Los Angeles - LAX Hospitality - Not

Don't usually fly into LAX from China; usually ORD or EWR. Got in 1:15 minutes early (nice), no one at immigration (nice) and no one at security (nice). I got confused and wasn't sure where my next gate was; tired, long flight in Y. Stopped and asked a gate agent for directions. She just pointed up and said "see those big blue signs, just read those signs" and went back to reading her book.

I fly into LAX alot, on US people are great. I'm sitting in the Alaska Boardroom people are super nice. So, it's not a LA thing.

But wow, I guess with the economy great and being at full employment; you can be a jerk to customers.

For the most part LAX is awful!

Transited via LAX recently and that was one of the worst airport I've ever seen in my life. Nothing airside in the International Terminal. Nothing. Had to eat an overpriced hot dog for dinner. Quite amazing given that it's... Los Angeles airport!

Should have done the eating and shopping outside. But who wants to go through security again to do that... (rant over)

Are you sure you didn't arrive in EWR? :)

LAX is bad but EWR and IAD are still far worse.

-RM

I wouldn't base my opinion of an airport on one employee interaction. That being said - LAX sucks! I avoid it as much as possible, although I'm on an unlucky streak lately, having connected through twice in the last couple months, with two more international connections upcoming.

It is poor in so many ways; the physical spaces, passenger amenities, immigration, (many) employees, and (many) fellow passengers are all substandard. Yes, I said LAX has substandard passengers!

Being from SFO, I have a bit of airport envy when looking at all the foreign carriers who fly to LAX, despite it being a crap airport. Beat LA!

I wouldn't base my opinion of an airport on one employee interaction. That being said - LAX sucks! I avoid it as much as possible, although I'm on an unlucky streak lately, having connected through twice in the last couple months, with two more international connections upcoming.

It is poor in so many ways; the physical spaces, passenger amenities, immigration, (many) employees, and (many) fellow passengers are all substandard. Yes, I said LAX has substandard passengers!

Being from SFO, I have a bit of airport envy when looking at all the foreign carriers who fly to LAX, despite it being a crap airport. Beat LA!

What makes a substandard passenger?
The ones who drive the traffic that allows LAX to have more international traffic/destinations than SFO?:rolleyes:

I'm not a fan of LAX either, but it's my home airport. I do appreciate that it has a lot more flights than SFO though. :)

When I last arrived through customs in TBIT a year ago, a customs officer yelled at me for cutting in line when I had the right to with Global Entry. There were two officers, and one of them yelled at me, and the other told the other I did the right thing.

LAX is a no nonsense airport. Get processed. Get out. Don't dawdle and don't enjoy the scenery.

Transited via LAX recently and that was one of the worst airport I've ever seen in my life. Nothing airside in the International Terminal. Nothing. Had to eat an overpriced hot dog for dinner. Quite amazing given that it's... Los Angeles airport!

Should have done the eating and shopping outside. But who wants to go through security again to do that... (rant over)

What airport hot dog isn't overpriced? Many airports have poor selections of food inside security. For some it's worse outside (e.g., ONT has NO food outside security and some places inside close early). There are plenty of eateries outside security in the "International Terminal" at LAX (I assume you mean the Tom Bradley Terminal since many of the terminal have international fights). Interesting that OP paints a broad picture of all of LAX in their subject line and then says they meant just one employee. Of course, most of the responses had nothing to do with what the OP said. I, too, don't love LAX, but I also find others much more difficult to navigate and less pleasant to spend time in (e.g., JFK; EWR, especially the old, cramped termnal used for commuter jets). And that's just in the U.S. I've traveled around the world. LAX is far, far, far from the worse I've been to. We fly to Brazil, a lot, and GIG, GRU and BSB are all worse, and all are supposedly "international").

Interesting that OP paints a broad picture of all of LAX in their subject line and then says they meant just one employee. Of course, most of the responses had nothing to do with what the OP said. I, too, don't love LAX, but I also find others much more difficult to navigate and less pleasant to spend time in (e.g., JFK; EWR, especially the old, cramped termnal used for commuter jets).

+1 good points.

My biggest problem is TBIT is 30 years old. Every single airport you list in the U.S. that is old sucks. At least they're renovating it and finally adding more stuff do inside the secure area with the ($2 billion!?!) Bradley west project.

Unfortunately LAX is a 1962 airport trying to serve the needs of a 2012 air traveler. I agree, TBIT is horrific. Thank god for the OW Lounge.

I love LAX - and yes, I know I have issues. :D

In my opinion, ORD is worse. I guess it all depends how much you fly out one particular airport. I've got my routine with DL in T5 at LAX so I know how to get in, through security and to the Sky Club quickly and avoid the normal crap that most people experience at LAX.

That said, most of the customer service, TSA and gate agents at LAX seem to more often than not have an attitude. I guess I've learned by now just to tune them out and enjoy my flight.

That said, most of the customer service, TSA and gate agents at LAX seem to more often than not have an attitude. I guess I've learned by now just to tune them out and enjoy my flight.

