SoCal

The flight fronm LAX to ORD is a domestic flight, and will have people just embarking at LAX. After Customs at LAX (which usually consists of nothing more than handing over a form one gets on board the flight and filled out there, and which the Immigration agent will initial), there will be a transfer desk where she should have to do no more than hand over her bags (already tagged to her ultimate destination). Not like having to check bags when you start a flight. Quick and easy (they just need to be sure that if they bought any liquids, etc. in duty free, that those are put in their checked bags before handing the over; after that they'll need to go through TSA security to go to the gate for their domestic flight).

I've seen lots of itineraries with extra stops and, yes, they often cost less than the non-stops. I don't think their itinerary looks all that unusual. Sometimes one can get around it by phoning reservations, but that seems a moot point now.

tenacioustins

Correct. Boston has electronic check-in kiosks and they will give me both boarding passes at once since the trip (and the ETA and all that) is all in one booking/etc. If they don't give me a second boarding pass I am pretty sure that I could find my way to ticketing to get one. But I don't think it will be a problem since it's booked as one trip through a third party travel agent and not through an airline specifically.

tenacioustins

Yep, she's heading out tomorrow evening and she is nervous but feeling pretty ok about it all now. I was able to offer her tips on how to handle the long part of the flight and LAX and I''ve passed on whatever info I can find for her about her trip. I am sure she will be fine although I am worried about there only being 40 minutes between her flight from LA to ORD and the flight from ORD to Newark.

SURGEADDICT

ok so what happens if you land in the main gates?

bzcat

So once a year you log on to Flyertalk to bump this thread?

The answer you seek was in the 2nd post... asked and answered in 2008. There are stairs and escalator at the gate. You go down to immigration.

FlyMeToTheLooneyBin

Hehe. I was also wondering why the thread was bumped. Yes, there are stairs leading down.

Nugget_Oz

Unless she is flying business next time she should not fly UA. There are many other alternatives to Sydney than UA. UA economy is pretty harsh for the transpacific leg.

tenacioustins

Yeah, i think next time, if there is a next time, she will take a better route. She did make it quite fine and said she was fairly comfortable. I'm more worried for her on the way back.

Nugget_Oz

With UA she won't have to do the TBIT - T4 trek which happens with QF. Actually, DL/VA you don't either and now they have opened up the underground security clearance you don't even have to leave T5 at all for the transfer.

If she has a long stopover and is up to it she should try getting to the In-N-Out at Sepulveda after the long transpac. You can get there using the Parking Spot Sepulveda shuttle and then there are actually signs from the Parking Spot to the In-N-Out. Takes about two hours to be on the safe side although over the weekend I did in about an hour.

tenacioustins

I'm pretty sure, judging on how long the stopover on the way back is, that she won't have all that much time to dabble around. Will they come into TBIT or Terminal 7? From the looks of it it's all done in T7 but maybe not.

Nugget_Oz

I believe it is T7 unless there is an extreme situation forcing UA to use TBIT. The only ex-Oz airline that uses TBIT is QF.

zKomal

hi
I'm flying from mexico to houston, then to LAX and finally YVR.

do I have enough time from T6 to T2? I have little under 2 hours, arrive around noon and depart at 2:15pm. I havent flown to LAX before, do I need to get my bags and check them in again? and im assuming i have to go through customs? (canadian passport)

cheers

SoCal

Why would you go through customs twice? You'll go through in Houston (Immigration, too, of course). Whether your bags will be automatically transferred depends on the airline(s) involved. If they have an interline agreement for bag transfer, as is normally the case, no problem. If you're transferring between Southwest and another carrier, you may have to take your bags yourself, walking or on the free shuttle, and check-in. If not, your time should be okay,and if the passage was bought as one ticket, and you do somehow miss the onward flight, they should put you on the next flight with available seats (not always the very next flight).

bzcat

You will get more helpful and relevant information if you post the airlines involved. But I'm guessing you are flying CO from Houston to LAX and AC from LAX to YVR based on the terminals you mentioned. 2 hours is plenty of time to make this connection.

When you check in at Mexico, make sure they tag your bags all the way to YVR. You need to clear custom at Houton but you shouldn't need to worry about your bags at LAX (assuming it is in fact CO to AC transfer).

Craig6z

As others have said, as long as you get your baggage checked through from Houston to Vancouver, this will not be a problem. You may get a minute more scrutiny at Terminal 2, with a Canadian passport.

In theory even if you have to claim your baggage at Terminal 6, this is doable. There is a terminal shuttle bus, or if your luggage can be toted, you can walk directly north through the parking garage to Terminal 2. Either transit way should be under ten minutes.