Facilities changes to United at LAX, including a new United Club
 

I'm a reporter covering Southern California aviation for the Los Angeles News Group. I learned recently that United Airlines seeks $400 million of upgrades at LAX. Here's my story.

http://www.insidesocal.com/aviation/...inal-upgrades/

Have a good news tip? Email me at [email protected]

It's about time. My only wish is that the new lounge keeps the FT guestbook in the copy/FedEx room.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...minal-7-a.html

Definitely a good move especially if it results in a new T7 UC on par with the new club at ORD.

If I'm reading correctly though basically United is putting up $34 million and the balance (some $379 million) is being covered by LAWA?

In all, United plans to invest about $413 million in improvements, mainly in Terminal 7. Los Angeles World Airports will pay for the bulk of upgrades through cash and rental credits. United will be on the hook for roughly $34 million for what are considering “proprietary” improvements.

Good on UA for getting that kind of support especially since they can (and are) marketing it as though they (United) are making $400m in improvements when in reality UA itself is only contributing $34m to the improvements.

I really hope they add showers at the LAX United Club.

Hopefully the new club is quite expansive considering the T6 club is closing. The T7 club now is a pretty good size but it still can be tough to even find a seat.

Well is the story that United is slow to catch up, or that LAWA management and operating methods in general are not conducive to it being a leading airport (customer experience-wise)?

It is good news, but I have to ask: when the heck is UA going to work with the MWAA to get a new midfield concourse at IAD? I know we're not the biggest hub, but our "temporary" dump of a terminal really needs to be replaced and made into a flagship for the new UA and the national capital region.

Amen. Any major Capex by UA should be going toward IAD first. And I don't even live in that timezone!

There is nothing odd about this...

IAH and SFO follow the same model.

The airport is the landlord, the airlines are just the tenant.

+1

The current LAX T6/7/8 is much more tolerable than the current IAD C/D.

Why they prioritized LAX over IAD for renovations confuses me.

Edit-- Oh, wait, now I see that LAWA is paying the bulk of this, not UA.

Brian -

Thanks for the post, appreciate it.

Please follow up with the results of next Tuesday's (9/10?) meeting!

"United’s plan must still be approved by the seven-member Los Angeles Airport Commission. It next meets on Tuesday."

Nail, meet hammer!
 

Snip:

“It’s a terminal in massive need of everything form aesthetic improvements to more substantive improvements to things that you can’t see under the walls,” said Henry Harteveldt, an airline industry analyst at Hudson Crossing in San Francisco. “It’s an old building.”

Amen!

“To an extent United is keeping up with the Jones’s,” Harteveldt said. “They are investing money because if the don’t their competitors will have better terminals to offer and better airport experiences to offer.”

Ah yes - the World's Leading Airline, always following. LOL

It's "The world's largest airline"...

Read more of Harteveldt's work, see what you think of him.

Good news to hear ^ and perhaps in my lifetime, IAD will follow suit ;) tho if I may be picky, the article is about United with United in the headline so why is there an Air Tahiti jet in the photo and only AA and DL visible in the background? ;)

I was wishing for an easel in T6 UC - never mind. Hopefully the new Club is at least as big as the 2 current clubs combined. And it would be cool if they could integrate the T7 UC ticket counter (the one with the tulip ends) as a historical piece.

Reading the full report linked from the article...and what's written here:

http://milecards.com/7071/new-lax-un...-size-in-2015/

Looks like the club will all be on a new floor built above the current club, but taking up the entire width of the concourse rather than just one side now. Should have some nice views and larger than both of today's clubs combined.

There will also be a new security area built at the gate level; no more snaking from that ground level sideways angle.

But no real changes to the rest of the terminal. Just the club, part of ticketing, and security checkpoint.

About time. I really detest flying from, to, or through LAX, and I go out of my way to avoid it. I'm not crazy about IAD, either, but I think LAX is worse (maybe because I end up flying there more often, in spite of my preferences).

^^ The answer, of course, is that UA faces competition at LAX, and it pretty much owns IAD, so it can treat its customers there like crap.

Hey, what do you expect for $400M? :)

I suspect that UA will help pay for some of the remaining $379 million through rental payments over the next few years. Perhaps not all of it, but LAWA doesn't have a magical pot of money from which it can spend almost $400 million. And the City of Los Angeles doesn't contribute tax monies to LAWA.

+1, but knowing the "New UA", the tulip counters will be tossed in the trash. :td:

I have it from a good source that the savings in trash bags covering urinals # 2 & #3 in the T-7 UC will cover the $400 million in about 2.3 years!

It would be a hundred-fold improvement if all they invested was $1,000 in exhaust fans to get rid of the McDonald's grease smell that wafts through T7

United planning $400 million in LAX upgrades
 

Self-serve soda machines please. Don't feel like stiffing the bartender for his 75% ice cube sodas.

I remember the renovations for the 1984 Olympics and the addition of the international arrivals and customs space.

Now, I hope that they some day decide to widen the hallways connecting T6 - T7, and T8 in order to add moving sidewalks. I can't believe that they have not done this already.

