How much time do I need to get to my flight home?

[sgerto]

Our flight is Thursday 11/15 at 455p on Southwest out of LAX. Staying at Best Western Stovall. The two times the Express gives me to choose from are 1120a arriving at 1p and 120p arriving at 3p. We aren't checking in any bags, two carryon and we're all wearing backpacks. Would 3p arrival at LAX be enough time to get to airport and to flight?
Side note, wife is TSA so we will be ready for all the obstacles at the security screening.

Thanks for all the great advice!

 

[Scootypuffjr]

If you’re arriving at LAX @3 you should be fine. That gives you roughly 1 1/2 hours to get through security and walk to the gate before they start boarding your flight. You can check TSA wait times around 3pm on Thursdays for the next few weeks, but I don’t imagine they’ll run longer than 30 minutes. Our rule of thumb is that we usually arrive 1 hour before our boarding time begins (it’s listed on your ticket). Unless they’ve changed things, it shouldn’t take you more than 10 minutes to walk from security to your gate.

 

[sgerto]

Awesome! Thank you

 

[WonkaKid]

You’ve heard that LA traffic can be bad, no doubt. Given that, I’d leave the park about 1:45 before you want to be at the airport. Getting from the park to the freeway can easily take 20 minutes. Give yourself plenty of time. There’s nothing worse than being stuck in traffic, afraid you’ll miss your flight.

 

[sgerto]

We're taking the Disneyland Express. The posted arrival time at LAX is 3p.

 

[otten]

We're taking the Disneyland Express. The posted arrival time at LAX is 3p.

The bus has to drive in traffic though so keep in mind that the scheduled arrival is probably based on average traffic for that time and it could easily change.

I personally wouldn’t count on a bus arriving at the time scheduled.

 

[CO2CA]

Last week, we got to the airport at 11:30am for a 1:05pm flight out, with boarding starting at 12:35pm - also on Southwest. Kind of a narrow window, but we made it to the gate with 10 minutes to spare (and we had the A boarding group). LAX is such a fantastically easy airport, which came as a huge surprise to us. It's much simpler and easier than our home airport. The security wait times are pretty low, too. None of the agents are too friendly, but the wait times were great!

We also did the outside check-in for 5 checked bags. We also had 2 carry-ons and 5 backpacks total (we don't travel lightly!). That was really easy and they printed off our boarding pass for us.

I would be cautious about traffic, but the DL Express would know more about travel times than I would, so I would trust their judgment on arrival windows. You should be fine with the later arrival time.

 

[sgerto]

Thank you SO much everyone! My travel agent confirmed what you all have been saying and easing my fears. It may sound kind of silly but having that extra two hours at the end of our trip just means the world to us. This is our last trip as both our kids move out this Summer (one college, one Marines) so I want to squeeze every last moment we can out of this trip. Getting to the airport in roughly two hours would be plenty of time.