Requesting advice on USA flight(s)

[ihatemondays]

Hi Folks,

so far I've done my trips with BA, but now it's time for a change in regard of their latest baggage policy. In November, I want to (again) travel from EDDF/FRA (Germany) to LAX, return flight should depart Las Vegas (K)LAS back to FRA.

I'd go DLH (eco) mostly for the non-stop flight to LAX, but their 747's just feature an overhead TV, and that might be a bit boring for 11+ hours. Also, the flight back would require a stopover at Denver. Looking for alternatives lead to my questions:

1) Travelling from Europe, I would have to endure that whole US immigration crap when first touching American soil. What is a SAFE assumed time that will be spent on that before I will be able to go on the second trip leg? I also heard that I will have to claim my checked baggage and re-check it after customs inspection? Some airlines only suggest a connection time of barely 1.5 hours - and I've stood longer than that in the passport queue arriving at LAX last time.

1a) Do you have some warnings to avoid switching flights at which hubs ? Or any recommendations about a good place to do so?

2) Is it different if you are "outbound" - let's assume UA LAS-DEN, then DLH DEN-FRA. Will my checked stuff be routed through directly to the DLH flight without reclaiming it first, and is there a different "arrival" procedure due to the first leg being a "domestic" flight?

3) Which US carriers can you recommend that still allow you 2 checked baggage pieces on intercontinental flights without surplus costs, that also have some decent service and personal inflight entertainment (And I don't mean the pilot doing funny things with the aircraft!)?

Thanks for any helpful advices,

ToM

[rohank4284]

Hi Folks,

so far I've done my trips with BA, but now it's time for a change in regard of their latest baggage policy. In November, I want to (again) travel from EDDF/FRA (Germany) to LAX, return flight should depart Las Vegas (K)LAS back to FRA.

I'd go DLH (eco) mostly for the non-stop flight to LAX, but their 747's just feature an overhead TV, and that might be a bit boring for 11+ hours. Also, the flight back would require a stopover at Denver. Looking for alternatives lead to my questions:

1) Travelling from Europe, I would have to endure that whole US immigration crap when first touching American soil. What is a SAFE assumed time that will be spent on that before I will be able to go on the second trip leg? I also heard that I will have to claim my checked baggage and re-check it after customs inspection? Some airlines only suggest a connection time of barely 1.5 hours - and I've stood longer than that in the passport queue arriving at LAX last time.

1a) Do you have some warnings to avoid switching flights at which hubs ? Or any recommendations about a good place to do so?

2) Is it different if you are "outbound" - let's assume UA LAS-DEN, then DLH DEN-FRA. Will my checked stuff be routed through directly to the DLH flight without reclaiming it first, and is there a different "arrival" procedure due to the first leg being a "domestic" flight?

3) Which US carriers can you recommend that still allow you 2 checked baggage pieces on intercontinental flights without surplus costs, that also have some decent service and personal inflight entertainment (And I don't mean the pilot doing funny things with the aircraft!)?

Thanks for any helpful advices,

ToM

Well having flown BA and LH both in economy many times and a couple of flights in BA World Traveler Plus, I prefer BA, due to the PTVs, staff better handles requests, and BA is much more comfortable. However, do agree their new baggage policy does suck.

1) Yep, the moment you touch down in the US you must clear customs, LH is in a partnership with UA, so if you're heading to LAS from LAX, LH would likely be able to give your United boarding passes and check the bag through, so at customs/immigration you would have to claim your bag and recheck it in. If the bag is checked through, many times you just have to walk a short distance and put it on another carousel. At LAX, you will likely have to change terminals and clear security, so I would definitely keep a 2-3 hour margain. Immigration might take 15-40 minutes, baggage retrieval and reprocessing 15-20 minutes, terminal transfer 20-40 minutes, and security (10-40 minutes).

2) I wouldn't recommend an international to domestic transfer at DEN or SLC because immigration times vary dramatically.

3) If you want to transfer through DEN for a domestic to international transfer, it really shouldn't be much of a problem if you book on UA. They likely will give you LH boarding passes and through check your baggage, however, I think you will be charged the baggage fees, if you're not Star Alliance Gold or Silver. Maybe, contacting UA might be a good idea.

If everything works reasonably well (most of the time it does), you should be able to arrive at DEN Concourse B and follow the signs to the "baggage claim," which should lead you the train, from there get off on the next stop "Concourse A" and head to gate A41 and do a brief document check with LH and you should be good to go.

I plugged in a LAS-FRA departure into the UA website and it's possible to do it through DEN, although you can also fly United through ORD or IAD, in this case you would avoid the baggage fees because you're transferring from a United domestic to a United international flight.

