LAX

[Red Badger]

Okay - lots of serious chatter on the forum lately. Alzheimer's, motor oil, capital gains, etc.

So, in the spirit of a little levity, how about some travel rants?

We just returned from a west coast slog that was just awesome. The highlight was hanging out with in-laws and outlaws at the Grand Canyon. This was rounded out with stops in Denver, Vegas and LA.

Anyhoo, what the hell is that sh!+ h0le called LAX? My gosh, we thought we were transported to some 3rd world hell hole! It's been about 20 years since I was at LAX. It was worthy of bulldozing back then. During numerous follow on business trips, I just used John Wayne. As a "seasoned citizen," I forget to remember some stuff. I forgot to avoid LAX.

Our other airports in this sojourn included CLT, ATL, DEN, and SLC. As we were escaping LAX, my (foreign born) DW looks at me and sincerely asked, "What happened here?" I had no answer.

LA, what happened? You are the #2 behind ATL for US passenger volume. SFO and SAN (among others in CA) are decent airports. Our local airport (CLT) was badly mismanaged for years. Thankfully, the "hands on" director was retired a few years ago, and our airport is recovering nicely.

Just pondering how such a flagship city could have such a dismal airport? Also, any other airport horror stories?

But, as a kudo, Uber wait times in LA were about 2 minutes!

 

[SnowballCamper]

Have you been to LaGuardia? Not very good as of a few years ago. Portland was surprisingly nice.

 

[RobbieB]

It's been there a long time. Yup, needs a redo.

My first visit was back in 79. Lived in OC back then. Missed a flight due to traffic and started going to JW, LB and even Ontario.

 

[RunningBum]

I think LAX is the only one of the top 30 US airports I haven't experienced. Flew into John Wayne and San Diego the two times I've been to SCal.

 

[Another Reader]

No way to expand. The nearby dirt is already covered by buildings and is very expensive. Up north, they just fill in the bay if more runways are needed...

 

[zinger1457]

Can't disagree, I use to work almost across the street from it and used it often, LAX has to be one of the worst airports in the US. It would take a lot more than a new administrator to fix it, it's just a terrible design, almost no tie in from one terminal to the next, connecting flights to a different airline can be a nightmare.

 

[Bamaman]

We just returned from a west coast slog that was just awesome. The highlight was hanging out with in-laws and outlaws at the Grand Canyon. This was rounded out with stops in Denver, Vegas and LA.

Anyhoo, what the hell is that sh!+ h0le called LAX? My gosh, we thought we were transported to some 3rd world hell hole! It's been about 20 years since I was at LAX. It was worthy of bulldozing back then. During numerous follow on business trips, I just used John Wayne. As a "seasoned citizen," I forget to remember some stuff. I forgot to avoid LAX.

Our other airports in this sojourn included CLT, ATL, DEN, and SLC. As we were escaping LAX, my (foreign born) DW looks at me and sincerely asked, "What happened here?" I had no answer.

LA, what happened? You are the #2 behind ATL for US passenger volume. SFO and SAN (among others in CA) are decent airports. Our local airport (CLT) was badly mismanaged for years. Thankfully, the "hands on" director was retired a few years ago, and our airport is recovering nicely.

Just pondering how such a flagship city could have such a dismal airport? Also, any other airport horror stories?

Have you seen LaGuardia Airport in the last few years. Absolutely the worst airport I've ever been in. Downright embarrassing place--as is the city surrounding that airport.

Only redeeming factor was that my wife was in a wheelchair last year, and they whizzed us through the security line. It was the line from Hell for the rest of the travelers going through security.

 

[zinger1457]

Have you seen LaGuardia Airport in the last few years. Absolutely the worst airport I've ever been in. Downright embarrassing place--as is the city surrounding that airport.

Only used LaGuardia once and don't remember it much. Was in Manhattan last month and used EWR (Newark) and liked it, the train from the Airport to Penn Station was convenient.

 

[Aerides]

Okay - lots of serious chatter on the forum lately. Alzheimer's, motor oil, capital gains, etc.

So, in the spirit of a little levity, how about some travel rants?

In case you hadn't noticed "my spot of geography > your spot of geography".... Is not currently a thread topic that invites non-serious levity...quite the opposite.

