Straightening up so LAX can fly right

THE world's fifth busiest airport, long derided as shabby, antiquated and crowded, is reforming itself.

In the next year, the sprawling Los Angeles International Airport, which annually processes more than 60 million fliers, will reopen a runway and offer wireless Internet access, new airline lounges, kiosks with tourist information and a uniquely Los Angeles perk: a drive-through station where you can get a boarding pass and check your bags.

Most departing fliers still must schlep their luggage to giant X-ray machines in terminal lobbies. But by 2009 that should end too, thanks to a $577-million project that will start to tear down walls next year and move the machines behind ticket counters.

All of that is on top of improvements this year that included adding security screening lanes, renovating one of the airport's nine terminals and starting off-site luggage check-in and an express bus to downtown.

The changes are overdue at LAX, known for long lines, traffic jams and outdated facilities.

LAX ranked 19th of 22 of the world's biggest airports in a 2004 customer-satisfaction survey by J.D. Power & Associates, a marketing company in Westlake Village. Among the issues rated were cleanliness and wait times.

"We're not going to take it lying down anymore," LAX executive Paul Haney said in April.

As deputy executive director of airports and security, Haney helps lead an effort to improve travelers' satisfaction with LAX and improve its J.D. Power ranking.

The obstacles are formidable. LAX hasn't had a major makeover since it was spruced up for the 1984 Summer Olympics and the Tom Bradley International Terminal was built.

For more than a decade it has delayed modernizing while city officials debated a multibillion-dollar construction plan. After the latest version was shelved in January, airport executives began pursuing some projects piecemeal.

Rather than wait any longer for a master plan, "We're attacking the facilities we have [in order] to raise the customer experience out here," Haney said in an interview earlier this month.

Among the upgrades this year, many aimed at easing traffic congestion and other delays:

Streamlined security. Four security-screening lanes were added to Terminals 1, 2, 4 and 5, giving the airport 68 total. Private contractors now lift luggage, freeing Transportation Security Administration employees for screening.

LAX also opened a center to recruit and train TSA staff and airport police.

Valet parking. Available across from Terminal 6, convenient to Continental, United, Aeromexico and Copa airlines; and Terminal 4, convenient to carriers such as American, Delta and more than 30 airlines at the Bradley terminal. Cost: $8 plus the regular $30 daily charge for central terminal parking.

More wattage. AiRadio, at 530 AM, which gives updates on traffic and parking in and around LAX, can now be heard up to 10 miles away.

Remote check-in. A contractor at downtown's Union Station, the FlyAway Bus Service station in Van Nuys, the Los Angeles Convention Center and the Los Angeles World Cruise Center can issue boarding passes, tag bags and put them through security. You pick up your bags at your destination. Fees vary; 10 airlines are participating.

New bus. The Union Station FlyAway began running nonstop every 30 minutes between LAX terminals and Union Station in downtown L.A. The one-way adult fare is $3.

Terminal 3 makeover. This terminal was refurbished with repairs to its terrazzo floors, new carpeting, new lighting, ceiling work and renovated restrooms.

Among changes coming next year (all dates tentative):