1PM Flight out of LAX?

[WinnieinWA]

Is a 1pm flight out of LAX too early for a cruise ship arriving at 8am?

 

Thanks

[Keith1010]

1:00 PM is the earliest I would go for.

 

Keith

[mjesf]

1:00 PM is a little early, but it will work.

[LoveVakays]

I think you'll be fine. On our first cruise, I was so paranoid about the return flight time, that I booked our flight for 2pm...we ended up waiting at the airport from 11am-2pm. Of course, others will say that it depends on the weather, how many kids you have with you etc etc. But generally speaking, any flight after 12pm should work and if you want you can choose the self disembark option (proper teminology?) where you carry your own luggage off the ship and save more time that way.

[ScatmanOH]

Similar question for me as I need to book my free frequent flier mile flights next week. We are scheduled to arrive back to dock at 7am on a Sunday in August. There is an 11:55am direct flight that gets me home around 7pm. Can I reasonably expect to make that flight with a party of 5? Or am I safer with a 12:35 or 1pm connecting flight option that gets me home around 10:35pm. I'm on RC Mariner of Seas if that matters. I welcome your input. Thanks.

[svetty]

we had a flight out of LAX and had plenty of time, our ship (mariner) was about an hour late to arrive into port, so the immigration stuff was delayed but we had plenty of time to have a nice breakfast! our friends had a flight at 12 and made it fine, however if i were you i wouldnt risk it - especially if its international....to be safe I would say 1pm the earliest!!

[Keith1010]

Similar question for me as I need to book my free frequent flier mile flights next week. We are scheduled to arrive back to dock at 7am on a Sunday in August. There is an 11:55am direct flight that gets me home around 7pm. Can I reasonably expect to make that flight with a party of 5? Or am I safer with a 12:35 or 1pm connecting flight option that gets me home around 10:35pm. I'm on RC Mariner of Seas if that matters. I welcome your input. Thanks.

 

I'd go 1:00 PM or later. You just never know how things will go. In January of 2008 we boarded our cruise ship (not RCI) very late because disembarkation was delayed several hours due to insufficient customs personnel. Those with flight before 1:00 PM missed them. These things happen.

 

Keith

[Clay Clayton]

Do a search of this thread and you will find lotz of discussion on this subject. Based on my experience last post Thanksgiving Sunday when we disembarked NCL Star, we were at the airport, checked in and through security well before 10am. We had no trouble making our 12:50 Delta flight and our traveling companions ended up taking an earlier USAirways flight rather than their original 12:30 flight.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Similar question for me as I need to book my free frequent flier mile flights next week. We are scheduled to arrive back to dock at 7am on a Sunday in August. There is an 11:55am direct flight that gets me home around 7pm. Can I reasonably expect to make that flight with a party of 5? Or am I safer with a 12:35 or 1pm connecting flight option that gets me home around 10:35pm. I'm on RC Mariner of Seas if that matters. I welcome your input. Thanks.

 

That 7am time is just the scheduled time to dock. The ship could arrive later. The disembarkation process might not start for a couple of hours (that happened on our last cruise). You could get caught in a traffic jam on the 405 freeway even on a Sunday.

 

Better to allow for that padding. If you arrive early at LAX and know that there's earlier flights, you can always ask to see if you can get switched.