I would try to avoid LAX like the plague!! As for entertainment, we tried to name the various yoga-type positions people were trying to adopt to try and stretch out for some sleep. Oh and counting people as they passed through immigration.

It totally took the edge off our trip last christmas. God knows what time of night it was local time when we landed, but they only had TWO immigration staff working to try and clear a full plane load (+/- 300 people?). Everyone lined up in a corridor with no seats or any idea where the toilets were. I know we had been sitting down for 8 hours but the though of a two hour stand wasn't pleasant. Fortunately we had two young kids and one threw up right on cue as a hostess walked past - so we got taken to the front of the que. I dont know if they fast-track kids all the time though. The last passenger cleared immigartion 1 hour 45 minutes after landing - I was watching 'cos there was sod all else to do apart from eat crisps & cookies (eeuugghh).

On the way back it was similar except no vomit & it was day light so the souvenir shop was open in the transit lounge. Yipeee!

To be fair the transit lounge didnt bug us that much, it was the limited resources they had to process the immigration.

Wait until you get to AKL, what a difference! Tthey opened up a new immigration channel for us as we had kids and the girl checking us was playing peek-a-boo over the counter with the kids. This was the first "tick" NZ got as we vetted it as a place to emmigrate to.

Cheers


Nick