SFO or LAX for customs clearance?

[thehound]

I have the choice of flying from HKG into either SFO or LAX on an upcoming trip. Is customs clearance time and speed through the airport any different between the two? And does time of day significantly alter time spent in the customs queue, or will it be just as busy at 10pm as at midday?

I'll have an 18 month old with me so time might be very important after a 12 hour flight!

 

[dajop]

I can't say for CX flights, but it can be hard to predict I guess. I flew into SFO last night on SQ via HKG and cleared immigration and collected baggage and was landside within 23 mins of landing. My partner flew identical flight, one day earlier, and took ~80 mins.

 

[greenfish]

It's a while since I flew into either, but if I had a choice, I'd choose SFO, I've had some very long waits in LAX.

 

[yohy?!]

Did the 1 am cx flight from hkg to sfo last week...clearing customs took 15 mins at 10PM on a thurs night.

 

[BAM1748]

SFO is a more pleasent city to arrive in. The process itself is exactly the same, I would say they have a proporational number of offiers on duty to LAX so time wise can be similar.

Matt

 

[Boris spatsky]

Always been far quicker for me through SFO - and it is a better airport overall anyway !

 

[Limewood]

Me too always been faster clearance via SFO. Nice airport terminal now its been rebuilt.

 

[TiredOldFlyer]

LAX, or at least TBIT, was pretty good a couple of weeks ago and is much better than it was now that most of the renovations have been completed however if you are transferring to a domestic flight for onward travel I would choose SFO.
I did notice that pax at LA with children were given priority.

 

[RooFlyer]

No question, no hesitation. SFO over LAX.

 

[thehound]

Thanks to all for replies. Whichever city we land in the plan is to spend a couple of nights before hiring a car for 2 months and driving around west coast USA before moving to Vancouver for work. Having been to both San Francisco and LA my feeling is that San Fran will probably be a better launchpad for that sojourn.

My wife is more concerned about flight times given we'll have a baby with us - the only SFO flight from HKG with CX is an 0100 departure whereas CX have 4 flights a day, with some good daytime flight options. For anyone who's travelled with an infant, does it really matter? I guess it might all depend on the sleeping patterns of the baby!

 

[greenfish]

Thanks to all for replies. Whichever city we land in the plan is to spend a couple of nights before hiring a car for 2 months and driving around west coast USA before moving to Vancouver for work. Having been to both San Francisco and LA my feeling is that San Fran will probably be a better launchpad for that sojourn.

My wife is more concerned about flight times given we'll have a baby with us - the only SFO flight from HKG with CX is an 0100 departure whereas CX have 4 flights a day, with some good daytime flight options. For anyone who's travelled with an infant, does it really matter? I guess it might all depend on the sleeping patterns of the baby!

Will you be transitting from Perth or will you have been in hKG for a while? My preference is to fly during normal child sleep times - as at 18 months they are likely to have a good routine. The 0100 departure could be a pain if you're aclimatised to HKG time.

Either way, you'll cope - there are two of you and one of them. It's much worse when you're outnumbered

 

[thehound]

Will you be transitting from Perth or will you have been in hKG for a while? My preference is to fly during normal child sleep times - as at 18 months they are likely to have a good routine. The 0100 departure could be a pain if you're aclimatised to HKG time.

Either way, you'll cope - there are two of you and one of them. It's much worse when you're outnumbered

The plan is to break up the trip from Perth with a stopover - either direct to Hong Kong with a few nights there (CX), or to Hong Kong via Singapore (SQ). So we will still be on Hong Kong/Perth time. My preference is to go to SFO, but dragging a baby around an airport at midnight might be tough.

 

[thehound]

the only SFO flight from HKG with CX is an 0100 departure whereas CX have 4 flights a day, with some good daytime flight options.

That was meant to say CX have 4 flights a day to LAX with good day time flight options.

 

[Mattg]

Easy... I'd choose SFO