Flying into LAX, then connecting to Las Vagas

[PaulST]

Hi all,
I'm working on an itinerary for a visit to the USA in Aug/Sept and I'm looking at flying into LAX (tickets already booked) with QF, then flying directly to Las Vagas.
My question is, how long should I allow to transfer and are there any US airlines in particular I should stick with so that I get treated better if QF's A380 decides to fill with water again and return to Aus?

Many thanks!

 

[opusman]

You should allow at least 2-3 hours, and I would stick with AA if you can as I believe they will protect you against misconnects from QF even if on a separate ticket.

 

[PaulST]

You should allow at least 2-3 hours, and I would stick with AA if you can as I believe they will protect you against misconnects from QF even if on a separate ticket.

Great thanks!

 

[vetrade]

That flight from LA to Vegas must be one of the most heavily serviced routes in the world - plenty of flights and plenty of airlines. AA, Virgin Am, Delta, United, Jetblue and others all service it so there's virtually no chance you'll be left "high and dry". Transit time can vary quite a bit due to C&BP processing time being dependent on the number of international arrivals at the same time as your flight. I would allow 3 hrs. After you've cleared Customs, you could likely just walk up to a counter and book a ticket on the next flight anyway. It's a very short flight so I'm sure you could make do with any airline but maybe avoid the LCCs because the price for AA and Virgin America won't be much more and generally their legroom etc is a bit better.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

If you book a separate flight LAX/LAS on AA, QF will still be able to tag your bags to LAS & issue both boarding passes.

Make sure you book via the AA.com US site not the AU one as it's much cheaper. Often your browser will default to the AU site but you can still change it to the US one.

 

[PaulST]

Many thanks!

 

[UP4014]

As others have said, 3 hours would be a minimum. I have a trip via LAX next month and contenplating 4 hours. But there are plenty of flights so you could if you wanted not book anything and simply walk to the first airline sale counter you see.

Personally though for this route I'd drive. (My connection was missed once at LAX for SFO and I could have driven and been there faster, there is a mass of people at LAX every single minute so waiting to drop bag, check boading pass, check security, wait at coffee bar, can take 2 hours itself)


Matt

 

[RooFlyer]

With the new electronic processing, two hours would be OK for a transit at LAX; I'd say the old days of 3-4 hours is gone. I and others have frequently gone from the plane to the curb in 30 minutes or less (my record is 15 mins :mrgreen, before the changes, but the extra time was a necessary buffer. If you go here, you can fill in LAX and a date period and see the average wait times; since Jan 1 this year its been between 5 and 15 mins average for passport control (only) between 6am and 9am which is when most QF flights arrive.. The maxes are more (sometimes much more) but remember that includes the dodgiest pax

If you TPAC with QF and are going onto AA and QF is late, you should get a big orange card which expedites you through immigration, customs, and most usefully, T4 (AA) security. Add to this the re-booking on AA you will get if you do happen to miss the connection, and the abundance of flights and there's no way I'd plan more than 2 hours (but remember that's actually 1.5 hours as you have to be at your AA gate 30 mins before boarding.

BTW there must be 3 or 4 other recent threads on LAX transit times, including transiting to Las Vegas

 

[clazman]

Certain hotels do "fly - stay" deals.. and I found the flights cheaper than directly with AA

 

[PaulST]

Thanks for the tips. AA it will be.

 

[PaulST]

I thought I'd answer my own question for the benefit of new people who may search this thread.

As so happens, I accidentally booked a flight from LAX to LAS for 11pm instead of 11am so I was stuck with the proposition of filling in >12hrs at LAX... (which even with access to the Admirals Club, would have been quite painful). I had already checked in for the AA night flight and my bags had been tagged. Fortunately, I had to collect the bags anyway from the QF flight to go through customs. Everything went smoothly and I was through security with my bag within 1 hour. I then headed to AA's premium customer assistance desk (I was flying on the cheapest First class ticket) where I had my first taste of AA service. I feared a flight change fee (as I'm sure Qantas would have demanded...) but the lady only required about 30 seconds to book me on the next available flight. I then went through security (30 mins maybe - this was a bit painful) and was waiting in the Admirals Club for a mid-day flight to LAS.

I don't know why people say such mean things about LAX!!! But I will admit that all of the nasty things said about TSA staff are true...

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Did you take your checked bag with you from TBIT to T4 when you asked AA about changing or had you dropped it off (tagged for the later 2300 flight) at the transfer belt after exiting US Customs?

 

[PaulST]

Did you take your checked bag with you from TBIT to T4 when you asked AA about changing or had you dropped it off (tagged for the later 2300 flight) at the transfer belt after exiting US Customs?

