What is mandatory / best practice in terms of collecting checked luggage in the following scenarios?
1. I'm flying into LAX from LHR arriving at about 2pm, overnighting in a hotel, then flying out the next morning at about 10am. IIRC last time I did this we collected our bags and then checked them back in again. Is that still the case now as I've read a thread where someone was not allowed to do that, however as we are international we do for sure retrieve our bags at LAX.

2. On the way back, we fly into LAX from Hawaii at about 6am and fly out at about 6pm to London. Are we best advised to collect our bags at LAX (we'll go to a hotel there) or do we have the choice to have it sent straight through? And if so, should we take it? I'm not too happy with the idea of my bags lying around LAX for 12 hours but I'm unsure if the rules have changed and I may have no choice.