Long(ish) layover - MSP or LAX

[keweenawlove]

I'm looking at tickets from Iowa to Kauai. The best options have me connecting through Minneapolis and LA. Which of these options looks better? Total time is the same for both. I'm been through MSP plenty of times but never LAX and I've heard it can be a nightmare.

3:13 at MSP
1:29 at LAX

or

:58 at MSP
3:34 at LAX

[Brit]

I would do option 1. I don't think LAX is all that awful, but I would rather avoid less than 1:00 layovers where it is an option.

[Wanderista]

Yeah the first option looks less stressful though Minneapolis is a pretty efficient airport. I greatly prefer Minneapolis to LAX so yeah, unless you need to do a complicated terminal change, I guess I'd rather spend time there. LAX is pretty boring and dated to be frank. Minneapolis, on the other hand, is one of my favorites. 

[keweenawlove]

Aug 15, 2013 10:19:56 GMT -5 @sfgal530 said:

I don't know that either of those options make a big difference, honestly. Did you check to see if you will need to change terminals in LAX? It is a crappy airport if you need to make a terminal change as you often have to re-do security.

Also you can check the average on-time performance and delay for the flights and see if any of them look to be troublesome. If I were booking I'd probably book option #1 because a 58-minute connection in general is tight if there's any delay, but that's just me.

I know it really probably won't matter. The engineer in my just has to figure out the "best" option. I've done plenty of 45 minute layovers in Minneapolis and been fine (knock on wood). The flight leaving Iowa is the first of the morning so it minimizes the chance of a delay.

I can't figure out how to check the terminals. Both flights into and out of LAX are domestic with Delta. It looks like that's all in one terminal so I'm assuming I shouldn't have to change.

[alleinesein]

Are you absolutely positive that the LAX flight is a non-stop? What Iowa airport are you flying out of? I know that DSM does not have a non stop to California and you have to connect via ORD, DFW, DIA, CIN, or PHX.

I would prefer the LAX layover only because it will break up the flight into shorter segments.  The flight out of MSP will be the equivalent of an international flight.

[keweenawlove]

Aug 15, 2013 12:59:35 GMT -5 alleinesein said:

Are you absolutely positive that the LAX flight is a non-stop? What Iowa airport are you flying out of? I know that DSM does not have a non stop to California and you have to connect via ORD, DFW, DIA, CIN, or PHX.

Sorry if it wasn't clear in the OP. The itinerary is CID -> MSP -> LAX  -> LIH. I just have 2 options on the MSP to LAX leg which controls the layover times. The only way out of 2 layovers is driving in Minneapolis or Chicago.