warakorn

Is LAX really the Third World Airport that Donald J. Trump was talking in the recent debate about?

There seems to be a contrast between the Terminals, esp. between Tom Bradley International and United Airlines Terminal 7.
I did explore LAX a bit on a recent flight on SkyWest Airlines from Los Angeles to San Francisco.



Here is the video from the LAX Star Alliance Lounge experience:





Some impressions from Los Angeles:







Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) from the outside:





Landside check-in area:





My mobile boarding pass was accepted by TBIT TSA, however, no TSA Pre is line is offered at TBIT, because it is "International" according to the staff:





TBIT After Security:







JAL Japan Airlines Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner:





KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Boeing 747-400 Combi:





China Southern Boeing 777-300ER:





Air France Airbus A380-800:





Korean Air Lines Airbus A380-800:





Air Tahitit Nui Airbus A340-300:





Lets get to the Star Alliance Lounge LAX:







Star Alliance Lounge, operated by Air New Zealand, on the sixth floor:





Its nice to get access, even when departing on SkyWest Airlines metal (guess SkyWest is happy to foot the bill towards Air New Zealand):









Inside bar:









Outside bar:











Hot Food Buffet area:









Rooftop Terrace of the Star Alliance Lounge:







Hot food:





Cocktail:





Air China Boeing 777-300ER, just arriving from Beijing:





Walking from TBIT towards Terminal 7:





This is the international arrival area before immigration:





TSA Checkpoint at TBIT - no TSA Pre available, which is bad if you have TSA Pre:





Landside check-in area:





Right between TBIT and American Airlines Terminal 4:







Newly-opened airside walkway between TBIT and Terminal 4:









It is so easy to get lost in all of these tunnels (LAX is no HKG or SIN; LAX is more like FRA):











Airside connector between Terminal 6 and Terminal 7:





LAX Theme Building:





United Airlines Terminal 7 - compare that to TBIT:











Terminal 7 is definitely a secure place:





United Club (which is the second Star Alliance Lounge at LAX) - due to crowding I had difficulties taking pictures:







Some impressions from SkyWest Airlines heading up north towards SFO:

















Here is again the video:





Enjoy!



All my trip reports on FT:

NEW: CFR Calatori Bucharest - Istanbul Halkali in F

Iberia Airbus A340-600 London - Madrid in Y

Air Caraibes Airbus A350-900 Guadeloupe - Paris in Y

Empty Finnair Airbus A350-900 Helsinki - London Heathrow in Y+ and AY Lounge Sauna

Finnair Airbus A350-900 Helsinki - Shanghai in Y+

Singapore Airlines Airbus A380-800 Singapore - New Delhi in Upper Deck Y


Asiana Boeing 747-400 Combi Tokyo - Seoul in F

Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-300ER Montreal - Cancun in Y+

Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-300ER Cancun - Toronto in Y

United Boeing 777-200ER Houston - Newark in C

United Boeing 777-200ER Newark - Amsterdam in C

United Boeing 777-200ER Amsterdam - Houston in Y+

United Boeing 777-200ER Singapore - Hongkong in C

British Airways Boeing 777-300ER London - Shanghai in Y

ANA Boeing 777-300ER Singapore - Tokyo in C

Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Zurich - Hong Kong in Y

TUI Airlines Nederland Boeing 787-8 Sint Maarten - Curacao in P

TUI Airlines Nederland Boeing 787-8 Curacao - Amsterdam in P

Air Canada Boeing 787-8 Toronto - London in Y

ANA Boeing 787-8 Shanghai Pudong - Tokyo Narita

United Boeing 787-9 Los Angeles - Houston in C



EuroNight Jan Kiepura Cologne - Warsaw in Sleeper Cabin

China High Speed Rail Shanghai - Xiamen in F

Caledonian Sleeper Train Inverness - London Euston in Sleeper Cabin

French TGV High Speed Train: Barcelona - Paris in F

China High Speed Rail Guangzhou - Shanghai Hongqiao in Y

Swiss Railways Lötschberg Mountain Line Bern - Brig in F

Ukraine Railways Kiev - Budapest in Sleeper Cabin

Virgin Trains West Coast London - Glasgow in F

Five Star Alliance Lounges: LHR

Four OneWorld Lounges: HKG

TBIT Star Alliance Lounge: LAX



Enjoy!

