QF11 ontime performance & LAX transit

[Grooba]

Booked on QF11 in June as the beginning of the annual MR and need to get up to SEA same day.
Only options aa is spitting out is an 11:30 or 15:30 departure codeshare on AS.

ETA for QF11 is currently scheduled as an 09:45 arrival - I'd prefer to jump on the 11:30 LAX-SEA and hope QF11 is ontime, but probably should play it safe and get onto the 15:30 departure (however don't particularly want to hang around LAX for 5+ hours). My last few trips through LAX immigration have been sub 30 minutes on QF11/25 so am leaning towards the 11:30 departure.

I know there are LAX-SFO-SEA options, as well as departures direct up to SEA in between the times I've stated above but on the dates I need the only 2 options are 11:30 and 15:30 departures direct.

Safe option of 15:30, or should be ok with a 11:30 departure LAX-SEA?

 

[dfcatch]

15:30 - no brainer.

QF11 is my flight of choice, and only once have I been though in under 30 mins.

Last time was 2.5 hours and missed my 12:10 connection to SFO.

Go the 15:30 flight and you can always try and get on the earlier one if you do happen to clear early.

 

[Grooba]

Thanks dfcatch, exactly what I was looking for - other peoples experiences! I've always been lucky clearing at LAX when compared to most other reports.
Have thought about catching the 15:30 and if we are through quickly trying for an earlier flight but in my experience it's quite difficult to secure an F seat this way. I've always had a Y seat offered on an earlier flight but this defeats the purpose of the trip.

 

[VHOEJ]

Go the later flight - the QF11 is usually good at arriving on time but it is very tight even if you arrive on time. The lottery of the LAX customs and immigration is a nightmare the airlines can't control.

In October, I arrived on the QF15, we arrived early and still didn't get out of the terminal. I was aiming for the 10am flight to SEA (arriving on the QF15 at 7am)........I didn't get to Terminal 3 until just before 10am. Obviously it should be a little quieter in terms of pax but LAX never seems to put on enough people to cater from the throngs waiting. It can be thousands deep but they will still only have 10 people operating.

As mentioned, if you get through quickly, you might be able to be moved to the earlier flight. If you went the earlier flight, you would be panicking the whole time. It will give you plenty of time to even go for a walk if you want the exercise, go to the Board Room (pay the day entry).

 

[dfcatch]

Thanks dfcatch, exactly what I was looking for - other peoples experiences! I've always been lucky clearing at LAX when compared to most other reports.
Have thought about catching the 15:30 and if we are through quickly trying for an earlier flight but in my experience it's quite difficult to secure an F seat this way. I've always had a Y seat offered on an earlier flight but this defeats the purpose of the trip.

If you are in F on AS (I assume on the AA code?), then you are in full F and have full flexibility subject only to a seat being available.

If this is the case then you have a little more room if you did want to risk the earlier one (I wouldn't).

If not in full F then don't even consider the early flight IMHO.

 

[gwilli1]

Have done the trip a few times up to SEA off QF11 . There is normally a AS flight around 13/13.30 which is usually the obvious choice to connect with . Not sure why your not seeing that this far out for June. ( what date in June ?) The safe option is definitely 15.30 due to C&I. If by some chance QF11 gets a nice tail wind & C&I is favourable then id be asking the question when i get there around 11.30 . LAX is a hideous place to sit around in, no lounge or lounge.
As an alternative , if you have the time , and i have done it once , was to head over to Virgin America , which are great . I think they had a flight around 12/13.00

 

[Grooba]

If you are in F on AS (I assume on the AA code?), then you are in full F and have full flexibility subject only to a seat being available.

If this is the case then you have a little more room if you did want to risk the earlier one (I wouldn't).

If not in full F then don't even consider the early flight IMHO.

Hmm yes I think you are right, the AS metal (AA codeshare) does book into F, not A or P. This makes the change to an earlier flight more of an option, thanks again dfcatch.

 

[Grooba]

Have done the trip a few times up to SEA off QF11 . There is normally a AS flight around 13/13.30 which is usually the obvious choice to connect with . Not sure why your not seeing that this far out for June. ( what date in June ?) The safe option is definitely 15.30 due to C&I. If by some chance QF11 gets a nice tail wind & C&I is favourable then id be asking the question when i get there around 11.30 . LAX is a hideous place to sit around in, no lounge or lounge.
As an alternative , if you have the time , and i have done it once , was to head over to Virgin America , which are great . I think they had a flight around 12/13.00

The 13:30 is not coming up in my search, probably due to the 11 segment itinerary I am planning to book. If I do a regular search for a return LAX-SEA flight then there are numerous flights that show up at a more optimal time, however this does not show with my specific search dates.

 

[jamesatfish]

Whilst LAX transit is always a nightmare, in recent times they have introduced 'express passes' which seem to be provided only to customers with tight connections, upon displaying the boarding pass for their connecting flight. Pass holders are shuffled off to specific immigration lanes which always seem to have shorter queues.

Given my usual connection is a ~14:00 flight to IAD I've not had personal experience to see whether the passes make a huge difference to the processing time, but they could come in handy if you end up booking the earlier flight.

 

[serfty]

Is it a separate booking or part of your itinerary. If the latter, then what itinerary?

FWIW, it's about USD425 for LAX-(xSFO-)SEA with Full F class on an AA flight number.

F is fully flexible (unlike P or A), one evening I was doing SEA-xSFO-LAX and my SFO-LAX flight was cancelled at alte notice; being full F I was put onto the last available seat in the first class cabin on the last flight of the night.

 

[Grooba]

First leg of the itinerary.
Took everyone's advise and booked the later option out of LAX, just in case.

Ended up with lax-sea-ord-mia-pty-mia-bos-ord-las-lax-sfo for a touch under $AUD1050.