Received 04/07/2008 17:13

Transferring through LAX

Thought I would backtrack a little and post about our transfer through LAX

I'll admit, I wasn't looking forward to it. Before flying out I had been reading lots of LifeHacker [1] posts about how horrible TSA are of late and the kind of delays you can hit. Turns out, it wasn't that bad ! In fact, it probably was easier than when we went through Heathrow last year.

We were all-but-last off the plane and hit the back end of the queue to pass immigration. For those planning the trip I would recommend you bring either a book or an iPod as the line can be long. We waited around 30 minutes. Two fingerprints, a digital photo and the removal of all my rights later we collected our bags and joined the end of the Custom's line - which was as simple as just handing them for declaration form and moving straight through

Transferring our bags then onto our US Airways domestic flight was a breeze, and no bags meant that we could use the self-service check-in option which after walking from one end of LAX to the other to change terminals went without a hitch. Of course, with all the prior reading I should have noticed the dreaded "SSSS" written on our boarding passes. This is the flag to the TSA security crew at the scanners that you need to be "investigated". This meant that Sarah and I got dragged off to a little side area and had all our bags dug through, explosive tested and a pat down for weapons, etc. Who knows what triggered the flag - probably just the fact that we were non-U.S. flying domestic. Really, it wasn't that bad and only slowed us down by about 10 minutes. Faster than getting selected for bomb testing at Newcastle airport !

So, all in all - can't complain.

[1] LifeHacker - http://www.lifehacker.com