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Thread: LAX Experiences
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Old May 24, 2012, 11:44 am
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debracey
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: ORF
Programs: UA & DL Gold
Posts: 309
LAX Experiences

Hello folks,

I wanted to post my recent experiences at LAX in case anyone is interested. I've already posted about connecting T1-->T7 at LAX in the main thread about connecting, so I won't mention that again.

To be honest, the entire airport is a disaster and could pass as an airport in a third world country. The people (TSA, CBP, etc) are nice, but the airport itself is a dump. The places to eat (at least in T6/7) aren't that great. There are better choices at my small local airport (ORF) than at LAX. Given that LAX is a major international gateway, I would have expected better.

The flights into an out of LAX (SYD->LAX [UA] and LAX->IAD [UA]) went fine, no major problems there. The main issue was the CBP facility beneath T7. I can only describe it as "the inner circle of hell." Signs indicating where to go/stand are few and far between, the air conditioner is broken (or at least was not working while I was there with 500 of my closest friends) and people are just totally confused as to what to do. Having entered the US via Atlanta in the past, I knew it would be chaotic, but I was not expecting living hell. You would think LAX would be better since they handler fewer passengers per year than Atlanta (by a large amount, Atlanta is 13-14 mill, LAX only has to ingest 9-10 mill).

Considering LAX is a major entry point for visitors from the far east/Australia I expected better. I wasn't expecting wonderful, but seriously, that CBP facility could pass off as an entry point to a third world country if you removed all the US flags.

So -- in the future I'll be flying to Australia and Asia via other west coast airports. I do not advise flying through via LAX unless you absolutely have to.
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