Yikes! Departure: Friday evening at LAX

[Sherwin]

Yikes! So I have a scheduled departure flight on the 26th of June, which is a Friday, at 6:30pm (right during the heart of rush hour) at LAX. Unfortunately, I was so excited when I booked the trip that I forgot about timing and location.

We might be shuttling back to LAX on the DLR express, but I need to ask all SoCalers how bad the 105 and 5 are during this time. I'm expecting bad news. According to the itinerary, the shuttle leaves at around 3:40. Is that enough time? I think that's cutting it real close, but I want to spend as many of my remaining hours at the park as I can.

 

[ChuckFromJersey]

Yikes! So I have a scheduled departure flight on the 26th of June, which is a Friday, at 6:30pm (right during the heart of rush hour) at LAX. Unfortunately, I was so excited when I booked the trip that I forgot about timing and location.

We might be shuttling back to LAX on the DLR express, but I need to ask all SoCalers how bad the 105 and 5 are during this time. I'm expecting bad news. According to the itinerary, the shuttle leaves at around 3:40. Is that enough time? I think that's cutting it real close, but I want to spend as many of my remaining hours at the park as I can.

I just asked one of my Los Angeles field technicians who happened to be calling in sick while I was reading your post.

He says if you want to hit LAX by 6:30pm you need to give yourself a couple of hours. The 5 and the 105 are both a mess especially on Fridays.

I did LAX a few years back and their checking and screening was pretty lousy. You might want to get there by 4:30pm to make sure you catch your flight. If you leave at 3pm you should make it with enough time to casually get to your gate.

 

[Janomi]

I'll have to agree with Chuck about taking more time to get to LAX. Living in Orange County, I would be very worried about making it to LAX by 6:30 pm if I left at 3:40 pm. Both LAX and the freeways are a zoo on Friday. I'd much rather spend an hour early relaxing in the airport than in traffic looking at my watch concerned if I'll make it on time.

Hopefully you'll find an earlier shuttle.

 

[Disney Dreams]

Well, I agree with Janomi. (Hi, Janomi!)

Working backwards...
6:30pm flight
If it were me, I would be at the airport at 5:30pm. Not knowing the airport, you might want to get there sooner. Maybe 5pm.

With no traffic, you would want to leave about 4:00pm.

Friday afternoon traffic factored in on those particular freeways, 3:30pm shuttle would worry me, but not by much. 3pm maybe?

I know you want every last minute at DL, but I would spend a few less and leave sooner. I would rather be upset about having time to spare at LAX that could have been spent on one more ride than be upset that I missed my flight because the 5 was a parking lot on Friday afternoon.

 

[Sherwin]

Well, I agree with Janomi. (Hi, Janomi!)

Working backwards...
6:30pm flight
If it were me, I would be at the airport at 5:30pm. Not knowing the airport, you might want to get there sooner. Maybe 5pm.

With no traffic, you would want to leave about 4:00pm.

Friday afternoon traffic factored in on those particular freeways, 3:30pm shuttle would worry me, but not by much. 3pm maybe?

I know you want every last minute at DL, but I would spend a few less and leave sooner. I would rather be upset about having time to spare at LAX that could have been spent on one more ride than be upset that I missed my flight because the 5 was a parking lot on Friday afternoon.

My last flight out of LAX was in '07 on a Monday evening around 6pm. I've been through the airport several times and last time security was a breeze. I know it's definitely not like that every day, but from the time of arrival to when I got to the gate was only a space of 20-30 minutes.

 

[bumbershoot]

My last flight out of LAX was in '07 on a Monday evening around 6pm. I've been through the airport several times and last time security was a breeze. I know it's definitely not like that every day, but from the time of arrival to when I got to the gate was only a space of 20-30 minutes.

FWIW, flying Alaska on a Monday around that same time, just last month, security was good too. We were beyond late (we are "get to the airport 90 minutes before flight-time" people), got to the gate after they were scheduled to have boarded (for some reason they were late in boarding and we had 3 minutes to wait before they boarded).

As we checked in for Alaska, the agent helped hubby take the bags over to the conveyor belt (it's not behind the desk there, you actually take your bags there) while I did last minute carryon things. The TSA people were lovely. Hubby did have to be wanded (turned out to be the zipper on his shorts causing problems with the machine) but they did it fast, and I almost had to be wanded (my 1.5" barrette caused the metal detector to go off), but once we were through, the TSA agents helped us get our kid's carseat back together (had to loosen the straps or something like that to get it through the machine? I wasn't a part of it), helped get shoes to the right people, helped get our laptop back in the bag, etc. Nothing but kindness, and I quickly told a guy to not let his wife take them for a "haven't been to DLR for years, let's go for a one-time one-day visit on xmas day" thing, and we ran for the plane.

That's the second time out of LAX with Alaska and I have nothing but good things to say about them.



That said, we were there late because of the traffic leaving around the time you're thinking of (on a Monday), but there was also rental car return going on.

Are there HOV lanes on the trip back to LAX? If so, and especially since the drivers for Disneyland Express should know the roads a bit better than your average tourist, I would go with THEIR suggestion. So if that means 3:40 I might go then. If they say 2:40, go with that. But I'd call them, definitely.

 

[evandmp]

While security may not take you too long, getting to the airport may be a nightmare. Like another poster said the freeway can often turn into a parking lot. No offense but people here (cali) drive crazy so you cannot predict how long it can take you to get there. Last time I flew and my husband was picking me up from LAX, he left early and he was over an hour late. Is it worth the stress/ worry you will go through that Friday, it's up to you to decide.

 

[Sherwin]

Would it take more than an hour and half from Anaheim to LAX, assuming the driver takes 5?

 

[bumbershoot]

While security may not take you too long, getting to the airport may be a nightmare.

Definitely but it's important to take the whole experience into account. The security area I've experienced at LAX (knowing I've only taken Alaska) is a much different thing that the craziness at seatac, which is, I assume, where the OP is coming from. Flying out of here is where we started getting to airports *at least* 1.5 hours ahead of time, to account for the craziness at security, and we still usually only have maybe 20 minutes at the gate, b/c it can take so long.

So I think taking it all into account is a good way to do it.

 

[Disney Dreams]

Since the discussion of "How long does it take?" involving Southern California roads seems to be popping up quite a bit lately, I thought I would do something to try to illustrate why "...it's only X miles" does not mean anything when you are discussing going from DL to LAX or SNA or any other airport in the area.

I wanted to do this at 5pm tonight, but was not able to, so this is from a little later, but not much.

This is an interactive traffic map that shows speed at the current moment. One column shows "regular" traffic speed, the other column shows "carpool lane" traffic speed.

The first map is of a portion of the 105W, a freeway that is used if you take one route to LAX. The second shows a portion of the 5N (aka, So. Cal's parking lot at rush hour). Again, these are NOT showing true rush hour, but Friday night around 6:30pm (the tail end of rush hour). You will note that even the carpool lane slows in these to segments of the freeways at the moment shown. Also notice in the first picture, that accident was reported at 5:47pm. Almost an hour later, traffic is STILL going slow as a result. I would be willing to bet it was going even slower 30 minutes prior to my screen shot.

Hopefully this helps explain why you cannot always figure that 20 miles is do-able in 30 minutes in So. Cal. Our freeways can be your nemesis if you rely on 60 mph when calculating "how long does it take?"

- Dreams