International flight question

We will be getting off the Maasdam in Auckland, NZ and flying American Airlines back to Indianapolis, IN via a plane change at LAX. American changed the flight times and we have a 2 hour layover - we have the Global Entry certification which should help.

Question #1 Will our luggage be checked all the way from Auckland to Indianapolis or do we need to collect it at LAX and check to Indy?

Question #2 Will 2 hours work for this turn around? It will be at 6:40am on Friday Dec 2.

We have only flown back into the USA a couple times and don't remember how the luggage was handled.

Appreciate all input.

You will have to collect luggage and go thru customs and immigration on your first entry to US. But AA should have an easy wY for you to drop off your bags. Your bags should be checked in and tagged in Auckland.

For LAX, it depends if you arrive at Tom Bradley and then have to go to terminal 4 for your flight to Indy. Call American and talk to them. I seriously think you should call and talk to somebody to understand and ask about arrival and departure terminals and if you are behind security or if you have to go thru security again. Lax has historically difficult security lines.

For what it is worth, I never feel safe with less than 3 hours between International arrival in US and domestic departure. I do AA internationally normally thru O'Hare or DFW, but I am going to NZ in Dec on AA thru LAX and I have a 3+ hour layover on the way home and a 4+ hour layover on the way there.

Good luck

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AA's flight from Auckland arrives at the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) and your IND flight departs from Terminal 4. After immigration and customs, you'll hand your luggage back over at the "re-check" counter, then you can walk to Terminal 4 via the new "airside" (i.e. inside security) connector/bridge. You'll go through a security check (no crowds) and then go right to your connecting gate. Piece of cake; with Global Entry you should have plenty of time.

I posted over on the HAL board where you asked the same questions.

You will have your bags tagged to IND at AKL. When you arrive at LAX, you must pick up your bags to go through Customs. You do this after going through Immigration. After Customs, you will find a re-check area and drop your bags there. After that, this is where it may change: The AA flight arrives at the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT). The domestic AA flights depart from T4 (or if it's a regional, you get bussed to the American Eagle terminal down at the other end of the airport). You may still have to exit TBIT and walk next door to T4. There, you will line up with the masses to go through TSA security and then to your gate. I say "MAY" because there is a tunnel that connect TBIT and T4,5,6. It works as an airside connector between T4 to flights in TBIT because you went through TSA at T4. They were working on setting up TSA at the TBIT end so you could go through the tunnel and stay airside when you hit T4. I don't know if that has happened yet. I would think there would be a lot less people traffic at that security checkpoint vs the checkpoint at T4 where ALL domestics are searched.

As I said also, I'd be wary of a 2 hour connection at LAX.

Thanks everyone for the great information. Our original schedule had a 3 1/2 layover between flights but AA dropped that original flight and put us on this one that has a 2 hour layover. If we miss it I guess we will just have to find a different flight back to Indy - probably with a connection instead of non-stop.

Thanks everyone for the great information. Our original schedule had a 3 1/2 layover between flights but AA dropped that original flight and put us on this one that has a 2 hour layover. If we miss it I guess we will just have to find a different flight back to Indy - probably with a connection instead of non-stop.

Or just make a phone call to AA and try to get your LAX to Indy flight changed. On my trip to Barcelona a few months ago they (AA) changed my flights a few times and I had to make some phone calls to get things arranged so I had enough connection time. Doesn't hurt or cost anything other than time to call and try. :D