Just another "Will I make flight" question... lax

First off, this forum is something else!! I know this question has been asked a thousand times, and I have searched for answer, but I wanted to provide specific details to get feedback for our situation.

We will be on the Carnival Miracle, Riviera, May 2nd-9th. Just need to book flights, and we are looking at Southwest in and out of LAX. Flight in looks fine, arrives at 8:50 am. The flight out departs at 12:10pm. Assuming we do the early disembark, carry our own luggage etc. What are your thoughts on our chances to make this flight? Any other advice you have to increase our chances of making this possible is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!!

You already know the answer. Arrive a day early and depart late enough to accommodate the inconsistency of LA traffic.

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First off, this forum is something else!! I know this question has been asked a thousand times, and I have searched for answer, but I wanted to provide specific details to get feedback for our situation.

 

We will be on the Carnival Miracle, Riviera, May 2nd-9th. Just need to book flights, and we are looking at Southwest in and out of LAX. Flight in looks fine, arrives at 8:50 am. The flight out departs at 12:10pm. Assuming we do the early disembark, carry our own luggage etc. What are your thoughts on our chances to make this flight? Any other advice you have to increase our chances of making this possible is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance!!

As a local (and one that drives this area often) I will tell you your flight time will be fine (even arriving day of cruise)...you'll probably have no problem walking out of the terminal and into a taxi and at LAX with time to spare...Don't stress our traffic isn't as bad as some seem to think it is...Relax and enjoy !!!

First off, this forum is something else!! I know this question has been asked a thousand times, and I have searched for answer, but I wanted to provide specific details to get feedback for our situation.

 

We will be on the Carnival Miracle, Riviera, May 2nd-9th. Just need to book flights, and we are looking at Southwest in and out of LAX. Flight in looks fine, arrives at 8:50 am. The flight out departs at 12:10pm. Assuming we do the early disembark, carry our own luggage etc. What are your thoughts on our chances to make this flight? Any other advice you have to increase our chances of making this possible is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance!!

Carnival recommends 12pm as the earliest flight out. Here's the link.

http://www.carnival.com/cruise-transfers/los-angeles.aspx

In October we arrived at the Port of LA which is about five minutes closer to LAX than long beach and were at the gate by 10:30am. Your 12:10pm flight should be fine.

Technically, yes--you can make those flights.

That said, depending on where you are coming from, possible weather delays and the madness that LAX can be during certain times, some choose to leave a little leeway to avoid the stress. Me personally? I'd fly in a day early and leave late on debarkation day.

My number one advise regarding cruising is to arrive at least a day early to one's embarkation city unless you live pretty close (we're about an hour's drive from the Port of LA, but even then, we try to be on our way by 10am.).

You just don't know what will happen to your flight. If you get in a day early, you can relax. There are some nice hotels in Long Beach (where the Carnival ships leave from).

As for a flight, most cruiselines will say 1pm out of LAX, but most likely you'll be fine for noon even without self-disembarkation or trying to be the first one off the ship. There's always a chance for the customs and immigration process to start late (we've had that happen, but we didn't have a flight to worry about). And I've seen bad traffic on the 405 even on the weekends.

If it's a holiday time or a protest going on (both today in LA), it wouldn't be a good time to flying in the day of a cruise.

I would pick a flight at 1:00 PM for your return.

You may make noon but you cannot be 100% certain. I have been on cruises that have had delayed disembarkations.

As others have said I would fly in the day before. What can go wrong to cause your flight to be cancelled or delayed? Insufficient flight personnel, mechanical issues. FAA computer or airline or airplane computer issues, security breaches on flight, at airport or more regional or national and the list goes on and on.

Keith

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

We always fly in at least a couple of days before a cruise. And fly home a day or two after the cruise.

We don't like to be stressed out.

I am with those that recommend coming in a day early, though a flight in May is likely not going to hit lots of snow anywhere in the U.S. to really disrupt schedules. Southwest is also generally a safe airline to select, as they always, or virtually always, will get you there at some point. That, however, means that if there are storms that disrupt air traffic, you will get to LA, but it could be after your ship has sailed. I would still get in a day early, find an inexpensive place to stay, and take the worry out.

As for your departure, it is a Saturday, so you won't be involved with any weekday traffic, you can get off the ship early enough to make your flight, and in all likelihood will be fine with the departing flight at 12:10.

Make sure that with Southwest that you are talking about LAX and not just generally LA. I did not realize it initially, though it is not a problem, but we are flying out of Burbank on Southwest. Airport is further away from port, but shorter security clearance times offset that! But double check which airport you are using!

As you already know, most CC members recommend extending your trip by at least one day before and after cruise.

But a lot of people can't add the extra days to their vacation schedule so for them, the question is how much of a margin do I need?

It looks like several locals think 12 noon is most likely do-able, which answers the question asked.

Always, always, always,,,,,, arrive at lease one day in advance of your cruise. Very few experienced cruisers plan to arrive same day if there is any way to do otherwise.

Life is a risk :). Personally, we would have no issue with those flight times (especially being on SW). May is a pretty good weather month. We would also be comfortable with the noon flight and knowing that SW does not charge penalties to change (although you can end up paying a lot more for another flight).

All that being said, experience has taught us to not fly into embarkation cities the day of a cruise. There is a degree of stress worrying that your flight could be delayed, luggage delayed/lost, etc. Coming in the afternoon or evening prior to a cruise means you can get a good nights sleep and arrive at the port well rested and ready to enjoy the cruise.

Hank

Life is a risk :). Personally, we would have no issue with those flight times (especially being on SW). May is a pretty good weather month. We would also be comfortable with the noon flight and knowing that SW does not charge penalties to change (although you can end up paying a lot more for another flight).

