Vegas Flights - Help please

[geeks]

Going to Vegas in April, I have left my flights until now as it wasn't certain I would be going. I am so now I need to get them booked, direct flights are now unsurprisingly quite expensive. Seems I can fly out of LHR into LAX and then on to LAS. Issue is there is only 1hr:45mins to get off of flight A onto flight B on the outbound leg and then only 45 minutes on the return. Having never had to travel like this in the past, does this seem realistic?

[boyse7en]

When i went i got flights to New York and then an internal flight to Vegas. Plenty of options, and LHR-NY flights are often the cheapest due to competition. My connection time was 2 hours, and it was sweaty-palmed tight due to hold-ups in customs

[ChocolateFrog]

I managed a 2hr gap between two different airports in Buenos Aires once.

Granted at the time I booked them I didn't realise they were different airports but assuming all you're doing is walking across a departure lounge you'll probably be ok.

[geeks]

boyse7en said:

When i went i got flights to New York and then an internal flight to Vegas. Plenty of options, and LHR-NY flights are often the cheapest due to competition. My connection time was 2 hours, and it was sweaty-palmed tight due to hold-ups in customs

Yeah thats what I am concerned about, making my way across an airport I have never been to before into a country I have never been to before!

[geeks]

Just don't understand why they offer connecting flights where you have 45 minutes to make it, surely this isn't possible? Or is it because on the return I don't need customs for the connection?

[alangla]

geeks said:

Going to Vegas in April, I have left my flights until now as it wasn't certain I would be going. I am so now I need to get them booked, direct flights are now unsurprisingly quite expensive. Seems I can fly out of LHR into LAX and then on to LAS. Issue is there is only 1hr:45mins to get off of flight A onto flight B on the outbound leg and then only 45 minutes on the return. Having never had to travel like this in the past, does this seem realistic?

I suspect this is very unrealistic. It might be just about achievable if you’re flying from Dublin (and have entered the US there so you alight straight into domestic departures) and you’re on a through ticket, but I wouldn’t attempt it either self-booked or even on a non-Irish departure. Can you look at potentially flying to New York or Atlanta instead?
What dates are you travelling and what’s your nearest UK airport?

[Truckosaurus]

Plus you have to do all the immigration queuing and processing within that connection window.

The other option these days is to get the Dublin to Vegas flight with Aer Lingus where you do the US immigration on the Irish side and land at the domestic terminal in Vegas.

[geeks]

13th-18th April. Can't really flex on dates as my hotel room is booked. Happy to fly from anywhere in England if needs be. Direct flights are there but they are twice the price of a connecting flight setup

[alangla]

There do seem to be some ridiculously tight connections being suggested by BA/AA either on the BA website or Skyscanner. If you don’t mind the possibility of a delay then take it as a through ticket I guess and just get rebooked if you miss the connection. It’s certainly willing to ticket these optimistic schedules.

If you book via Delta, there an outbound via Detroit with a 2 hour 5 change and a return via Salt Lake City with a 90 minute change for £609 including a bag & free seat selection. What’s the thoughts of the house? I’ve never been to Detroit or Salt Lake City, but I imagine these airports will be quieter than Atlanta or LAX and, IIRC, LAX is guaranteed to be a terminal change after customs unless you’re on Aer Lingus. Atlanta is enormous so even though it’s one terminal, you can be walking for miles.

[stevethegreek]

geeks said:

13th-18th April. Can't really flex on dates as my hotel room is booked. Happy to fly from anywhere in England if needs be. Direct flights are there but they are twice the price of a connecting flight setup

What's quite expensive? I used traveljunction.co.uk for a flight last July which I had to book pretty late too, only around 4 weeks before departure. Direct return flight from LHR to LAS was just under £1k.

Looks like they still have availability at just under £1k for your dates.

HTH.

[Mabbs9]

geeks said:

13th-18th April. Can't really flex on dates as my hotel room is booked. Happy to fly from anywhere in England if needs be. Direct flights are there but they are twice the price of a connecting flight setup

Hi Geeks, I work in the industry. Connecting flights are half the price because they're twice the stress. Delays are common I'm afraid. Personally I'd avoid a tight connection.

