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Flying out of Los Angeles After Cruise/ which airport is best?

Flying out of Los Angeles After Cruise/ which airport is best?

Old Jan 9, 2019, 7:30 am
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Flying out of Los Angeles After Cruise/ which airport is best?

We are returning from a cruise in April from the Los Angeles Cruise Port. Right now I have an award ticket on hold from departing at 11:15: LAX>CLT connecting in SAN. This would get us home the same day without a red eye. Is this the best L.A. airport to depart from as opposed to Long Beach or Burbank if they were available?

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
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Old Jan 9, 2019, 7:37 am
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Originally Posted by thoward8111
We are returning from a cruise in April from the Los Angeles Cruise Port. Right now I have an award ticket on hold from departing at 11:15: LAX>CLT connecting in SAN. This would get us home the same day without a red eye. Is this the best L.A. airport to depart from as opposed to Long Beach or Burbank if they were available?

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
What exactly do you mean by best? The LA cruise port is in Long Beach, so obviously if you could find something departing from LGB that would be the most convenient. Outside of that, LAX and SNA are relatively similar distances from Long Beach and still a relatively easy uber (meaning 30 mins to 1 hr. depending on traffic). Burbank would be way out the way.
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Old Jan 9, 2019, 7:42 am
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I agree with JJeffrey, that depends.
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Old Jan 9, 2019, 7:43 am
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Originally Posted by JJeffrey
What exactly do you mean by best? The LA cruise port is in Long Beach, so obviously if you could find something departing from LGB that would be the most convenient. Outside of that, LAX and SNA are relatively similar distances from Long Beach and still a relatively easy uber (meaning 30 mins to 1 hr. depending on traffic). Burbank would be way out the way.
Sorry for any confusion. We are at the World Cruise Center in in San Pedro, CA. I am not familiar with either terminal. I think our biggest concern is the departure time of 11:15 from LAX and traffic. The departure is also on a Sunday.
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Old Jan 9, 2019, 7:47 am
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The LA cruise terminal is on the far west side of the Port of Los Angeles - in San Pedro. Its actually not too much further from the port terminal to LAX (19.5 miles) than LGB (15.5) miles. Both trips can be miserable at times. You say your flight is 11:15? On a weekday or weekend? Fighting the 405 at 8:30 am will not be a pleasant experience. Nor is Century Blvd. On the other hand, the most direct route to LGB means going up the 710 which, depending on the day and cargo ship arrivals, can be jammed with trucks hauling containers.

LGB is certainly closer and easier to get to, but AA's LGB schedule isn't as flexible on rebookings as LAX.
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Old Jan 9, 2019, 7:52 am
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Originally Posted by IADCAflyer
The LA cruise terminal is on the far west side of the Port of Los Angeles - in San Pedro. Its actually not too much further from the port terminal to LAX (19.5 miles) than LGB (15.5) miles. Both trips can be miserable at times. You say your flight is 11:15? On a weekday or weekend? Fighting the 405 at 8:30 am will not be a pleasant experience. Nor is Century Blvd. On the other hand, the most direct route to LGB means going up the 710 which, depending on the day and cargo ship arrivals, can be jammed with trucks hauling containers.

LGB is certainly closer and easier to get to, but AA's LGB schedule isn't as flexible on rebookings as LAX.
Flight is weekend on Sunday. The cruise itinerary doesn't have us in port until 8:00 a.m. and I am not sure how quickly we would be able to be off of the ship. It sounds like we need to rethink 11:15 LAX.
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Old Jan 9, 2019, 7:56 am
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Originally Posted by thoward8111
Flight is weekend on Sunday. The cruise itinerary doesn't have us in port until 8:00 a.m. and I am not sure how quickly we would be able to be off of the ship. It sounds like we need to rethink 11:15 LAX.
Cruising disembarkations are always rolls of the dice. My experience is that cruise ships -usually- roll into port early (the last cruise I took into FLL diverted to respond to a mayday call from a fishing boat causing a 3 hour diversion but nobody was going to complain about responding to a mayday call). But depending on your disembarkation group, it could be a while before you get off. The good thing is that a Sunday works in your favor. Provided you're off the ship by 9:30, you should be OK I would think.
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Old Jan 9, 2019, 7:59 am
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Originally Posted by thoward8111
Flight is weekend on Sunday. The cruise itinerary doesn't have us in port until 8:00 a.m. and I am not sure how quickly we would be able to be off of the ship. It sounds like we need to rethink 11:15 LAX.
If you are in a taxi/uber by 9am, then on a Sunday morning barring something unusual you should be able to make it to LAX by 9:30-9:45.

