speed up his process if the officer directing traffic in the Hall can identify him as an immigrant, IMO. We did this by having the Mysterious Brown Envelope out and visible, but we had the old style visa attached to the front of the envelope. We were directed to the crew line (shortest) and ushered to Secondary Inspection. We had no one waiting in front of us and we'd booked a (mere) 3 hour connection time.

We spent a lot of time inspecting the inside of the Minneapolis airport

[sadie33138 0]

Stewart's flight gets into LAX at 10:58.

How much time should we give him to catch a connection? About what time should his next flight leave?

TIA.

Karo, the last time I flew home to the US from New Zealand on Qantas, the plane was almost two hours late from Brisbane due to an electrical problem and that made us late leaving Auckland for LA. When the plane arrived in LA there was no gate for it since it was so late so they parked way out somewhere & bused us into the Immigration Portal. This also caused a delay in luggage arrival. Missed my connection by two hours & instead of a direct flight via Delta to Atlanta, was put on American to Houston then Atlanta. The Atlanta flight left on time and was early into Atlanta, again no gate as there was major construction going on and only one gate being used that time of night so we had to wait our turn for an hour in order to deplane.

I've decided that when we fly home in August to give ourselves 4+ hours to make our connection to Florida. Nothing worse than missing your connection and then trying to get on another flight.

[dark faery 0]

Allocate about 4 hours or a little bit more, especially if flying Qantas, I'd say. I've flown Qantas a total of four times so far (usually Brisbane to LAX) and every flight I've had with them has been late for take off anywhere from a half hour to two hours. One time, they even misplaced my baggage and half of the baggage of everyone else on that flight (at LAX, no less) and it took about an hour to sort that mess out. Coupling that with a delay in take off, it kind of adds up. Not to mention he'll have immigration and customs to clear and the distance to the international terminal is not close to the domestic terminals.

I have a friend who actually works for them and flies them quite often due to staff priced flights and her flights are quite often late, as well.

When my husband first came to America to visit me, his flights were from Brisbane to Sydney on Qantas and from Sydney to LAX on United. Well, Qantas got him at Sydney too late for him to check in for his United flight and needless to say, he was stuck in Sydney overnight and it delayed our very first meeting by a whole day, LOL. It's kind of funny now, but at the time, neither one of us were amused and I think I'd be pretty angry if it happened again.

They're not a bad company to fly with, so long as you don't mind delays now and then- and as much as I don't like them, a one or two hour delay isn't that awful for an international flight, IMO. I guess that's because I go to the airport extraordinarly early, expecting a very long journey. Too bad Australia is so darned far from America.

Anway, just a heads up.. expect delays and prepare for them. If they don't happen, it's fantastic, but I think waiting around an extra hour or two is really worth it to not miss a flight.

[CarolineM 0]

thank you all SO much. Yeah last time I flew Qantas we were late AND They lost my bags...ugh

I am just bummed because the only other flight out is at 5pm so he won't get in til the next day and since i'm at work mom will have to get him...hahaha I wanted to be there : ( I mean I will have just left him 3 days earlier but still.

Thank you so much for the advice.

[wolvendove 0]

thank you all SO much. Yeah last time I flew Qantas we were late AND They lost my bags...ugh

I am just bummed because the only other flight out is at 5pm so he won't get in til the next day and since i'm at work mom will have to get him...hahaha I wanted to be there : ( I mean I will have just left him 3 days earlier but still.

Thank you so much for the advice.

Wow! This is the first time I've heard about Qantas being late like this! This is good to know. We've been flying United, SYD to SFO and haven't had a single problem. Well, other than getting to sit between two very tall and gangly teenage boys who sleep like teenage boys do . . . sprawled. This time, I beg for a window seat. . .

[aussiewench 9]

I was discussing this with Dan the other day....decided I will be leaving at least 4 hours in between connecting flights. Guess I will do some shopping if time permits

[jodee 30]

Wowo, I fly exclusively with Qantas, as I am a Frequent flyer. when I cant fly them I fly one of the one world partners or such, so I still accumulate points.

I have never had my baggage lost, and only had one late flight, that was due to a technical problem. I received in the mail, a voucher for 125aud of free travel for the inconvenience for the late flight. I dont know if they recognised I had just spent 22 hours flying from Frankfurt to Australia or what, but I thought the voucher was a nice gesture.

Jodee

P.S....

LAX can be a hit or miss thing depending on the time of day you arrive really. I always arrive early hours of the morning and am through customs within 20 minutes of getting off the plane. even when I came through the first time with the K1.