Yet another Transiting the states question

[muppetbum]

I'm sorry , I know this comes up on a regular basis but owing to the fact that other members of my family have had "issues" with the USA before i want to be 100% certain.

I am a UK citizen living in Toronto . I want to book a suprise trip to Las Vegas for me and OH for our wedding anniversary. I've found a reasonable deal on the web but the flight is a connecting one through LA on the way out

Am I correct in thinking that we will do all the immigration (fingerprinting etc) in Toronto ?

will we then arrive as domestic passengers in LA ? (IE not have to go through immigration?)
If the above are correct will two hours be enough time to make our connection?


I"m also concerned about what happens if we don't make our cxonnection. I've read stuff about it making a lot of difference if you are booked on "one ticket" or not. Seeing as this will be booked over the web, through a third party, with just a printout for confirmation , does this count as "one ticket"?
I believe both flights are with the same airline if that helps

I'd appreciate any answers , I want this to be a nice suprise not a disaster of poor planning !

I admit to being a tad neurotic :)

[starbuck123]

Hi there

I went from NYC to Las Vegas flying internallly with US Airways. I had all the fingerprint stuff done in NYC and when i got to Las vegas there was no boarder control!! You are taken through a different terminal to the one that you would arrive at if came straight from the UK. You simply walk straight through get your bags and on your way! Also the terminal you go through from an internal flight is much nicer than the other. Nice food chains and a Starbucks! Unless things have changed since September last year. Im sure other members can answer your other questions about connections as i have not had the pleasure of those yet!

Cheers

Starbuck

[Globaliser]

Am I correct in thinking that we will do all the immigration (fingerprinting etc) in Toronto ? will we then arrive as domestic passengers in LA ? (IE not have to go through immigration?) If the above are correct will two hours be enough time to make our connection?

I"m also concerned about what happens if we don't make our cxonnection. I've read stuff about it making a lot of difference if you are booked on "one ticket" or not. Seeing as this will be booked over the web, through a third party, with just a printout for confirmation , does this count as "one ticket"?
I believe both flights are with the same airline if that helpsToronto is a pre-clearance airport so you should arrive at LAX in the same way as if you were on a US domestic flight, and the connection time needed at LAX would be the same as a US domestic-domestic connection. Thus two hours sounds like it should be more than enough, although strictly speaking minmum connecting times can vary by airline.

If you've booked the flights all in one go and you're doing a same airline connection, then the chances are that you're booked on one ticket all the way through. The surest way is to look for your ticket numbers on your confirmation, or via the airline's own website. You're looking for a 13-digit number, the first three digits of which will normally be the accounting code of the airline concerned. This site (http://www.airlinecodes.co.uk/) is good for looking up these codes. There will be a unique 13-digit number for each ticket - so if there are two of you travelling, you want to see two (and only two) such numbers.

[WHBM]

You are correct that US immigration is done by US staff in Toronto airport before you depart, and thus you arrive in the USA without any need for formalities. Toronto is one of a number of Canadian airports that have facilities for this.

We'd need to know a bit more about your flights. The two airlines with flights from Toronto to Los Angeles are Air Canada (with multiple daily flights) and American Airlines (with one a day). Air Canada arrive at LAX at Terminal 2 and American at Terminal 4.

The daily American flight arrives too late for their last flight of the day to Las Vegas so this is an unlikely connection. Air Canada, as you would expect, do not fly domestically within the US from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, but they do hae a codeshare arrangement with fellow Star Alliance carrier, United, and in fact United pretend the flight from Toronto to LAX is one of theirs with a UA flight number also allocated to it. However in fact it is an Air Canada one and operates into the terminal that Air Canada use. United have their own termnal, Terminal 7, at LAX. So you will need to transfer terminals.

There is a bus that shuttles round the terminals at LAX. They are laid out in a large U-shape, with 1 to 3 down one side, the International Terminal across the bottom, and then 4 to 7 up the other side. So you have to get across the terminal area. I would walk through the car parks if I didn't have much to carry but first-timers are probably better off on the bus.

If you have booked things all in one place then should you arrive hours late United will just put you on their next flight with seats available to Las Vegas, they do this sort of thing all the time.

You may have noticed that Air Canada also have nonstop flights from Toronto to Las Vegas, and as you describe "getting a reasonable deal" you may like to compare the price of this, without all the messing about at LAX. You will actually fly overhead Las Vegas on the flight from Toronto, about one hour before arrival and there will be a better chance that your bags make it to Las Vegas with you.

[muppetbum]

Thanks WHBM and Globaliser for such comprehensive answers

I'm still at the planning stage and considering various options which is why I haven't posted excat flights but it was air canada via LAX as you correctly surmised that I was getting the best deal

I realise that there are direct flights but by booking through a well known trvel website I can save 600 CAD each by taking therir hotel and flight package. Thats a lot of bucks

I'm getting the idea that although maybe not the most convenient, my plan is at least doable

Again many thanks for putting a neurotic traveller at ease