FindAWay

LAX TBIT to Terminal 1 Hustle and Southwest 737-700 Economy from LAX to MDW

Map Below: Southwest Economy LAX-MDW


FLIGHT: LAX-MDW
DATE: Monday, September 9, 2013
CARRIER: Southwest (WN)
FLIGHT NUMBER: 302
AIRCRAFT: Boeing 737-700 (with evolve interior)
CABIN: Economy (single class aircraft)
SEATS: 7D, (empty 7E), 7F
DEPARTURE GATE: Terminal 1, Gate 7
DEPARTURE- SCHEDULED: 6:05pm // ACTUAL: 6:15pm
ARRIVAL- SCHEDULED: 11:55pm // ACTUAL: 11:45pm
DURATION: 3 hours 30 minutes
MILES FLOWN: 1,783 miles

The most exciting part of our travels!!! For most airlines, the official minimum connection time in LAX for international to domestic connections is 90 minutes (and many folks here on FT think that probably is too short for most connections). Well, we booked a 65 minute layover. And, it wasn’t even on the same airline or PNR. So, our schedule left us just about an hour to:

1. clear immigration,
2. retrieve our bags,
3. clear customs,
4. make our way from the Tom Bradley International Terminal to Terminal 1,
5. check-in and check our larger bags with Southwest,
6. go through security, and
7. make it to our gate.

Further complicating this was that Southwest requires that all bags at LAX be checked at least 45 minutes prior to scheduled departure! So, we had only 20 minutes scheduled for 1 through 5 above!!!

Why on earth would I book this? Well, mostly because of Southwest’s lack of a change fee (and this flight was before the no-show policy went into effect…and I had a “back-up”); so, it was worth a shot! But, also because we both have Global Entry, we were flying in Business (so, theoretically, our “priority” bags come out first), we’re fit and in our early 30s (so, were both ready for a run with our bags), and because I kept any eye on KE061 for months and it tended to arrive more than 30 minutes early very often (making the connection effectively 95 minutes).

So, did we make it??? Y.E.S.! (with literally 2 minutes to spare until the bag-check cut-off according to the time stamp on our bag-check receipt).

We made it only because of a confluence of factors. If any of the following didn’t happen, we would have spent the night at a Marriott near LAX (which would have added a hotel to my TR; but, I was ready to be home):

• KE061 arrived 42 minutes early.
• We were literally the first ones from our flight to immigration (we speedily walked past a handful of others from our flight).
• There was no line at Global Entry at immigration for us (and we weren’t sent to an agent).
• Our bags came out within the first 10 bags from the flight.
• There is a separate customs exit line for Global Entry folks (near the crew line) that had no one in it (and our bags were not searched).
• We walked/jogged from TBIT to T1 in less than 10 minutes on the upstairs departure level.
• There was no line to check-in/check bags at the Southwest check-in.

Photo Below: View of TBIT as We Raced to Terminal 1


Since we had already been traveling for about 30 hours (without a shower) and had just hustled from TBIT to T1, we weren’t the best-smelling couple on our flight. So, when I saw that the flight was only a bit over 1/2-full on the agent’s screen as we boarded, we decided to try and make our own tommy class on WN (or “secret first class”…but, we were technically too far forward for this)…and it worked! If someone had sat between us, they may have chosen to re-seat themselves after one whiff.

Finally, we were on a flight heading to Sweet Home Chicago!

Photo Below: Gate - Economy Class - WN302 (737-700)


Photo Below: Plane at Gate, Economy Class - WN302 (737-700)


Photo Below: Seats (Evolve Interior) - Economy Class - WN302 (737-700)


Photo Below: Legroom (Evolve Interior) - Economy Class - WN302 (737-700)


Photo Below: Mountains after Takeoff - Economy Class - WN302 (737-700)


Photo Below: In-Flight Snack - Economy Class - WN302 (737-700)


We arrived around midnight and our bags made their way to the baggage claim a bit faster than typical for Midway; but, we were home!