 

[RobbieB]

I always liked the smell of mildew that hit me in the jetway at Miami.

Welcome to Florida. And the hotel rooms smelled the same.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Only been to LAX one time, making a connection from HNL to somewhere East. Arrived in the early AM, but not the wee hours. I couldn't believe how few services there were, and we had to wait for one of the few restaurants to open for breakfast. I forget exactly what time but it was late enough that DW and I were "WTF?"

Except for the iconic photo of the "Theme Building" I wish I had never set foot in that place.

 

[Sunset]

Oh noooooo............ We are going to fly out of LAX next month...

I didn't know...

 

[timo2]

The Las Vegas airport bothers me more than LAX. I lived in Las Vegas back in the 1980's and it doesn't seem the airport has improved at all. It is amazing to me that such a busy airport that all of these rich businesses depend upon for their lifelines is allowed to be so run down.

 

[Ronstar]

I don’t really have any significant rants about airports. But it does bug me that the plaque in Chicago Midway’s parking garage incorrectly states that the State of Illinois was admitted to the union in 1819. Illinois became a state in 1818. How can the City of Chicago, owner of the airport and parking garage, not know when Illinois became a state?

 

[audreyh1]

I thought LAX has been going through some construction the last couple of years the really messed up connections due to extremely poor signage, etc. Fortunately we haven’t experienced it personally.

 

[Closet_Gamer]

Agree the LAX and Laguardia are the two worst airports in the country. Nothing else even comes close.

A few years ago I flew from Singapore to LAX. I really did feel like I flew out of the first world and landed in the third world. Horror show. I expected to see a goat wander through the terminal.

LGA is just as bad. Worn out, horrid signage. To take a bus from one terminal to another (the only way to avoid going through security again on a connection) I had to walk through a doorway labeled Emergency Exit Only. Seriously.

Embarrassing.

 

[HadEnuff]

When my folks first retired to Florida, I could fly US Air through a brand new Pittsburgh airport. It was a pretty nice experience in those days. Then, even thought Pittsburgh was the home of US Air, due to some pi$$ing contest between US Air and the airport, USAIR changed their major hub to Philly.
What a mess that has been ever since. Almost everyone I know will avoid Philly if at all possible. It's bad, and it's especially bad if you are flying a commuter airline into it to catch a real flight out.
Pure hell, made worse by the customer service of USAIR.

 

[DrRoy]

Just back from almost 2 weeks in Glacier NP. It was great, except we had a lot of bad weather.

 

[LRDave]

In CVG, you might see ghosts.... You certainly won't see many people or planes.....

 

[braumeister]

In CVG, you might see ghosts.... You certainly won't see many people or planes.....

Which is wonderful for me, since that's my local. Never takes more than 10 minutes to get through security.

But my current nightmare airport is ORD. The transition from a domestic terminal to the international terminal is unbelievable. You have to find the spot, then get a card you have to hold out in front of you while you stand on line for 20 minutes or so, then walk to a bus that drives you over to the other side of the airport where you hand your card back in. After doing that on the last two trips I'll never connect through there again!

 

[candrew]

LAX needs a new identifier

LAX should be "UGH"

 

[LRDave]

I'll say this for the greater LA area: you've got airport choices and alternatives. LA must certainly be the best for airport choices in the country or even the world.

 

[Aerides]

LAX isn't as bad as LGA which just looks like it's had zero upkeep since the 60s (even though it seems to always be half under repair).

It must be tricky though for large busy international airports to do major renovations - they can't exactly say "hey, airlines, we can only do 50% volume for the next 2 years, figure something out".

My favorite is local - PBI.

 

[Gumby]

My favorite is local - PBI.

I'm fond of MTH.

 

[MarieIG]

LAX isn't as bad as LGA which just looks like it's had zero upkeep since the 60s (even though it seems to always be half under repair).

It must be tricky though for large busy international airports to do major renovations - they can't exactly say "hey, airlines, we can only do 50% volume for the next 2 years, figure something out".

My favorite is local - PBI.

I haven't noticed anyone in NYC putting off construction/ renovation work to avoid major delays of any type. Sometimes I wonder if it's a competition . . .