Lax

I always read on these boards where people keep complaining about flying out of LAX. Somehow, having flown in and out of LAX countless times, I rarely seem to experience what others describe.

Well, last night, I once again flew out of LAX to head up to Portland..where I am right now. My flight was on Alaska Airlines, departing at 7:59 pm. In keeping with airport recommendations, I timed my drive to arrive at around 6:00 pm. We hit it pretty close...after parking and taking the shuttle bus in from Lot C, we were left at the curb at 6:08 pm. We had printed our boarding passes over the Internet and we only had carry-on luggage, so we walked right into Terminal 6 and right to the roped off entrance to the security lines. We had TSA pre-screening, so we got the express line...but, it really didn't matter. There really wasn't a line on either side...but, at least we didn't have to remove shoes and belts. There was only one woman in line ahead of us, so we were right through the metal detectors in about thirty seconds. We were, literally, curb to gate in less than five minutes...and most of that was walking to the directory and deciding where to eat.

We had so much time...and it being about dinner time...that we stopped at the Habit for dinner. Our longest wait of any kind at LAX was waiting for the burgers to be ready. Had a leisurely dinner, then walked over to the gate and borded the plane at 7:19... The plane left right on time.

Once again, despite this being the fifth busiest airport in the world, it really was no hassle at all.

My main complaint is arriving at one terminal and trying to make a connecting flight in another terminal with the shuttle.

The poorly labelled terminal shuttles operates outside of the secured area. Why can't it be like my checked luggage where I don't need to go through a second wave of security screening. Is this a "make work idea" or "job security" for security?

hand, body, liquids, electronics, medications, WMD's, NFL's, and the occasional personalized random secondary cavity bonus.

It all depends on when you're flying. We've had mostly unremarkable wait times for security - sometimes maybe 10 minutes or so, a couple of times over 45 minutes. What bothers us most is the often VERY LONG walks from the gates to baggage claim areas - often taking over 15 minutes - especially the United flights which are actually spread across 2 different terminals. There's a TSA website - https://apps.tsa.dhs.gov/mytsa/wait_times_home.aspx - where you can type in your airport and terminal and see current flight times. You might want to try checking that site on the day/time of your flight a couple of weeks in advance to get an idea of what the waits might be.

Also, for those flying in May - check for stories about the massive terminal changeover going on then. Apparently multiple airlines are changing terminals and there are predictions of total chaos if you happen to be flying at that time. Here's a link to one article about it: http://la.curbed.com/2017/3/23/15042498/lax-airport-delta-changing-terminals-may

My complaint has to do with going through immigration and customs!!

They are supposed to have kiosks to use to cut down the wait time in immigration but instead they made us use the kiosks and then also talk to an immigration officer. It was the WORST . I now have gotten Global Entry so that I don't have to deal with all of that ever again!!

My complaint has to do with going through immigration and customs!!

 

They are supposed to have kiosks to use to cut down the wait time in immigration but instead they made us use the kiosks and then also talk to an immigration officer. It was the WORST . I now have gotten Global Entry so that I don't have to deal with all of that ever again!!

 

Went through those just after Thanksgiving. The machines didn't cut down the wait time at all.

There is now a Mobile Pass app that allows you to bypass the machines.

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My complaint is the terminal, at least the one where American Airlines is.

It could use a makeover.

Keith