Photo Below: Arrival Back in Sweet Home Chicago!

FindAWay

Final Thoughts

First, I commend everyone who has posted a TR before -- putting this together was a lot more time-consuming than I anticipated and I applaud the efforts of everyone else as I have enjoyed reading and greatly benefited from the descriptions/tips in others’ trip reports!

Upon reflection, we could not have hoped to have the trip go as well as it did. There were no significant delays; we had no immigration issues; we had no real complaints; and, other than the weather in Cairns that hindered our snorkeling, the weather was fantastic everywhere we visited.

My Opinions on Aspects of Our Trip:

• Best Hotel Mattress: Hilton Cairns
• Worst Hotel Mattress: Outback Pioneer Hotel & Lodge, Ayers Rock
• Best IFE: Korean Prestige Class
• Worst IFE: QantasLink Economy Class (a bit unfair - no IFE)
• Best Airplane Seat for Sitting: Korean Prestige Class
• Worst Airplane Seat for Sitting: Southwest Evolve Interior
• Best Airplane Seat for Sleeping: Virgin Australia 777-300ER Business Class
• Most Surprising - Good: How Nice and Friendly Locals in Fiji Are
• Most Surprising - Bad: Budget in Nadi Not Having an Automatic
• Best Sight: Too tough - tie: Sydney Circular Quay at Night; Uluru Sunrise; Mamanuca Islands, Fiji
• Most Overrated: The Strand Arcade, Sydney
• Most Underrated: Walk from Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach in Sydney
• Most Memorable: Uluru Base Walk

Well, thank you for reading my trip report -- I hope you enjoyed it!

FlyingDoctorwu

Wow epic trip report.. way to get it organized and posted in all one go! Sounds like an amazing amazing time..

FDW

knoebelsPT

Spectacular report. Thanks for sharing!

To comment on the least interesting part of the report: the security lines at MDW have been out of control the last few years. Precheck can't come there soon enough.

How did you like the IFE selection on KE? I have a flight coming up and I'm trying to figure out how much to load up the tablet.

FindAWay

Thanks for reading! It was a wonderful trip!

I agree - the MDW security lines have become terrible!

I thought the IFE selection on KE was pretty good and included a lot of very recent movies -- we didn't use our tablet at all on those flights.

Glad you enjoyed my TR!!

polandspringuy

What a great trip report! Thank you for sharing!

matthandy

FindAWay what a terric report!

I have to ask, have you been stalking me?

- You visited the newer upstairs part of the Virgin lounge in Sydney, I'm usually there most Tuesday mornings

- You took almost exactly the same photos as I did when I did the Uluru base walk a couple of years ago

- You took a boat trip in Cairns that took you out to Michaelmas Cay, the same as I did a couple of years ago too

- You flew on exactly the same aircraft as I did to Fiji at Easter and even sat in the same row

- You stayed in the same hotel as me in Fiji!

FindAWay

Thanks for the kind words! Apparently, I was stalking you without knowing it...maybe next time I catch up with you.

salfcl

Enjoyed reading the TR. Thanks for taking the time to put together the report.

FindAWay

Thanks for the warm words. I'm happy to hear you both enjoyed the report!

akersnl

I don't often comment on trip reports but was compelled to on this one. Excellent! Thanks for including pictures that weren't just of your flights.

FindAWay

Thank you for reading it! I definitely travel to visit places; so, I wanted to include photos of some of the things we saw/did -- I'm glad you enjoyed them! ^

mattm199

Thanks for sharing, looks like you packed a lot into a short visit!

cloudsurfer1

Great TR ! I'm not one to comment on TR's a lot either, but this one was really good ! You put a lot of time and effort into it. Thanks !

PS. Loved to see the pics of some very familiar places ! ^

sudosandwich

holycrap thanks for this.

Heading to Fiji/Australia next year and I can't wait!