I hope that someday they decide to take a good look at reorganizing the T6 & T7 ticketing/check-in area to make it deeper, more unified, and more attractive.

Why tip the bartender for providing a drink which is unsatisfactory?

The other area that needs improvement is the connection between international arrivals in T6/7, and domestic connections. Currently, the arriving passengers who are connecting are dumped out in the arrivals section and have to find their own way to the departures section, with no effective signage and an escalator (unsigned) leading upstairs from which you have to double back (again, not properly signed) to reach the entrance to the security area.

Nice to hear but I wish LAX would spend some money on adding some moving sidewalks between terminals, the hike on a close connection is tough! Also I'd love to see better choices for food, LAX has about the worst selection of vendors, at least in T6 and T7!

I wish I would have known about the guestbook sooner. I guess I need to spend more time on FT!

Improving the connecting halls is part of the plan. And re-vamping the T7 ticketing lobby is part of it. But for some reason the T6 one is not part of the scope, maybe they will unify it all in the T7 section now that security will be removed from part of it.

T6 is already in decent shape (relative to T7). TSA security isn't cramped like T7's. Plus UA shares T6 w/ Alaska, so it gets a little complicated. UA controls T7, plus it's central to UA's 3 concourses.

I actually think LAX is fine for connections as it is, but improvements to compete w/ LAX's other tenants is OK w/ me.

Then there's Terminal 8, which reminds me of UA's IAD C

The improvements they could make for connections: moving walkways (at least in the hall at the base of the three terminals), and of course, something for the international-to-domestic connections (which if you're at all unfamiliar with LAX can be quite confusing, and inconvenient for those who are familiar).

True. about 25 years ago, when I was less familiar with airport, I took the shuttle bus from T7 to T6 :eek: At least I got to see the layout of the entire airport...

I miss Spago's in Terminal 7; that was good food and I always looked forward to eating there. And Terminal 6 is such a dump, I hate having to use that.

T-6 was remodeled in 2011/2012 at a cost of about $271m when Alaska moved from T-3 to T-6. About the only thing that wasn't touched was the PC/UC. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alask...nal-6-lax.html

And the escalator is not always working. On one memorable day I arrived from Sydney and the (well hidden and equally unsigned) elevator was under repair as well.

Intl to domestic transfers are the pits. There is no signage which can create a crowd of confused foreign visitors just as you exit customs. Frankly it is appalling and reminds me of MIA 10 years ago. Some things had no signs, some had English only, some English and Spanish, and some English/French/German/Japanese but not Spanish. The parking garages had directional signage but no rhyme or reason in their naming. The aprking areas were named after colors or fish or anything random. Dr Seuss would have had a ball. Elsewhere for international arrivals you had free cart service, but not at MIA.

Well, this thread explains what I saw Wednesday in the LAX GFL waiting for the PVG flight. A group of UA corporate "visitors" was welcomed into the lounge from departments like Real Estate, Facilities Maintenance and Architecture. They kept their voices low so despite my attempts to listen in, I just heard a few things. They discussed the need for changes, how out of date the lounge is and how poor the kitchen facility is considering that they are supposed to prepare a decent offering for UA's best passengers.

Later they discussed putting in work stations in the far left corner (as you are walking in) in front of the windows and using the natural light. That concerned me and after that I got the impression the lounge may close and be used for something else. I was starting to worry we may lose the lounge but after reading the proposal being put forward it all sounds good. The GLF will be co-located with the United Club on the new fourth floor and will enjoy better access to the gate level than the current situation of an elevator which primarily moves trash from the restaurants or UA's highest premium passengers.

So glad they are going to do some revamping at LAX, it could be so much nicer!

I was through there a couple of weeks ago and just LAUGHED when I saw this billboard exiting the train station at C. Nobody around me understood what I was going on about.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...312-dulles.jpg

Correct, though it sounds like they're just going to update the mechanical/HVAC and repaint it, not expand the space and put in moving sidewalks.
Yup...that is explicitly stated.
Correct. It will be 35,000sf, a huge expansion from the current ~12,000sf in T7. But it also has to cover for the T6 lounge which will eventually close and the GFL which will move to the new lounge space; the current GFL space will become offices.

Two security areas. One will be at the center of T7 on the departures level with 12 lanes.

http://boardingarea.wpengine.netdna-.../09/image1.png

The second will be at the T8 end of T7 on the ticketing level and running east/west rather than north/south. It will have 5 lanes and will be "exclusively" for T8 passengers, though the terminals will remain connected.

http://boardingarea.wpengine.netdna-.../09/image2.png

There will also be a GS lobby adjacent to that T8 checkpoint.

Amazing how little $400mm gets these days. ;)

Terminal 8 doesn't even deserve a number. It's the back closet of Terminal 7. It also has no edible food. At least IAD Terminal C has Wendy's!

My bad - meant LAX is fine for domestic connections. The walk between concourses isn't as bad as at some other airports since the tarmac alleys are narrow.