2 people in car can use the carpool lane almost all the way to the airport....

But if you do start moving to the right hand lane around Inglewood ave -Roscrans as there is no direct link from the 405 carpool lane to the 105 freeway carpool lane.....this is 3-4 miles from the airport

Rally

I hope you're not referring to Monday, May 30th, Memorial Day; Monday, July 4th, Independence Day; or Monday, Sept 5th, Labor Day. If in fact you are, then allow more time as the roads to & from the airports can get a little messy.

We've got a wedding at lake arrowhead in august. Flying in from BWI; they have suggested ONT as the best airport for flights. We are, however visiting friends in Westlake village before hand who have recommended BUR.

So here's the deal. We need to be in westlake village from Wed to Fri and Lake arrowhead from Fri to Sun.

We will be renting a car as well. Any thoughts about airport? would LAX be horribly inconvenient for these two locations? The flights are better (more convenient) to BWI and we would avoid the one way car rental. Any thoughts? Sorry this is a bit convoluted but thanks.

FDW

If you have to go to Westlake Village I would definitely go through LAX.

i have to go to Westlake Village... is it that bad? They used to live on Manhattan beach.. ahh that was convenient...

LAX it is.. Looking at a 1:09 PM arrival into LAX... between claiming luggage/renting a car etc how long should I figure it'll take me to get to Westlake (and what's the best route?)

Thanks
FDW

I don't know anything about Westlake Village other than it is in the valley. I use to live in the South Bay too...I live in DTLA now.

Any chance you can do a multi-city, fly into BUR and then leave out of ONT? What time would you have to be at LAX on Sunday if you're coming from the Lake Arrowhead area?

On a Friday afternoon, for routing from LAX to Westlake Village I would suggest N/B Lincoln Blvd. through Marina Del Rey, Venice, and Santa Monica. Go 10 West that will dump you right on Pacific Coast Hwy (PCH). Go N/B on PCH to Malibu Canyon Rd. (Pepperdine College area) then over Malibu Cyn Rd. to the 101 and out to Westlake Village. I don't think that by the time you arrive at 1:15ish, get luggage, car, etc, that you would have any hope of beating the afternoon traffic N/B 405 to 101. Just a guess but you're probably looking at about 2 hours driving time.

The difference between Lake Arrowhead to LAX and Lake Arrowhead to BUR is only about 9 miles. Even in traffic, it's such a small difference that you can consider them basically the same point from Lake Arrowhead.

The difference between LAX to Westlake Village and BUR to Westlake Village is only about 10 miles. BUR is slightly more convenient but LAX is certainly not an unreasonably further distance. Also, the least indirect way from BUR to Westlake Village involves some surface streets through North Hollywood, so while the 405 can get notoriously crowded around the interchange with the 101 (where you'd be switching to the 101), IMHO, it's pretty much a wash time-wise.

So, for your airport-to-friends'-house and wedding-to-airport drives, BUR vs. LAX is really a non-issue. The bigger issue is Lake Arrowhead to anything other than ONT.

Be sure you realize that Lake Arrowhead to either BUR or LAX is about a 90-mile drive through the heart of the Los Angeles basin. Without traffic, you're looking at a 90-minute drive (or if you're not a Southern California speeder like me, maybe 100 minutes ), and with traffic, you could be approaching three hours of drive-time.

ONT, on the other hand, is less than an hour from Lake Arrowhead--with or without traffic. (The time is spent mostly on winding mountain roads, and once you hit the freeway, it's smooth sailing; there's not a ton of traffic on the 210 or the 15--at least not enough to significantly slow you down.)

Given that, I'd suggest reconsidering ONT as your departure airport. Check one-way rental rates; some companies offer decent deals for inter-airport drops in the Los Angeles basin.

And if one-way rates are a major factor, I'd actually consider flying both into and out of ONT. It's only about another half hour farther to go from ONT to Westlake Village than LAX to Westlake Village (given traffic, of course), and you'd save a ton of time on your return.

At 1-2 pm both LAX and BUR are OK to get to Westlake village. After 3 pm I strongly suggest BUR as 405 turns into 4-5 lanes of parking for miles and miles. The suggested Lincoln/PCH alternative usually saves a bit of time and it is definitely more scenic but still pretty slow. From BUR you can take 5 and 118 and usually bypass most mess pretty much at any hour or just take 101 when traffic is OK. I live near WV and get to deal with those options from time to time.

