kev

Hi,

I'm flying QF from BNE to SFO early next year and I'm wondering if anyone can tell me if I can access the QP in LAX Terminal 4 (? correct me if I'm wrong) after arriving from SFO prior to flying to BNE via TBI? i.e. Can I hang out in the QP after arriving from SFO and walk to TBI a short time before the flight rather than go to the lounge in TBI?

I know that I can fly via Sydney, but the tradeoff between the nicer QP in LAX and the immigration\customs in SYD with the transfer to a domestic flight to BNE is a pretty close run thing in my experience - hence the preference to fly direct...

thanks

Kev

p.s. as a recent newbie to FT (< 2weeks) how did I not know about you guys prior to my recent DONE4? I'd be in the ranks of the WP's if I did! Doh!

Dave Noble

Probably not. You are likely not to get past security at T4 to get to the lounge.

Dave

Kiwi Flyer

Welcome to FT kev

number_6

There are several AA flights SFO-LAX which do arrive at T4, taking those flights would allow lounge access (6 am and 6 pm flights in the current timetable). If arriving at another terminal you won't be able to get to the lounge through T4 security as you don't have a boarding pass for a flight leaving T4. In any case you have to leave T4 at least an hour before your BNE flight departure in order to have enough time to get through security at TBIT (presuming you are flying J/F and have expedited security clearance; otherwise might need 2 hours, depending on the day -- TBIT security lines vary from a few minutes to over an hour).

NM

Hi Kev, and welcome to FT. Now, if you had made WP status, I would suggest the routing via SYD would definately be on the agenda, since the LAX T4 F lounge is worth the extra trouble in SYD. But even though the J lounge is nice, the bar offerring is not a patch, and you rely on the vouchers given to Qantas pax on entry or have to pay for the drinks.

At least the TBI lounge has an open help-yourself bar, even if it does not have showers and toilets.

Globaliser

The last time I was at LAX (about 2 years ago) it was possible to get from T4 to the "other terminal" (T3?) by taking the bus from T4 to the American Eagle terminal, and then on from there to T3. This was all airside, thus avoiding the TSA oberfuehrers. It should be equally possible to do it in reverse.

Funnily enough, though I had had to clear security in T4, where I was told that I was in the wrong place. Producing my QP card as proof of entitlement to use the AC there, together with ID and the BP, seemed to be enough to let me in.

NM

That certainly won't work now. They only way to get past the TSA in LAX is to have a BP for same day departure from that terminal, or to be on "the list" provided to the TSA by the AC lounge. You can get on "the list" by calling the AC the day before. This is to permit lounge guests to visit flying guests for meetings etc. I would expect a QP member can request the AC to add them to "the list" for TSA access to the terminal.

Globaliser

Thanks, NM, I'll remember that for next time.

Of course, if the direct airside shuttle between T3 and T4 via the Eagle terminal still works without additional security, isn't it still a way of evading - whoops, sorry, I meant avoiding - that TSA requirement?

number_6

Security procedures at LAX change every few weeks. Lately it has been stricter than usual (higher level due to the elections), and it is not possible to get between any terminal using airside transfer. The Eagle terminal bus still runs but they check the boarding passes so you can't get T3 to T4 if you don't have a T4 pass (or so I have been told), also it is fairly inconvenient and only helpful if you arrive on AS into T3. Meanwhile the quality of the food in the FL is steadily declining and so is the drinks quality (sake is out of stock, for example, and I wasn't the cause!). The ORD FL is better than the LAX FL now, despite QF supposedly paying extra for LAX. Not really worth going through convolutions to get to the LAX lounges.

kev

thanks to everyone for their replies.

just so I understand this....so the only way that I can possibly get access to the QP in terminal 4 is to get a flight that flies into terminal 4, and then I need to leave the terminal with an hour or so to spare to ensure that I get through customs from terminal 4 to TBI? How do I determine which terminal the flight I catch lands on? Also how do you get from terminal 4 to TBI?

If I can't access the QP in LAX terminal 4 then I'm in a dilly of a pickle as I'm probably going to be sightseeing all day and I'm definitely going to need a shower! Are there showers in the AA club in either San Fran or San Jose, or alternatively another OneWorld within TBI?

Otherwise it looks like a flight via Sydney!

Globaliser

This one I can do. It's about a three minute walk along the road. Just go out of the terminal, turn left (I think) towards the TBI and walk over there - it's pretty much the next building along.

But try to avoid days when they have shooting incidents in the TBI - that's how I discovered the airside shuttle bus method of getting to T3, thanks to some imaginative AA agents who were trying to work out how I could get from T4 to T3 without having to walk miles around the security cordon that had been thrown around the TBI that day.

NM

Globaliser is correct. Just exit T4 on the upper level (departures) and turn left. TBI is at the top of the horseshoe of terminals, and is the next terminal back against the traffic direction. Its no more than about 2-300m.

number_6

Any AA metal flight SFO-LAX will either land at T4 (mainline) or at the regional jet terminal (eagle) which has a bus to take you to T4. A year ago AA also used T3 (the old TWA terminal) but all of those flights have been moved to T4 ... but AS (Alaska) uses T3 and AA codeshares with AS, not sure if on SFO-LAX though. As long as you take a mainline AA flight SFO-LAX it will be easy to get a shower at T4 (and there are at least 2 a day, at 6 am and 6 pm). Finally you don't clear customs leaving the US, it is security for entering airside that causes the long lines at TBIT (and sometimes all other terminals at LAX).

Globaliser

Gee, I knew that AA was more stingy with showers than QF, but I didn't know things had got that bad. Do they do group showers if there's more than one person at each alloted time?

prspad

All AA flights from SFO to LAX arrive at T4, except for the morning Alaska Airlines Codeshare, which arrives at T3. Since you arrive inside the Security Bubble, you can justt walk on into the T4 lounge.