LAX Mini Guide
What Should Bring me to the City of Angels?
Los Angeles is a city known the world over. Famous for
Hollywood and Beverley Hills, Disneyland and more, there’s so much for the visitor there. The city is the second largest in the US and has the third largest Mexican population in the world. It also has the highest level of multiculturalism in the States with over 70% of the population having origins outside of the US. The benefit to the city is that it has a huge range of restaurants and cultural events adopted from other countries. The city is huge and it’s estimated that it averages two hours by car to cross the city, even when traffic is good.
How can I get to Los Angeles?
The city is served by six major and dozens of minor airports but the main airport is Los Angeles International, the sixth busiest airport in the world. Last year, flights from all over the world brought in nearly 60m passengers with BA, American, United, Virgin and Air New Zealand all offering flights from the
UK. Transport from the airport into Los Angeles couldn’t be simpler with a range of options including train, taxi, car hire, bus, hotel shuttle and more. The airport is 16 miles from Downtown and reachable in around 30 minutes when the traffic is good.
What is the Airport Like?
The airport is quite something with nine terminals and a space age building called the ‘Theme Building’, a futuristic restaurant and observation deck which looks out over the airport. Its terminals are big too with plenty of space and yet the airport is currently considering further expansion in response to projected increases in passengers in the years to come.
What can I Expect When I Arrive at Los Angeles Airport?
If you’re used to the standards of service at the world’s top airports then you won’t be disappointed at LAX. From leaving the plane via the air bridges straight into the concourses, you’ll find that everything is done to move you along through the airport procedure and out into LA as soon as possible. Security, whilst tight, is efficient there meaning that whilst hundreds need to pass through, the number of staff ensures that the procedures are carried out quickly. To find information about the airport and its facilities you’ll need to go to the public information desk which is found near the Theme Building. There, they’ll be able to help you with anything airport related.
For hire car collection you’ll need to use one of the courtesy phones dotted around the terminals to contact the company who will then send a shuttle to collect you. The general transportation area of each terminal is where you’ll find the bus stops, train station and taxi stops.
What are the Facilities Like for Departing Passengers?
Surprisingly not as good as one might expect. After checking in, you’ll be looking for the shopping mall only to find a handful of shops in each terminal, mainly gift shops and newsagent/bookshops. The same goes for the range of restaurants where, although there are one or two nice places to eat, the majority of eateries are take-away, notably Burger King, or pizza/light snack outlets. The theme is continued in Wi-Fi access which, whilst available, is chargeable at a fairly steep rate by the sole operator T-Mobile.