Lake arrowhead is on the other end of LA so make sure you drive there midday to avoid traffic (no later than 1-2 pm on friday). From westlake village it's a straight line on 101/134/210 and then some local roads.
Sunday return to LAX or BUR should be OK but if you can fly back from ONT it will definitely save you time.

thanks for the info everyone. I appreciate it..
We decided to go LAX because flights were more convenient...
It means a 1 PM arrival at LAX vs a 5 PM arrival at BUR
and the return is non-stop Sunday morning from LAX leaving at 10 AM...

Plus, no one way rental (and I get to use National's exec selection @ LAX)

Thanks for all the info.. now one of the priorites will be In/Out burgers...

FDW

Don't waste your time on that near LAX - traffic gets progressively worse after 2 pm. There are in'n'outs in thousand oaks area.

For people visiting LA on the weekend of July 15-17, you are in for a world of hurt!

I-405 closure means you won't be able to get anywhere as traffic impact will spill over to all other freeway and main roads. Sorry... but at least the subway rides will be free.

http://thesource.metro.net/2011/06/0...-pass-closure/

http://thesource.metro.net/2011/06/0...of-july-16-17/

I-405 will open again 5 AM July 18 so if you have to catch a flight at LAX anytime between July 15 and July 18, plan on adding another hour or two for travel to/from LAX.

Either leave Lake Arrowhead VERY early or Priceline a night at a hotel near LAX for the night before. You're driving through the heart of the L.A. basin, which is not pretty during rush hour.

That said, I'm assuming you're going to aim to be to the airport by 8:00 or so, and by the time rush hour starts, you should be well clear of the 10 or the 210, which would be the worst parts of your journey. I'm not as sure of the traffic patterns on the 605, but once you're on the 105, you should be better even if you're still there when rush hour starts.

There's a Five Guys in TO, too, but somehow I think that's less special to the OP, given he's from MD.

Hmm. Wonder if this will get Angelenos out of their cars and on to public transportation. But given that the subway is pretty much useless for the affected area (the 405 corridor), probably not.

Question of my own:

Friend and fellow FlyerTalker (who is asleep right now, hence why I'm posting this for her) is doing a mileage run which involves flying into LGB at about 6pm tonight and departing out of LAX the next morning around 10am.

This is a mileage run, and every additional dollar makes it that much closer to not being worth doing at all, so she's trying to get from LGB to the LAX area (she's staying near LAX) that night as cheaply as possible...while also being safe. Cheap means public transportation (no shuttles--that would make it not worth doing the MR), and safe means safe at that time of the evening (leaving LGB by 7 or 8pm).

It looks like there are a few options.

The one that looks most preferable to me is this one:

Long Beach Transit bus 112 goes from LGB to downtown Long Beach. There, it connects to MTA bus 232, which goes up the PCH to LAX. I'm not nearly as familiar with the South Bay as I am the Valley, but I would expect this route to be perfectly safe.

A similarly safe option would be bus 112 to downtown Long Beach, then switching to the Blue Line and then Green Line.

Some other options I see on Google Transit that I'd like comment on, though:

• Long Beach Transit bus 112, connecting to MTA bus 266 in Lakewood, connecting to the Green Line at Lakewood station
• Long Beach Transit bus 101 or 102, connecting to the Blue Line at Willow station (then Green Line to LAX, which I know is fine)

I'm not as familiar with what parts of Long Beach are safe (is the Willow stop in an OK area?) and whether the area around Lakewood and Candlewood in Lakewood is OK to get off of one bus and get on another. (I'd guess so, though, given that Lakewood seems to be an OK area and the bus stop is right at the corner of the Lakewood Center mall (Target, Macy's, etc.).

Oh, there's also one other option that would be the most convenient but I probably wouldn't recommend: LBT 112 (or 101/102, if that's safe) to the Blue Line to 103rd/Graham (Watts), connecting to MTA bus 117, which drops her off right in front of where she's staying near the Hollywood Park. But given that the connection is in Watts at 10:30pm...I'd advise against that.

Open to any other ideas that aren't more than maybe $10...