Golden disembarkation times?

[emilygrace]

Thinking about changing our flight home to an earlier one (we hate hanging around airports), but I am wondering about the disembarkation process times at San Pedro when on the Golden. I know we have to go through customs, but since this is routine for the Golden I am hoping they have the whole procedure down.

 

The flight I am considering is at 11:40 out of LAX on Southwest. This would be on a Friday.

 

So what are your recent experiences? What is the earliest they start letting people off? We could always do self-disembark if we need to, but I am curious about the regular (pick up your luggage in the terminal) disembarkation?

 

Thanks for your help!

Edited October 14, 2014 by emilygrace

[Pam in CA]

Under normal circumstances, you should be fine with an 11:40am flight.

[greg_atlanta]

Be safe not sorry. Disembarkation on golden (from mexico) yesterday started at 9 am instead of 8 am and lines were huge by then. Luckily 10 am traffic to LAX was not bad but both taxis and shuttles were slammed with long lines.

[SadieN]

Keep the 11:40 tickets. If you get to the airport early enough see if you can change to the earlier flight.

[emilygrace]

The 11:40 is the earlier flight. I cannot imagine trying anything earlier than that.

[ar1950]

Keep the 11:40 tickets. If you get to the airport early enough see if you can change to the earlier flight.

 

Get to the airport and change to an earlier flight and you will be slammed with a way higher fare (if the earlier flight is even available). We have asked several times (Southwest is our airline of choice usually) and it is always the same. If seats are even available we would have to pay a ton extra.

 

BTW, yes, I did see that 11:40 is the earlier flight. Change now if fares are reasonable.

[emilygrace]

Get to the airport and change to an earlier flight and you will be slammed with a way higher fare (if the earlier flight is even available). We have asked several times (Southwest is our airline of choice usually) and it is always the same. If seats are even available we would have to pay a ton extra.

 

BTW, yes, I did see that 11:40 is the earlier flight. Change now if fares are reasonable.

 

This is exactly why I wanted to change it now and not at the airport. And this was on Southwest. I actually called them to see about changing it because I didn't want to change the flight TO Los Angeles, just the one home. So she changed it for me and even though the price was slightly higher than my original flight, by just a a few dollars, she gave it to me at my original price. I've got my email confirmation and we are set to go. We will just do self disembark.

[cattolica]

Got off the Golden earlier this month on a Thursday. I think first walk-off was at 8:05am. Our group was off at 8:15am. Got to LAX at about 10:30. Southwest terminal was busy.....probably got up to the gate area around 11:15am. Traffic was stop and go on the freeway, even in the carpool lanes. I would not have wanted to have an 11:40am flight.

I am very happy we did not have a flight until early afternoon.

[emilygrace]

Wow, it took you 2 hours and 15 minutes to get to LAX from the pier? That's a long time! Well, I've already changed to the earlier flight so I will just have to live with it now. I may regret it, but live and learn. It will be my own fault if we miss our flight.

[cattolica]

Yes, it did. You never know what traffic is going to be like on any given day. That is why I personally do not book flights before noon. I had a choice to take a flight around 12:30pm but felt more comfortable with a 1:30pm flight. I lived in Southern California for decades so I am familiar with unexpected traffic delays. It was a long day since I was flying all the way to Tampa Florida. But I would rather sit for awhile at the airport rather than miss a flight and have to scramble to get on a different flight.

 

Well, some of that 2 hours and 15 minutes included the time we waited to actually get out to the curb and into a vehicle to head to the airport. I didn't keep track but I would say that it was probably 20 mins from the time we walked out of the venue on the ship to the time we were on the road. So it was a little less than 2 hours on the road.

 

Wow, it took you 2 hours and 15 minutes to get to LAX from the pier? That's a long time! Well, I've already changed to the earlier flight so I will just have to live with it now. I may regret it, but live and learn. It will be my own fault if we miss our flight.

Edited October 15, 2014 by cattolica