SFO777

Yes, Trump is correct. Except for TBIT, LAX is a dump and a third world airport.

Eastbay1K

And it is only recently that TBIT is a nice terminal.

Notwithstanding SFO777's comment, you would have found that T 4-5-6-7-8 travelers enjoy a relative degree of opulent splendor when compared to the luxuries found at T3.

SFO777

OMG, I forgot about T3. That wouldn't even qualify for 3rd world status.

Fredrik74

I haven't been to Terminal 7 since 2009 so things probably changed a bit but that place was awful. It doesn't look too good in your pics though. This year I tried Terminal 3 and it was even worse than I remember from Terminal 7. TBIT on the other hand wasn't bad at all.

Thanks for the report anyway.

offerendum

How could I disagree with SFO777

daKav

I still remember the nightmare that was TBIT around 2011/12. T2 has a bunch of international flights, but, still, it is a dump.

Silent Orange

It is obviously wrong to infer the quality of a country from the quality of its airports, since a country is defined by way more than its airports (although maybe not to some folks here :P). However, if it were reasonable to infer the quality of a country from the condition of its airports then yes, US is a third world country.

HIDDY

It all looks pretty decent to me. My US airport experiences are few JFK-SEA and ORD and not all have been recent. Apart from a shouting female employee at the JFK immigration queue who frightened the living daylights out of me they have all been relatively pleasant. Certainly no worse than any other airports I've visited around the world.

Then again I'm a level headed traveller with no delusions of grandeur.

krazykanuck

There is likely no Pre at TBIT because it's the international terminal for non-US airlines and there are very few non-US airlines that participate (I think Air Canada is the only one currently).

Nice pics, the United terminal has definitely seen better days.

redadeco

Aeromexico, Etihad and Westjet are participating as well.

N1120A

1) The United terminals are being extensively renovated. That is why you see the condition they are in now - they are doing essentially a ground up rebuild, while keeping capacity up.

2) Bradley has both domestic and international flights from AA too and before the connector opened, people who had Pre Check would get screwed out of this benefit. Anyway, you can simply enter Bradley from Termainl 4 to use Pre Check.

3) LAX is designed for function and efficiency. It serves its purpose as the world's busiest O&D airport, with most connections being same carrier, extremely well. As someone who has LAX as their home airport, I would never want that character changed to the shopping mall monstrosity motif that defines airport design in other parts of the world. Also, the food options at LAX are actually among the very best.

daKav

You mean In N Out on Sepulveda and that brewery in El Segundo?

SFO777

Nice try, Mr. Mayor.
You can put all the lipstick on a pig you want and you still have a pig.
And I just love my drives to and from LAX. Never any traffic and I always find easy parking in whatever garage I enter.

LOL. Exactly. The rotating truck socialism in T4 booted the only good restaurant after just 6 months.

N1120A

Cute, but no.

Oh gee, Los Angeles has TRAFFIC?! I never knew. You're saying an issue that is regional is somehow the specific fault of the design of the airport? An airport that is having its public transportation options increased significantly and a side effect of that project will be an 8-12% decrease in car trips to the airport and another massive decrease in traffic relating to rental car and other such buses.

As for parking, where are you talking about specifically? The CTA parking structures, which are meant primarily for short term parking and in which I've never had an issue finding a space? Or the multitude of long term options around the airport?

As for the "rotating truck socialism" you talk about, are you even aware of how airport concessions work? Guess what - the city and LAWA have absolutely nothing to do with how T4's concessions are operated. Those are the responsibilities of the master tenant - AA - and their chosen partners. T3, T6 and Bradley are the only terminals where LAWA controls concessions, and they farmed Bradley and T6 out to the Westfield shopping behemoth, who have brought in some very well known names and high quality options.