QUESTION : Arriving at LAX on Air Tahiti Nui

I realize it may be difficult to answer this question definitively due to air & ground delays, but any input or personal experiences shared will be appreciated. ( I am posting this on several Boards including Regent Seven Seas, West Coast Departures, and Pacific Islands Ports of Call. )

We are due into LAX on Air Tahiti Nui next February @ 8:10AM and will have to clear US Customs and Immigration. How much time should we allow before scheduling a connecting flight out of LAX that day on Delta ?

Has anyone done this and is there a Baggage Transfer Desk in the International Arrivals area so that checked bags need not be carried to connecting Terminals ?

Thanks

How long it will take you will depend on how long it takes to get through customs. You have to reclaim your bags, go through customs with them (you will have to pay duty if you bought any expensive pearls--this took us about 15 min extra), then recheck your bags. We were on American and rechecked our bags right on the other side of customs, but I don't know if this is true for Delta. I would allow at least 1 1/2 hr for getting all this done. It could easily take less, but our son almost missed his connecting flight coming back (and he had no checked bags to wait on) because the customs line was so long.

The Delta Terminal is #7 and ATN in in the Tom Bradley Terminal - two terminal buildings away. You will need to take your own luggage over from Customs. There are the Smarte Carts available in the terminal.

I did not pay any duty on Pearls - they are considered hand made and were exempt. Only loose pearls required Duty. I declaired them and the customs officer told me they were exempt.

I think 2 hours is the least I would give myself to clear customs,recheck baggage and get to next terminal. Remember there are many 2-3 other jumbos arriving at the same time as ATN.

3 hours. You are arriving at a busy time and customs/immigration could be a mess. Plus you have to wait for your luggage to deplane and you need to figure a least another 20 minutes to get to the Delta Terminal and you need to be at Delta at least 1-1.5 hours before departure.

J

I would certainly not allow any less than three hours. In fact, I would give it it at least four. You cannot be sure you will arrive on time on your first flight. Plus L.A. immigration can be a zoo. Imo, it's always better to have extra time and wait around than to be late and stressed that you might miss your next flight.

In 2006 we flew from Papeete on Air Tahiti Nui and from LAX to Atlanta on Delta. We were able to check our luggage all the way through from Papeete to Atlanta. We were business class. Don't know if that made a difference or not. On that particular trip we did our air through Princess and they scheduled us four hours between flights at LAX. In January we're using Air France from Lax and Delta to Atlanta. Hopefully it will be equally as seamless!!

The Delta Terminal is #7 and ATN in in the Tom Bradley Terminal - two terminal buildings away. You will need to take your own luggage over from Customs. There are the Smarte Carts available in the terminal.

 

I did not pay any duty on Pearls - they are considered hand made and were exempt. Only loose pearls required Duty. I declaired them and the customs officer told me they were exempt.

Wish I had had your customs officer. But, considering the actual cost of the pearls and their quality, the duty wasn't that outrageous.

I guess it boils down to, "Do you feel lucky". We have done the ATN through LAX 4 times and it never took longer than about 1 hour to get from the plane through customs and to the terminal. That doesn't mean that it can't be a nightmare sometimes. We have had our bags checked through but I think the last two times we had to transfer our bags ourselves to the Continental terminal.

The thing is that morning is when lots of international flights land. So chances are customs/immigration will be a zoo. The good news is that Americans get their own lines in the customs hall, so it won't be that bad. But I would certainly allow 3 or 4 hours. All you need is for your inbound flight to be late and you are in trouble.

Although this isn't exactly on topic, I was on the American Airlines site yesterday and noticed that as of Nov. 1, you are no longer able to accrue miles on Tahiti Nui flights for the AAdvantage program. I believe you may still use American miles for flights on Tahiti Nui.

we did it in about 2 hours running with our bags to southwest and made it only because southwest opened doors for us. the problem was slow baggage and then the custom lines. we ran to southwest rather than the terminal bus for speed. we would not do again. plan on a minimum of 3 hours, particularly if you can't check bags through.

Just came thru there yesterday morning. One poster was correct in that there were several jumbos in at the same time (from Asia) so there were lots of people in customs. We were on American and we just dropped our bags off at the check in around the corner from customs which I think was for all airlines. Then we just had to go up to the American ticket counter to get our boarding pass. We were lucky because American is right next to Tom Bradley so I think the whole process took a little over an hour.

The time on my original American flight was changed by 10 minutes and I was under the 2 hour minimum connecting time so I had to change to a later flight. My TA said I probably could have made it but I didn't want to take the chance.