LAX Shuttle - please help!
 

Tomorrow (2/21) I will be flying TUS-LAX on United Shuttle, and then LAX-SJC on American.
Unfortunately, I will only have 30 minutes to make my connection at LAX - the United flight arrives at 7:40p, and the American flight departs at 8:10p. To make matters worse, I will be arriving into terminal 8 (terminal 7 on some maps) and departing from terminal 3, which are pretty much on the opposite ends of the airport.
So, what's my best chance to make that flight? Should I try running from terminal 8 to terminal 3? What about LAX Shuttle A? Does anyone know how often it runs, or if I should get on it on the upper or lower levels? Are shuttles B or C of any use here? I tried in vain to find a map or a timetable for these shuttles. Thanks!

Don't use B or C or you will end up going to a parking lot first!

I'd walk out of baggage claim, and if you see an A shuttle coming down the road, take it. Be sure you are standing in the correct spot (see signage) as they can only stop at specific locations. If you don't see one you can walk across to American, through the parking structures. It looks close, but allow about 10-15 minutes for the walk.

There are no timetables for the shuttles. They just run continuiously.

If time is really tight, I'd take a cab from baggage claim. You should be prepared for an extremely dirty look or even a protest however, as some of those cabs wait for hours in line for their turn at a pick-up, and this poor bloke would then have to get back in line after your extremely short haul and fare. And actually, I don't think this option would save you much time vs. walking.

Good Luck! And unless you can change your flights...you're going to need it!



[This message has been edited by PremEx (edited 02-20-2000).]

I'd be inclined to change my flight arrangements even though that might be a problem given how busy those routes are! Even without anything significant to carry, it can be a chore. Plus you don't even have your boarding pass for the AA flight since you are not checking through on the same airline or alliance. Plus since the flights are so busy, they may not leave on time as they are sorting out the standby list etc etc., although with the Sh*ttle I notice that they sometimes close the doors and leave sort of on time even when there are a few empty seats and hundreds of delayed, angry passengers waiting to board.

Even within the same terminal I always leave 45 minutes to account for the usual 5-15 minute late arrival, deplaning time etc etc.

I guess you can always hope that AA is late departing. At least AA has a later flight.

Good luck.

I am very familiar with LAX having flown in and out about 500 times. I would say that unless you are lucky, and traveling with virtually no luggage, your chances are not good to make this connection. (Can you get your AA boarding pass at your point of origin?) There is a fair amount of walking to get out of 7, into 3, and the distance around the airport is not insignificant. If you don't have any luggage you might want to walk from 7 back to 4 (regular AA terminal) then take the bridge to the parking lot, walk through the parking lot, and out the other bridge at 3. But you are talking about a 10-15 minute walk/run.

Thanks for everyone's advice! Unfortunately, if I take the later flight, I'll be stuck at SJC for the night, since the buses don't run that late. (I don't have a car) So, I'm still inclined to try my luck catching that flight.
Fortunately, I don't have any luggage.
When you say that the A Shuttle runs continuously, do you mean about every minute? every 5 min? every 10 min? That would make a lot of difference. Thanks again!

[This message has been edited by Darien-l (edited 02-20-2000).]

Sorry, no set pattern, though probably less in the wee hours of the morning. I've seen 'em come one right after the other and other times had to wait 20 minutes for one. And everything inbetween.

Note they only officially say "frequent."


[This message has been edited by PremEx (edited 02-20-2000).]

Excuse my ignorance, but I think TUS is Tuscon -- if so, AA has operations there and you should be able to get your boarding pass there (I did that once in Charlotte -- flying from CLT-LGA on US and LGA-PHX on AA).

--JIm