Culrain

I've done this in DEN, ORD, SFO and CPH and had no problems on either occasion.

Factor in the following:

1. The time it takes to deplane and travel to whatever off-airport destination you are going to (include ample time waiting for a bus/train/whatever).
2. The amount of "quality time" you want to spend at your off-airport destination.
3. The time it takes you to travel back to the airport and go through security.
4. The amount of time you want to be at the gate before your next flight.

If your layover is long enough to fit all of these things in, then go for it.

When off-airport, if you're privy to a net connection (or phone for the old fashion), find out if your next flight is delayed so you might be able to spend more time away from the airport.

bdnyc

Don't know if it's still true now with DL, but it used to be NW/KLM would let you sked very long connects (overnight, even) up to 30 hours (I think) so you could visit Amsterdam, stay overnight in a hotel and generally spend money like a good tourist.

fti

Calm down

No one said you weren't in a free country or weren't free to leave the airport. I just said it might be wise to not tell an airline employee. You are free to do whatever you want. The airline is free to not through-check your luggage if they want.

BattousaiCV

1. 3 hours 50 minutes
2. Visiting a friend around town, not going too far.
3. I'm traveling alone, I just meant other passengers.
One time in SLC, the flight was canceled not long after I arrived from the first connection, due to mechanical issues (BWI bound). Everyone got rebooked on a flight going to either DCA or IAD, and we were told to make haste, the doors were being held but they were leaving ASAP. They did wait a good while, it might've left around the same scheduled time as the BWI flight or a little earlier.

Thanks for the responses, everyone!


How bad is the average wait at T5?

Tomphot

With a 4 hour layover - I would do an In N Out trip.
I love the tip on the Parking Spot bus - I'll remember that for next time.
Love! In N Out!!

NOLAnwGOLD

I purposely book flights with long layovers so that I can leave the airport and go usually have meals with family or friends...in fact just booked a flight so that I can have turkey day dinner in MSP on the way to Europe...then a lunch date in Amsterdam on the way to Germany...and then a dinner and evening in Amsterdam on the way back....

If you have enough time highly recommend a side trip in LA...to the beach or somewhere since the airport is small and there isn't much to do....

edscholl

where you planning on driving to? optimistically, you're out through customs and at the curb by 7am. wait a bit for the car shuttle (not on site), ride over, get your car. it's 7:30am now if you're lucky. for 1pm, you want to be at gate at 12:30pm, leave an hour for security, etc, so you need to be back at 11:30. leave half hour for rental car shuttle back, so you need to be there at 11:00.

so you've got 3.5 hours with the car if you're lucky? in l.a., where you gonna go in that amount of time and not worry about getting back in time? if you want to go to the beach and hang out for a bit (probably the best option), a shuttle from, say, santa monica, will run you about $30 roundtrip, and a taxi $30 each way. and it'll leave you more time to hang out.

nfg05

I was on that SYD-LAX flight. For one thing it leaves 9:30 am sydney time and is a 13 hour flight so I couldn't get to sleep on the whole thing.

Second, LAX customs was a total joke with the computer system going down within minutes of opening at 6:00 am. I was in the front of the line when system went down and had a 20 minute delay, people near the back probably had 40+ minutes as the computers were going extremely slow (1 person every 2 minutes or so) before and after going down.