Agree with TBS Manhattan Beach is very nice and worth a visit if you've never been.

Otherwise the obvious suggestion is for you to head to Santa Monica, which will easily keep you occupied for the duration of your stopover. Head back to LAX via a stop at the In-N-Out.

I would second the recommendation on manhattan beach. There is a starbucks at the corner of manhattan beach blvd and manhattan ave if you want a quick fix and a peets coffee up the block from there if you want something more 'local'. I am not sure when brunch starts at the strand house but thats on manhattan beach blvd and you can eat overlooking the beach which is my favorite.

shouldn't be more than a 10-15 minute taxi ride from LAX so very easy to get in and out of.

Hi,

I have done the AA 757 from KOA to LAX ( arriving at 0500 or so). The seats are not the best.

from KOA they serve a small pizza as part of a quick meal

I was able to doze for several hours ( it is not the best sleep) but I tried to avoid coffee and alcohol for several hours before the flight and used eye shades and ear plus and tried to doze as soon as the meal service was done.

On the flights back to LHR ( once from BOS once from IAH ) I crashed out soon after the meal service and got a reasonable sleep

Regards

TBS

There are free trolley buses from the airport hotels to Manhatten Beach. In'n'Out is worth a trip, if your in to that sort of thing.

Breakfast at Four Daughters. You won't regret it.

Thanks all for your reply and tips! :)
So you all think it's pretty do-able and realistic then? I'd imagine we would get out of the terminal at about 7.30 latest, and I'd like to be back at the airport no later than 1pm, and head to the lounge if there' still time to kill.

This thread has been moved to the Los Angeles forum.

Prospero
Moderator: BA forum

Santa Monica would be tough and there would be a lot between you and the airport to get back but Manhattan Beach is the first beachside town south of LAX so a lot easier to get to and you can get back to LAX without needing a highway so the timing is far more predictable. You could even, if you really wanted to, hit the in-n-out burger on the way back though it doesn't do much for me.

If you can get into the Flagship lounge @ LAX I think thats one of the best AA lounges in the network otherwise I wouldn't come back too early

The OW F lounge is now open.

And there's an Umami Burger in TBIT.. completely different than In-n-Out and pricy, but oh so delicious (at least the ones outside the airport).

The Kettle is open 24 hours... you can get breakfast there no problem.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-kettle-manhattan-beach

Thanks all! Not too bothered about the burger at In and Out, care more for the view :)

There is no need to take the freeways between LAX and Santa Monica. Just take Lincoln Blvd. There is a city bus that runs between the LAX transportation center and Santa Monica every fifteen minutes.

But that's a lot of surface streets. LAC to Santa Monica involves passing Marina del Rey and Venice. Manhattan Beach is right around the corner and, in my opinion experience, has far fewer tourists.

Manhattan Beach is roughly 5 miles away, Santa Monica is roughly 9 miles. To get to Manhattan Beach you're still passing through El Segundo, so it's not quite right around the corner, but it's not that far either.

Also, passing through Marina Del Rey and Venice is not usually that bad.

It really depends on what experience you want. Santa Monica has more on it's pier (including a small amusement park), and a much larger shopping area. Manhattan Beach is also nice, but smaller.

Two points.

First, I have driven on Lincoln between LAX and Santa Monica more times than I can count. In my experience, Lincoln is at least as fast and often faster than taking the freeway; the latter route is considerably longer and often more congested.

Secondly, I didn't try to persuade the OP one way or another, I just responded to your inference that one needs to take the "highway" between the airport and Santa Monica.