Originally Posted by
flyer8989
Yes, originating in SYD. So I wonder if it will even be UA crew at check-in.
How did you end up on a VA ticket then? Is this an award?
VA's statement that they can't sell a ticket to SJD because it's not in their system makes some limited sense for paid flights, although the truth is that they can still sell it; they may choose not to. But if this is an award flight, I can't think of any conceivable reason that VA couldn't get you to SJD if UA has award space on that flight. I might try calling a couple more times before I gave up and bought separate tickets.
One of the primary benefits of getting things on a single ticket is that it would make it a lot easier to switch gears and fly through SFO if there were a problem with the SYD-LAX flight.
Originally Posted by
flyer8989
Looks like I don't have much choice but to take a different airline, much later in the day to allow for enough time to collect luggage and re-check in.
How many people are traveling? What is the backup itinerary on UA if you should miss LAX-SJD? Although you don't technically have protection, in practice, UA will likely rebook you at no charge if you miss the flight on two separate UA tickets.
There's a reasonable chance that you'd make this connection easily. There's also a very real chance that you wouldn't make it, one ticket or two. I've missed a connection at LAX -- along with many others -- due to waiting about 45 minutes for the first bag to come off of my inbound flight, which was already delayed by a bit.