Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) spans about 3,500 acres and has nine terminals with over 130 gates. It’s the second-busiest airport in the U.S., serving more than 75 million passengers annually and I’m always surprised when I see people complaining on social media about how much they hate it and think it’s one of the worst airports in the world.
I might be biased since it’s my home airport and I’ve flown in and out of it hundreds of times. With the exception of the constant construction and bottleneck at the entrance of the horseshoe, I absolutely love LAX and I think you will too if you just know some insider tips.
Getting to/from LAX
I feel like half the battle for most people is just getting in and out of LAX so let me break down how I deal with pick-ups and drop-offs:
1. Obviously, check Waze or Apple Maps to see what the traffic is like and which route to take to get into the airport. BTW: Did you know that Waze allows you to add your own voice or the voice of a loved one to the directional instructions? It’s great way to surprise your spouse, kids or parents. Here’s how.
2. Always check @FlyLAXstats X (Twitter) feed for fairly real-time traffic and parking updates. It used to be every 20 minutes but now it’s more like every couple of hours. It’s still valuable especially if you happen to be going right after an update.
3. The biggest mistake I see visitors to LAX make is using the arrivals or departures level that you’re going to. You don’t need to. Oftentimes, I do the opposite. So, when I’m departing out of LAX in the early morning, the departures level is almost always backed up so I get dropped off at Arrivals and either take the escalator or the elevator up a level (LAX elevators are painfully slow and there’s not as many as there should be).
4. If there’s a lot of traffic on both levels and you’re in a hurry and you’re either flying out of or picking up at Terminals 5 or 6, then stick to the left lane and use the Terminal 7 shortcut. Then either walk or have your friends/family meet you there to drastically speed up the drop-off/pick-up
5. Speaking of pick-ups: If traffic is bad and you don’t want to spend money for curbside pick-up with a black car or walk or take the shuttle to LAXit, then just jump on the first car rental or hotel shuttle you see and then order an Uber/Lyft to pick you up there. Just be sure to tip the driver.
6. Parking: I’ve had a few media events in the last few weeks at LAX and parking was so bad I almost ditched. However, when I exited the parking structure, I told one of the attendants I couldn’t find parking. He told me I could park on the roof level in one of the many vacant electric vehicle spots. He said they stopped ticketing up there. I went back and parked there and did it a week later and I didn’t get a ticket and I don’t have an electric vehicle. So that’s good to know but I would ask an attendant or better yet a police officer to make sure they didn’t change their policy.
Hopefully, the Automated People Mover (APM), which is expected to open later this year, will make most of the above irrelevant. The APM is going to be a 24/7 electric train service connecting terminals, parking and regional transit. It will feature six stations along a 2.25-mile route, aiming to serve 30 million passengers annually while significantly reducing traffic and emissions.
Good to know: LAX’s peak hours are usually 6:30am to 9am, 11am to 2pm and 8pm to 11pm and Fridays and Sundays are the busiest days. The least busy are Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
LAX doesn’t have to be a nightmare. With these local insider tips, you can navigate the airport like a seasoned traveler. Got your own LAX trick? Share it in the comments or tag me on social.
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Hello , as a long time flyer in and out of LAX myself I understand your loyalty but think it’s misplaced. The place is a mismanaged nightmare, and unless you have a car dropping you off and picking you up, the hassles encountered are numerous and probably unnecessary. There should be no reason to do work arounds. Other large city airports seem to be able to control ingress and egress with fewer inconveniences, so why do we tolerate the nonsense at LAX, that seems to be getting worse as I write?
You do have a good point! We shouldn’t have to do these workarounds so hopefully the new people mover will fix it.
I used to fly in / out of LAX so much, the “guys” at off site long term parking knew me by name. Never really disliked the airport just preferred smaller ones like LGB or JWA / SNA. Best tip: my attitude. If I allowed plenty of time and just kind of assumed a “mellow” attitude negotiating the airport, it was always easy (for a very large facility.) Yes, I hated it most during times I knew there were going to be tons of tourists who couldn’t seem to grasp how to clear TSA checkpoints. Thank heaven for Pre.
You have a great attitude and come across as very wise.