we will be landing in lax from honolulu at 1600 but our flight to london is at 1745 is this long enought for an international flight? my travel agent says yes,but the airline(virgin atlantic)say that they reccomend check in three hours before departure .
has anyone any experience of this.
thanks Linda

If I were you, I would make my travel arrangements based on the information that Virgin Atlantic has given you. It sounds like that you will be flying on a domestic carrier from Honolulu to LAX, and you will have to get your luggage in LAX and then recheck it in with Virgin in the international terminal. That is going to take time and eat into your 105 minutes. However, there is the chance that you can ticket your luggage all the way through from Honolulu to London, but you would have to check with the domestic carrier. You're also going to have to clear security. I don't know what Virgin's policy is for releasing seats to standby passengers, but if you don't follow the 3 hour rule, you might be playing Russian Roulette with your vacation plans, meaning that you might not have a seat, you would have to fly out the next day, and Virgin might make you pay an additional fee or make you buy new tickets for the following day (if seats are available). Its not worth taking the chance and screwing up your vacation plans.

Arrive 3 hours earlier.

Unfortunately, many flights from Hawaii arrive laye in Los Angeles. You will need more time. We had 2 hours 5 minutes before our flight to Europe and did not make it.

Although I can not give you info on this specific connection, we have found, unfortunately, that on several occasions, a travel agent has booked us a connection that we felt was too tight and justified it with saying that it was a "legal" connection.

If it were me, I would change one of the flights - although I realize that might be difficult or you might have to pay a fee. The last thing you want when traveling that distance and for that length of time is to spend the whole time worrying about making a connection.

I always do a sleep over in this scenario that way there is no stress about making connections. I do this from NYC to Lihue Kauai actually. Gets me there earlier than any connecting flights and able to start my trip on my first available evening instead of morning which is when most flights to HNL take off.

I wouldn't recommend it. It's not uncommon for flights out of HNL to be pushed back an hour or so. Switching terminals at LAX can be a nightmare as well. Looks like you're playing a big game of chance.

There are several factors that would go into my decision here. I just flew from Honolulu through LAX yesterday, had to change terminals with 2 hour connection. My flight from HNL landed 30 minutes late. However, I did not check luggage and had an E-ticket with my printed itinerary -- i.e. so I grabbed the bus to the next terminal, went through security and checked in at the gate with plenty of time to spare.
Factors: are you checking luggage that you have to pick up at LAX first? If so, plan on that eating up 20-30 minutes. Taking the shuttle bus to another terminal is relatively painless, add 10 minutes for this. Do you have to check in at the VA ticket counter separately? If you do, and aren't flying business class or have elite FF status(where you have a shorter check in line), then factor in another 30 minutes for this. Going through security again, I give myself 30 minutes for this nowadays. Sometimes there isn't a line and it only takes 5 minutes other days it takes 45. So, if you have to take all of these factors into account you will be pushing it (even if your HNL->LAX flight is on time).
If you are getting ticketed in HNL straight through to London and your luggage is being transferred (so all you have to do is change terminals and go through security), then 1 hour 45 min. should easily be fine. If you have to do the baggage claim and re-check in, I would find another alternative that gives you at least 2.5 hours.

Hi,

Which airline are you flying with? I had a quick look at the LAX airport Map and Hawaiian Air and Virgin Atlantic share the same Terminal (Terminal 2) so there is less distance to walk).
Assuming you can get your bags checked through to London from Honolulu it should be a matter of collecting your boarding passes.
If you have seats reserved on VS it could be worthwhile to inform them that you will have a shorter connection time than normal as they could relase your seats at 2hours.
Even so 1 hour 45mins appears tight especially if the Hawaiian flight is late.
You do have the consulation that should you miss the 1745 I think there is another VS flight at around 2100 so you may not have to stay overnight at LAX.
All the same I would try to get an earlier arriving flight into LAX.
Regards
Gregory

The last time I flew out of LAX on an international flight was about one month ago. At that time the security line was unbelievable. It was the entire length of the check-in counters, out the door and 20 meters down the walkway. Perhaps it is better now but with the most recent incident I would doubt it.

Thanks all who replied,it looks like i should have a chat with my travel agent about changing a couple of things.one question how do we check baggage so that it gets ticketed or transferred automatically? I have never heard of this and did not know it was possible.our airlines are hawaiian and virgin.
thanks Linda

Hawaiian Air (or whichever airline you take from Hawai'i) will check the bags through for you so you need not reclaim them at LAX.

Hi Linda

Thanks for that additional information

Hawaiian and Virgin share Terminal 2 so that will save a considerable amount of time.
Hav you got your seats reserved on Virgin yet? as a lot of them can be preassigned prior to airport check in

Regards
Gregory