Downunder girl

I have a question re connecting from UA to DL. Have not flown UA for a few years now and have zero status with them. On DL, I have VA Gold status benefits. I am planning to fly on a Saturday in February 2015:

1:01p 2:46p 3h 45m

Houston (IAH) to Los Angeles (LAX)
United 207
Economy / Coach (L)
Boeing 757-200

2h 19m stop Los Angeles (LAX)
5:05p 8:51p 5h 46m

Los Angeles (LAX) to Honolulu (HNL)
Delta 1149
Economy / Coach (L)
Boeing 757 (757-300)

Was planning to book the tickets separately and need some advice on connection timings and what terminals DL/UA now use at LAX please. What is the best way to get between the terminals?

We will have checked luggage. I heard that UA wont interline bags now unless its with a *A carrier which DL is not. Is that correct?

Thanks .

WineCountryUA

Starting March 2015, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-partners.html

Kacee

Are you sure you want to do that? UA is not reliable and if you miss the connection you're potentially SOL.

I wouldn't book less than four hours for that connection. Better yet, book it all on DL or UA - no separate tix.

chavala

There is a Precheck line-- but both times I've been there its been closed

mgcsinc

There actually isn't. It took me a few times to figure it out, but when I finally did, I realized just how stupid the TSA can be sometimes. The following has been confirmed for me by multiple agents.

TBIT never has a TSA PreCheck entry. Never ever. There is no time when you can go up with a PreCheck BP and go to the PreCheck lane.

However, there often is a PreCheck lane after the document checker, with full PreCheck treatment and livery and sineage. But here's the rub: the only way to get into that lane is thorough "random" selection. They will not send you there based on PreCheck on your BP.

Yes, this is unspeakably stupid.

HkCaGu

Isn't it that TBIT does not have any PC airlines? (AC is at T2.)

Downunder girl

Thanks. No, I dont want to fly UA at all , but since I am arriving off a cruise ship that docks at 8am in Galveston and have to get myself to either HOU or IAH and need to be in HNL on the same evening, I dont have a great deal of choice in flights that will get me over to LAX in time for the DL connection to HNL. The other option is fly out of HOU on SouthWest to LAX, but their flight leaves about 20 minutes earlier than UA, so I was just trying to get a bit of wiggle room from the time we are allowed off the cruise ship. DL all the way doesnt work with connections unfortunately. UA all the way would be torture, given I have no status and the connection ex LAX to HNL is on something like a 737 (Y slim fit seats).

Back to the drawing board I think.

ozflier

An update on how my connection went.

To remind you of our dilemma, UA 99 from Melbourne was scheduled to arrive at 0650 and the departure to DEN was at 0815.

Once I realized that the flight arrived at TBIT, I decided not to take the chance and changed the DEN flight to the 1056 departure.

Of course wondering all the time whether I could have left it as was and made the earlier flight and got to the resort some 150 minutes earlier.

UA 99 arrived at TBIT 0658 and we were out of the plane at 0705.

A long walk to Immigration where the new self processing machines awaited. The latter took some 10 minutes as there were 3 in the party and this was the first time we used them.

Then “shortish” queues to have the final “go over” by an officer and thru to baggage claim at 0735.

Bags came pretty quickly and then the walk to the baggage carousel where bags were promptly scanned and checked thru to the United terminal.

5 minutes or so wait in customs check queue. I did notice some pax at this stage getting expedited with those yellow tight connection tags – If we had those , we may have saved 5 minutes or so.

We left TBIT at 0751.I did not try to use the Star lounge there as it does not open til 0915.

The walk to the United terminal took longer than thought – round 8 or 9 minutes.

At least going business class we had access to the premium TSA lines – only 7 or 8 minutes and into the gate area at 0806. Departure screen showed DEN flight closed though it did not officially leave until 0828.

In truth, all went well, minimal queuing etc but I don’t think we would have made the flight and I would have been surprised if our bags would have.
The big downside of arriving at DEN at 1400 hrs or so was that a lot of the drive to our ski resort would be in the dark.

My thoughts are that you need a 2 hour minimum connect time from the early arriving United from Melbourne.

Hope this helps.

Cybertronic

Not an experienced LAX traveler...
I'm going SFO-LAX-ZRH (UA then SWISS)
Can I check through my bags at SFO and not have to worry about them in LAX? Or do I have to do the whole collect and re-check thing?

Kacee

UA will check them through to ZRH.

You have to change terminals at LAX. It's better to walk (on the top level, takes 10-15 minutes) than to take the shuttle.

747FC

It has been a while since I transited an international flight at LAX, so your advice would be appreciated:

We are flying LHR-LAX-HNL on UA J (hopefully GF), checked luggage and GE.

Arrival @ LAX scheduled for 2:00 PM, although FlightAware shows consistent earlier arrivals by about 20-30 min.

Departure to HNL is now 4:00 PM

Questions:

1. I understand this is within MCT. Is this OK in Real World Experience?

2. According to FlightAware, this flight arrives in Terminal 7 (at least today). Really?

3. Recall needing to reclear Security. Still required?

Many thanks!

debracey

1. 2:45 minutes should be ok, depends on how busy CBP is and how long the line is at TSA. Avoid checking bags to save time.

2. Yes. T6/T7 has a CBP facility underneath it, between the two terminals. The walk from the gate at T7 to CBP is pretty short -- there is a longer walk to the bag reclaim, however.

3. Yes, you have to clear customs/passport control because you're arriving internationally.

harryhood

Well within real world experience time with GE. Without baggage, I have blown through LAX customs and security recheck in <15 minutes, even with the long walk (assuming I get Precheck), so unless bags are woefully delayed or your flight is woefully delayed, this will be a reasonable connection with plenty of time.

In fact, when an inbound flight from PVG arrived early, I even managed to get onto an earlier connecting flight that was to have left before my originally scheduled arrival time.....

747FC

Thanks, debracey and harryhood!

TheSpecialMan

Flying HKG-LAX via flight CX884 in F, scheduled to arrive at 11:15, though flightaware shows that recently the plane has been landing around 10:30 fairly consistently; arrives in Terminal B.
I have global entry and TSA pre, my end destination is MSY, and I will be checking a bag.

I booked a DL flight departing at 12:15 as it was the only direct flight to MSY for the next few hours, though that was recently bumped up to take off at 12:05. Since I booked that flight, United started offering a direct flight which departs at 12:49. I attempted to cancel the Delta flight due to the departure time change, but as it is less than a 90 minute change, I had no luck and the change fee is $200.
I went ahead and booked a refundable ticket on the UA flight as a fallback option figuring I'm going to be out $200 regardless of whether I cancel the DL flight or just don't make it in time.

I assume since I am ticketed separately and checking a bag, I will have to clear customs, exit Term B, then proceed to either Terminal 5 for the DL flight or 7/8 for the UA flight and re-check the bag just as any other passenger would upon entering the airport. I have tickets in F for both flights.
Question: What should my cutoff time be after clearing customs and exiting Term B to decide to attempt to make the earlier DL flight and cancel the UA flight? I am thinking 11:15 - 11:20 or earlier and if I get to Term 5 and the lines to check bags aren't bad, I will go for it. Otherwise I'll just proceed to the UA terminal at a more leisurely pace.
Also, I am not at all familiar with LAX, so if there are any shortcuts or faster ways to get around, would appreciate any insight there as well. Better to wait on shuttle or hoof it?

Thanks