- In today's modern era, it seems like everybody
has a different opinion on everything.
But there is one thing that everybody can agree on,
and that is people who've flown through LAX
hate this airport, and in this video,
I'm gonna tell you why.
The first thing the travelers hate at LAX Airport
is the horseshoe.
"What is the horseshoe, Chris?
Are there horses at LAX Airport?"
No, there are no horses.
This road that I'm walking next to,
this is called the horseshoe.
It is a double-decker road that goes around the airport.
Two levels, the top level's for arrival,
the bottom levels is for departures,
and it is the only way into the airport,
it's the only way out of the airport.
It is shaped like a horseshoe, starting at terminal one,
with the international terminal at the back,
going around the terminal eight.
Why do people hate it?
Not because of the shape, because the traffic is so awful.
It can often take one hour to drive around the horseshoe.
I am not kidding.
It has taken me an hour to go from terminal one
to terminal eight, just inside the airport.
Not an hour to get to the airport,
an hour to drive around the airport.
It is crazy, it is insane.
This is probably the thing that people hate
about this airport most.
On busy days at the airport,
if you're in a parking shuttle or hotel shuttle,
it might be better to actually get off the shuttle
right at your first opportunity at terminal one,
and then walk to your terminal.
Traffic can really be that bad that walking can be faster.
The second thing people hate about this airport
is the parking situation.
It's expensive and there's not enough of it.
The central terminal parking garages
will cost you $50 a day, and they're often full.
If you do plan to park there,
make sure you reserve ahead of time,
you'll get a small discount.
But where I like to park is I like to park
at The Parking Spot.
They've got two, one on Century, one on Sepulveda.
You can get parking rates here for about half the price
of the central edge parking garages.
The shuttles here, clean and efficient.
But again, related to shuttles,
most people that are driving to LAX
are parking in one of these parking garages
that are off the airport,
and then you have to take a shuttle,
which then has to go around that horseshoe,
and so travelers have to allocate at least 45 minutes
from the time they park before they can get
to the actual airport terminal.
And speaking of reserving online,
if you want the cheapest prices at any LAX parking garages,
definitely reserve online,
and you'll find some that are even cheaper, like $8 a day.
But I wouldn't park there, because the shuttles are slow,
they don't come frequently, and I'd be worried about my car
at some of those really cheap LA parking garages too.
The third thing travelers hate about LAX Airport
is the ride share pickup situation.
This is a recent change in the last couple years
to help combat the traffic in the horseshoe.
They've put all Uber, Lyft, ride share pickup in this lot,
called the LAXit lot.
Now to get to the LAXit lot,
you really need to take a shuttle.
You can walk if you're at terminal one,
but from the rest of the airport,
you gotta take a shuttle bus.
You gotta wait for the shuttle bus.
The shuttle buses are busy.
You'll find taxis here,
and then the mob people back there,
those are all the people waiting for the Uber and Lyft,
which at busy times, can be really busy.
And the surge pricing out of LAX can be crazy.
Pro tip, if you are flying out of LAX,
and you're going a short distance, five, 10 miles,
you might even find taxis to be cheaper
than the ride share out of here, particularly at busy times.
Number four is that it's really hard
to make connections at LAX Airport,
particularly if you're coming in internationally,
and you're connecting domestically, or vice versa, why?
Because many of the terminals here
are not connected air side.
There are nine total terminals.
Terminal one to three are connected,
and terminals four through eight are connected,
but you can't go from those to the other ones air side,
you have to come outside of the airport to do it.
And the connections to the terminals do have air side,
they're strange, like to get from terminal six to five,
you have to go through an underground tunnel
that is really hard to find.
And then when you get there, it feels really sketchy
when you're walking through it.
Number five is that although LAX is a really big airport,
it feels small.
It was definitely not ever designed
for this many people to transit through it,
and so when you're in the gate areas,
there are not enough seats.
When you're in the restaurants, there are not enough tables.
When you're in the bathrooms, there are not enough stalls.
So you find people often sitting in the bridges
that connect terminals together, sitting on the floor,
just to find a seat.
The one glimmer of hope related to space
is the international terminal.
That one's big, that one's roomy.
If you've got a long layover, and you can get to it,
I'd suggest you try to hang out
in the international terminal.
The sixth thing are the eating options at LAX Airport.
They are expensive, and they're pretty lousy.
But you know what isn't lousy? In-N-Out Burger.
