Darian
06-15-2012, 12:39 PM
On our recent trip to La Paz using Alaska/Horizon Air, we found that Alaska has a new terminal at LAX. It's in a new location there and a shorter walk from Southwest Air, at least. With the exception of the checkin area for departures, everything about the new terminal seems to be well thought out and functional.
The check-in area for passengers with boarding passes and pre-paid baggage is located just a short distance across an aisle from those who have not paid for their luggage, yet, and do not have a boarding pass. The problem we encountered was that, when the area is crowded, the lines tend to mix and people who don't want to wait for one line move into the other. Thus slowing everything down to a crawl. Secondly, each check in staff member must take care of two lines (single check in computer). So, they take one passenger from one line, then alternate to the other line. Sounds very efficient but really isn't. First, the attendant, who was very busy, mislabeled my partners and my luggage. Ordinarily, that wouldn't have been a problem but my luggage was then misdirected to Cabo where it ended up in MX Customs hands. :roll: As a result, when I went to Cabo to pick it up, Customs needed to have my fishing partner verify that the luggage wasn't hers before I could pick it up. Result, two people missed a day of fishing. Aarrrgghh!!!!!
Hope any of you will heed what happened in our case. Keep a close eye on how your luggage is labeled and the destination correctly taqged (altho, that didn't help much in my case). :-|
The check-in area for passengers with boarding passes and pre-paid baggage is located just a short distance across an aisle from those who have not paid for their luggage, yet, and do not have a boarding pass. The problem we encountered was that, when the area is crowded, the lines tend to mix and people who don't want to wait for one line move into the other. Thus slowing everything down to a crawl. Secondly, each check in staff member must take care of two lines (single check in computer). So, they take one passenger from one line, then alternate to the other line. Sounds very efficient but really isn't. First, the attendant, who was very busy, mislabeled my partners and my luggage. Ordinarily, that wouldn't have been a problem but my luggage was then misdirected to Cabo where it ended up in MX Customs hands. :roll: As a result, when I went to Cabo to pick it up, Customs needed to have my fishing partner verify that the luggage wasn't hers before I could pick it up. Result, two people missed a day of fishing. Aarrrgghh!!!!!
Hope any of you will heed what happened in our case. Keep a close eye on how your luggage is labeled and the destination correctly taqged (altho, that didn't help much in my case). :-|