Los Angeles LAX Airport

I tell it like I find it. Our latest arrival at LAX was pretty pleasant. We arrived on time on BA279 from LHR and in spite of recent Lufthansa and Korean arrivals we had no problems. The light airy immigration hall was well manned and staff were courteous (enough). It is comforting to be able to see back from the baggage carousel just in case your partner is having any problems getting through. Baggage was delivered quickly and the customs line was short. The exit areas are under heavy refurbishment and unattractive but the rental shuttle came within moments.

I have used LAX three times over the past week. Coming into LAX in terminal two then another flight out from terminal 8 with the last flight leaving from terminal two. All times were a breeze. On arrival I was processed by a pleasant immigration officer and was kerbside within 45 minutes of landing. Terminal eight (United Express) a few days later was easy to navigate quick security reasonable selection of food outlets once past security. Flying internationally from terminal two on the last flight was a breeze. 10 minutes to process security and screening then onto a very good Air NZ lounge. Unlike others I experienced no surly or unhelpful staff - which to be honest is a surprise given past experience here.

Arrived late afternoon at TBI. Long queues at immigration but moving quickly. INS staff surprisingly civil compared to other times. Long delay collecting baggage and a long queue for customs. Time from landing to out onto the street 2 hours. Dinner upstairs at TBI. Lots of construction going on but managed to find a place with a half decent sit down meal. Then walked to Terminal 5 for NWA kiosk check in and bag drop which was quick and efficient. Security check was somewhat chaotic with long queues at the machines holding up pre security boarding pass check which caused congestion and confusion. Resulted in my boarding pass being checked 3 times in the space of a few yards and a somewhat gruff exchange with the person concerned! Once airside terminal 5 was spacious and comfortable for our long wait. Toilets clean flight info readily available snack bars ok. Arrived back 4 weeks later thru Terminal 5 with no problems and walked to Terminal 3 for Virgin Australia check in. Small area and very hot and crowded with long queues with 2 VA flights due for departure within one hour of each other. Security check was efficient and quick. Food situation in this terminal airside is dire. Eat somewhere else before hand. Plenty of room to sit and wait however in the 1960's style decor. Not a bad LAX experience overall.

We travelled Amsterdam to Los Angeles LAX. Although I'd flown out of Los Angeles before and into it I'd never made it as a port of entry followed by a connecting flight. I don't know if we were just lucky but there didn't seem an enormous amount of people waiting to clear Customs when we reached the Immigration Hall a large number of officials doing passport checks etc on duty someone checking entry forms as you waited and the whole process did not take long. Didn't time it but might have been 30-45 mins. No great crowd at Customs to tell him you didn't have anything and hand your form in. After dropping the bags at LAX we then needed to get to Terminal 5 from Terminal 2 and there were staff standing around asking where you needed to get to and then giving you directions. As we had plenty of time for the next flight we walked and it's a simple route. Again the security checks to get to our gate were pretty quick. I would quite happily use LAX again. Don't quite understand why we were told to complete those ESTA (?) forms over the Internet for Immigration before we left for the trip as we still had to fill in one of those visitors green and white cards given out on the plane.

Spent 2 hours in transit here while travelling Air New Zealand from Auckland to London. Long queues rude staff and a lounge from hell. Would not recommend. Routine was as follows- get off plane stand in line for 20 minutes then go to immigration stand in line for further 30 minutes get shouted at by official fingerprints taken get blamed for the machine not working wait in line to go back up to lounge right next to plane wait in lounge for hour with no entertainment then board plane in fouler mood than when you started.

I must be one of the lucky ones as I never have any problems at LAX and I travel through there 3-4 times a year. Just last week we flew in and out of LAX with Southwest Airlines. The area was clean good signage and we were off the plane and had our bags and out off the airport in 15 minutes. Record breaking time as far as I am concerned which was great as we were on a very tight time schedule that evening. On our flight home the ground staff were very pleasant and in a good mood which made the whole experience very nice. We will be back there (LAX) in a few months for an international flight so we'll see how things go then but for now I have to give LAX a thumbs up.

This airport is really shabby even JFK is better. Delta's terminal 5 is dirty and extremely crowded. Getting between the terminals is ridiculously inconvenient. Either you wait for a bus to putt putt around to the various terminals or just walk like I did. The place seems to be under renovation and the Tom Bradley International Terminal where Korean Air ANA TAP and Air Tahiti Nui go out of looked to be renovated already and quite nice. The Star Alliance lounge over there was outstanding. Even the security lines were not overcrowded and functioned well. If they can uniformly get the whole dump to look like the renovated parts of TBI then it could be a good experience.

I arrived from a Continental flight from Houston and had to connect to a JAL flight bound for Narita. I asked some workers where Japan Airlines is and they just say Tom Bradley Intl. Terminal. At first I didn't know what a TBIT was since no one would help me until I looked at the map. To get there I had to exit Terminal 6 cross several streets that are full of traffic and catch a shuttle bus to get there. Then the TBIT is so old that part of the check-in area is being rebuilt resulting in long lines. The seating area is so small that it only provides half the seats required for a full 747. And the best part is the restroom. They are totally disgusting and look like they are cleaned once a week. However my arrival experience was a bit better. The arrivals of the TBIT have been renovated. Immigration took nearly 20 mins. but baggage arrived very quickly. Overall a very disgusting airport. Tom Bradley should be growling in his grave. This airport is an embarrassment to the United States since so many international flights arrive and depart from LAX. Next time I will surely use SFO when traveling to Asia next time.

We flew into LAX from Seoul - the arrivals and connection on to San Diego was not too bad and the domestic terminal (United) was reasonable for the hour wait. Our return was pretty dreadful - TBI is a joke in terms of customer service direction queues and confusion. The agents were unfailingly polite - except two ladies serving hotdogs from a concession - some of the most abrupt and rude people I have ever met. Facilities waiting for an outbound international flight are simply unacceptable.

Terminals 1 and TBIT. Arrived on Southwest Airlines and was self-connecting to a flight on EVA Air. Bags from Southwest came out within 10 minutes. Since it was evening walk from Terminal 1 to TBIT on departure level was easy (~10 minutes). TBIT is still undergoing renovations but some parts are complete. After check-in spent time at ReLAX lounge behind food court. Nice views WiFi and snacks. Line for security was short. Since EVA's departure was at 1 AM I did not go through security until after midnight. Unfortunately shops were closed. Could not buy water for the trip which was not good. Despite the renovated area the departure gate did not have enough seats for everyone. The bathroom close by looked newly renovated but cleaning crew did a poor job of keeping it clean. On the return we lucked out since TBIT was not yet busy. Friendly immigration officer. Baggage carousels were awful. Although they were new the carousels couldn't handle the volume of bags from one 744. The carousel would stop and a baggage handler would have to make room for the bags. Too bad none of his colleagues wearing the same uniform helped him. Customs/agriculture officer gave us the LAX attitude reported previously.