Los Angeles LAX Airport

Arrived and departed from LAX T2 on an international flight. Old terminal low ceilings 1980's interior quite dull. Tax free on departure very limited. Time to change!

It's hard to review this airport as the terminals are so different from each other. Arrived at Bradley and cleared immigration fairly quickly only to have to wait ages at the luggage belt and then queue again to get through customs. At least there were staff on hand to direct passengers to the shortest queues. All staff were courteous even when under pressure. We had a long connection so walked to terminal 7 for our flight to Denver. The TSA queue snaked all the way to the door and was so slow. The staff are very inefficient and it doesn't help that passengers are taking too many carry-on items. Terminal 7 is pretty grotty but we found some seats at the end of the concourse escaping from most of the crowds but not the awful muzak. Arrival back at terminal 7 was fine although it took a while to find out where to wait for the rental car shuttle. We didn't see the signs at first because they were high above our heads. Look up and you will see where to wait. Departure back to Australia was from Terminal 4 which was a far more pleasant experience. This terminal has been modernised and there was plenty of seating and both check-in and security was a breeze. I've rated this airport fair as each terminal experience was different.

Transited LAX to fly to BKK nonstop on Thai. The place is just a zoo. In comparison to SFO and its quiet elegance the Bradley terminal is congested loud and chaotic. I was glad to be able to use TG for the trip but the necessity to fly via LAX was the one drawback. The airport never appears to get better - just more congested.

Very busy long lines no enough seats at the gates and long walking distances for connections. Toilets too dirty to use. This airport is so big but also such a joke.

Lines are ridiculous you need to move your own luggage to TSA personnel. Security personnel are very self-righteous - which wouldn't be that bad of a problem had they been inefficient as well. Everything was under construction. Illogical operational sense. There's no food once inside and nothing to do other than wait. No wifi either!

We flew out of LAX on August 9th. After checking in at the Delta computer station we were directed to the Security line which was at least two blocks long. We had arrived 3.5 hours early because we had heard horror stories about TSA at LAX. All horror stories were true. We stood outside for two hours and then were moved to the second security line where we stood another 30 minutes. All during the process TSA personnel would call up passengers whose flights were departing within 15 minutes and move them to the head of the line. Passengers were rewarded for arriving late at the airport! Thirty minutes before our scheduled departure we still had not reached security. We pleaded to be allowed to go to security and were finally directed to another line where we finally reached security 15 minutes before our departure. An insane system and rude incompetent TSA employees. Having finally passed through the security checkpoint cleanly I was told I would have to be "patted down" because I had on "suspicious pants." Mind you I had passed cleanly through the system. We made it to the departure gate with moments to spare. This is the worst security system I have ever encountered and the dirtiest airport with the rudest personnel.

I flew through LAX Terminal 2 in June on my way to Sydney. On the plus side check in was relatively painless and so was the TSA security check. However as I sat in the dirty terminal surrounded by stained carpet and broken seats I wondered if the people that run LAX have ever traveled abroad and seen the modern clean airports in Europe or Asia. This airport needs a major overhaul. It is run down and in desperate need of an upgrade and a really good clean. The food choices are very limited. This airport is a major international gateway to the US and it is a disgrace.

I've used LAX so often I'm quite accustomed to it and have no big problems with it other than the traffic jams in front of each terminal making it difficult for example to see when your hotel's courtesy van is approaching. A variety of vans for private parking lots hotels and others use the same area and other people who aren't supposed to use the area also pull in. Chaotic. While in some ways it would be nice to have all terminals together so you didn't have to go outside to go from terminal to terminal the chaos that results in some airports where everyone is under one roof (eg. Atlanta) could means this would be a mixed blessing. Lots of hotels near LAX with good rates.

Arrival on delayed Asiana flight from Korea meant that immigration was empty - very efficient and friendly agents. Baggage came off quickly and we were able to get a porter to take our bags up to the domestic bag drop (as we had had our bags checked in to the final destination in Shanghai). Long walk to United domestic and fairly abrupt service from their staff as well as a long long delay by the TSA as they had obviously no idea how to screen a pram with a sleeping and sick toddler. Not a good experience. Once past the TSA everything got better and almost all our bags made our flight to San Diego - missing two items delivered later that day. It has improved but would still prefer SFO in light of the TSA.

What can one say about LAX that hasn't already been said one-million times before on the site? It's one of the worst airports in the world! Having arrived in afternoon peak-hour our flight was sent to one of the many remote gates at LAX requiring us to be bussed to the arrivals hall. Waiting for immigration clearance at LAX is a frustrating experience with several lines of about 100 people each being serviced by one or two immigration officials. After a 100-minute wait (seriously!) the lad who processed my arrival didn't know how to use the software properly and had to ask for assistance from a colleague which delayed the process even further. Once the passenger has actually had their passport stamped they enter the Soviet-era baggage-claim and commence their epic voyage to their connecting flight. The entire airport is grimy noisy and not at all pretty. The moral of the story is to arrive on the west coast of the USA via San Francisco or Seattle and avoid Los Angeles all together.