Originally Posted by
wisedave
Hey Folks,
The Mrs and I have booked a flight from Heathrow to LAX in July. Our final destination is San Luis Obispo which is 1/2 way between LA and San Francisco. San Luis Obispo has a small regional airport that is serviced by United Airlines.
I want to book a transfer flight from LAX to San Luis Obispo. My question is will we have to collect our luggage at LAX and then go through check-in and security all over again in LAX? We would like to just be able to do all of that dance in Heathrow and switch planes at LAX and have our luggage magic it's way on the next leg.
Any ideas on how that all works?
Thanks!
Dave
Checked baggage must be claimed and submitted for Customs inspection at your U.S. airport of entry -- which in this case is LAX. After Customs, you will find yourself landside, and must re-clear security. And unless you are also flying UA from LHR to LAX, you might have to change terminals as well.
If you had purchased LHR-LAX-SBP on a single ticket (even if two different airlines were involved), your luggage would be through-checked to SBP. You would still have to claim it at LAX for Customs, but you could then just drop it at a re-check desk post Customs, instead of having to lug it over to the UA check-in desk -- which might be in a different terminal. But if you've already purchased tickets just to LAX, it would probably be expensive to rebook to SBP.