How much time to allow to get to LAX, including dropping off a rental car.

[crickee]

I apologize in advance for my ramble. My daughter & her boyfriend are meeting us in Los Angeles for couple of days and then heading down to DL. We're planning on just using lift as we are staying near the museum area on Wilshire and probably only need to lift to one place during our time in LA. My husband & I were planning of using Lanksy to get down to Anaheim, as there will be 5 of us and my kids don't know how to pack light. DD & boyfriend have a 6:00 am flight on the Saturday they are leaving. They want to rent a car for the entire stay thinking it will be cheaper and easier. For the amount that they will use the car, I don't think it's an economical option. My other concern, to make a long story short, is how long it will take to drive back to LAX, return the car & get to their gate for a 6:00 am flight.

 

[jcarwash]

With an LAX flight that early, my preference is to leave Anaheim the night before and stay one night at an airport hotel, like in El Segundo. That way the drive to the offsite rental return is like 10 minutes, making it less stressful.

But if I were driving from Anaheim, I'd probably by on the road at something like 3 am. At that time of day drive should be like 35-40 minutes, and then hopefully the shuttle bus ride will be 20 minutes or less, putting me inside the terminal by like 4:30am?

 

[LAS2AMS]

There won’t be any traffic on the road in the wee hours of Saturday morning. It’s about a 40 minute drive to LAX. How long it’ll take to drop off the car, get to the airport and through security, depends on who there rental is through and which terminal they’re flying from. But even in the worst case, 3 hours is plenty kf time.

IMO, checking into a nearby hotel for an overnight is a bigger hassle.

 

[LAS2AMS]

I wanted to add - in the past, LA was one of the few big cities to feature plentiful, cheap/ free parking… but unfortunately, that’s gradually changed over the past two decades. I remember when, in the aftermath of the 9-11 travel downturn, numerous hotels in Anaheim began charging for parking and people were outranked. Now, most everyone charges for parking (sans some budget properties) - including Disney.

Even parking at DLR went up $10 overnight (now $35) and another increase seems due soon.