LAX Transit / Customs / Immigration Qantas/Avianca

fewings85

Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2012
Posts
135
Qantas
Gold
Virgin
Gold
Good Day all, wanted some input on my particular situation. First trip back overseas since i arrived back from Colombia in March 2020 (Couple of days before borders closed) and i honestly feel abit rusty. I am heading back to see friends/family in Colombia end of next week. Fiance family is there. Always made this trip twice per year until the pandemic hit now its time to start again.

Originally i was looking at booking a ticket on QF all the way to bogota. I have recently switched to QF from VA i might add so i have never done this trip on Qantas. I used to just book VA to LAX then Avianca to BOG. Seperate Bookings but with plenty of time in between.

When i searched PER to BOG the QF Booking gave me an options with Avianca on the QF ticket that had a layover of just 2.5 hours. (Now ammended the departue time to 2hrs 25 mins if you want to nitpick every minute! see photo) Arrive QF93 6.30pm and depart AV83 8.55PM. Both Obviously arrive and depart from TBIT. If due to issues with connecting to AV @ LAX it would all be on one ticket QF would have to chuck me on the next available flight and sort me out in LAX. But the way i have done it due to other reasons i ended up booking up booking the AV flight seperate. From Bogota i am continuing straight onto Bucaramnaga. Now it becomes my responsibility should i have issues connecting i know this all good.

Im in PE on QF93 and AV i am flying in Business to Bucaramanga Via Bogota. I guess what i am asking is whats the situatuon like in LAX right now? how have people found it, ive found bits and pieces here and on other platforms but rather see what people thing of this connection of mine directly even if its both from TBIT. I have been really lucky since 2013 doing this twice a year and never had issues always been through within an hour. But the world is a bit different now. I know the US has now gotten rid of the pre flight COVID testing requirement so i guess i am also asking what its like there now? getting through customs wait times etc or in this day and age am i completely crazy trying this? is LAX a mess? (staff/traffic etc) This is assuming everything runs on times of course do not worry about discussing possibly delays in flights getting in. i do understand this is generally a tight conenction regardless for LAX.

Because of this small change of 5 minutes to the departure of AV83 i do have the options to change the flight now free of charge. i could move it 24 hrs later. The same flight next night, just means i will have to book an overnight stay at an LAX hotel and lose a day in Bucaramanga. What do the experts here think aside from the standard delays is this connections still viable? i assume to an extent it is as QF wouldnt offer it on their wesbite as a bookable fare. Although i am guessing my bags may of been tagged all the way to Bogota? So i would skip that check in prcoess? may of been better collecting in bogota and rechecking in for the Bucaramanga flight (qantas cant book to there in one booking)
 

Attachments

  • qantas.jpg
    qantas.jpg
    31.9 KB · Views: 4
There was a website documenting LAX immigration wait times hour by hour over a certain number of weeks. I’ll try and dig it out unless someone can post it in the meantime. Remember that only it’s immigration wait times, not re-cleaning security to re-enter airside etc.
 
that would be good, to be honest just looking at the recent history especially the last week or so of QF93 doesnt give me alot of confidence as it is, forgetting immigration and transferring/security

qf93.jpg
 
Qantas has reliability issues at the moment.

My QF93 was on time, but the queues at LAX immigration were long. There were no smart gates operational when I arrived at the end of March. I was pretty much first off the plane and still waited around 20 minutes.

Friends flew two weeks later with the 93 now leaving in the morning. It was delayed by 2 hours. Then they got to LAX and were near the back of the queue..l it took them another 90 minutes to get through. They missed their connections and were delayed over 8 hours for new flights to New York.

Two hours is risky.
 
Personally Id plan to spend the night in LA at an airport hotel, and fly to BOG the next day to remove the stress of any delays or long queues at LAX. Even pre-covid I've spent well over an hour in the immigration queue at LAX, then had to queue for another 40 mins at security to get back into departures to make a connection. I personally try to avoid LAX at all costs.
 