There's an In-N-Out Burger just next to the runway of LAX,
and I stop here pretty much every time
I'm flying in or out of LAX.
It's right next to The Parking Spot.
You can't beat this.
If you have a long layover at LAX,
you can even walk to In-N-Out Burger.
It's about a 15 minute walk from terminal one.
Now, if you don't have time to come here,
and you're looking for eating options in the airport,
I really like Lemonade in terminal five,
Earth Cafe in terminal three,
and in the international terminal,
two spots, Earl of Sandwich pre-security,
or Pret a Manger in the food court area.
Plane geeks will definitely wanna check out
the parking lot right next to In-N-Out Burger,
because it's right next to the runway at LAX.
You can hear a plane taking off right now.
You can see them take off, but they also come in
right over your head in this park.
This is one of the best spots for plane spotting near LAX.
Oh, by the way, if you wanna know the other spots,
I got a whole video
about the best LA's plane spotting spots.
You'll find that here, link in the description below.
Number seven, the lines for customs and immigration
can be epically long here, up to two hours.
There are so many international flights that come in here,
sometimes they all come in at the same time,
that yes, sometimes it has really taken me two hours
to get from the plane, through baggage claim,
out through customs, and out to the curb.
I've also done it as fast as 15 minutes, so it can be done,
but you have to prepare for a long wait,
because it might take that long.
One bonus thing people hate, and I hear this one a lot,
is the luggage cart situation.
If you wanna get one of these luggage carts
outside the airport, they're gonna cost you $8 to rent it.
Yep, that's right.
Many airports, these things are free.
Not at LAX.
Number eight, the public transportation options to LAX
are limited to buses, and the buses,
they get stuck in this same traffic
that everybody does on the horseshoe.
The good news is that LAX
is actually building a people mover
to connect the LA Metro Rail into the airport.
It's not done yet, there's a lot of construction
if you come here right now.
I'm really looking forward to that when it does get here,
but just know that currently,
there's a Metro station called LAX Aviation.
(laughing) It is not at LAX,
you need to take a shuttle bus right now
to get from the Metro rail into the airport,
which means you're stuck in this same horseshoe nightmare.
Number nine is the neighborhood around LAX.
Now airport neighborhoods are usually
not ever some of the best in the world,
but the one around LAX is particularly lousy.
What do you see? You see parking garages.
What do you see?
You see kind of older hotels,
we'll get to those in a minute.
You see lots of vacant lots, 'cause I don't know,
the city's planning to do something with these,
or somebody is, but they haven't done anything,
and so there's really almost nothing around the airport.
Actually, it's not just there's nothing, it's quite ugly,
and it takes a while before you get
to the nice part of Los Angeles,
which it's kind of lousy for visitors coming to LA,
hoping to see glitz and glamor,
and then what they see is this.
Number 10 are the hotels near the airport.
I often get asked, "Chris, where can I stay by LAX,
that's family friendly, that has an airport shuttle,
and has restaurants and shops
that I can walk to from my hotel?"
And the answer is none.
There are really no hotels around here
that meet that category.
Most of the hotels near the airport are on Century Boulevard
that provide shuttles to the airport.
If you're staying here,
you're not gonna be walking to shops or restaurants.
There just aren't any,
it's just all hotels and parking garages here.
If you wanna stay
at the absolute closest hotel to the airport,
it's this one, the Hyatt Regency.
You can walk to the airport from here.
If you were thinking, "It's a big international airport,
so there must be some hotels in the airport itself,
for easy arrivals and departures,
in the morning or late," you would be wrong.
They're all out here on Century Boulevard.
Now, fellow explorers, even with all these issues
there are still 88 million passengers a year
that transit in, out of, or through LAX Airport, why?
One, there's a lot of airlines that go through here.
There's a lot of flights that go through here.
And so that's a lot of competition,
keeps the prices pretty low.
I'm actually flying out of LAX today,
as I'm making this video.
But there are some other options in Southern California.
If you go to Disneyland, you might wanna consider SNA,
John Wayne Airport, just 10 miles from Disneyland.
You can also consider Burbank, Long Beach, or Ontario,
which are some smaller regional airports in the area.
But if you are planning a trip to Los Angeles,
you might enjoy some of my Los Angeles travel guides.
You'll find those on the screen,
or links description below.
As usual, I won't say goodbye,
'cause I'm gonna see you in one of those videos.