China Airlines LAX flight cancellation

[lisabella]

Hi Guys

I'm very new to all this and becoming extremely nervous. Have booked a series of flights online for a trip to Canada to visit my penpal in June/July ex-BNE. Got a call yesterday to advise my China Airlines flight CIL05 from LAX has been cancelled on Wednesday July 16th. So that means leaving LAX a day earlier now and spending 24 hours in TPE, plus paying extra for amending Air Canada flights from Ottawa to LAX.

Despite much research I'm a little concerned about the layover times in LAX, both there and back. I'm arriving from TPE on China Airlines on a Sunday night at 8pm at LAX TBIT and changing to T7 to a United Airlines flight to ORD/YOW leaving at 11pm. Is that enough time to clear customs and check-in okay?

Coming back it's an Air Canada flight from YOW/YVR arriving at T2 at 1.20pm (having pre-cleared US customs in Vancouver), then to TBIT to make the China Airlines flight at 4pm.

Other option from TPE to get back home is to switch to the SYD flight and catch a domestic Jetstar flight back to BNE. Is three hours enough in Sydney tp clear customs and get to the domestic terminal for a Jetstar flight to BNE?

Three weeks to go and counting down. I did fly BNE to Frankfurt on an organised group tour a few years ago, but TA took care of everything. First time as a solo flyer. Any advice much appreciated.

 

[dot]

Welcome to AFF Lisabella

While I have not flown with CI through LAX, I still think 3 hrs will be plenty of time - I have done a Tbit to T1 transfer with a 2 hour stopover at LAX and still had time to buy and drink a coffee (if you call it that!) in T6 before boarding. Coming back, your 2:40 connection will be even easier. I've not done the US Immigration pre-clearance thing before, but I presume that will mean you will be able to get an airside bus from T2 to airside at TBit - even if that is not the case and you need to exit T2, catch the shuttle to TBit and then clear security at TBit, you will be fine. I find that the TBit security checkpoints are much faster than the other terminals (BTW - if one side looks busy, check the other side - I have seen the queue out to the gatekeeper on the RH side, then wandered across to the LH side and only had 10 pax in front of me!).

 

[lisabella]

Thanx for your reassurance Dot. Have managed to secure seat 8A in economy on China Airlines Airbus 330 BNE-TPE and reasonable seats on all other legs of my trip (except for Air Canada, which charges extra for pre-selecting your seat). Flying on a variety of other aircraft including 747-400, Airbus A320, B757, EM175 and EM 190.

 

[lisabella]

Well, made it safely there and back in one piece and managed to catch all the scheduled flights as booked. The Sunday night connection at LAX - well there's a story in itself! What a madhouse zoo! Coming back through LAX mid-afternoon on a weekday was a breeze. Hope to be able to post a more detailed report once I've slept off the jetlag (ended up a 40 hour trip home YOW-YVR-LAX-TPE-SYD-BNE). Whew!

 

[MelUser]

Looking forward to the trip report - we don't often get them for China Airlines so will be a good read.

 

[bambbbam2]

And the inflight meal will look something like this?

China Eastern catering and inflight meal reviews @ AIRLINEMEALS.NET

 

[Evan]

Looking forward to the trip report - we don't often get them for China Airlines so will be a good read.

There is a good reason for that, the ones i have had so far have been completely unworthy of a trip report unless you want me to tell you how bad it was ! (domestic and regional flights, not international ones)

E

 

[MelUser]

Good and Bad is important.

I take it we are talking about China Airlines (from Taiwan).

It helps form an opinion about whether or not to fly with a particular airline.

Sometimes on the website I think we all get a bit QF obsessed when there are probably other good airlines (and cheaper) out there!

 

[ANDREW]

Yes - It'd be interesting as there appears to be some very well priced Business class seats to LAX, Andrew

 

[Ric]

lisabella,

You are a brave one to fly China Airlines!! Wild Horses won't drag me into one of their planes given their history and incidents. Stories told to me by their "ex" passengers are also a damning factor.

Ric