Thank you everyone for your response. I have to admit the China Southern flights through Guangzhou, China went smoothly without any issues. Few things to note for anyone who might be curious:
- I got the seats with extra legrooms and they were worth it. The one from LAX to China was additional $90 and one from China to KTM was $18. If possible, avoid seats near restroom.
- I checked in my baggage in LAX and picked it up directly in KTM like Situ mentioned.
- Pre selected hindu vegeterian meal and I personally liked it. They had kidney beans, chana tarkari, etc witn rice.
- They offer drinks (tea, wine, soft drink) multiple times during the flight. The flight attendants were fluent in English and cheerful.
- At Guangzhou, there are kiosk where if you scan your passport, they’ll generate an account id and pin for you to join airport wifi.
- My layover was only 2.5 hours. So transit visa was not required. Upon arrival at Guangzhou, you just follow the signs for “Transfer”, “International Transfer” that will lead you to entry officer checking your boarding pass and security officer asking you to pass through xray machine. No questions were asked, they just told me to empty my pockets, remove laptop charger/laptop, etc.
- Be mindful of the gate changes. My flight’s gate was changed two times.
All in all I’d recommend this route and will do it again if the price is as cheap as it has been recently.