Kacee

Yes, you can clear security in any terminal. The security lines at TBIT are highly variable depending on time of day, sometimes no line, sometimes awful.

SNA_Flyer

Yes, you can walk from TBIT to T6 all post-security. Follow the signs to T4, then down through the tunnel near the end of T4 to T6.

dkc192

Just beware that there's a "bouncer" at the bottom of the escalators leading up to TBIT security from the check-in hall, who is there to check that everyone going up has a valid BP. I've gotten pushback for showing a UA BP. You might have to be firm and say that you know how to get to T6/T7 from TBIT and that you're there to use a lounge, or if you have an old mobile BP for AA or a TBIT airline that might do the trick too.

bocastephen

I used to have this problem before the virus and usually just said “going to the lounge” and walked past them, and a couple times had an idiot of a TSA screener who insisted everyone entering Bradley needed to show a passport but I can report neither issue has recurred in the last couple years so I wouldn’t be concerned.

you can safely ignore the gatekeeper at the bottom of the escalator, they have no authority

Eastbay1K

Well, you certainly don't want to cause an international (terminal) incident by having an argument with the gatekeeper, who could summon actual authorities. Nevertheless, given the domestic flights using TBIT, this should be a non-issue.

bocastephen

Well that's a little overdramatic. I've had arguments with them before, the ones at the Bradley terminal tried to force me back to T6, but I just repeated "lounge, lounge, lounge" and walked past them. They squawked for a moment then stopped and went back to checking boarding passes. I've had a nasty argument with one at the Delta terminal where they were screaming at the TSA screener not to let me through, but a Delta red coat came over and told her to knock it off and resolved the issue she was screeching about....and confirmed she had no authority to demand the TSA not let me through. They really have zero authority and all they can do is summon an airline manager if things get heated. They just don't like being ignored or their fake authority disrespected, but I could care less, they are nothing but a nuisance.

IndyHoosier

What exactly is the purpose of these people? Does the airport think people like going through security for fun?

bocastephen

In most cases they are hired by the airline or airlines who are the key tenants in a particular terminal at an airport, and they usually just make sure the right people are in the correct line, and I have no problem with them making sure only eligible people are in elite priority and pre-check lines, but which terminal I am in, or where I am going, or what bag I am carrying is really none of their business. Some of them develop an artificial entitlement of authority, inflated by Kettles who back off from confrontation, but - as to the topic of this discussion - I can honestly say that since the Bradley terminal lounges re-opened post virus-crisis, I haven't heard a peep from any of them regardless of what boarding pass I show, so the risk of conflict at this point should be negligible. It appears at least the Bradley staff got a talking to at some point.

SNA_Flyer

The TBIT gatekeeper incidents have definitely decreased since the pandemic started. They were already on the decline in my estimation, but I don't think I've encountered an issue there in a while.

FlyFreakquently

I've never even heard of any TBIT bouncer, but that may just be because I've always connected airside from T4 to TBIT (AA flyer). If anyone is worried about getting crap for clearing security at TBIT with a different departing terminal, then I suppose you could simply clear security at T4 and make the 5 minute walk between terminals.

SCChris

What they're referring to are the staff (employed by a company like G2 Airport Services) positioned at the entrance to either checkpoints or escalators who check your boarding pass and sometimes put your bag in the sizer. T4 has them too (usually at the bottom of the escalators) and yes I've seen them bounce people who aren't departing from that terminal (even people clearing T4 with a AA T5 BP).

FlyFreakquently

Hmmm, that's really odd. I interpreted it as a bouncer before security in TBIT, not between terminals. I know there is someone at the bottom of the escalator in T4 (AA uniform) who checks BPs and often sizes bags, but I assumed she was just making sure people actually had a boarding pass since security doesn't check BPs at T4 (IME, at least).

tstauck

You can enter any terminal with a boarding pass at LAX, regardless of which terminal you're flying from.

Kacee

I encountered them a few times pre-pandemic . . . as suggested above, I've always just said "thanks, I'm going to the lounge" and kept walking. They have no authority to do anything.

Yes, and just to be clear, this is an express published LAX policy. IIRC, it was adopted shortly after the *A lounge first opened.

Eastbay1K

Figure that 90% of the "Kettles" as you call them aren't backing off from confrontation, but are actually in the wrong place. And figure that some of these people making the lowest wages at the airport, and probably aren't treated the best by their employers. No excuse for their employers not properly educating them, but I can't believe that the vast majority of them would want any sort of unnecessary confrontation in their uninspiring jobs.

In any event, this should be permanently moot for LAX, as TBIT--4-5-6-7-8 are all connected airside, and soon enough 1-2-3 will connect to TBIT. Accordingly, one day we'll all be on the WL for the LAX Centurion Lounge, whether flying WN or UA or every airline in between