The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

yes agreeing more and more as i think about it. QF93 appears to be permanent evening now but the on time status is low and even if its a little early with my flight its still risky then. and as you have said about lax immigration. i want to enjoy the flight not stress the whole way as well.

i think while ive been lucky enough to have my Aviance flight changed by 5 minutes...avoiding the $200 USD change fee i should take advantage and move the flight over 24 hrs. ill just use the fee ive saved to book a hotel at LAX airport for the night. That way i can actually also enjoy the star alliance lounge pre departure the next day.

just need to contact the hotel as we were going for a short break upon arrival at bucarmanga, its being a little weird doesnt let me push the dates one day saying not availablle, but if i do a new search it shows my room available, so ive contacted them direct but thats a minor issue.

also agreed about avoidng lax. now that ive swapped to QF from VA and they have annnounced resumption of flights to Chile i think ill go this way, then fly LATAM to Colombia. At least i can earn QF points with LATAM also. Sick of America and LAX as well.
 
When I went to Colombia I flew SYD-DFW (QF), DFW-SJO (AA) spent 2 weeks in Costa Rica, SJO-BOG (Avianca), BOG-DFW (AA, very late night departure), DFW-SYD. So MEL-DFW-BOG (QF + AA) should also be an option, once QF commences the MEL-DFW flights where you can earn points and SCs the whole way (or MEL-SYD-DFW-BOG on QF then AA).
 
Last edited:
@fewings85 here is the US airport immigration wait times page: Customs and Border Protection (CBP) - CBP Airport Wait Times (AWT)

Here's one I just found for security wait times - although its not the official airport site Los Angeles Security Wait Times | LAX checkpoint delays

Personally, I'd also plan to have an overnight stay at LAX between your inward and onward flights. But I'm not so sure about this:

also agreed about avoidng lax. now that ive swapped to QF from VA and they have annnounced resumption of flights to Chile i think ill go this way, then fly LATAM to Colombia. At least i can earn QF points with LATAM also. Sick of America and LAX as well.

I found LAX much better after their TBIT rebuild. Never had a problem and good lounges - although I was mostly on QF SYD-LAX-JFK and so connection wasn't an issue for a late in-bound. DFW was also a good transfer given its such a big AA hub - and you can stay the night at the Hyatt in the terminal if needs be.

Miami? Fuhgeddaboudit!

You may like to read up on people's experiences on the service to Chile pre covid (now changed a bit after LATAM has left OneWorld so its just a QF-LA partner agreement). Seating was often a coughshoot when flying on the 'other's' metal. I did it a number of times and again, learned to overnight in Santiago on the way through to either Patagonia, BA or Quito. Anywhere I'm going in the next year will have a day's padding each way.
 
@fewings85 here is the US airport immigration wait times page: Customs and Border Protection (CBP) - CBP Airport Wait Times (AWT)

Here's one I just found for security wait times - although its not the official airport site Los Angeles Security Wait Times | LAX checkpoint delays

Personally, I'd also plan to have an overnight stay at LAX between your inward and onward flights. But I'm not so sure about this:



I found LAX much better after their TBIT rebuild. Never had a problem and good lounges - although I was mostly on QF SYD-LAX-JFK and so connection wasn't an issue for a late in-bound. DFW was also a good transfer given its such a big AA hub - and you can stay the night at the Hyatt in the terminal if needs be.

Miami? Fuhgeddaboudit!

You may like to read up on people's experiences on the service to Chile pre covid (now changed a bit after LATAM has left OneWorld so its just a QF-LA partner agreement). Seating was often a coughshoot when flying on the 'other's' metal. I did it a number of times and again, learned to overnight in Santiago on the way through to either Patagonia, BA or Quito. Anywhere I'm going in the next year will have a day's padding each way.
Think ill be up for some research, only was thinking latam just for points. might be worth a try just for the experience and just to have a break from LAX. will also look into this MEL-DFW route. next trip might be january after this one so i will have to put my research glasses on.
 
Think ill be up for some research, only was thinking latam just for points. might be worth a try just for the experience and just to have a break from LAX. will also look into this MEL-DFW route. next trip might be january after this one so i will have to put my research glasses on.
I flew QF93 on a Sunday evening almost 3 weeks ago. Took probably 30-40 minutes to get through CBP. There was at least one Air France flight queuing with us so it's probably a bit tricky to know for sure on any given day.

