Connection time for international flight at LAX.

Hey all

I have a friend whose family comes from Hong Kong. He was born and
raised in the US and now would like to go to Hong Kong for a vacation.
He has come across some consolidator airfares that seem pretty good.
Only thing is that they would require travel on two airlines (United
and Cathy Pacific), as well as a connection at LAX. He is just
wondering how long of a layover he should allow for going to and
coming back at LAX. Also he is wondering what to expect as far as
service in economy class on Cathy Pacific. I have told him that he
might be better to look at only flying on one airline, but has said
that the cost would several hundred dollars more on Northwest or as
another friend calls it Northworst.

Thanks
HBS

Cathay Pacific is a full service airline, based in Hong Kong. Pilots are
mainly Brits, Australians or Kiwis. They have an excellent reputation - and
my personal long haul experience with them was positive.


Interline luggage transfers are not usually a problem. LAX generally IS!
It's a painful airport to arrive in or transit - I've never checked in there
for departure, but find it hard to imagine that would be any better.




wrote in message
...
Hey all

I have a friend whose family comes from Hong Kong. He was born and
raised in the US and now would like to go to Hong Kong for a vacation.
He has come across some consolidator airfares that seem pretty good.
Only thing is that they would require travel on two airlines (United
and Cathy Pacific), as well as a connection at LAX. He is just
wondering how long of a layover he should allow for going to and
coming back at LAX. Also he is wondering what to expect as far as
service in economy class on Cathy Pacific. I have told him that he
might be better to look at only flying on one airline, but has said
that the cost would several hundred dollars more on Northwest or as
another friend calls it Northworst.

Thanks
HBS

wrote:
I have a friend who ... would like to go to Hong Kong for a vacation.
He has come across some consolidator airfares that seem pretty
good. Only thing is that they would require travel on two airlines
(United and Cathy Pacific), as well as a connection at LAX.
He is just wondering how long of a layover he should allow for going
to and coming back at LAX. Also he is wondering what to expect as
far as service in economy class on Cathy Pacific. I have told him that
he might be better to look at only flying on one airline, but has said
that the cost would several hundred dollars more on Northwest...

Generally, I prefer to have no less than 45 minutes between flights or
1 hour for inter-line travel. Add another 45 minutes for immigration
and customs on the return. For LAX, tack on another 30 minutes.

One thing you/he could do is check the LAX website to find out
which gates each airline uses so you/he would have some idea of
where in LAX to go. Interline transit is not much of an issue but it
does increase the time needed for a layover.

wrote in message
...
Hey all

I have a friend whose family comes from Hong Kong. He was born and
raised in the US and now would like to go to Hong Kong for a vacation.
He has come across some consolidator airfares that seem pretty good.
Only thing is that they would require travel on two airlines (United
and Cathy Pacific), as well as a connection at LAX. He is just
wondering how long of a layover he should allow for going to and
coming back at LAX. Also he is wondering what to expect as far as
service in economy class on Cathy Pacific. I have told him that he
might be better to look at only flying on one airline, but has said
that the cost would several hundred dollars more on Northwest or as
another friend calls it Northworst.

Thanks
HBS

Because United is a member of the "Star" Alliance and Cathay Pacific is part
of "oneWorld" they seem unlikely bedfellows. This leads me to ask whether
the journey is being undertaken on a single ticket. If it is then a
failure to connect one way or the other won't be too traumatic (but could
easily result in a delay of at least 24 hours simply because the Cathay
flight is only daily). However, if the cheaper fare is acheived by buying
two separate tickets that's a different game. With two separate tickets
neither airline has any responsibility if the passenger fails to make the
connection.

What this means is that I cannot answer your question without knowing the
ticketing arrangements.

wrote in message
...
Hey all

I have a friend whose family comes from Hong Kong. He was born and
raised in the US and now would like to go to Hong Kong for a vacation.
He has come across some consolidator airfares that seem pretty good.
Only thing is that they would require travel on two airlines (United
and Cathy Pacific), as well as a connection at LAX. He is just
wondering how long of a layover he should allow for going to and
coming back at LAX. Also he is wondering what to expect as far as
service in economy class on Cathy Pacific. I have told him that he
might be better to look at only flying on one airline, but has said
that the cost would several hundred dollars more on Northwest or as
another friend calls it Northworst.