United 0098	Depart: LAS Arrive: DEN 2:51 PM 11:55 AM	Non-stop 1h 56m Boeing 757-200 629 miles traveled	Fare basis code: SLXSMY3E Booking class: S Economy 629 Award miles No Meal Service	Seats:N/A Select seats Flight details --% On-time 629 miles traveled [No Meal Service] Economy 629 Award miles Availability
<<< connecting to >>>
United 8879 Operated by: Lufthansa	Depart: DEN 5:40 PM Arrive: FRA Arrives next day Nov 12 11:25 AM	Non-stop 9h 45m Airbus A340-600 5,038 miles traveled	Fare basis code: SLXSMY3E Booking class: S Economy Award miles Meal, Snack	Seats:N/A Select seats

The LH flight departs around 5:45 pm in summers and fall, in winter it departs as early as 3:30 pm, if you're connecting with UA, I would highly, highly recommend leaving at least 3-4 hours for your connection. You likely won't need so much time, but UA is horribly delayed.

LH flies the Airbus A340-600, which has nice AVOD PTVs, but the legroom and seat width are extremely tight for international long-haul. LH generally has very good in-flight service, although they are slow to answer call bells and some crews can be very cold.

United is an average US carrier (ground service tends to be average to poor, but the flight attendants are generally pretty good), on flights below two hours they only offer a beverage service (with an additional water service). They don't have PTVs on their domestic flights, just overhead TVs, and their economy class is pretty comfortable. For about $40-60 you can upgrade to Economy Plus at check-in, which offers 4-5" more legroom. On flights longer than 2 hours, UA offers snacks for $3 (http://www.united.com/page/article/1,,53119,00.html) and snack boxes for $6 (http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,51257,00.html), I have had a couple of the snack boxes in the past and they were pretty good. United charges $20 ($15 if pre-paid online) each way for the first checked piece of baggage (>50 lbs.) and $30 ($25 if pre-paid online) for the second checked bag each way.

Southwest gives free baggage, has good service, and nice legroom (33" pitch), and gives a choice of free snack items on most flights, however, they don't sell meals, nor do they have PTVs. In addition, their flight attendants have a fun attitude, which for most people is pretty ok, but can rub some stiff people the wrong way. Southwest has an open boarding policy (passengers choose their own seats) and boards by boarding groups (A, B, and C), which are determined by the time you checked-in at the airport or online.

Frontier Airlines uses DEN as its main hub and uses a tiered airfare system. Economy tickets have to pay the bag fees, but if you buy a classic tier ticket about $20-30 more expensive, you get two free bags and free direct TV (usually $6) service on your PTV. (Check out the tiers here: http://www.frontierairlines.com/fron...s/datalex.html)

Hope this helps and sorry for the long-winded reply,

Rohan

[ihatemondays]

Thank you very much for your in-depth evaluation. I've been to LAX twice, both times flying BA via LHR - on the first trip, it was simply cheaper than DLH, on the second one we just like the In-seat entertainment and thought that's worth the surplus time (and a little cash). Connecting at LHR T5 was very easy and rather quick.

I did not know about UA baggage charges - what do they think, that people want to travel naked? So I guess it'll be DLH (non-stop) to LAX next time, and I will have to add a surplus SWA flight LAS-LAX and a portable DVD player.

Regards
ToM

[C-FMWQ]

If you really don't want to go through customs in the US, then you could go through Canada and pre-clear customs, that way you can arrive in LAX as a domestic flight.

I found random dates in November and this is what came out.

November 4

ACA873 FRA-YYC 1400-1555 333

ACA572 YYC-LAX 1925-2133 E90

The good part about this leg is that you will get AVOD on both legs as all planes in Air Canada's fleet are equipped with AVOD. Secondly, as you pass through customs and immigration in YYC, then pre-clear in LAX, you arrive as a domestic flight.

Return Leg

November 28

ACA592 LAS-YYZ 1245-2003 320

ACA876 YYZ-FRA 2200-1150 763

Once again you will be getting AVOD and the flight to FRA offers a nice flight to rest up for the next day. The only down side to this is that when you arrive in YYZ, even if you bag is check in to FRA you will have to claim it after going to customs then put it on to a connections belt, then proceed to your gate.

Overall, the price on the flight's are pretty good, coming out to be around $811.19 per person.

Leg room on Air Canada is quite good and most people enjoy the AVOD and the planes that Air Canada uses. Another good thing is that Air Canada allows passengers to bring 2 free bags, regardless if it is domestic or international or intercontinental.

For food, Air Canada offers food and alcoholic drinks for free on international flights and for the intercontinental flight's you will get non-alcoholic drinks for free a bag of pretzels or peanuts and food ranging from $2 to $7, so not too pricey.

http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelinfo/onboard/dining/na/onboard/index.html

I hope this helps.

Nehal

[Foxtrot]

Having transited through some major U.S. hubs I can tell you with a fair amount of confidence that allowing an hour for the immigration/customs process once you arrive is good for international-to-domestic connections. Of course if you have to change concourses/terminals to get to your connecting domestic flight, you'll need extra time so I recommend a minimum of two hours of connection time. It has been as fast as 20 minutes for me as far as immigration/customs is concerned but it can be higher especially if your bags are searched.

Yes, you will have to get your checked baggage and once you go through customs/immigration, re-check it for your domestic leg. That's pretty easy though since most U.S. airports have plenty of airline re-check counters right next to the customs/immigration areas.

The easiest hubs to connect at, at least from my experiences, are ATL, DFW and CVG. If you are flying LH though, CVG is not an option since LH does have service there.