LAX Customs Question/Advice
 

Hi,

I'm flying in from Melbourne on the day before Thanksgiving and landing at 7:30 AM in LAX.

My current itinerary has me flying from LAX-San Diego-ORD. That was only freebie flight available.

However, I checked Southwest's website and found cheap airfare ($115) for one way, non-stop from LAX-MDW, which departs at 9:05 AM.

If I decide to go via Southwest to Chicago, will I have enough time to clear customs and then re-check in at the Southwest Terminal/Gates for the 9:05 AM flight if my flight arrives on Qantas at 7:30 AM.

Thanks!

That's cutting it very close even if your flight from Melbourne arrives on time, which is never a sure thing. Additionally, the day before Thanksgiving is one of the busiest travel days of the year, so the lines will be very long. If I were you, I would book a later flight on SW, then if you do get there in time for the 9:05 flight, ask if you can go stand-by for that one.

If it were a less busy travel day and you missed the early flight, you might be able to catch a later one, although SW would probably charge you extra for that. But considering you are travelling on such a busy day, there's a very good chance that all of the later flights will be full, in which case you are stuck in LA. You would be taking an awfully big chance to book that flight on such a hectic travel day.

I agree. That is not enough time even if everything went by the book. Assuming they open the doors at 7:30am, it will take you about 10-15 minutes to get to the immigration hall. Assuming there are no additional planes landing, it will still take you 10-15 minutes to get through. Then you have to wait for your luggage which may take additional 15 minutes. Go through customs, find your way to the outside of TBIT and wait for the free terminal transfer bus. Take the bus which will make about 3-4 stops before you get to the Southwest terminal. I believe that Southwest closes it's check-in 30 minutes before the flight, so you could see that it does not look very doable.

Book a later flight or stick with the one you have.

You did mention "free ticket" so I'm assuming that you are flying AA for the domestic segment. What you can do is to walk from TBIT to terminal 4 (next door) which is AA's terminal and inquire if they could put you on a more direct flight. There is no charge for same day standby and as long as there are seats available you will be able to get on.

Check <b>www.aa.com</b> for scheduling and write down the possible flights you may be interested in. It helps to know the flights when asking the busy TA's for help to reroute you to a better flight.

Have a great trip!

I'm using my AA Miles to fly from Chicago to Sydney via LAX. I'm flying back from Melbourne to LAX. But since I'm using my miles, the only way I can go home is connecting thru San Diego. Like I said earlier, my flight arrives in LAX 7:30 AM, then I leave for San Diego at 10:00 AM. From there I wait yet another hour and fly direct to Chicago. Which gets me back home around 6:15 PM.

I think I may just stick to the original plan.

Thanks for your advice.

You have made a very wise decision, I'm glad we could help.

Here is a list of 4 direct, non-stops from LAX to ORD:

AA424 dep.9:47a arr.3:47p
AA1364 dep.10:35a arr.4:32p
AA1194 dep.11:25 arr.5:24p
AA1102 dep.12:39p arr.6:39p

I'm sure you could get on one of these flights. Just ask.

All these flights are on a 763 or 738 which have movies.

The SAN-ORD flights are all MD-80 - no entertainment. It is a 4 hour flight.

I think the key to this thread is &quot;on the day before Thanksgiving&quot;. That's one of the most traveled date of the year in the US, and that's probably why AA can't get the OP a non-stop to ORD.

Airports around Thanskgiving is really crowded and most of the flights may be full. Check-in, security, etc all takes much much longer to get through.

One of my friend's sister also flew in from Australia around Thanskgiving a few years back. Her flight was way overbooked and the airline (forget which - but it's AA, CO or UA) is offering close to US$1,000 <b>cash</b> to take a bump. If making Thanskgiving dinner is not important, that's a good travel day to be bumped.

<b>as posted by rkkwan,

<i>I think the key to this thread is &quot;on the day before Thanksgiving&quot;. That's one of the most traveled date of the year in the US, and that's probably why AA can't get the OP a non-stop to ORD.</i></b>,

That could very well be true, but I'm assuming that at this time AA is not releasing any award seats for these fligths, but bas many for sale.

I'm not suggesting that the OP should wait past her departure time, thinking that the OP may be able to get on one of these. What I'm suggesting is, that the OP asks to be confirmed on one of these and if it happens, then the OP fine. If AA can't confirm the seat before the OP's scheduled fight starts boarding, then, yes, I would just stick with the original plan.

Besides, the morning flights are usually still fine, it's the afternoon and evening time of the day that turns into a zoo.

I will ask in Melbourne if I can go standby or if there are any seats available for the direct flight to ORD from LAX.

As for making Thanksgiving dinner...my girlfriend is picking me up at the airport when I arrive. I'm dropping my stuff off at my house, then heading 2 hours west of Chicago to her family's house. That was why I wanted to come in early if at all possible.

Anyway, thanks a lot for your help. You guys make traveling and planning for travel much easier.

It's not going to do you any good to ask Qantas if you could go stanby on AA. If you want to go stanby,you HAVE to ask AA.

I suggest you keep checking back with AA between now and then. You never know when something will open up for award travel on the non-stop flight to ORD.

Keep in mind that immigration/customs in LAX will take much much longer if you're not a US citizen....

If you are going through Customs/Immigration at the Tom Bradley terminal at LAX be prepared. It is chaotic. We have been through other US custom/terminals and the UAL terminal international at LAX and have not had the mess that is Tom Bradley