LAX or SAN Diego airport?

[ivorius007]

LAX Sunday afternoon not busy

I drove our relatives yesterday to LAX from San Diego and the whole trip was very smooth. Not much traffic (for LA), and the airport was surprisingly quiet. I dropped our relatives at Lufthansa and we stayed at the curb for at least 5-10 minutes saying goodbye and no one hassled us or told me to drive on. There was very little traffic unloading there. That's not the case at San Diego airport, where you can't stay more than a minute or two to unload passengers and often the cars are three deep by the curb.

 

[maggie]

Update from original poster: We flew into and out of LAX because of various restrictions connected with using a companion flies free ticket from Amex/Sky Miles card renewal. No problem driving to Capistrano Beach or to LAX on the return -- mostly because of the carpool lane. Using that made all the difference in the world. Also, our schedule was such that we drove at probably the best possible times. Still, it was a bit of culture shock because the freeway traffic is so fast and so heavy. There is always somebody who has to weave in and out in a crazy way but most of the drivers are very reasonable. During the week we drove to Joshua Tree National Park, spent the night and ended up returning on Monday evening after dark. Traffic up and down the mountains then was just plain scary to me but husband seemed to manage fine, even when we went through a barrage of pieces of lumber bouncing all over the road. The LAX airport was chaotic and getting through security very slow. We had plenty of time so it was not a problem but I would advise people to plan for spending a lot of time in lines at LAX. So much for the traffic report. We had a fabulous vacation and are trying to figure out how to go back soon. This time we want to go to Palm Springs and fly into Ontario.

 

[ricoba]

Glad to hear y'all had a good experience at LAX.

It's not really the nightmare that some people think it is. Sure it can be busy, but there was only one time where I can remember a nightmare situation there and that was due to delayed flights at the Tom Bradley terminal that backed up the whole airport.

Freeways...again they can be hit or miss. Glad they were a hit for you.

 

[CalifasGirl]

Not sound dumb, and I know I could look it up myself, , but besides Jet Blue, what airlines fly into Long Beach?

http://www.longbeach.gov/airport/airline_travelers/airlines.asp

Alaska, Delta, US Airways

It's pretty limited, which is why I avoid using LGB. I used to live 15 minutes from LAX, so I flew LAX almost exclusively. LGB was 30 minutes away and both BUR and SNA were about 45 minutes away. The trick to avoiding traffic is to use the driveways that cut through towards the parking lots. If I'm flying United, I cut through immediately to avoid the traffic from Terminals 2-5. Sadly, there's no way to avoid the traffic if you fly American. There's no cut throughs to Terminal 4.

Now that I'm in Monterey County, I have to haul myself for 1 hour to SJC or catch a flight from MRY which is 30 minutes. I was so spoiled in LA. I miss being only 15 minutes from LAX. Plus, I don't know if you know this, but if you're picking up someone from LAX, the parking lots give you the first 15 minutes FREE. Otherwise it's $3 for the first 2 hours. And I always parked in Lot B because you can leave your car there for $8 per day. What a bargain!