Los Angeles LAX Airport

My last three arrivals at LAX international have been terrible. Immigration is chaos. It is a long walk from the gate and when you arrive at immigration there are visible clear signs or direction of where foreign and US passport holders should go. On the afternoon of 09/27/12 there was a woman acting as traffic cop but no one could hear her. A guard then starting directing but he seemed more interested in the show he was putting on than helping anyone. Customs was worse. Extremely poor and stupid setup with lines running right through the midst of baggage arrival. Just a mess. People were lined up in a very long queue on the left (from the arrivals point of view) that queue was then split into two lines by a rope the left side of the split was serviced by 2 agents while the right had 1 agent. Meanwhile across the room and hard to see was another that had a tenth of the number of people and two agents. No one seemed to care! It has been like this for the last year. Unbelievable.

Arrived from Heathrow on United at terminal 7. Walked directly to the immigration and customs ( a long walk - wonder what people do who are not in decent shape physically). When I got there it took 5 minutes to get through. All in all much better than Heathrow on this trip. But the terminal needs some paint and maintenance. They could use a little "Hollywood" for visitors new to the US. Many others have commented on the poor attitude of airport employees and TSA at LAX.

This has to be the worst airport experience of my 50 years of travel! Arriving from London the entire management of process was rude and amateurish with surly rude and obnoxious immigration people and no clear plan for dealing with queues other than "let's hope for the best"! This is one airport in the US I will in future avoid as an international arrival point in the US - never again! It took hours to get through immigration and customs and then to make my way to another terminal for a connection to Honolulu. Having allowed over 3 hours I literally just made it! I dropped my bag into the check-in and walked straight onto the aircraft.

Having read the reviews I was dreading arriving in LAX. I arrived at lunchtime on a KLM flight from Amsterdam into T2. We disembarked went down an escalator and straight into the immigration hall. Queue was c.20 minutes and although the questions were very thorough there wasn't anything asked that was out of the ordinary or unexpected. Plus obviously the usual photo and fingerprinting (all 10 fingers). The only thing was the business class bags were taken off the belt first and left in a heap to one side so I was waiting for my bag for 20 mins and beginning to panic before realising this had happened! Would definitely not be afraid to use it again.

For such a major international airport I have to say that LAX has to be one of if not the worst I have ever experienced! From the time we disembarked our flight got screamed at by a grumpy old man at immigration then having to stand in a massive queue for our next flight which spilled outside the terminal building and onto the roadside kerb! In my opinion the staff at LAX and the airport itself is in desperate need of an overhaul. I have travelled through many airports around the world and I'm very disappointed at the rudeness and hostility of the staff and the lack of facilities that a major airport such as LAX should have! I don't think I will travel through LAX again after this experience unless they improve their standards.

A recent flight out of LAX United Terminal 8 found the most under equipped terminal I've seen. The entrance to the terminal areas involved having to go upstairs where the entrance to the security checkpoint required passengers to wait across the hall from the checkpoint and were only allowed to queue up one at a time to prevent blockage of the hallway. Once inside the terminal there was a single bar and hallway vendor with very limited offerings. The gate itself was where things became inexcusable. The entire area had a single electrical outlet. Checking the hallway opposite the gate I was unable to find any other outlets. In an age of electrical gadgets needing recharges while waiting for flights most airports are now offering charging stations or a number of seats with outlets built in. This airport seems to have decided this trend will pass. If presented with alternate flights from one of the many other airports in the LA area I recommend choosing an airport other than LAX.

Had a layover at LAX in August of 2012 while waiting for a domestic Virgin America flight. Very disappointed at the lack of seating for the volume of the people waiting. The air conditioning could not keep up with the outside heat and internal body heat from the crowd of people there. Reminded me of a inner city bus terminal on Christmas eve. There were 3 cell phone charging stations which were being used and no electrical outlets. Glad I was only there an hour.

The staff were rude from the minute I arrived. The airport is filthy our luggage was delayed and took over 2 hours to reach the carousel and I had 2 small children with me. I had limited time for a connection and the staff went out of their way to delay me even further such as holding me up at security making me wait for an elevator while the janitor moved his trolleys in and out and not helpful in giving directions etc. I would be happy if I never had to go there again.

The immigration and airport staff on arrival are very unfriendly. The arrival terminals are also very unwelcoming. The departure procedure is also unnecessarily lengthy. The departure terminals are however a bit cosy.

Flew in on 29th June at about 10am in Terminal 5 and breezed through. I was expecting things to go wrong by reading other reviews about the airport but there were none present. Immigration officer was tough but if you smile then they tend to do the same so they aren't as unfriendly as most people are making them out to be. Although cleanliness of the toilets are another matter. But all on all it was a pleasure flying in and out of LAX.