Flying to Kona from the UK in October and the best flights I have found change in LAX with only a 2hr connection time between flights. Is that too tight a timeline to get the 2nd flight?
Last time I went to Kona was back in 2012 and I had similar flights but with a longer gap in LAX. However, I do remember it took a long time to get through security and my bike box was searched. I have travelled in the USA quite a lot and the airports are almost always more stringent with security than they are back home in Europe. Is this still the case? With a 2hr connection do you think either me or my bike may miss the 2nd flight?
Impossible to say.
I fly United and I have to check in and pay the bike: it is not automatically checked through by Lufthansa,with which I fly to LAX.
Check out how it is in your case.
If you think 2 hr could become a problem do you have a fallback plan? Can you take the next flight to Hawaii (Hilo or Kona) or are you totally f*** if you do not catch that plane?
Not done the trip, but that doesn’t sound like a big enough margin-of-error given the circumstances of your trip with the bike, long haul etc. That Hawaii flight isn’t going to wait for anyone.
I’ve flown east coast US to Asia through LAX a bunch of times. I always schedule it for a long layover at LAX. Not sure about Kona, although I’ve flown there once (business, not triathlon related), but for the flights to Fiji and some other places there’s only one per day, so there’s a lot at stake in missing the flight. Plus flying from the US to other countries, you generally have another check-in step at the international terminal that can take time. The reverse of your situation, but still an extra step.
As it turned out, my flights to LAX have never been significantly late and I didn’t really need the long layover. One time I was traveling with some others and I arranged the flights and they were kinda pissed we had the long layover, but I didn’t want to take the chance and I don’t see what’s so bad about hanging out at the airport in the middle rather than in our offices before.
Long way to say I’d advise having a longer layover unless there’s a big cost difference or other good reason. I have no experience with the bike deal, but I feel better with some time for everything.
btw, I travel a lot to “third-world” countries and most of them have airports better than the domestic parts of LAX, but the international part of LAX is nice.
yeah LAX is the first stop in the USA so I’m going to have to go through immigration etc aren’t I? It sounds like I’ll need more time in LA. These are the only flights from Manchester (I live near Manchester) so it looks like I’ll have to travel from London instead, from London the most suitable flight has a 5hr change time in LAX which feels like a more comfortable turnaround time
yeah LAX is the first stop in the USA so I’m going to have to go through immigration etc aren’t I?
The United States is a welcoming country with an efficient bureaucracy and friendly immigration service… LAX will be a breeze
Don’t know how it is for UK folks, but for US citizens, US immigration and customs is amazingly efficient and fast compared to everywhere else. So many times I get off the flight and see a couple other 747s landed at the same time and there are a thousand people heading to immigration and I think “oh no”, but then it goes so fast I often literally never have to stop. There are helpful people directing you and helping you, the line moves fast, the immigration guy checks you through, your bag is on the carousel and you walk through customs and drop off your bag again without ever stopping.
To be honest, most countries are fairly fast these days, but still I sometimes spend a few hours getting out of the airport. But I’m also often bringing in weird looking stuff for engineering projects. The US, in every big airport, seems so fast and efficient. I do have some friends who are US citizens but born in Colombia and coming back to the US they often get taken to the little room and questioned. Never happened to me but it did happen to a member of our group one time. He was a young guy born in the US with nothing on his record, so we never did figure out what triggered the questioning. Wasn’t a big deal though.
Flying from the US it is very easy. On Delta the gate is usually pretty much across from where I come out arriving from Atlanta. And there are lots of food options in that terminal.
I have never arrived on an international flight there, but in Atlanta I try to have at least 2 hours when I connect to that airport coming from Germany.
I’m connecting through LAX on the way to Kona too, but from Boston. We only have an hour layover, and hope that’ll be ok w/o customs.
When I raced IM Norway in June we had around 2 1/2 hours in London in each direction - then on to Copenhagen, and things worked out fine. I’d hope that 2 hours would be enough, but if you need to do anything like changing terminals it could be a bit tight.
Is LAX the first stop in the US for you? If it is then I would give yourself more time.
You’ll have to pick up your bags, go through immigration and customs. Then drop your bags off and finally get to go to your plane.
2 hours might be enough but I doubt it since boarding will be 40 minutes before the plane leaves and you’ll have a bike with you.
Agree. Having to clear customs and re-check the bike is going to be very tight I think. It will also depend on airlines and if you have to go to another terminal and what time of day it will be. I’ve been through security at LAX in 10 minutes and other times closer to an hour and I have TSA pre.
I’d error on the side of caution and plan a longer layover at LAX. 2 hours might be good, or you could miss your connecting flight. Really not worth risking it and it would be one more thing to worry/stress about. Better to remove that stress from the equation.
You may also need to switch terminals and currently there’s no automated people mover between terminals at LAX (I believe there is a bus, but the loop at LAX is sloooooow). Worth checking on that as well. 2h is probably right anyways and would be extra stressful if you need to switch terminals.
What airlines are you flying? You’ll be coming into Tom Bradley international terminal, and depending on what time you arrive, customs may be busy if some recent flights from Asia arrive at a similar time. Tom Bradley is basically in the middle at LAX, so depending on your connecting airline, you may have a bit of a distance to get to the other gate.
Honestly, 2hrs is likely fine. Not that you want to miss your flight, but there are literally dozens of flights to Hawaii from LAX every day. Worse case you may have to go through Honolulu, and connect to Kona. Assuming your flight from Manchester is on time, you should be fine.