 

All that being said, experience has taught us to not fly into embarkation cities the day of a cruise. There is a degree of stress worrying that your flight could be delayed, luggage delayed/lost, etc. Coming in the afternoon or evening prior to a cruise means you can get a good nights sleep and arrive at the port well rested and ready to enjoy the cruise.

 

Hank

Life's also a box of chocolates - You never know what you're gonna get.:D

In a perfect world, or in a world with unlimited vacation time;), it's pretty much consensus around here that you should arrive a day early and book a late afternoon flight out at the very minimum. Of course life is not perfect. Sometimes you get the chocolate with nuts in it - yuck! i.e. you can't fly in the day before or you need to get back home ASAP. So do the best you can - arrive the earliest you can, and pick a return flight time that has a decent margin of safety for you. (So your noon flight will be fine). As for your inbound flight, is it direct (less risky)? Are there lots of other flights to get you to LA before noon (back up plan)? Is there any way to fly in the night before? (i.e. do you have a nice boss who will let you leave early and not dock you a vacation day?)

Like Hank said, life is a risk. Try to minimize the risk as much as you reasonably can and then go for it. :) And if you do miss the cruise departure for some reason, do you have a plan B?

We've flown in for that exact cruise many times.

You're arrival time is perfect, you'll get there just in time to be among the first to board.

They recommend flights after noon, though we've never been off the ship later than about 9am, even without self disembark.

You're fine, ignore the naysayers here on CC, have fun. :)

The way I see it is that I don't take vacations every year. Between January 2006 and December 2010, we didn't even stay any where overnight except for a couple of days we spent about an hour's drive away from home (MIL got a stage 4 diagnosis as well as my hubby's long time worker's comp case, which eventually got accepted). So if we going to plan a vacation like a cruise, we don't want to risk not getting on the ship because we didn't plan our flights or other travel well. Most of our cruises involved driving to our home port. In the cases where we have traveled to our port, we always plan to get in at least a day ahead. That way, we're in our port of embarkation the morning of our cruise and we don't have to stress that detail (flights being delayed,etc). And there's no worries about missing a day of our cruise. If we can't make that day pre-cruise, we're going to book a different sailing. Fortunately, my hubby gets a lot of vacation times at a place where you don't have to grab that spot ahead of other people (I've worked in those kind of situations where only one person in a position can be out at a time, or where you only get a week off of vacation or it can't be during the last two weeks of the year, etc., so I understand that, but then it makes me even more cautious about messed up plans).

First let me say thank you to all the folks who replied. Great info that the wife and I are now mulling over.

A little more info, we are flying out of Salt Lake and the flights we are looking at are direct. After all the suggestions to arrive a day early, we also found another direct round trip flight into Long Beach on Delta, arrives 9pm day before embarkation, Friday. (We really like the thought of coming into Long Beach and avoiding LAX and the transfers) This is the only other flight that will work as I cannot take another day off work. New on the job and I only get one week vacation for the year:( Returning flight leaves Long Beach Saturday at 1:00pm.

So... we have narrowed it down to these two options. Already found a few other threads about hotels in Long Beach for the first night, should we decide to go that route. We will decide in the next day or two and let ya'll know. Excited to nail down these travel plans so I can start searching the forum for other cruising tips and advice.

Thanks Again!!

We just booked our flights and we decided to fly in night before. Actually, I didn't really make the decision on my own, Priceline helped. I was messing around with the name your price and my bid was accepted :eek:. I bid $130 for a hotel in the convention center area of Long Beach. They accepted our bid and we will be staying at the Hilton, after taxes and fees room came to $158. So, that made the decision easy!

Thanks again folks!

Never look at what time your flight takes off. Look at what time you have to be at the AP. For you it's 10:30 a.m.

LA traffic is murder. LAX AP traffic is unreal.

I personally would not risk this because traffic is so unpredictable.

Last trip to So Cal, we had a 4:00 p.m. flight & drove up from Camp Pendleton, which usually takes us 3-4 hours with traffic. This time we got lucky because we took some toll road that was empty & which cut time off our trip on the 405 but it's always a risk.

I am with those that recommend coming in a day early, though a flight in May is likely not going to hit lots of snow anywhere in the U.S. to really disrupt schedules. Southwest is also generally a safe airline to select, as they always, or virtually always, will get you there at some point. That, however, means that if there are storms that disrupt air traffic, you will get to LA, but it could be after your ship has sailed. I would still get in a day early, find an inexpensive place to stay, and take the worry out.

 

 

 

As for your departure, it is a Saturday, so you won't be involved with any weekday traffic, you can get off the ship early enough to make your flight, and in all likelihood will be fine with the departing flight at 12:10.

 

 

 

Make sure that with Southwest that you are talking about LAX and not just generally LA. I did not realize it initially, though it is not a problem, but we are flying out of Burbank on Southwest. Airport is further away from port, but shorter security clearance times offset that! But double check which airport you are using!

May is the perfect time for severe weather, which can cause nasty headaches for travelers. Snow isn't the only weather than can cancel or delay flights. Trust me...as a frequent flier based in Kansas who transits regularly through Texas, I've had plenty of problems with weather while traveling in May.

Plus, all airlines will "get you there at some point." There's not an airline in the US that will say "no, we aren't going to get you there, ever." Southwest doesn't deserve any extra credit for that.

To the OP, I think the Long Beach plan is a much better idea. I've lived here for years, and LAX is almost always FUBAR. You never want to be in a position where you have to make a quick connection there. Fly into Long Beach, and you'll have a nice rest (and maybe get a chance to see some points of interest there), and a much pleasant, because smaller, airport experience. We live near Burbank Airport and always prefer it to LAX when possible.

Just one Angelena's opinion...