Good luck with your plans.

Mabbs

[fooman]

Are your bags booked through? Should be fine although less than 1 hour can be stressful.

Loads of cheap flights from LAX to Vegas if it all goes wrong, Southwest Airlines for example the US Ryanair does the route.

[SV_WDC]

My mates were all shocked when we learned a mates flight to Vegas, starting in Dublin with a LHR connection direct to Vegas was less than half of the cost of the guys going LHR direct. He was on the same flight.

So maybe you could fly to Dublin on the cheap & get a flight back/out this way?

[random_username]

fooman said:

Are your bags booked through? Should be fine although less than 1 hour can be stressful.

You always have to collect baggage and re-check at your first point of entry into the US. I wouldn't want a 1hr45 connection via LAX - immigration in most US airports can be very slow, especially if there's multiple international flights coming in at once, and LAX is pretty busy.

At LAX you have to go through immigration, collect your baggage and then drop it off at the recheck area, and then probably change from the international terminal to one of the domestic ones. Depending on which terminal your connection is from, you might be able to do this all airside, but you may have to walk out of the terminal to landside, then get the transfer bus to the new terminal then go back through security again which is not a quick process...

[alangla]

SV_WDC said:

My mates were all shocked when we learned a mates flight to Vegas, starting in Dublin with a LHR connection direct to Vegas was less than half of the cost of the guys going LHR direct. He was on the same flight.

So maybe you could fly to Dublin on the cheap & get a flight back/out this way?

I looked at that, it only runs twice a week, Tuesday & Saturday, so it s an option for getting back but not for getting there (the main advantage of the Dublin border post)


EDIT: ignore me, you’re suggesting something different to what I thought. If it’s the APD avoidance trick, that also works from Inverness or Dundee (if you can get a through ticket, BA serve Inverness but not Dundee)

Edited by alangla on Friday 9th January 18:20

[Warhavernet]

Continental fly Edi - Newark - Las Vegas on 15th Apr. , with a 4hr layover.

Return is Las Vegas - Dulles - Edi. with a choice of a 1.16 hr or a 6hr layover.

[a340driver]

I'm amazed that flights are so expensive bearing in mind people are not travelling to the US as much due to Trump/ICE. I've seen UK airlines advertising sales.

Also personally I would always try to go direct. In the US you have to clear customs at your first port of call and if your second leg is in another terminal (a cert at JFK) you will have a much greater risk of missing your connection.

I would wait, I'm sure prices will reduce closer to your trip.

Enjoy Vegas and try to not get the clap/arrested. I'm pretty certain there are no ICE checks on people coming there as it would kill the city.

[geeks]

Ok think I have flights I am happy with, out via Chicago with a 3hr stop, return via Dublin with 1:15 transfer. Worse things can happen than being stuck in Dublin on return. Return is silly cheap as well, not as nice as flying direct but I'll take it.

[towser44]

a340driver said:

I'm amazed that flights are so expensive bearing in mind people are not travelling to the US as much due to Trump/ICE. I've seen UK airlines advertising sales.

Also personally I would always try to go direct. In the US you have to clear customs at your first port of call and if your second leg is in another terminal (a cert at JFK) you will have a much greater risk of missing your connection.

I would wait, I'm sure prices will reduce closer to your trip.

Enjoy Vegas and try to not get the clap/arrested. I'm pretty certain there are no ICE checks on people coming there as it would kill the city.

I've not seen the reason why, but Aer Lingus have pulled their Manchester to USA flights.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

fooman said:

Are your bags booked through? Should be fine although less than 1 hour can be stressful.

Loads of cheap flights from LAX to Vegas if it all goes wrong, Southwest Airlines for example the US Ryanair does the route.

100% this. If you download the MPC app in advance, you should be fine. If you miss the LAX-LAS flight, book another at LAX airport for $50