Happy

Tried a search but FT failed to turn up pertinent thread(s).

Have a CX arrival at 2:50PM, connect to an AS LAX to SEA flight departing at 4:30PM.

I understand I need to clear US immigration and custom at TBIT first. However do I then become land side and walk to T6 for the AS flight?

Last time we were at TBIT in the morning flight bank time, the TSA check point had very long snaking line of people who got off their international arrivals and had to clear security again for their domestic flights.

A TSA agent actually positioned near the entrance and announced loudly every 10 min to tell people unless they departed at T4, just walked outside to the street to their respective terminals, that would be quicker then trying to use the tunnels.

I hope there is enough time for the connection, with Global Entry and no checked bag.

Would appreciate suggestions.

eponymous_coward

I'd check out the TSA checkpoint just outside baggage claim that gets you back into T4. It is usually not backed up.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...eb-2016-a.html

I've done the walk T6-TBIT. It's a bit of a walk, but you are airside at this point if you clear here. Note that there is TSA Precheck "light" here, not the full version.

You are officially below MCT for LAX. I-D is two hours:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...er-thread.html

Was this ticketed as a single ticket? Were you advised of MCT and elected to ticket anyway?

You might make the flight with GE anyway, but a connection below MCT is problematic for things like rebooking.

Happy

Yes. single ticket issued by AS phone agent a few months ago. The agent picked that for me I have no clue myself. Husband is coming in on an earlier CX flight arriving before noon. May be the agent is thinking the 4:20pm AS flight would be best to put both of us on, without thinking about the MCT. The system apparently allowed ticketing though.

I just checked, there are a 5:55pm. 6:55pm and a 7:55pm flight to SEA. So worst case AS could put me on one of those 3 flights if I miss the 4:20pm flight (F seat too but no big deal).

May be I need to call AS tomorrow to get this changed. The F is at 25K for the 5:55pm flight. Is it a saver?

cblaisd

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/los-...ns-thread.html

tusphotog

I would clear customs at TBIT and walk to T6 to clear security there. It's usually a quick affair with PreCheck, and it's a quicker walk outside the tunnels, IMO (go to the departures level). I haven't been through the AS side of LAX since the terminal shift last month, so things might have changed.

eponymous_coward

25k one way is saver F, yes.

With GE and light luggage, 1h40m is possibly OK, but if you want to be safe, bake in the 5:55 flight. You could always switch to the early flight if you get through fast. You would probably lose F, but no big deal like you said.

SilverChris

I did nearly the same connection as the OP last month, but with the 17:30 departure to SEA.

The CX flight arrived on time, but after SQ, AZ, NZ, CI (that I know of). Immigration was complete mess, taking 1.5 hours to clear. I made it to T6 at 16:40, just in time for boarding. Thankfully, security at T6 was a painless affair.

mczlaw

Re-emphasizing the utility of GE, for those eligible. Estimating that 1.5 hours could be cut to about 15 minutes, making that early flight a realistic possibility if you're carrying a light load and walk fast.

MonThruThurs

Did T6 security on the Monday of MDW. Was much less crowded than pre-terminal shuffle.

jpdx

Good point! With GE and Precheck, I was able to stand by for an earlier LAX-PDX flight than my ticketed 2 hour+ connection on 3 out of 4 Asia-LAX-PDX connections this year. However, on one trip the inbound flight was slightly delayed and luggage delivery was slow, and even with GE and Pre I barely made my AS connection. It's certainly prudent to err on the side of allowing extra time in LAX.

PDXPremier

If the 5:55pm is available in F at 25K, I would grab that in a heatbeat....this will give you extra time (you'll likely need) and if things go well and you have extra time, you can relax in the Alaska Lounge before the flight which is one of the benefits of the saver first ticket. I'm one of those people that can't stand to spend miles on a business or first ticket and then fly in Y on the connector flights even if they are only a few hours. I'm never in THAT much of a hurry to get somewhere if it means having to run through the terminal only to get stuck in some middle seat in the back when I was in F...no thanks....I'll wait...half the fun is getting there, right?

jinglish

Especially since it gives you time to walk to the In-N-Out on Sepulveda.

Happy

Thank Y'all for your input.

Last time we went thru TBIT immigration, the bottleneck was not at the immigration but the exit at the Custom. - there were may be 50 to 70 people deep, converged from both directions toward the SINGLE podium where a single agent checking paperworks. Even we did not have checked bags we still needed to go thru Custom to get to the Arrival Hall landside. GE definitely helped in that situation. We were directed to the Crew and GE lane - only us following 2 EK FAs and walked out in 3 min...

Right you are. We actually will overnight at SEA for the next morning SEA-SLC flight. So whether it is 5:55 or 6:55 or even 7:55, no problem.

The 5:55pm flight was available last night but not today. not even 1! I was about to settle for the 6:55pm flight which has 2 Fs available. Thankfully the agent talked to the partner desk about the illegal connection and somehow they opened the 5:55pm for me, AND cleared me on the SEA-SLC to F.

Then the agent transferred me to the partner desk to see if they can switch him from the 4:30pm to 5:55pm flight because he arrives LAX at 11:20am, there is more than enough time to connect to his 4:30pm flight.
The kind agent at the Partner Desk took a look on the linked reservation, and was able to open up an F seat on the 5:55pm flight so now we would be on the same flight to SEA. He would just need to sit at the AS LAX lounge for longer time. She could not get him an F on the SEA-SLC flight, the one and the only available was grabbed by the previous agent to give it to me... haha.

This brings up a question, we were originally waitlisted on the SEA-SLC waitlist, different PNRs but the reservations are linked. Agent told me waitlist would auto=clear. Apparently it isn't the case? Is it because the 2 PNRs are linked, if there is only one F, neither of us would be cleared?

My understanding is, there is no need to reissue tickets, as long as only changing the AS flight for the same city pair on the same date. Both agents said the tickets remain the same tickets and I saw in My Trip the new flight is in place.

BUT why do I get a new ticket but my husband's reservation does not get a new ticket?
We both changed the LAX-SEA flight to the 5:55pm flight.
The only difference is, I also changed from Y to F on the SEA-SLC the next morning while he remains in Y on the original booking class.

Is this the Y to F being the reason I get a new ticket?

UPDATE:

Called back. The agent took a look and said there was a New Ticket issued on my husband's reservation. He then saw the previous partner agent put the email address to sent a new ticket in the FAX To box, instead of Email To box.
How could this happen? As this is not the first time I do not get new AS confirmation emails on eissued tickets in the past 2 years... So he fixed that, and the confirmation email just came.

One thing of note is, now both tickets have a $ value with mine is higher than his, presumably the seats we are booked into are revenue seats on the LAX-SEA 5:55pm flight. Otherwise I could not see why suddenly the tickets have several hundreds value.

Been there, done that. Great place for plane watching.