Time needed to arrive at LAX and drop off a rental car

[mickeysgal]

We have a 7am flight on a Sat. out of LAX. I know...its early, but it was the best itinerary for us. We'll have a rental and we're coming from the DL hotels. What time do you think we need to leave the hotel in order to get the rental car back and shuttle back to the terminal? We have a Dollar rental. Should we all go to the Dollar and shuttle back together or should one of us drop the others off at the terminal and then take the car to the return area?

I'm thinking we'll need to leave by 4am to accomplish all this. 1 hour to drive from DL to LAX at that early hour, 1/2 hour to deal with the rental car, and 1 1/2 hours to arrive in advance of the flight. Is this too much or can we comfortably trim it back a bit? Gosh...we'll need to be up at 3am!! Yikes!!

 

[Rapunsel]

Being a frequent visitor to LAX. Your time line is just right.... only if you are flying Southwest you will need around 2 hours for check in as the line can extend past the terminal. And can take about 2 hours to check in with luggage. You could take everyone to the rental car as that way no one would get seperated.. Only thing. I believe that the rental car buses are only on the lower levels... meaning that Departures are on the upper level.. (might want to check when you pick up the car where they drop you off. so you can paln accordingly)

So I would suggest. Everyone going to Curbside check in, the driver included. Everyone show their id's and get checked in and then the driver return to the Dollar rent a car.
Then meet back up with the group at security check in.


Those are just my thoughts. I never have to rent a car as my family lives there.

HTH!


Rapunsel

 

[degrapevine]

Hi, mickeysgal!
We just did what you are asking about this past Saturday.
We had a 8 AM Delta Song flight out of LAX, were staying at the Disneyland Hotel, and needed to return our rental car to Alamo.
We had planned (after asking several DIS'ers) to leave the hotel around 5, but after a late night the evening before, we didn't leave the hotel until around 5:30 AM.
We didn't really run into that much traffic, but it did take about an hour to get to the car rental location.
Alamo uses pretty fair sized buses to transport renters to LAX with, so our family of 5 all took the shuttle together to LAX.
We arrived around 6:45 AM (dropped off right in front of the Delta skycap check-in), used the skycaps to check our luggage and get our boarding passes, went through security (lines weren't too long), and arrived at the gate around 7:15 AM.
We still had around a half hour to wait before boarding, so our timing was just about right.
So ... if we left DLR around 5-5:30 AM for an 8 AM flight, you're right on target to leave around 4 AM for your 7 AM flight.
I wish our kids had taken the opportunity to sleep on the flight home, but they were still wired from our trip!
At least we got home (with the 3 hour time change) around 3:30 PM and were able to get a good night's sleep!
Have a great trip and please feel free to ask any questions you may have!
Enjoy!
Rose

 

[boscoj]

If possible, I would also suggest checking in online the night before. That way you may save a lot of time bypassing lines at LAX. If you are staying at one of the Disney properties guest services will do this for you right over the phone!