Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2016

ferf1223

obviously the wait time on arrival can vary dramatically at any airport depending on how many other international flights are arriving about the same time...if there are other flights arriving about the same time the wait is likely to be longer than if not.

You can try to get an idea of average wait times here:

http://awt.cbp.gov/

Looking at the last 3 months at McCarran, for example, it varies from <10 minutes average to >80 minutes maximum.

nvh

Agree that it varies wildly. We have waited two hours (at least!!) before at Newark... Horrendous!

I did San Francisco a couple of months ago tho using the new fangled machines (superb!!) and took less than 15 mins, however I was one of the first off the plane which helped

Edit: worth adding that when we used to connect via. ORD using AA, it was always good to have a 75 minute(ish) connection as you got one of those "express connection" passes that got you to the front of all the queues. Still cut it fine when you had to change terminals, wait for bags etc

bobbyhibs

nvh wrote: »

Re: bars insisting on payment by card - that is the weirdest thing I've ever heard!!! (unless you were trying to pay with $100 bills - I know that some of the less touristy places in America can be a bit concerned about counterfeits etc) - seems odd that somewhere would refuse something tangible like cash?

hi
It was NOT in vegas bars , sorry for any mis understanding , but it was in newark airport when we were on our way to vegas back in june.I thought it was weird, as well, all we wanted was some food and some drinks, prob around $30 odd soemthing for the both of us.One food court place had these touch screen things you could order your food, and we went through that of selecting our food and as far as i can recall it had the option of paying by card, we got one of the waiters and asked him about it and they said they only accepted cards, when we said we were only willing to pay by cash he again told us they only accepted cards.
A few of the bars in newark airport were pretty much the same.
the weird thing was vegas airport accepted cash so i dunno

bobbyhibs

lesley74 wrote: »

Second worst is Newark (on more than one occasion). Philly has always been very quick for us. We usually have to wait on our luggage there. From experience, immigration in Newark is likely to be quite a bit longer then Philly. I'll take a flight through Philly over a flight through Newark if I have the choice.

Hi, been to the usa twice now, vegas first year, we flew direct and vegas airport was our immigration point of entry to the states and we breezed through it.
second year to the states was back in june(where we had the issues with paying by cash!post above) and our point of entry was newark, as we did new york, for 3 nights and vegas(doing the reverse next year but newark first) and immigration was a nightmare, i think our flight caught the tail end of another flight.
I tihnk it could be just me whom has a lack of paceints at times, like we had a tight connection comming home eariler this year and well the plane touched down and stoped, my brother and i had our hand languge ready within like 1minute and were ready to go, but other passengers were taking there darn time !:mad:

secretmachines

hey everyone, dumb question, but why are one-way tickets to the US so expensive?

I'm looking at a September trip, would like to do LGW - WAS - LAS - LGW.

A return to WAS is £590, but a single is over £1100 :eek:

duchy

Surely you'd do better with an open jaw ticket.
In kayak or google flights use multi sector and put in the lon was & las lon sectors ...then once you have a price for that change lon to dub and see how much you save. Book the was las sector on a separate ticket

No one except business people ever buy one way tickets and those are paid for by the business as the flexibility is needed so the airlines know that market will take higher fares.

duchy

bobbyhibs wrote: »

Hi, been to the usa twice now, vegas first year, we flew direct and vegas airport was our immigration point of entry to the states and we breezed through it.
second year to the states was back in june(where we had the issues with paying by cash!post above) and our point of entry was newark, as we did new york, for 3 nights and vegas(doing the reverse next year but newark first) and immigration was a nightmare, i think our flight caught the tail end of another flight.
I tihnk it could be just me whom has a lack of paceints at times, like we had a tight connection comming home eariler this year and well the plane touched down and stoped, my brother and i had our hand languge ready within like 1minute and were ready to go, but other passengers were taking there darn time !:mad:

Other people may have had a longer transfer time or even just ending their journey. The more you fly the better you get at planning a comfortable less stressy connection and avoid standing in the aisle twitching waiting for those ahead of you to get off.

secretmachines

duchy wrote: »

Surely you'd do better with an open jaw ticket.
In kayak or google flights use multi sector and put in the lon was & las lon sectors ...then once you have a price for that change lon to dub and see how much you save. Book the was las sector on a separate ticket

thanks, just looking into this all for the first time now
The above price was with Virgin.

just seen that you can choose different departure/arrival points with Virgin on their website (more settings), which would allow flying into WAS and leaving LAS for £719pp which is much more like it

we would fly direct rather than via DUB, just personal preference

Froggitt

secretmachines wrote: »

hey everyone, dumb question, but why are one-way tickets to the US so expensive?

I'm looking at a September trip, would like to do LGW - WAS - LAS - LGW.

A return to WAS is £590, but a single is over £1100 :eek:

Hot tip......if you need one way, e.g. like I did after a transatlantic cruise, do a VS points redemption, ideally when they have 20% off the miles needed. It was about 20k miles from Miami, plus about $120 in taxes flying back from the US.

Brats64

We finally booked over xmas,doing the "Dublin route" for the first time.
We normally pay £600+ for flights,but going via Dublin cost £410 each.
We go on 4th September dub-las las-man man-dub. Obviously missing the last leg.
Even adding for £10 man-dub flight the day before,extra baggage fee,and hotel for night in Dublin,I would imagine a £500ish saving....plus we get to look around Dublin on the Saturday.Our daughter is coming with us again on this trip,she has been on quite a few Vegas trips as she has grown up,but hasn't been for the last two or three years,she is at uni.
But she turns 21 this year,so it will be a new experience for all of us,as we can now all sit at the machines and enjoy the drinks together.
When we first went,and took her with us,missing out on the gambling side of Vegas never really bothered us...I used to be a heavy gambler when I was younger,and had eventually stopped before we ever visited Vegas...but over the last few visits when our daughter hasn't come with us,it has been a far bigger part of our trip to enjoy the machines,and odd table.I am now in a position that I "control" gambling.To be honest,if I had the same mentality now toward gambling as I had when I was younger,our holiday spends would all go in about 48 hours.I can now happily put $20-30 in a machine,and then walk away,and if I so choose,not sit at another machine all day.But as I say,it is now a part of our Vegas trips,just as shopping and shows are....so it will be nice to do it with our daughter this year.