Los Angeles - Flying out from LAX to HKG soon, any suggestions?

Hi guys. How is LAX doing lately? Should I head to the airport 3 hours early or is 2 hours enough? Security a bear or a breeze? Which lounge to use or avoid?

Which casino do you recommend?

Thanks!

LAX is regularly a disaster. Not sure where you are coming from but traffic can be a nightmare so my advice is to leave as early as possible. If you are returning a rental car that will add an additional 10-15 minutes to get to the terminal.



Can't help on the lounges as I have not flown long haul out of LAX.

For casinos what are you looking to play? LA does not have full service casinos in the metro area but there are several out in Temecula and that area (good 1.5 hour or more from the city).
If you tell me the area you are staying in I can give you some more advice.

I think this should be moved to the Los Angeles sub-forum for more in depth info.

Hi guys. How is LAX doing lately? Should I head to the airport 3 hours early or is 2 hours enough? Security a bear or a breeze? Which lounge to use or avoid?

Which casino do you recommend?

Thanks!

There is only one lounge (the OW lounge) unless you got some special status outside OW.

Several of the terminals at LAX are under construction, including TBIT.

Hi guys. How is LAX doing lately? Should I head to the airport 3 hours early or is 2 hours enough? Security a bear or a breeze? Which lounge to use or avoid?

3 hrs on the safe side.. Probably depends on what flight you take and maybe 2 could be sufficient. I took CX881 in Feb - no queue at premium check in counters, security wasn't bad. The usual shoes and belt off etc but hardly a queue to worry about. And then as mentioned above there's only the OneWorld lounge to use. Ample drinks, food was ok.. Separate F section accessible from inside the J lounge (or so i remember). AA Admirals lounge exists in their own terminal (T5?) but not in TBIT. It was fairly crowded to begin with but started to empty out closer to departure. Of course you can't compare to The Wing but at least it's somewhere to relax/use wifi/drink/eat/shower etc instead of hanging around the crowded gate area with absolutely nothing else to do.

Hi guys. How is LAX doing lately? Should I head to the airport 3 hours early or is 2 hours enough? Security a bear or a breeze? Which lounge to use or avoid?

Which casino do you recommend?

Thanks!

If you're not connecting, I recommend getting there at the absolute last minute because the place is a pit and not somewhere you want to have to wait around. It's not an enjoyable airport experience at LAX and fortunately you can get away with showing up at the last minute, which is the only redeeming quality to that airport. I recommend 1 hour to 90 mins in advance max, I've never had any problems. If you are about to miss the flight CX staff will escort you through. I know this sounds very short but I fly out of LAX pretty regularly, and never aim to be there more than 75 minutes out. Fortunately F lines at check-in are always short and there is a biz/first line for security. I'm not sure if you're flying EY if you can use that but just ask the check-in counter since you're a DM and I suspect they can do something for you.

The OW F lounge in my experience gets absolutely packed and there isn't much good to munch on. Unfortunately the departure area in TBIT is such a dump that you probably will want to be in the crowded lounge, which is why I always try to cut it as close as possible departing at LAX. If you do happen to be in J or F and don't worry about overhead space, I also don't recommend showing up early at the gate when boarding commences. The departure area for each gate is far too small, and heaps of people are standing elbow to elbow jockeying with one another for position in line, always spilling out into the main hallway area.

If you're not connecting, I recommend getting there at the absolute last minute because the place is a pit and not somewhere you want to have to wait around. It's not an enjoyable airport experience at LAX and fortunately you can get away with showing up at the last minute, which is the only redeeming quality to that airport. I recommend 1 hour to 90 mins in advance max, I've never had any problems. If you are about to miss the flight CX staff will escort you through. I know this sounds very short but I fly out of LAX pretty regularly, and never aim to be there more than 75 minutes out. Fortunately F lines at check-in are always short and there is a biz/first line for security. I'm not sure if you're flying EY if you can use that but just ask the check-in counter since you're a DM and I suspect they can do something for you.

The OW F lounge in my experience gets absolutely packed and there isn't much good to munch on. Unfortunately the departure area in TBIT is such a dump that you probably will want to be in the crowded lounge, which is why I always try to cut it as close as possible departing at LAX. If you do happen to be in J or F and don't worry about overhead space, I also don't recommend showing up early at the gate when boarding commences. The departure area for each gate is far too small, and heaps of people are standing elbow to elbow jockeying with one another for position in line, always spilling out into the main hallway area.

Holy crap... ok... thanks...

LAX is regularly a disaster. Not sure where you are coming from but traffic can be a nightmare so my advice is to leave as early as possible. If you are returning a rental car that will add an additional 10-15 minutes to get to the terminal.



Can't help on the lounges as I have not flown long haul out of LAX.

For casinos what are you looking to play? LA does not have full service casinos in the metro area but there are several out in Temecula and that area (good 1.5 hour or more from the city).
If you tell me the area you are staying in I can give you some more advice.