If this is the only option that gets you home the same day then I would go for it. But if there is anything else leaving from LAX/LGB/SNA a little later then that would give you a little more cushion.
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Old Jan 9, 2019, 8:13 am
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Originally Posted by JJeffrey
If you are in a taxi/uber by 9am, then on a Sunday morning barring something unusual you should be able to make it to LAX by 9:30-9:45.

If this is the only option that gets you home the same day then I would go for it. But if there is anything else leaving from LAX/LGB/SNA a little later then that would give you a little more cushion.
Under the mileage award redemption, this is the only thing right now. There are definitely other revenue flights that I am hoping that if something happens we could be put on one of the later flights.

Thank you for feedback. Your comments make me feel a bit better as we would be able to disembark among the first groups of passengers. I will reach out to some private cars as well to see if we can get a better feel for transportation times.
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Old Jan 9, 2019, 8:39 am
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Though this is marginally about a specific airline because the OP is proposing flying on an airline award, it’s centered on the Los Angeles Cruise Port in San Pedro and it’s timely accessibility to regional airports. This thread is moving to the proper destination forum (leaving a durable trailing link so it can be searched for in the original forum).

Thank you,

Moderator


LAX is 20 miles via I-405, which generally can take 30-50 minutes or longer, depending entirely on day, time of day and, mostly, traffic conditions.

Illustrations:

Los Angeles: San Pedro and Long Beach cruise ports

Greater Los Angeles Area airports (major airports denoted by blue arrows) and cruise port location
Attached Images    

Last edited by JDiver; Jan 9, 2019 at 8:52 am
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Old Jan 9, 2019, 10:01 am
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There is no traffic on sunday morning (unless construction or crash or smth unusual)
looks like you have lax-san-clt option from lax , what are you considering from lgb?
also you may look into driving to san if departure from there is late enough...
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Old Jan 9, 2019, 10:15 am
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Originally Posted by thoward8111
Flight is weekend on Sunday. The cruise itinerary doesn't have us in port until 8:00 a.m. and I am not sure how quickly we would be able to be off of the ship. It sounds like we need to rethink 11:15 LAX.
Choose the self-disembarkation option if at all possible, and make sure you're at the self-disembarkation point at least 30 minutes before they tell you to be there.
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Old Jan 9, 2019, 10:16 am
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Originally Posted by azepine00
There is no traffic on sunday morning (unless construction or crash or smth unusual)
looks like you have lax-san-clt option from lax , what are you considering from lgb?
also you may look into driving to san if departure from there is late enough...
There in lies part of the problem there really isn't anything optimal for award travel from LGB, that does not require an overnight layover. The earliest flight out is: lax>den>clt leaving at 7:10. arriving at 6:29 a.m. Everything is too early or overnight.

Originally Posted by TribalistMeathead
Choose the self-disembarkation option if at all possible, and make sure you're at the self-disembarkation point at least 30 minutes before they tell you to be there.
We can do that. We are also have Suite priority disembarkation which I believe is right after self carry, but would try to self carry if luggage permits.

Last edited by TWA884; Jan 9, 2019 at 6:14 pm Reason: Merge consecutive posts by the same member; please use the multi-quote function
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Old Jan 9, 2019, 10:38 am
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Doing self disembarkation will resolve all your concerns.

Self disembarkation means that you don't leave your bags at the door the day before arrival.
You simply keep your bags with you and you will leave the boat first, you just have to drag your bags from your room all the way to the exit.
I have done this every time I've been on a cruise, and it is really no hassle with one large roller bag and backpack or small duffel per adult (no children).
You can be out waiting for your uber/taxi as early as 7AM in most cases if you do self desembarkation.

LGB is "better" as it is smaller, friendlier, less hectic. But flight options are not as plentiful as LAX.
In terms of driving time, it depends on traffic and time of the day. Traffic Sunday AM should not be too bad and LAX or LGB will both be 30 mins away.
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Old Jan 9, 2019, 10:49 am
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Originally Posted by thoward8111
We can do that. We are also have Suite priority disembarkation which I believe is right after self carry, but would try to self carry if luggage permits.
The advantage to self-carry is that you don't have to then try to locate your luggage at the cruise terminal. When we took QM2 to Southampton in 2017, we did self-disembarkation and were off the ship almost immediately after it arrived (though, in that case, we also benefited from clearing UK immigration on the ship during the crossing, and customs in the UK is much different than customs in the US).
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