Um... I must admit I did get a bit lost after I picked up my bags (but security/policy happily directed me in the right direction).
I took my checked bags with me to the service counter and removed the tags (for the 11pm LAS flight) there and stuck on the new ones. I didn't go near the transfer section as I feared I may have lost my bag and they'd have arrived in LAS at midnight.

 

[Denali]

We did the same on our last LAX flight. Took our luggage to the check in counter at the Delta terminal and asked to be bumped to a earlier flight and the answer was yes. As this happened about 30mins before the flight, I wondered if a Delta FF was sitting at the gate wondering what happened to his upgrade when we took 2 x F seats at the last minute.

 

[opusman]

I guess the flexibility the US airlines have regarding time changes is the flip side of the practice of overbooking.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I feared a flight change fee (as I'm sure Qantas would have demanded...) but the lady only required about 30 seconds to book me on the next available flight.

No change fees if you are prepared to 'standby' for seats on the earlier flight, even same day 'change' (rather than stand-by) is permitted (with slightly different eligibility):

1. SAME DAY STANDBY - A. ELIGIBILITY 1.AADVANTAGE EXECUTIVE PLATINUM/ PLATINUM/ GOLD PASSENGERS AND THEIR ONEWORLD EQUIVALENTS AND AAIRPASS MEMBERS TICKETED WITH ANY FARE MAY STANDBY ON THE SAME DAY AS TICKETED/ WITHOUT CHARGE AS NOTED BELOW. 2.PASSENGERS NOT QUALIFYING BY TIER STATUS AS DESCRIBED ABOVE WHO PURCHASED TICKETS FOR FIRST OR BUSINESS CLASS OR COACH FARES BOOKED IN Y/D/I/J/A/P/F INVENTORIES MAY STANDBY WITHOUT CHARGE AS NOTED BELOW.

STANDBY CONDITIONS FOR ELIGIBLE PASSENGERS - 1.AADVANTAGE EXECUTIVE PLATINUM / PLATINUM/ GOLD PASSENGERS AND THEIR ONEWORLD EQUIVA- LENTS AND AAIRPASS MEMBERS AND ALL OTHER PASSENGERS MENTIONED IN 1 ABOVE MAY STANDBY FOR EARLIER/LATER SAME DAY FLIGHTS 2.PASSENGERS MUST BE HOLDING CONFIRMED RESERVA- TIONS AND TICKETS FOR FLIGHTS OPERATED AS AMERICAN AIRLINES/ AMERICAN EAGLE OR AMERICAN CONNECTION 3.STANDBY IS PERMITTED FOR SAME DAY AA NONSTOP AND/OR CONNECTING FLIGHTS BETWEEN THE SAME ORIGIN AND DESTINATION AIRPORTS PROVIDED THE ROUTING IS APPLICABLE FOR THE FARE CHARGED.

And same day change:

2. SAME DAY FLIGHT CHANGE/SDFC/ A. ELIGIBILITY 1.EXECUTIVE PLATINUM MEMBERS MAY USE SAME DAY FLIGHT CHANGE WITHOUT CHARGE. 2.PASSENGERS WHO PURCHASED TICKETS FOR FIRST OR BUSINESS OR COACH CLASS BOOKED IN Y/D/I/J/A/P/F INVENTORIES MAY USE SAME DAY FLIGHT CHANGE WITHOUT CHARGE AS NOTED BELOW. 3.PASSENGERS TRAVELING WITHIN THE US48 WITH FARE BASIS CODES ENDING IN 7 OR 8 OR 9 MAY USE SAME DAY FLIGHT CHANGE FREE OF CHARGE AS NOTED BELOW. 4.ALL OTHER PASSENGERS PURCHASING COACH FARE TICKETS BOOKED IN H/B/K/M/L/W/V/G/S/N/Q/O INVENTORIES MAY CONFIRM TRAVEL USING SAME DAY FLIGHT CHANGE FOR A NONREFUNDABLE FEE /SEE AA.COM FOR DETAILS/.

B.SAME DAY FLIGHT CHANGE CONDITIONS FOR ELIG PSGRS 1.THE REQUEST FOR SDFC IS MADE WITHIN 24 HOURS OF THE ALTERNATE FLIGHT/S DEPARTURE TIME. 2.THERE IS NO CHANGE TO THE ORIGIN/DESTINATION. 3.NEW FLIGHT/S/ AND ROUTING ARE PERMITTED PER THE TICKETED FARE RULE. 4.ALL TRAVEL IS ON AMERICAN AIRLINES/ AMERICAN EAGLE AND AMERICAN CONNECTION. 5.REQUESTS ARE MADE VIA AIRPORT SELF-SERVICE CHECK-IN/ TICKET COUNTERS /INCLUDING ADMIRALS CLUBS AND PREMIUM SERVICES/ OR BY CALLING AA RESERVATIONS.