Flying in to LAX that bad?

[MillauFr]

I always chose the non-stop flights if it is an option.

 

[bumbershoot]

nonstop LAX, absolutely.

The biggest problem is for people who don't feel comfortable driving through LA to get to Anaheim. If you don't mind the drive or are taking a shuttle then LAX is fine.

The biggest biggest problem is for people dropping off or picking up travelers. That is a huge pain in the behind. Being a traveler is easy compared to picking up or dropping off.

I found the drive to be straightforward and simple.

At SNA we had to schelp our bags a really long way to get to ground transportation. At LAX we could catch our shuttle right outside the baggage pickup area.

Yes. No one ever talks about that at SNA! It's one loooong building, so if your carousel is far from where you need to be, you get to tote the bags. LAX has pods, so you get your bags in the same general vicinity (there IS some walking, but not with bags) as where you came in. Get bags, go outside.

What about searching for a direct flight from Boston to Long Beach Airport? It's a smaller, nicer airport....and half the distance to DLR.

But the transportation options are SO different. Shuttle Express has a totally different price structure for LGB/BUR/ONT than LAX and SNA. Rental cars might not be as cheap. etc etc. You have to look into it all.

Plus, DH stayed close to the airport on a work trip, then we came in and stayed waterfront Long Beach for a dance convention, then we all met up and moved over to Anaheim, and I gotta tell you, it felt like a LONG drive to Anaheim from there. Didn't feel any closer than LAX.

 

[xApril]

Flew into LAX this past May and while the shuttle process outside took a bit (we were the first group the SuperShuttle picked up), we really had no issue. We were going to go with SNA for our trip in April, but LAX released $137 each way, so we snatched that up instead. SNA is 22 minutes from our hotel whereas LAX is more like 35, but if the airline is cheaper then why not? I'd say go for it if it seems more convenient!

 

[mom2rtk]

Flew into LAX this past May and while the shuttle process outside took a bit (we were the first group the SuperShuttle picked up), we really had no issue. We were going to go with SNA for our trip in April, but LAX released $137 each way, so we snatched that up instead. SNA is 22 minutes from our hotel whereas LAX is more like 35, but if the airline is cheaper then why not? I'd say go for it if it seems more convenient!

I would rather sit in a comfy shuttle while it finishes making its rounds than hoof it across the length of the airport (with luggage) to the only ground transportation location (yes, SNA...... that's you!)

 

[Beck & the Beast]

Flew into LAX this past May and while the shuttle process outside took a bit (we were the first group the SuperShuttle picked up), we really had no issue. We were going to go with SNA for our trip in April, but LAX released $137 each way, so we snatched that up instead. SNA is 22 minutes from our hotel whereas LAX is more like 35, but if the airline is cheaper then why not? I'd say go for it if it seems more convenient!

Did you have a shared van with SuperShuttle? How long did it take before you had other groups and departed the airport? We're trying to decide on shared vs private for our next trip.

 

[sunshine1]

Immigration took forever when i went in september.

There were only 3 people working.

 

[msr709]

Wow so happy I found this thread. We are going for the first time to DL July 2016 coming in from the east coast (Airport) into LAX. We went with Virgin America, and got a good time 9am getting in at 12pm on a week day. We are planning on getting a private shuttle van, and according to these comments, we should have no problems getting to DLH at a decent time. Thank you all for comments, they are very helpful!

 

[CLR4321]

I'd fly into SNA personally, if the stopover was less than an hour and a half. It is much smaller, less busy and much closer to DL. LAX isn't that bad however if you arrive just before or during rush hour, traffic can be really crappy heading south out of LA. On the return you also have to deal with traffic heading north. If you have say an 8:30am flight, you'd rally need to leave Anaheim at like 5:30am or so in order to be sure that you don't miss your flight in case you hit a major traffic jam. If you have an 8:30am flight out of SNA, you can leave closer to 7am.

