Comments on LAX and other SoCal airports

[brenda1966]

.... We have a 10:30 pm flight and we will have to gas up the car and return it. Any advice on staying safe??

I'd give the same advice to anyone in ANY big city:

Use common sense. Take your keys out of the car when you're not in the car. Lock the car if you have any valuables in the car. Pay at the pump, pump your gas, and go.

I have a friend who lives not 5 minutes from LAX in a beautiful house. She does not fear for her safety or her kid's safety when they are out and about.

 

[Pollito916]

There is a Trader Joes and Panera Bread just a half mile or so north

Ooh, thanks for the reminder about TJ's and Panera. I haven't been to that part of LA for a few years and almost forgot about them. We have some time to waste near LAX on our way out b/c my mom has an 8 PM flight and our flight isn't until 1 AM. We don't have Panera in AZ, so I love stopping there, and we can get some good snacks for the flight at TJ's!

Flying to SoCa for the 1st time-- choose LAX because of lower prices and direct flights-- coming from the east coast. I really do not care about the airport itself but now I am concerned about the car rental return. We have a 10:30 pm flight and we will have to gas up the car and return it. Any advice on staying safe??

I always chose LAX for the same reasons when I lived in Chicago (usually flying out of O'Hare). If you are used to big city airports, LAX really won't phase you. The thing I found most surprising on my first trip was the open-ness to fresh air - definitely not something you get (or want!) at airports back east.

As for safety, make sure the gas station you stop at is well-lit. If I remember correctly, there is a BP and/or Shell on the same street as the TJ's and Panera mentioned above, but further south, closer to the car rental returns. I would try to fill on the main streets like that, rather than closer to the car rental returns where the streets get a little darker and shadier.

Ok, I decided to check a map for the intersection I was thinking of since my directions above are probably not too helpful for someone new to the area. Looks like there are a few off Century Blvd between the 405 and Sepulveda (near LAX).

Oh, and the other thing that surprised me was the forwardness of homeless people. They were approaching me even at the gas station in broad daylight.

 

[tchull]

Glad to hear the good comments about SNA. It was actually cheaper for us to fly in there from DFW, than it was in to LAX. I just know I'm going to run in to one of the Orange County Housewives!

 

[HydroGuy]

Of course you didn't. However, your perspective (which of course you are entitled to) had that result for limace. I was simply trying to provide comfort and another view, as I don't think there is anything depressing about flying in to LAX and didn't want Limace to be depressed about their vacation now simply because of the airport. There's no reason to be. It's just an airport.

Thanks for the balance. As you are aware, some people who are nervous about a first time experience are highly sensitive to any negative information. I think that happened to limace.

I fly into lots of airports and to many countries and LAX is just an airport to me. As I said, when I put on my own traveler's hat it is fine. When I put on my Disney hat it looks like what I wrote in the OP.

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

I really appreciate the sentiment of this thread (thanks Hydroguy!!) I used to fly for business, and definately developed my favorite aiports (PDX, PHX, Denver--although flying in to Denver always bothered my ears!) But traveling with my kiddo makes me see airports differently. We recently flew in/out of Sea-tac, the way screening was set up was horrible and confusing (even for a veteran flyer), and it seemed like there were too many escalators and trains to get from point A to point B... admittedly I am spoiled with PDX... and it doesn't matter so much where you arrive to me, as where you depart from... sometimes you have only 1.5 hours to wait before you board... other times much longer than that. I want it to be clean, easy to manuever, and have at least some choice of food & entertainment (shopping!) to keep us busy till we leave. We were in Cancun for 6 hours before a flight once (not as long as others had to wait), and it was cramped & hot... but we had multiple places to eat and shops to look in to pass the time.

We are doing LGB again this time... tiny little airport, easy to manuever, not much to keep you entertained--but we get to fly Jet Blue--which seals the deal for us.

I don't think the airport can make or break a vacation, but it can leave you feeling less grumpy!!

 

[RweTHEREyet]

That is exactly why we are flying out of Long Beach, Jet Blue. It is taking us home by an indirect route, but Jet Blue is so comfortable that I really do not mind whatsoever.

Anyone know how long it will take us to get to the Long Beach airport from Rancho Santa Margarita on a Sunday evening?

 

[magicalfoursome]

Thanks everyone. I feel fine about it. We fly in and out of our home airport-- Philly-- and the area surrounding it isn't so nice-- neither is the airport-- IMO. We usually go to WDW and the Orlando airport is so much nicer than Philly!!!

 

[limace]

Thanks for the balance. As you are aware, some people who are nervous about a first time experience are highly sensitive to any negative information. I think that happened to limace.

I fly into lots of airports and to many countries and LAX is just an airport to me. As I said, when I put on my own traveler's hat it is fine. When I put on my Disney hat it looks like what I wrote in the OP.

Aw, thanks everyone for your encouraging words. Really, it won't ruin my vacation. DH and I have travelled a lot , including through LAX lots of times, and neither of us is afraid of the airport . We're renting a car, but he went to college in SoCal so knows where he's going. We fly out of PDX often, and that's such a great largish city airport, it does kind of spoil us.

What I'm afraid of is dealing with cranky kids, late at night, an hour away from our hotel, and having to catch a shuttle to the rental car place. Your description of the hotel just made me remember how much that will probably suck. I need to prepare myself now so I don't get too aggravated, and pray they sleep some on the plane.

As an aside, we just were in WDW in January. We're on the West Coast, so it's a loooong flight for us-we were up at 4 am to catch a plane, and didn't get to Orlando until 9 pm or so. I wasn't incredibly thrilled with the whole Magical Express experience-the signage wasn't as great as I'd expected, and they had us wait in line a long time for a bus to our resort. Since it was a Disney service, and it made me cranky, it actually stole a little Disney magic from me.