Summoning all Ozbargain elites! Required flight from LA to Seattle - 10 AUG 2014 after 4 PM.

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  Rashed on 02/08/2014 - 19:38

  +1

  Summon denied.. Try requesting.. ;p

  • 

    eatwell365 on 02/08/2014 - 23:23

    Summon as in Yu-Gi-Oh?

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  Davo1111 on 02/08/2014 - 20:04

  +1

  yeah, i can see delta all day for $169 USD, works out about the same

  http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

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  RockyRaccoon on 02/08/2014 - 22:22

  +10

  Whoa

  you land at 2:45pm and want a flight to Seattle as early as 4pm. You must be joking or out of your mind.

  Even if you have a greencard or US passport a 1:15 changeover is ludicrous.

  US Immigration can sometimes take 2 hours to clear at LAX. Baggage can take 45 minutes to appear, even if you get lucky with shorter immigration clearance. You may even get a gate that takes 10 minutes to walk to immigration, plus how long it takes to deplane with all the other passengers seated ahead of you. (Given you are on Ozbargain and looking for a cheap flight you cant be anything but an economy passenger seated further back on the plane)

  LAX is a VERY big airport, and then there is security before you check into your Seattle flight which more than likely will be at another terminal (1-8 different terminals).

  Add checkin time for you and your baggage

  And then you hope your flight arrives on time.

  Missing the flight to Seattle even if its cheap wont help you much.

  Internal US flights LAX to Seattle arent that cheap anymore. Consolidation of US carriers that have gone bankrupt means internal flights are expensive. Its 900 plus miles and your price is similar to what I found planning a trip a few months back.

  Good luck

  BTW check this thread for transit time recommendations for LAX

  http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/your-que…

  • 

    Alfonso on 03/08/2014 - 13:42

    Thanks Rocky Raccoon

    Would you suggest that a 6pm flight would be more safer?

    • 

      RockyRaccoon on 03/08/2014 - 16:13

      +2

      It all depends on your pain level.

      1. Check who you are flying with into LAX - what is their ontime performance. Donga maybe able to help here with some trade knowledge.

         Qantas and Virgin tend to be ok, United not as good.

      2. It also depends on how long you are in the US for. Missing your flight connection could cost you, which isnt what you are bargaining on. So check cost of the flights you can book. Might be better to pay a few dollars more and get one that you can change. But obviously its the amount extra you will pay.

      Also check your travel insurance and what it covers, some dont cover carrier caused delays. You might want to call them as well and check what will happen if your plane is delayed and you miss the connection, is it covered by them and what delay causes are accepted.

      It depends on what your needs are with Seattle. Are you just staying in a hotel or visiting friends. Personally leaving the gap the greatest you can helps. All that 6pm would be "industry" acceptable.

      Enjoy your trip, the US is a great place to visit.

      • 

        Alfonso on 03/08/2014 - 18:07

        +2

        Thanks Rocky, I'll follow all that up. I'm travelling on air new zealand.

      • 

        donga100 on 03/08/2014 - 19:41

        +2

        Sorry, don't have much knowledge on Air New Zealand on time performance. If I had to guess I would say there is a higher chance of delay on that flight because it leaves at the end of the day (9:30pm from Auckland) so any delays the aircraft had earlier in the day could carry on.

        The best thing to do would have been to book the connection to Seattle on the same ticket as your Air NZ flight. This speeds up your connection as your bags are already tagged to the final destination so you drop them off at a transit counter after clearing customs/immigration rather than checking in again. If there are any delays then Air NZ would change your connecting flight for free. It's probably too late for this now.

        Next best alternative would be to book a long connection to be safe and then change to an earlier flight once you arrive. Fees for this vary between $25 (Alaska, Virgin) to $75 (United). Links; Delta, Alaska, United, Virgin America.

        I found on Virgin America that you can move to the next flight free of charge if you miss your flight and request the change within 2 hours of missing the flight. See policy here. This might be a good option for you to book their 4:50pm flight with the 6:30pm flight as a backup. Other airlines may have similar policies too but I haven't checked.

    • 

      lord henry on 03/08/2014 - 16:26

      Unfortunately yes.

      As much as you may want to spend as little time in LAX as you can (it is the most annoying airport in the world), it is worse if you miss your flight and have to spend even more time there.

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  TheAviator on 02/08/2014 - 23:50

  Do Southwest even offer direct flights to Seattle from LAX?

  Anyway, look at Alaska Airlines, they have direct flights for around $168USD

  • 

    donga100 on 03/08/2014 - 09:58

    No, Southwest don't fly direct. Much better getting a direct flight for around the same price on Delta or another carrier. When I search for flights I usually find the best ways are Skyscanner (to save time) or the wikipedia page of the airport to get the list of carriers flying between the cities you are looking for. Using this method you don't exclude any low cost carriers that maybe won't appear on flight search engines.
    Seattle Airport wiki shows that we have basically covered all of the options already in this post. I checked Virgin America just in case but they were a few dollars more expensive than Delta (depending on how much baggage you have).

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  juventino on 03/08/2014 - 05:06

  Paging TightArse, the resident expert :)

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  modsec802 on 03/08/2014 - 06:33

  I recently booked flights to seattle from Brisbane via LAX on Qantas and they use Alaska Airlines.