Now gate 343 ¾ is a whole other story.

I don't think so – there were no opportunities to go another way as all the doors into the main TBIT immigration area were closed and the only path took us all the way back to T4.

Quick question about connecting through LAX with AA. Next May my father, nephew and me are flying out to Hawaii and might be connecting through LAX. I flew out of Terminal 5 back when it was with Delta so I am aware of the underground corridors connecting the terminals. So we're flying IND-LAX-HNL, will one hour be good for a connection time between flights. I'm assuming that both with fly in and out of either Terminals 4 or 5.

If the inbound flight from IND is on-time, I think 1 hour should be fine. Yes, both flights will fly in/out of either T4 or T5 (I'd even say both will probably be in/out of T4).

That "should" be OK, but if your incoming flight is late you will have little margin for error. Personally, I would take an earlier flight if possible.

Dirty Harry: "Do you feel lucky?"

Okay, thanks. I still haven't gotten the tickets so there's time to think about this.

I am flying back from India (BOM) on Jan 1st. My final leg is PVG - LAX on AA 182. I am checking history of this flight and it seems to land at Terminal 4 somedays and at TBIT the other days. My question is does Terminal 4 have Global entry kiosks? Me and my daughter have GE and want to take advantage of it.

Thats no longer true - T4 has immigration, baggage claim and customs and so does TBIT of course.

My understanding is that T4 and remote gates go through the process at T4. TBIT arrivals probably go to TBIT, but there is a walkway to T4 too.

Yes, they do. I used GE in T4 coming in from London just last month.

That has changed, recently. The T4 CBP area is now open for business. I went through it just last month.

It's much more pleasant than the long schelpp through TBIT.

That changed months ago.

Remote gate arrival is bused to TBIT. There is no sterile bus gates at T4, only secured bus gates (to/from Eagles Nest).

Also there is no walkway from TBIT immigration to T4. It is an one-way only passage from T4 to TBIT immigration. If you try to go the other way, TSA will stop you.

There are only two (widebody) gates at T4 with direct access to T4 immigration: Gate 41 and 43. If your flight lands in another other T4 gate (e.g. narrow body arrivals from Mexico or Central America), you will take a bus to far side of TBIT where the sterile bus gates are located.

T4 immigration and customs has limited hours so if you flight lands at 41 or 43 in early morning or after 5 pm, you have to walk to TBIT immigration and customs (passing the closed T4 immigration on the way). If you land when T4 immigration is open, you will clear at T4.

Precheck is now operating at all TBIT TSA locations. You don't HAVE to use the arrival level TSA for your LHR-LAX-SAN routing. If the line is long there, I would walk to T4 or T5 to clear TSA. Your LAX-SAN flight departs from remote terminal so you have to take a bus from either T4 or T5.

For LAX-LHR, you can use any TBIT check point. Although I find T4 works just as well and shorter overall walk if you get dropped off at T5 - due to heavy traffic, I always ask to be dropped off at T5 because the driver can use the middle loop cutoff. It can save 10~15 minutes vs. being dropped off at TBIT or T4 when traffic is bad (which is pretty much all the time).