I fly through LAX on int'l routes a lot. I love that afterwards I only have a short SAAB flight to get home, with flights every hour or even more, but I hate that there isn't an elite line, and how long the security line gets. Often the line starts at the top of the escalator and goes all the way down the second-floor hall.

You're saying there is an elite line that starts on the second floor? I've never seen it. How do I find it?

Last month I was on a 777 from NRT that landed at LAX just after a Quantus 747. Immigration had *huge* lines. After clearing customs, exiting into baggage claim, going upstairs to the main terminal, the security line started at the bottom of the escalator. I finally made it to the end of the narrow upstairs hall, and discovered that numerous Quantus pax had snuck up some back stairs I didn't even know existed, and were entering the security line near its head. Some percent of them were caught by the TSA agents who were upstairs, the rest got in line unnoticed.