chrisl137

Flyaway bus is even better speedwise- $9/person and it takes you and your luggage straight to Union Station. Once they leave the airport the drivers will take the fastest route because they don't have to make any stops in between and they tell each other about current traffic conditions. Buses are nominally every 20 minutes during peak times. There are a couple of rental places near Union Station if you need a car for after. You can buy tickets for the Flyaway online or at Union Station after you arrive (you show the ticket to get your luggage back).

If you're going to drive, 105 to the 110 is going to be faster - I did that drive for a couple years. 405 to the 10 sounds really wrong and violates my "never get on the 405 for any reason" rule. There are carpool lanes on the 105, but when you get to the 110 you need a transponder and that will only get you as far as Adams (at USC) and then you're in DTLA traffic from there. Last I checked, LAX rental agencies didn't have transponder options. (edit: a transponder will probably save you 20 minutes on average from the 105 to Adams, partly because of the carpool lane interchange, which is a huge time saver, and partly due to stop-and-go traffic on the 110)

On average it's faster to get off at Adams and take Hill north through DTLA. I haven't tried to get into Dodger stadium parking that way though (or ever)-- once you're in Chinatown it might be easiest to get back onto the 110 at Alpine and then take the Dodger stadium exit, or just find parking away from the stadium and walk. Union Station has a huge underground garage if you don't mind the walk.

Trustguy

Once you get to Union Station, why not take the Dodger Stadium Express bus? It seems much easier than fighting to get into the parking at the stadium.

VickiSoCal

That's a 40 minute walk or so, isn't it?

bzcat

Up hill! And in heavy traffic with inadequate sidewalk on some streets!! Plus OP has luggage!!!

If OP wants to take Flyaway express bus to Union Station then definitely take the free Dodger Shuttle. Walking from Union Station to Dodger Stadium is not recommended even without luggage. I would say it's downright crazy to attempt it with luggage and kids.

op487062

Op didn't mention which Friday game either. When the games are sold out, Dodger Stadium parking can be a bear to enter. I've had some games that took 40-60 min to get into the stadium once exiting the freeway.

DCAview

Well, this may be the one thing this crazy plan has going in its favor: At least based on secondary market sites like StubHub and Vivid Seats, it seems like there are plenty of tickets available for the game.

As a New Yorker I'm usually allergic to paying for parking, but I am leaning toward springing for premium parking at Dodger Stadium so that we don't find ourselves parking miles away from the stadium if we do arrive at the game after its started (as it seems we will).

Thanks for all of the great advice in this thread. After some folks suggested it, I toyed with the idea of skipping the rental car at LAX and instead taking Metro to DTLA, changing our plans to stay at a DTLA hotel after the game, dumping the bags at the hotel before going to the game, and picking up a car from a downtown location the next day. It might save some time and get us to the game sooner, but I think that taking a three-seat Metro ride to downtown with kids and luggage, dropping the bags and then Ubering to the stadium would add too many moving parts. If we didn't have the kids and all of their stuff, I think that would probably be the way to go.

VickiSoCal

I still think sending an adult to get the car the moment you land is best. They can get it quickly, then come back and load kids and luggage straight in to car, and take the exit directly out of the airport, rather than the full circle, avoiding loading kids/luggage in to car rental van, then out, then in to car.

ajGoes

Wouldn't that be a plan that could only work for an experienced LAX-area driver? I wouldn't trust even the best GPS to find me the left-hand exits by the parking garages that you have to take to avoid driving all the way around the loop.

VickiSoCal

Maybe, but you could hop right on the 105, straight out of the airport. Just seems better to me than the double shuffle with kids.

bzcat

That won't save you significant time because you have to drive back to T3 and all the way around the loop to exit... on Friday afternoon.

I vote for making only 1 Hertz bus ride with kids and luggage to rental car lot and never coming back to the LAX loop.

chrisl137

I tend to agree with this. Traffic into the loop can be very unpredictable and *extremely* slow. Given that it's T3 and the OP would have no choice but go all the way in, I'd stick with the rental shuttle to get off-airport and avoid the loop altogether with the rental car.

ajGoes

If you know how to find it, there's a way to avoid most of the loop. But I'd never recommend it to a visitor.

chrisl137

It's getting into the loop that really slows you down though, and I don't think there are really any shortcuts for that. Once you're past T2 it usually gets a lot easier.

ajGoes

Yup. I would not recommend the divide and conquer approach in the OP's situation.

Ugh. This is reminding me that I'll be at LAX in two weeks. I hope I live to see the new transportation center open. It should greatly improve the experience of arriving there. Meanwhile, experience only increases the unpleasant anticipation of each arrival.

VickiSoCal

I pick up/drop off at LAX a couple of times a month, I must be inured to the experience.