The pre-check line in T4 seems to have generally happy and cordial TSA agents. :)

The pre-check line in T4 seems to have generally happy and cordial TSA agents. :)

I think the TSA just hate me because I opt-out 100% of the time. They seem annoyed at the fact that I don't want to be a stuck in that radiation tube.

Is LAX worse than JFK or about the same?! :D

Is LAX worse than JFK or about the same?! :D

Everyone has their own opinion, but I think the TSA folks at JFK are much less friendly, but that's just from my set of experiences.

I usually fly in to LAX on US.. then out on NZ...and it always seems to be at times when the lines are reasonable...

Also...the terminals are adjacent..and the NZ lounge is quite good.

As a result in my case the LAX experience isn't all that bad..

Been through TBIT once.. and it was an eye-opener alright!

Everyone has their own opinion, but I think the TSA folks at JFK are much less friendly, but that's just from my set of experiences.

I've never found the TSA folks uniformly alike at any airport. Depends on the individuals you happen to encounter. Maybe if you're someplace where the weather on that day is horribly cold or horribly hot, they may be grumpier than usual, especially if having to work at 5 a.m. or midnight. I would be, too.

I've never found the TSA folks uniformly alike at any airport. Depends on the individuals you happen to encounter. Maybe if you're someplace where the weather on that day is horribly cold or horribly hot, they may be grumpier than usual, especially if having to work at 5 a.m. or midnight. I would be, too.

That is true, too. Since JFK isn't my home airport, I'm sure my experiences are very small. :)

I've got a question with respect to LAX: Have they gotten rid of all the pay phones?

Often, when I travel internationally, I don't bring my U.S. cell phone with me, only my Quad-band GSM phone that I use a local SIM card with to get service. And this phone generally doesn't work in the U.S. with that SIM card. So, when I arrive via LAX, I generally look for a payphone to use with a calling card to: a) Call my loved ones and let them know I've arrived, and b) call either my parking lot shuttle or hotel shuttle via their toll-free number. But the last time I was returning to LAX from Mexico, I could not find a single pay phone anywhere. I had to beg the person at an information desk to let me make a toll-free call with their phone to get a pickup from my parking lot shuttle.

This means I will need to make sure that I carry my U.S. cell phone with me on trips where I won't be using it at all, along with my international phone.

It seems to me that, especially at a major international airport like LAX, many international travelers will arrive with phones that don't immediately work in the U.S., and until they can buy a SIM card or rent a U.S. phone, they will be unable to do stuff like call a shuttle to their hotel, if there are not any payphones.

So, is LAX at the vanguard of a trend to intentionally eradicate the pay phone? I've never seen this at ANY other airport anywhere, where there are literally ZERO pay phones to be found. I really believe that, at an international airport of all places, these are necessary amenities for travelers arriving from international locations, who might not immediately have access to a cell phone that works in the U.S.

I know there are a bunch on the departures level at TBIT:

http://www.lawa.org/uploadedFiles/LAX/pdf/TBIT.pdf

They don't seem to have a map/legend of the lower level, but why would they have a bunch on the departures but none on arrivals? Weird.

I know there are a bunch on the departures level at TBIT:

http://www.lawa.org/uploadedFiles/LAX/pdf/TBIT.pdf

They don't seem to have a map/legend of the lower level, but why would they have a bunch on the departures but none on arrivals? Weird.

On my last trip, in mid-late May, I departed to Mexico on Alaska via Terminal 6, which has been recently renovated. According to those maps there are two locations for pay phones in the departure level - at gates 63 and 66. I can state with certainty that on the morning of May 15, all 4 of the pay phones at those 2 locations were non-functional. And it didn't seem that they were broken, rather, it appeared that they were no longer connected to an active service.

As for the arrivals level of TBIT, on May 24th, returning from Mexico, once I cleared Customs and Immigration, I could not find a single pay phone, working or not, and when I asked the gentleman at the ground transportation information desk where I might find one, he told me that there no longer were any at the departure level. At which point I explained my situation to him, and he thankfully allowed me to make a toll-free call to my off-airport parking lot using the phone at his counter, so I could get picked up by their shuttle.

In any case, now that I am aware of this, I will simply deal with the inconvenience of carrying with me my U.S. cell phone on my international trips, despite the fact that I won't be using it at all when I am out of the country. But I find this clear move to eliminate pay phones at LAX - especially at the arrivals level of TBIT, to be absolutely bizarre, given that it is a major international hub airport.

There is a bank of payphones in the baggage claim hall of T4 at LAX

I think the OP could make that broad statement for ANY of the major international airports in the US, even San Fran and Detroit. Just because you have nice facilities doesn't mean your staff are friendly.

One can find rude and pissy airport employees at ANY airport, then turn around and find genuinely nice and helpful ones.

I feel bad for your experience, as I've had them too. However I usually find that if I am going to a new airport I do as much research as I can beforehand on how to navigate and find what one needs without having to ask an airport employee, who may or may not give a flying flip.

As for LAX being the worst, well you've one more year of the old TBIT to smack talk it before you don't have an excuse anymore (unless you're flying out of T1!!). The worst ones I ever had to experience were the old Midway and the old DTW. THOSE were straight out of a refugee camp and I couldn't blame the employees for having a bad attitude. If I had to work there, I would have too haha.