 

[CLR4321]

My flight would land at 10am in LAX & then my flight leaves at 3:00pm on a Monday so maybe the traffic on a week day wont be to bad.

Traffic is actually worse on weekdays due to commuters. But arriving at 10am at LAX and leaving at 3pm, it wouldn't be as bad and you wouldn't have to wake up really early in the morning in order to catch your flight. I'd plan to leave Anaheim at about 12:30 or so.

 

[dcfromva]

LAX has some runway/construction projects going on--(at least 'til jun 2017 for the runway projects). There are also lots of terminal projects going on, also.

Link to LAX projects: http://www.lawa.org/laxdev/ProjectFactSheet.aspx

I was a little nervous as to how our flight into and out of LAX was going to be last week. The weather was great and we didn't get any delays into or out of LAX. The only problem we had was the rental car shuttle had to let us off at terminal 2 instead of terminal 1 on our outbound flight because of construction--it wasn't a big deal for us.

 

[bumbershoot]

Wow so happy I found this thread. We are going for the first time to DL July 2016 coming in from the east coast (Airport) into LAX. We went with Virgin America, and got a good time 9am getting in at 12pm on a week day. We are planning on getting a private shuttle van, and according to these comments, we should have no problems getting to DLH at a decent time. Thank you all for comments, they are very helpful!

You're going to be sooooo relaxed from your Virgin America flight that you won't worry about getting there fast at all.

My family likes Karmel Shuttle, personally. It's not totally private, but they ONLY pick up pre-planned passengers; they don't troll for "standby" type people, so it's a "controlled" sort of shared shuttle.


What's funny is that late last night (early this morning) I actually booked into and out of SNA. But the prices were the same AND they were all nonstops. So I'll deal with SNA if it's all the same, but I really don't find LAX to be difficult at all.

 

[cmpeter]

I have had a spat of horrible luck with layovers...on my last four flights with a layover, I missed the connection once due to delays on the first leg and barely made the connection on the other three and had to sprint through the airport. I would always pick the direct flight if it's in the budget.

 

[GeneralTso]

I won't fly in/out of LAX. The traffic is insane. I gladly pay the extra to fly to Santa Ana. It's very close, and even with landing during rush hour, you get to Disneyland faster.

 

[MillauFr]

I won't fly in/out of LAX. The traffic is insane. I gladly pay the extra to fly to Santa Ana. It's very close, and even with landing during rush hour, you get to Disneyland faster.

The traffic in LA is way overrated. Between LAX and Disney the freeways are excellent and the delays even on the worst days are less than 60 minutes. Even during rush hour you can usually average 15 to 20 mph.

 

[swooshbear]

We prefer to fly out of SNA if prices are relatively similar, much closer to DLR and less traffic to worry about. Only problem is there are limited flights and if you are on the last flight out that gets cancelled, you might be staying overnight or trying to drive to LAX to catch a late flight.

This weekend we flew Virgin into LAX and will probably leave Anaheim with a 1.5 hour buffer to drop off the rental car. I've hit rush hour on a really bad weekday and it took me almost two hours to get from Anaheim to LAX.

 

[xApril]

Did you have a shared van with SuperShuttle? How long did it take before you had other groups and departed the airport? We're trying to decide on shared vs private for our next trip.

We did shared. We probably had to wait about 45 minutes or so to get everyone all together. However, since we were first on the shuttle, we got dropped off first. I would say it's worth doing shared as long as you aren't in a huge rush to get out of there. Just be wary that they usually pack you in there and try to fill all the seats.

 

[Maddysdaddy]

Just flew in and out of LAX on our DL trip last week. We've never had any issues with that airport, and even getting caught in rush hour gridlock trying to get to Anaheim, only added about 10-15 minutes over what the drive normally takes us in off-peak hours.

We have found LAX to be very efficient in getting our bags unloaded from the plane, and the deals on car rentals can't be beat (we booked a full-size from Alamo for 6 days over Veterans Day, and paid $132 all-in - thank you Costco).