Should I layover at SFO or LAX?
 

I am flying from San Diego to Sydney and can either layover at SFO or LAX....price and layover times are the same.
I haven't been to either airport before - which one is nicer/easier/less likelihood of delays?
Thanks!

Do you mean lay-over or connection? Layover can mean many hours, even an overnight. If your onward flight is within a few hours, it is a connection.

In either case, it sort of depends on what time of year you are traveling. SFO can experience delays during the fog season or periods of bad weather.

You have actually asked multiple questions. For nicer and easier, I'd pick SFO every time. For less likelihood of delays, LAX. For most of my flights to Asia over the last 10 years I have connected through SFO but will use either depending on the best flight costs and times. I prefer SFO but not to the extent of paying more or flying at inconvenient times or on sub-par equipment.

Thanks - sorry, I meant connection! I will only be there for about 3 hours so won't have to spend hours and hours there. Perhaps LAX is best, just in case of fog.

Thanks again for your reply :)

Agree - SFO is a lot nicer but is also subject to more delays, which can escalate up to 3-4 hours in really bad weather - either rain or fog.

What airline are you taking to SYD? Just wondering but really there isn't much that would make me connect in LAX if I didn't have to.

Agree on both counts. SFO is so much nicer. But prone certain times of year to bad weather.

The new Tom Bradley International Terminal is very nice, but the OP has not shared with us which airline he or she is flying.

Indeed -- avoiding a missed connection is the priority here, and there is much less risk of that with LAX.

I would do LAX due to better probability of weather.
TBIT is quite nice if traveling through there.
Also, worst case, if it's looking bad, you can always drive up to LA. Can't do that with SFO

When is this trip?
Even with the open connector to a sparkling new TBIT?:-:

I am flying with United Airlines (despite the terrible reviews they have!) It's an Air New Zealand ticket as I also need to go to New Zealand for a few days and it worked out to be the cheapest.
I am flying back to Australia to attend a wedding and I have another connection to make in Sydney so really don't want to miss the one in LAX/SFO! Sounds like LAX is the safest bet.

Note that long haul flights are the least likely to be delayed. The UA flight from SFO to SYD leaves at 10:25pm and weather delays at SFO are almost all worst up to about 3-4pm. Your challenge is SAN-SFO or LAX

I would say that if you do SAN-SFO with a fair amount of time in between connections, you're safe. But with SAN-LAX if there are issues, I guess you could theoretically drive so that may be an additional safety factor.

At SFO, to connect to the SYD flight you won't have to go through security again. At LAX, it will depend on whether the flight leaves from the UA terminal or TBIT. If it is TBIT, you will need to go through security a second time. I am sure someone else on this forum will know which.

Updated info: The T4-TBIT connector is now open, so if arriving on UA, one can walk airside all the way to TBIT.

Behold!

United does not have any flights departing from TBIT.