LAX or Long Beach

[NWACruiser]

We are taking a cruise from Long Beach to Tampa through the Panama Canal.  We plan to arrive a day early for the cruise.   What is the best airport to fly into LAX or Long Beach?  Why would you choose?

 

Thanks

[CruiserBruce]

Define "best".

 

Certainly, Long Beach is closer. But it is much smaller, and thus may have limited flight options. As we don't know your flight needs, only you can decide what is bets.

[jlp20]

Flights into Long Beach are very limited, but if you can choose go Long Beach

[Husky61]

10 hours ago, NWACruiser said:

We are taking a cruise from Long Beach to Tampa through the Panama Canal.  We plan to arrive a day early for the cruise.   What is the best airport to fly into LAX or Long Beach?  Why would you choose?

 

Thanks

If you can get a flight you like, then Long Beach would be the best in my opinion.  I have flown in and out of that airport and it is a breeze, nothing like LAX.

[Keith1010]

As mentioned Long Beach is certainly an easier airport to navigate and to get to and from the port.

 

However, as noted flights are limited and that includes what airlines fly them and alternative flights should your flight be cancelled, etc.  Because of this we rarely are able to use Long Beach other than on a couple of cruises.

 

As CruiserBruce suggested specifics are important.

 

Keith

[CRocks]

Try and take in the Aquarium of the Pacific if you're arriving day before. It's incredible!

[NWACruiser]

2 hours ago, CRocks said:

Try and take in the Aquarium of the Pacific if you're arriving day before. It's incredible!

Considering we are staying at the port, it seems like a great idea.  

http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/

Thanks

[Bruin Steve]

LGB is slightly closer to the port...

19.9 miles to San Pedro if by freeway, 13.5 if by surface streets (but lots of stop lights)...

11/9.2 miles to Carnival/Long Beach

 

LAX is 20 miles to San Pedro, 22 miles to Carnival/Long Beach

 

But the distance shouldn't really be a consideration...it is the other factors...

LGB is a VERY small airport...

LAX is the fifth busiest airport in the world.

 

LGB has very few flights to and from anywhere and on limited airlines.  See here:

 

http://www.lgb.org/travelers/default.asp

 

LAX, OTOH, has just about every airline known to man flying in and out to almost every possible location at all hours of day and night.  Often, even if you find a flight to/from LGB, you may find the fares to be significantly higher.

 

But a lot of people tend to find LAX intimidating.  Personally, I don't think it's all that bad--especially if you are only flying in and out as opposed to having to make a connection there.  Some people complain about long lines for check-in or security...but I fly in and out of LAX and have NEVER had a problem.  Helps, of course to be "TSA Pre-check" and to check in to your flight ahead of time via internet.  Also helps if you only have carry-on luggage...but, even that doesn't add that much time.  I just flew out of--and back in to--LAX this past weekend.  Left Friday 3:10 pm  and returned last night...to Portland on Southwest.  I timed my visit...We arrived at 1:15 for our 3:10 flight...and went from curbside to our gate in exactly 18 minutes.  Of course, we had boarding passes in hand, carry-on luggage only and were PSA Pre-check.  OTOH, I looked over at the non-TSA Precheck line and it was maybe 20-25 passengers at best.  And, if we had luggage to check, there were several available check-in terminals in that area--so I doubt either issue would have added more than a few minutes.  We have found this check-in experience to be very typical...we are ALWAYS at our gate in 15-30 minutes.  Arriving at LAX, the biggest bother was that our plane had to wait about 10 minutes on the tarmac before taxiing to the gate due to a gate issue...but, once off the plane, we were at the curb to await our ground transportation in just minutes ( of course, had we checked luggage, we may have had to wait a bit for the luggage to make it off the plane and down to the carousel--that's often the biggest hang-up upon arrival).

[rivers2ocean]

We have a cruise out of San Pedro in February and chose to fly into Long Beach airport.

Just liked the smaller size and ease of navigating. We are also staying at a hotel in Long Beach so made sense for us . 

 

We are flying Southwest from Spokane and we were able to find suitable times and prices for our journey both ways.  

[LuckyStar]

I flew into LAX the day of my cruise.  Took about an hour to take Super Shuttle to get to the port.  I guess it depends on cost to fly and where you are staying the night before the cruise.