Transit through LAX

[bPeteb]

All passengers will clear immigration, etc, and claim luggage, at the first port of call in the USA (i.e., LAX in this case) as far as I know.

Wow! Claim our luggage? Seems bizarre considering it will be going straight back on to the same plane (QF15 is Brisbane-New York, 16 the return), but I suppose that's the US for you

 

[DC3]

Is it the same plane, though? Or another aircraft that flies LAX-JFK using the same flight number.

I had thought that LAX-JFK was just a domestic leg of an international flight.

 

[serfty]

It may or may not be the same plane ... In any case immigration and customs are performed at LAX after which you drop your bags off and proceed through security to catch the flight to New York.

Lounge time is generally short.

 

[TomVexille]

Wow! Claim our luggage? Seems bizarre considering it will be going straight back on to the same plane (QF15 is Brisbane-New York, 16 the return), but I suppose that's the US for you

Yup, as US airports don't tend to have segregated domestic and international terminals. Hence the inability for a "sterile" transit and the need for all pax to clear immigration and customs at the first port.

 

[rioter]

Went through this morning. Was a little confusing you need to ignore the visitor signs and walk towards the signs that say U.S. citizens and kiosks. Walk passed global entry and they will eventually direct you to the right place. The only thing you need to know is it only works if you have entered the U.S. and been finger printed. It was much quicker than normal even if my finger prints didn't match and had to have it done by a normal immigration officer. The lines for the normal visitors was snaking quite a bit.

 

[coles525]

It's been over 25 years since I last went to the U S.!

Will need to line up instead. One thing Ive already done was pre fill in my arrivals document, whuch I found on the US customs website under Documents.

It allows you to fill it then print at home, with "both sides" being on just 1 page of paper.

Anyone else printed out their arrival document?

 

[RooFlyer]

It's been over 25 years since I last went to the U S.!

Will need to line up instead. One thing Ive already done was pre fill in my arrivals document, whuch I found on the US customs website under Documents.

It allows you to fill it then print at home, with "both sides" being on just 1 page of paper.

Anyone else printed out their arrival document?

These days its given out in-flight.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

You can go airside if you get a 'gate pass' which is in effect, a fake boarding pass. It'll have a fake flight number on it, and is legal. Airlines issue these for special situations, including where you may have a meeting in a lounge with other people. They're not easy to obtain though, but they can be.

I got one of those a few years back when my passport fell out of my handbag on an AS flight SFO/SEA but continued on to DFW with the aircraft underneath seat 23B. After calling baggage services in DFW they were apparently going to send it with the crew back to SEA so I made a special trip back out to SeaTac whereby AS checkin gave me one of these 'dummy' boarding passes to get to the gate for the arrival flight ex DFW however it was all in vain as nobody knew anything about the passport.

The girl in AS baggages at DFW was now on days off and incommunicado so by the time the passport made it back to SEA we were in Vegas then they called & said I'd need to pick up the passport that day otherwise it would go to the warehouse. Uh oh not good. :shock: :shock:

I eventually persuaded them to FedEx it to our next hotel in NYC giving them my cc details however my card was never charged but the passport did show up when we got to the Big Apple after a total of 6 days without my passport.