Perfect, Temecula is a place I will pass-by in my business trip in the great LA area.

I think this should be moved to the Los Angeles sub-forum for more in depth info.

I concur - moving thread to LA forum.

Thanks,

cxfan1960
CX CoMod

I agree with apodo77. I was once stuck on the road for more than an hour without any reason - just traffic jam. I am sure it can be worse. It is better to allow plenty of time.

I concur - moving thread to LA forum.

Thanks,

cxfan1960
CX CoMod

I'm looking for specific situation (CX flight only) and I would say only CX flyers have expertise in this area. Not sure how many CX flyers read the LA Forum and post there, but I wouldn't get anything useful with general comments like "LAX is bad", I want to know the time that CX flies, how bad is it.

Anyway, just my 2 cents.

Perfect, Temecula is a place I will pass-by in my business trip in the great LA area.

Pechanga Casino and Pala Casino are both good casinos in Temecula.

If you're not connecting, I recommend getting there at the absolute last minute because the place is a pit and not somewhere you want to have to wait around. It's not an enjoyable airport experience at LAX and fortunately you can get away with showing up at the last minute, which is the only redeeming quality to that airport. I recommend 1 hour to 90 mins in advance max, I've never had any problems. If you are about to miss the flight CX staff will escort you through. I know this sounds very short but I fly out of LAX pretty regularly, and never aim to be there more than 75 minutes out. Fortunately F lines at check-in are always short and there is a biz/first line for security. I'm not sure if you're flying EY if you can use that but just ask the check-in counter since you're a DM and I suspect they can do something for you.

The OW F lounge in my experience gets absolutely packed and there isn't much good to munch on. Unfortunately the departure area in TBIT is such a dump that you probably will want to be in the crowded lounge, which is why I always try to cut it as close as possible departing at LAX. If you do happen to be in J or F and don't worry about overhead space, I also don't recommend showing up early at the gate when boarding commences. The departure area for each gate is far too small, and heaps of people are standing elbow to elbow jockeying with one another for position in line, always spilling out into the main hallway area.

+1 Completely agree.

For night flights (midnight-2am), there is no traffic. 60-90min sounds about right (carryon vs checked baggage). Noontime I add about 30 min for traffic. Hang out outside security at food court and shopping, inside security TBIT sucks.

The OW F lounge in my experience gets absolutely packed and there isn't much good to munch on. Unfortunately the departure area in TBIT is such a dump that you probably will want to be in the crowded lounge, which is why I always try to cut it as close as possible departing at LAX. If you do happen to be in J or F and don't worry about overhead space, I also don't recommend showing up early at the gate when boarding commences. The departure area for each gate is far too small, and heaps of people are standing elbow to elbow jockeying with one another for position in line, always spilling out into the main hallway area.

Completely agree. The new OW lounge is a vast improvement from the old lounge that you had to take the bus to, but it's nothing to get excited about. The CX flights depart late at night, last year I flew LAX - HKG on CX and one section of the lounge was closed (think of lounge as two separate sections, one for J passengers and one for F) and it was extremely crowded. Either get to the lounge early if you want to grab a bite and fine a seat or skip the lounge entirely.

Weekday or weekend? Makes a big difference in traffic. I wouldn't advise anyone to arrive at the last minute, due to possible delays. I would not describe LAX as a "disaster," any more than many other U.S. airports, but for an international flight I'd definitely suggest arriving 3 hours in advance. Cathay appears to have both mid-day and late night departures, leaving from Terminal B (Bradley?), though only the late night ones seem to be non-stop.

Cathay appears to have both mid-day and late night departures, leaving from Terminal B (Bradley?), though only the late night ones seem to be non-stop.

Pretty sure all the flights are nonstop.

LAX TBIT at midnight can be buzzing with people with all the TPACs but there's usually little to no traffic getting there.

All CX flights ex-LAX to HKG are non-stop.

The OP didn't mention which day, which flight, and how far from the airport he will be leaving so it is hard to give a precise answer. But in all cases, I think arriving at LAX 1.5 hours before departure is generally enough if you have FF status on flying in the front cabins. If not, 2 hours is enough. I have never heard of anyone arriving at LAX 3 hours ahead of flight departure time despite airline warnings.

The lounge is OW shared lounge at TBIT. Nothing really special.

Ok, after the fact. It was Friday and for the notorious traffic I arrived at a nearby establishment early (10 min. away from Budget Car Rental, where I rented my car.) The flight is 11:30 and I arrived at Budget around 8:35 p.m., took the shuttle bus, and got to TBIT at 9:00 p.m. First Class line is empty so went right ahead to checked-in, the most amazing part is there is literally no line at the north end of security gates, and went right in. Head up to One-World Lounge, First Class, and it's a pathetic joke. The best food they have to offer is Cup of Noodles. Internet Wi-Fi is next to useless. Shower is ok at least.