Originally Posted by
bzcat
I assume this is a domestic flight? 4.5 hours sounds about right. Budget 2 hours (minimum!) for driving, at least 45 minutes for rental car return, and up to 30 minutes for TSA. That leaves you with about 75 minutes before departure time if everything goes smoothly. Traffic on Thursday afternoon on CA-14/I-5/I-405 from Palmdale to LAX will be murder... And there isn't really a better route to go.
2 hours for driving is not an unreasonable estimate, but I don't know what car rental company you use at LAX--I've never had (even among the budget companies like Dollar and Thrifty) a return take more than 20 minutes from arrival on the lot to curbside drop-off. 30 minutes for TSA is a decent guess for a non-elite, but if the OP is elite, 15 minutes is a generous estimate (depending on the terminal). And I, for one, prefer not to sit at the departure gate for 40 minutes
before my flight starts
boarding.
If the OP is the super-cautious type who likes to leave lots of buffer and plan for contingencies, then maybe, but in my view, he can easily shave an hour off of your suggested time and
still have ~30 minutes of "just in case" buffer before his seat is released. Up to the each individual to decide how comfortable he or she is--I just wanted to present the opposite option.
Originally Posted by
elc2414
Going to take a chance and rent a car. Got a full size from Thrifty for $32.19 total (all fees/taxes included and no drop off fee!) plus fuel. If it works out, that will be a pretty cheap trip for 4 people!
How did it work out for you?