LAX for 8:40 am flight on a Wednesday morning-advice???

[jenhelgren]

How bad will the drive be with traffic from Disney to LAX on a Wednesday morning during the work commute? Right now we have an afternoon flight booked because I wanted to be able to make the drive around lunch avoiding the morning and afternoon rush hours as much as possible. But, we lose two hours of time on the flight home so our afternoon flight isn't going to get us home until around midnight. I have an opportunity to change our flight time to 8:40 am which is going to mean getting to LAX with the morning rush hour but we will also be home by 5 or 6 which will be much easier on us. So-I am trying to decide which is the worse of the two evils and which flight time would be best. Any advice on travel time or which roads to take/avoid? How much time we will need to get through security etc at LAX on a Wednesday morning with a 8:40 flight on Southwest? Thanks in advance!

 

[SMD]

Are you returning a rental car? Is your trip near a holiday? For traffic you'll need to use a traffic app because which route is better varies day to day and hour to hour. For terminal 1 I've seen the security line look horrific outside of the terminal at 7am every day of the week, but not always. If you fly annually it might be worth investing in Pre Check before this trip. To make sure you get there ahead of the airport morning rush I'd leave by 6am if not returning a car. With an early morning departure you could also move to an LAX area airport with a free shuttle the night before and eliminate the traffic variable.

 

[valiamo]

I would suggest booking your last night at the airport, and have a late check in. We left Disney at 9 pm, gathered our bags and were at the airport hotel checked in at 11 and had a good nights sleep before the flight. With an 8:30 flight you will need to be up by 4:30, on the road by 6am hoping to miss morning traffic.

 

[jenhelgren]

We will be returning a car-either Enterprise or Alamo.
I still keep hoping that the prices at SNA will come down some and we can switch airports but if that never happens we need to make a LAX flight work for us. Our afternoon flight leaves at 3:50pm. I'm guessing that would be a much better option for travel from Disney to LAX and lower security lines with the morning rush over at LAX. It just puts us in so late at home after a long trip so I am on the fence about which flight to keep!

 

[McNs]

Maybe consider what you might do on that last evening and morning - if productive and adds to your holiday, then stick with the PM flights and the late arrival home. If you will just be waiting around not doing much anyway, you may as well be travelling.

 

[tarheelalum]

Have you considered Long Beach airport (LGB)? I'd much rather go there than LAX.

 

[Bud Ice]

Can certainly understand the hard choices to be made when travelling to/from LAX.
Have to weigh getting in at a reasonable hour versus leaving at a reasonable hour.
Prices are usually the best in the area, but there's that cost of navigating to/from LAX.

For an 8:30 flight, leaving 6am is usually pretty good. 5-5:30am if you really want to beat traffic.
IIRC, LAX doesn't really open up before 5am so leaving at 3-4am is usually too soon.

For traffic monitoring: SigAlert App and website pretty good for LA (Waze and others fine too)

http://www.sigalert.com/Map.asp?region=Greater+Los+Angeles

Always been one for leaving an hour earlier than an hour later when a good amount of $$
has been spent on a trip.

If SNA ticket prices fall within $50 or so, probably would be the preferred airport.

Airports in perspective...
LAX, LGB, SNA are the normal airports
BUR, ONT are also possibilities.

 

[SMD]

Terminal 1 opens at 4am.

 

[Priory]

Since your flight is on southwest it will be departing several hours late anyway, so I wouldn't worry too much. (Actually, they're usually okay in the morning).