Los Angeles - LAX: Terminal 7 Upgrade?

Hi

Sorry if this is not really the place for this question.

I fly out of LAX (United Terminal 6 mainly, also Terminal 8 and 6) a lot.

They are quite literallly one of the ugliest dumpiest vile terminals in the world. Especially check in.

United has really nice facilities in other major cities. Will they be upgraded LAX as part of the merger?

Whose responsibility is it? LAX or United?

Hi

Sorry if this is not really the place for this question.

I fly out of LAX (United Terminal 6 mainly, also Terminal 8 and 6) a lot.

They are quite literallly one of the ugliest dumpiest vile terminals in the world. Especially check in.

United has really nice facilities in other major cities. Will they be upgraded LAX as part of the merger?

Whose responsibility is it? LAX or United?

Have you seen C/D at IAD? UA has a lot of terminals that need work.

Terminal 7 doesn't seem that bad. 6 is a dump and I think they're planning to upgrade part of it for Alaska. Terminal 8 isn't great, but it doesn't seem like there is much you can do.

6 is a dump and I think they're planning to upgrade part of it for Alaska.6 is under HEAVY renovations right now. Last time I walked through there half of it seemed to have construction walls.

I guess I mean less the part of the terminal where you wait for your flight and more the part of the terminal where you check in and collect your bags. It's just VILE.

One of the worst in the world? Not just in the nation? You don't suppose OP used hyperbole to try to make a point, do you? Maybe the cleaning crew did a lousy job that day? Sounds like construction could also be part of the cause (I've run into that in several airports). I'm guessing they had a bad experience involving more than cleanliness of the terminal, but that's just a guess. I wonder how many airports in the world they've been to. Many in developing countries? I flew out of Terminal 7 (or maybe it was 6) in November. No great shakes, but I've seen far, far worse in many of the 40+ countries I've flown into and/or out of. I'm about to fly out of Pinto Martins Airports in Fortaleza. I can assure you it's in worse condition than is virtually any part of LAX. Is LAX a gret, clean, modern airport? In many places, definitely not. But one of the most vile in the entire world? Uh, no.

I don't see why United merging with Continental would lead to improvements. If OP has a specific complaint they might send a complaint directly to United Airlines and the L.A. airport authority. I'd imagine that who has ultimate responsibility for resolving a problem depends on the exact problem. The airline pays airport fees, which go into your ticket price, so complaining to them may be a start. Helps if you use more details than "vile." Not saying that would lead to action, but there'd be a better chance than complaining here. They could also post a review at www.airlinequality.com.

It's nowhere as simple as the OP would like to believe.....or perhaps understands...which is a shame, such that ill founded complaints start to take on a life of their own.

LAX T7 and T8 are where United resides an operates. T6 was a terminal partly used by UA until about 2 years ago, when they gave up the rights to the gates, BUT still used them on occasion by paying a per usage Lease fee. This is changing with the merging of Continental Ops at LAX---which is in T6. T6 is undergoing MAJOR revamp at the instigation of ALaska Air (and possibly Delta--I'd have to dbl chk that). Of the 3, T6 was in the least up to date.
The 'conditions' of the airport and the ability/desire to rennovate are complex. UA used to own it all at T6-7-8 -- buildings and everything. Over the years they reliquished or traded ownership back to the Airport Authority (LAWA) --- a situation that occasionally caused (causes) some 'tension' between the two. The short answer is two-fold:Sure UA would like snazzy, new, state of the art facilities---who wouldn't? But they would have to pay the tab on that in total --- and even then, it's subject to approval and cooperation with LAWA. (And in case anyone forgot, UA was in bankruptcy for a good part of the last decade). Also consider the 'geography'. Yes, check-in/ticketing is not all that roomy----but WHERE is it going to go? In front of it is the street and behind it is tarmac

One last point, and it's only my opinion, but there's usually a dark side that comes with all those flashy rennovations. LAX is my Favorite hub. You can go from curb to security to gate in 20 minutes (when Sec is working right). Try that at Ohare. Or Dulles, or Denver, or ATL, or SFO, OR DFW. You can walk from the end of T7 to the end of T8 in about 10-12 min. I've waited that long for the train at DIA. I don't want a shopping mall (IAD) or an airport located in the middle of NOWHERE (DIA). Sure, it's not the cleanest (cleaning crews are run by LAWA, by the way), but it's a numbers game---the volume of people that move through a falicilty of that size make it a challenge to keep up, and it's more noticable beacause it is on the smaller size.

WORST? Not even close. It's not DisneyWorld or the Galleria. But the place works darned well, and they try reasonably well.
[ And just to throw you a little hope, there are master plans for updates at T7 and 8. I spoke to some construction guys that last year that were doing work for LAWA and they indicated that infrasturture work was being done over 2011 and 2012, and then renovations could start at T7. I say 'could' because there's a huge consideration of where to put operations while an area is under reconstruction.]

For starters, it needs two more baggage claim belts on the lower level. And a fresh lick of paint would do wonders. Oh, and another RCC (this may be alleviated if the CO PC stays). Oh, and more restaurants. And better signage - this being for the infrequent travelers who always seem confused at where to go when changing from T7 to T6 or 8, or when claiming bags.

That being said, UA ops at LAX is excellent at getting planes in/out on time.

One of the worst in the world? Not just in the nation? You don't suppose OP used hyperbole to try to make a point, do you? Maybe the cleaning crew did a lousy job that day? Sounds like construction could also be part of the cause (I've run into that in several airports). I'm guessing they had a bad experience involving more than cleanliness of the terminal, but that's just a guess. I wonder how many airports in the world they've been to. Many in developing countries? I flew out of Terminal 7 (or maybe it was 6) in November. No great shakes, but I've seen far, far worse in many of the 40+ countries I've flown into and/or out of. I'm about to fly out of Pinto Martins Airports in Fortaleza. I can assure you it's in worse condition than is virtually any part of LAX. Is LAX a gret, clean, modern airport? In many places, definitely not. But one of the most vile in the entire world? Uh, no.

I don't see why United merging with Continental would lead to improvements. If OP has a specific complaint they might send a complaint directly to United Airlines and the L.A. airport authority. I'd imagine that who has ultimate responsibility for resolving a problem depends on the exact problem. The airline pays airport fees, which go into your ticket price, so complaining to them may be a start. Helps if you use more details than "vile." Not saying that would lead to action, but there'd be a better chance than complaining here. They could also post a review at www.airlinequality.com.

I don't know what OP means is that meant to be me?

One of the worst in the world I have been to. I guess I've been to about 30 major airports in about 15 countries.

For a major world city LAX is a joke.