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Any Ideas On How To Kill 6 Hours At Lax?


dean

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In order to save around $300 per ticket, I am flying my wife and 3 kids to LOS on 2 separate tickets. One ticket has them go from LAX to BKK. The other ticket has them go from Kansas City to LAX. Their flight on Malaysia Airlines doesn't leave LAX until 5:15 PM. I'll probably send them to LAX from KC on Southwest airlines, as they still allow two free checked bags. I'm considering the non stop flight in the morning, as there is less chance of losing their bags in transit, and the flight is only 3 hours. They will have close to 8 hours to kill. Any recommendations on what to do at the airport? Even restaurant recommendations would be appreciated. I could have them take a later flight and only have 4 hours to kill but it wouldn't be a non stop (a 6 hour flight) and there is always the chance that all of the luggage wouldn't arrive. This flying arrangement will work out on the way back from LOS, as we will stay in the southern California area for 4-5 days and see some of the sights, including Disneyland.

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8 hours at an airport - ANY airport - is brutal. I've done it in Singapore - arguably one of the 'best' airports to be stranded in - and I still found myself forced to resort to my laptop and books. Unless your family are fanatical duty free shoppers (liqour and cigarettes for the kids' carry-on bags, perhaps ...) or find airport food courts more endearing than 98% of the population, my thoughts are with your wife. Hours of tedium followed by a long-haul flight - Rufies, anyone ? :yikes:

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I'm not sure I could have the 2 separate tickets linked, between Southwest airlines and Malaysia airlines. That would be another reason to have them take the first flight out, as there is less chance of any delays with it and if there is any other problem, there are at least 4-5 other SWA flights leaving that they could take and still get to LAX on time. They do have to get their bags and put them on a luggage push cart and walk around 15 minutes to the Tom Bradley International terminal. I've done that at least 3 times and its no big deal with the amount of time they will have. I wouldn't do this for one ticket but the savings on 4 tickets is in the $2,000 range. Personally, I have slept at many airports, including LAX, JFK, O'hare, both major London airports and Shannon. The worst experience that I had was in 1997 in Prague. I was there for two days and one night and couldn't find a hotel for under $100, so I slept at the train station, which was allowed as I had an ongoing ticket for the next day. The guards that patrolled the station were not the nicest bunch. They tossed transients out. I did warn me not to pull up another chair to put my feet on..

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I'm not leaving on that flight. I can't afford to take the entire summer off from work but will go for the month of July. The odds of losing bags are diminished by taking a non stop flight to LAX and taking the first southwest flight of the day. If any bags are lost, I will have SWA send them back to Kansas City and I will take what I can in two bags and a carry on when I go in July. Or, if Malaysia airlines is willing to send the bags on a later flight, I will have my cousin that lives in LA go to the airport and deliver the bags to Malaysia airlines (if southwest won't do it themselves). If Malaysia airlines loses a bag or bags on the return portion of the trip, I will be in southern California for 4-5 days and can get the bags either delivered to where I'm staying or have them hold the bags at the airport and pick them up when we finally leave for Kansas City.

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As a 20+ year former airline guy, honestly, it's a mistake to buy 2 separate tickets on different airlines. There is no way to "link" them. No such thing. If the first flight doesn't get you there in time to make the second flight, going either way, you have lost that 2nd flight. The first carrier's contract is to get you from A to B. C is not their concern and if they cancel or are delayed long enough to make that onward flight get missed, they won't help you in any way, shape or form and neither will the 2nd carrier. I sincerely hope all works out well.

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I'm considering driving the 1,500 miles from KC to LA but was going to do it on the return portion of their trip, as I could also use a car for 4-5 days while we are out there. As stated, the only concern is the outbound flight and southwest has enough flights going MCI-LAX that if there is any problem with the scheduled flight, they can take a later flight and still make the Malaysia airlines flight. I just can't afford to pay an extra $400-500 per ticket that it would cost to fly MCI-BKK,probably on Delta. Your point is well taken. I've flown KC to London and booked separately London to Edinburgh on Easyjet, through Luton airport, allowing 4 hours to get fron Heathrow to Luton. The plane was 2 hours late to London and it took me over an hour to then get to Luton. They wouldn't let me on the flight which left at 2:30 PM but offered to put me on, at no extra cost, a later flight at 11:00 PM. They could have told me tough luck. I've also flown to Dublin on two separate tickets (AA to Chicago anf Aer Lingus to Dublin). The flight to Chicago was late because of an electrical storm and I missed the flight to Dublin. Again, they re-scheduled me for the next day (I did argue that I had the tickets linked and both airlines were a member of the same one world FF organization) and I spent the night at the airport. These incidents happened over 15 years ago. I doubt if the airlines would be as accommodating today.

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