Thanks
HBS

Between United and Cathay Pacific, most people would probably say Cathay
Pacific has better service, but I think it is decent on both - Economy Class
is Economy Class (i.e., don't expect much on either).

Where is your friend originating. An online connection on United would
probably be the easiest to do, but Cathay Pacific and American are both in
the oneWorld alliance, so they probably have optimized connections. (BTW,
there are also other options, like Korean/Asiana through Seoul, China
Air/Eva through Taipei, Japan Airlines or ANA (All Nippon) through Tokyo or
Osaka, and possibly even Singapore Air)

Rog' wrote:

wrote:

I have a friend who ... would like to go to Hong Kong for a vacation.
He has come across some consolidator airfares that seem pretty
good. Only thing is that they would require travel on two airlines
(United and Cathy Pacific), as well as a connection at LAX.
He is just wondering how long of a layover he should allow for going
to and coming back at LAX. Also he is wondering what to expect as
far as service in economy class on Cathy Pacific. I have told him that
he might be better to look at only flying on one airline, but has said
that the cost would several hundred dollars more on Northwest...


Generally, I prefer to have no less than 45 minutes between flights or
1 hour for inter-line travel. Add another 45 minutes for immigration
and customs on the return. For LAX, tack on another 30 minutes.

One thing you/he could do is check the LAX website to find out
which gates each airline uses so you/he would have some idea of
where in LAX to go. Interline transit is not much of an issue but it
does increase the time needed for a layover.


Unless the person is flying out of Bradley after arrival on Cathay,
there isn't much difference in flying on a carrier that interlines
baggage with Cathay. Going from an domestic UA to an International UA or
Cathay flight doesn't really an different layover time.

On Feb 24, 11:07*pm, wrote:
Hey all

I have a friend whose family comes from Hong Kong. He was born and
raised in the US and now would like to go to Hong Kong for a vacation.
He has come across some consolidator airfares that seem pretty good.
Only thing is that they would require travel on two airlines (United
and Cathy Pacific), as well as a connection at LAX. He is just
wondering how long of a layover he should allow for going to and
coming back at LAX. Also he is wondering what to expect as far as
service in economy class on Cathy Pacific. I have told him that he
might be better to look at only flying on one airline, but has said
that the cost would several hundred dollars more on Northwest or as
another friend calls it Northworst.

Thanks
HBS

Thanks for everyone's replies. Looks like he went a head and bought
the ticket. Only thing that is connecting in San Francisco, instead of
LAX. I told him to look for flights with a long layover. I also told
him that he may want to connect a local travel agent for trip with
this trip. He said that he is not worried and if for instance he has
problems with United part of the trip they will have to responsible
for getting him to Hong Kong and that travel agents are only out to
sell what brings them in the most commission. My reply was that he me
be for rude awakening if anything does wrong, but still thinks he is
okay and wonders why I am concerned. I guess I learn to help a friend.

HBS

On Feb 25, 12:07*am, wrote:
Hey all

I have a friend whose family comes from Hong Kong. He was born and
raised in the US and now would like to go to Hong Kong for a vacation.
He has come across some consolidator airfares that seem pretty good.
Only thing is that they would require travel on two airlines (United
and Cathy Pacific), as well as a connection atLAX. He is just
wondering how long of a layover he should allow for going to and
coming back atLAX. Also he is wondering what to expect as far as
service in economy class on Cathy Pacific. I have told him that he
might be better to look at only flying on one airline, but has said
that the cost would several hundred dollars more on Northwest or as
another friend calls it Northworst.

Thanks
HBS

Hi all again

It looks like my friend got burned. If just contacted Cathy Pacific
and it appears that he has no reservation with them. At least he was
smart enough to use a credit card, so should be able to request a
charge-back for the ticket purchase. Also the price ($500 Casper, WY
to Hong Kong) he now says he paid really sound too good to true.

HBS