Neil_Oz

Correction, I think that should have read the Jornada DEL Muerto. I read about it in a Larry McMurtry book and immediately saw its potential. It has a nice ring - would "the journey of the dead", or "the way of the dead" be a fair translation?

AUSTRALIAONE

Are you referring to me or Pat Woolford JohnJ? For your information anyone who is lives in Queensland would agree that you would never go for Fraser in favour of Cairns and surrounds unless it was the monsoon season. For your information further JohnJ I was born in Gympie ( near Fraser Island) and live in Brisbane now and our office is in Brisbane with branches on the Gold Coast, Whitsunday Coast and Cairns.

Sarvowinner

AUSTRALIAONE

???????????

mlgb

Sarvo, she's a whacko who's "wasting her time" posting on the wrong thread. Ignore.

AndrewDavid

neil it is one of those lovely barren new mexico landscapes
that prime minister you were dumping was it the one who went swimming and never came back? and we up here think all you ozzies are born again lifeguards

fyi i'm adopting a dog next week who is part australian shepherd/ border collie. for better or worse also part golden retreiver so running w/ her is more upper body work than lower as she has to be dragged

cheers
andrewdavid

pat_woolford

Andrew, you'll have to teach him the "Heel" command - bribery with special treats works wonders.

What's an Australian Shepherd? - we have Border Collies and Golden Retrievers here aplenty, also an Australian Cattle Dog (or Heeler) and Kelpies - have been to quite a few working dog trials and never heard of a Shepherd?

Neil_Oz

No, Andrew, it's the current occupant of the job, but it seems likely that the voters will take care of the problem later this year. The PM who went for a swim and didn't come back was Harold Holt - that was back in 1967. Bill Bryson mentioned that a swiming pool was later named after him.

AndrewDavid

Neil,

hope they have a lifeguard

andrewdavid

AndrewDavid

no Pat, it's not the heel command she needs, but the run command!!

regardless that was a trick question she is parrt border collie and part retriever; glad you're still as alert as ever Pat

a/d

Tim_and_Liz

I have one family member and one friend who each have an Australian Shepherd...

http://www.australianshepherds.org/

MarcsRed

I live in LA, and so have the unfortunate fate of dealing almost exclusively with LAX.

I don't know about those who are saying their domestic carrier will check their baggage all the way through for them, but my fiance's family lives in Perth, and I've had to fly out there quite a few times in the last year (in 23 days I'm moving out there), and AA, NWA and Frontier have all refused to check bags all the way through.

There are two reasons for this: Firstly, there is a completely different screening and labeling process for international flights at LAX than for domestic ones. Secondly, you will be charged for excess baggage, which will be fantastic! Qantas allows for two bags at 70 lbs each, and domestic flights allow for two bags at 50 lbs each. Since you are not moving, I assume you won't share my predicament (excess baggage fees from AA, plus the charge for an extra bag, then the charge for an extra bag AGAIN from Qantas).

I find LAX very easy to navigate, but if you have any amount of luggage, it'll be a pain in the arse to lug it over to the Bradley terminal.

Qantas' line is ALWAYS one of the much longer ones, so I would say that you will not have any more time to peruse the shops, after claiming your baggage (always takes forever), going through customs and checking in, than to make a beeline for the few things you know you want at the duty-free shop.

There are two duty-free shops downstairs, and a slew of bad restaurants/bars upstairs. IMHO, there is no reason to look at LAX's gift shops, because they don't really exist. There are duty-free shops that are EXACTLY like the ones you see anywhere - LHR for example - and they are not worth your time.

Susan7

MarcsRed, your post may be a little confusing for people travelling to Australia.

If you are flying Qantas from LAX to Australia, then that's a non-stop flight--no American domestic flight would be involved.

I've never had the bag checking problem you are describing. I fly to the States fairly regularly and when coming home and connecting to a Qantas flight in LA--coming from cities in the US such as Chicago, Seattle, New York etc.--the domestic carrier has always checked my luggage all the way through to Sydney. The luggage is screened at the point of departure.

MarcsRed

Ahhh, see, I thought the original poster was saying she'd booked a Qantas flight out of LAX, and had separately booked her domestic connecting flight on NWA.

If your ticket is booked as ONE ticket, Minnesota to Sydney, and not purchased separtely, you should have no problem.

I just know that if you're NOT traveling to/from a big city in the States, tickets are usually booked separately - a ticket to Oz from LAX or something, and then an internal, domestic flight to get you TO LAX. Does that make sense? In those cases, you will face the scenario that I described - at least on the airlines I've named.

Thanks for helping me clear that up Susan7!

oliverandharry

It doesn't matter if it's one ticket or multiple - if the domestic airline does NOT have an agreement with the over the water carrier, you will pick up bags at LAX and transfer. Yes, this works most of the time with United or AA or some major airline to connect to Qantas, Air NZ, etc. It does not work for us flying Frontier out of Denver to LAX. Frontier is our hometown airline, much like NWA, we love them dearly and they go everywhere we need to go domestically except Boston,and so we still put up with that inconvenience at LAX. But thanks to many of the more than 30 posts here, I'll consider SFO next time over.

mn2ca

LAX isn't as difficult as others. If Qantas uses terminal 4, then it isn't too much of a walk if you want to stretch your legs. NW uses terminal 2. If walking, leave the terminal and go to your right. You will pass terminal 3, International (aka Tom Bradley), and then get to 4. Although I have never used it, there is a shuttle bus that operates between terminals. LAX is a horseshoe shape so the bus drives around in circles. Have a great trip. I am heading to Sydney in November.

mrwunrfl

I agree that LAX isn't as bad as others (avoiding the TBIT, that is). Compare going from T2 to T4 at LAX with going from USAir to United at SFO. Or compare to going from the domestic to international at ORD. Or changing terminals at JFK.

If you want to follow Melodie's directions and take the bus then note that the shuttle stop that you want is under the BLUE sign. The shuttle that you want is the A bus for All Terminals. Don't take the B or C buses.

mrwunrfl

Oh, maybe it's a nightmare because you really need to know where you are going to make a terminal transfer? You can't just follow signs, I think.