No smart gates/kiosks were operating so everyone was being manually processed.
 
how i went:

no smart gates kiosks either, upon landing i would never of made the connecting flight on 2.5 hrs. it took almost 2 hours to get through. longest line i had ever seen there. lucky i changed the flight

when i came back to LAX with Avianca i landed at about the same time two weeks later just a different day of the week. more flights landed at the same time included a QF flight. and my recently set recorded for longest customs wait was beaten already. the line was huge! but it was moving faster due to more staff. BUT then half way alot knocked off from their shift and line slowed right down! took just over 2 hours to pass through. i had a 4.5 hour layover (was supposed to be 4 but AV flight ladned early)
and i was stressed i was going to miss my QF flight back. i made it to the check in counter to bag drop 1 hour 10 minutes before departure. No lines at QF counter.

My advice is look for minimum 5 hours right now transitng. bogota was more packed than usual landing into colombia also.
 
@fewings85 here is the US airport immigration wait times page: Customs and Border Protection (CBP) - CBP Airport Wait Times (AWT)

Here's one I just found for security wait times - although its not the official airport site Los Angeles Security Wait Times | LAX checkpoint delays

Personally, I'd also plan to have an overnight stay at LAX between your inward and onward flights. But I'm not so sure about this:



I found LAX much better after their TBIT rebuild. Never had a problem and good lounges - although I was mostly on QF SYD-LAX-JFK and so connection wasn't an issue for a late in-bound. DFW was also a good transfer given its such a big AA hub - and you can stay the night at the Hyatt in the terminal if needs be.

Miami? Fuhgeddaboudit!

You may like to read up on people's experiences on the service to Chile pre covid (now changed a bit after LATAM has left OneWorld so its just a QF-LA partner agreement). Seating was often a coughshoot when flying on the 'other's' metal. I did it a number of times and again, learned to overnight in Santiago on the way through to either Patagonia, BA or Quito. Anywhere I'm going in the next year will have a day's padding each way.
can i also ask you why you say forget about miami? im looking at booking again for march and due to flght time the only flight down to bogota that matches what i want is via Miami (1 hr 34 min layover)

DFW is pegged in for my return
 
can i also ask you why you say forget about miami? im looking at booking again for march and due to flght time the only flight down to bogota that matches what i want is via Miami (1 hr 34 min layover)

DFW is pegged in for my return

On the occasions I've arrived international at MIA, I've found the immigration undoubtedly the worst of any US entry point, and up there with the worst of the others. Huge queues, bad queue management etc. But that was a few years ago, BC. My have improved I guess.

But I think you are talking arriving from domestic, with a transit to international, so that shouldn't be an issue.
 
its all good anyway. i have decided to go with Avianca again save any risk of the unknown during this pandemic time. There was also some minor issues with AA flying times as well. Spending the night at LAX on the way over to break it down with the AV booking.

Looks like AV have replaced the A330 with the newer B787 again on the LAX-BOG route. Better than the AA metal and saves a flight changeover. So that also swung me as well. Huge difference in their business class between those two. Hoepfully they would of imprved their meal service by then too. In July i had the A330 Business and got what i could barely call a economy class meal. But they did hand out cards stating they are re-working them menu and wanted the customer feedback on what they want.

Overnight flight so the B787 will serve well. I need to go to Bucaramanga and lining up AA wasn't ideal for a connecting flight would only let me book to Bogota and i can book one ticket with AV (single stop VS 2 stop). I will forgo the QF points. Starting to build up some lifemiles now anyway so next trip after this ill look to burn some also.
 
Not Avianca but LAX related - 11:15 arr LAX SQ12 - 13:10 dep UA T7 achievable? Sensible? Too risky? Next dep is 15:10. TIA 👍
 
Not Avianca but LAX related - 11:15 arr LAX SQ12 - 13:10 dep UA T7 achievable? Sensible? Too risky? Next dep is 15:10. TIA 👍
Too risky in my opinion. OP here. I’m in Colombia now again. The line at LAX customs was so bad on July 8th they wouldn’t even allow us to enter the room for almost 20 minutes then there was a near 2 hour wait. They ended up sending tourists through the US citizens lines to start clearing people once they had cleared the locals.

I still made it easy to my Avianca connection as I had a 4 hr 50 minute layover and I departed and arrived from TBIT.

But as you are a different terminal and much shorter lay over I would not risk it. And don’t put yourself under that much stress. 15.10 is a no brainer and it’s not even that long of a layover
 
Back
Top