I fly 150-200 thousand miles a year. The majority of it international. If it were $100 difference in fares, I would probably fly direct from Phoenix. However, it was not, it was $500 difference, which is why I flew there.
I regularly fly with arrival 2 hours before flight time, and have never had a problem. I alway through check luggage and such.
I'd say about 40% of my international flights are through LAX. Usually through NWA, which this one wasn't.
There was a big difference between the service of HP and CM in this circumstance. I will still see what I can do with the ticket. Although HP didn't find me anything, I at least felt they went the extra mile to attempt to do so. A big thumbs up for HP.
Originally Posted by SanDiegoMark
I've learned that same lesson the hard way. When doing that type of itinerary, I now fly to the first destination the day before so if there are large delays, bad weather, anything that may delay the first flight, I have a lot of time to recover. I always count on the airlines to screw up and am always pleasantly surprised when they don't...
Sometimes an extra one or two hundred to fly on one itinerary is actually worth the money.