Zorak

... but the other country might not permit dual citizenship.

flyerCO

Ok. I was reading as though US required that the specific countries citizenship be given up.

baroqen

Bingo

kieran3911

Hi.
I am on a Virgin/Delta flight from Sydney to Boston on April 9th.
I leave Sydney at 9:30am and am scheduled to arrive in LAX, Tom Bradley terminal at 6:05am
My connecting flight to Boston is from Terminal 2 in LAX at 8:05am and is with Delta.

How can I know for sure when I check in, that my luggage will be checked through all the way?
I have rang a couple of times and got conflicting information from Virgin. One client service representative said I can't check my luggage all the way through and the other said I can.

Is 2 hours enough time to make my connecting flight?
Thanks for your help/advice.

flyerCO

2 hours is plenty. As for bags, LAX is your port of entry to the US. Thus you will be requured to collect bags and carry through US Customs. Once outside customs you will drop the bags at a recheck bag belt as long as they're tagged through to BOS. If not then bring them to T2 to check them in. Then proceed to the terminal where you flight is departing and clear security. Verify the gate number before heading to a terminal. Your flight may be from a gate in terminal 3 even though it lists terminal 2. 2x gates are terminal 2, 3x terminal 3, and 13x are in the TBIT. The terminal listed on the BP is strictly for those originating at LAX who need to checkin luggage. In that case they must goto the listed terminal regardless of which gate they will actually depart out of.

CPMaverick

For SYD-LAX-BOS, you are required to pick up luggage at LAX. You can 'check through' your luggage, but that only means it has the BOS tag already attached, you still have to retrieve luggage and go through customs with it at your arrival airport to the USA.

For BOS-LAX-SYD, you can check your luggage through and won't see it again until SYD.

In this respect the USA is exactly like Australia. If you flew LAX-SYD-MEL you would retrieve and recheck luggage at SYD.

I recommend at least 2 hours for this connection, if you are checking luggage and do not have any 'express' privileges at USA customs. LAX is highly variable, your biggest wait time will be waiting for luggage and then entering T2 security. Most of the time you can do all that in 30-60 minutes but in some cases it takes up to 90 minutes.

Duke787

+1. Definitely will have to pick up your bag -- the bad news is that Google Flights is showing that on 4/9 the DL / VA / QF / AA flights plus the QF MEL - LAX are all scheduled to land between 6 and 630am so there will be pretty heavy traffic at customs -- I would strongly advise you to hustle off the plane and download mobile passport if you don't have GE, and then you'll need to hustle over to the DL terminal

flyerCO

If OP is a US/CANADIAN citizen 2 hours will be more than plenty. They can use mobile app to clear customs and immigration and be through almost as quickly as with GE. Even if they don't use the app, US/CANADIAN citizens can get through quickly in general.

If they're not then they just need to watch the time. If time gets short, ask one of the line minders and they can get you up to front of line.

CPMaverick

I didn't say customs was slow. I said the biggest wildcards are luggage and clearing security into your onward terminal.

I've waited 50 minutes for bags at LAX before. That has nothing to do with being a citizen. Yes that was a one-off, but a 30 minute wait for luggage is not unusual. Combine that with a longer than usual TSA line for their next terminal and you burn through 60 minutes easily and can approach 90 minutes. That makes anything less than a 2 hour connection iffy. Like I said 2 hours should be OK.

Customs times can vary but if you are checking luggage that is almost always what dictates your time to get out of TBIT.

flyerCO

My experience with bags has been the opposite at LAX. They're generally already coming onto the belt by time I get there. This is with having GE and normally needing a wheelchair for long distance, thus me being one of the first to the belt. While YMMV, LAX is generally always the quickest. Compare with JFK where I've waited nearly an hour for bags.

CPMaverick

You've been very lucky. I have been through LAX over 200 times, probably 75% of the time checking a bag. I always go to the toilet after getting to the luggage area (I prefer to get passport control over with before bladder control), then to the bag claim, and I can't recall ever having a short wait. Certainly my baggage has never been there to greet me.