Handling the Ins and Outs at LAX Without a Headache : Once You Know the Secret, It’s Easier to Cope With Traffic, Parking at the Third-Busiest U.S. Airport

“Can you pick me up at LAX?”

Many Angelenos rate those words on the stress scale just slightly above going to the dentist or visiting the IRS auditor. Add Thanksgiving arrivals and departures--and you have an instant Excedrin vision of cars, buses, vans, limousines, passengers, passengers’ bags and passengers’ relatives, all jockeying for position as blood pressures rise and horns blare.

Even the 1984 completion of an extensive $700-million renovation project, which turned Los Angeles International Airport into a more manageable two-level facility, hasn’t turned picking up Aunt Blythe into a picnic.

Where They Begin and End

“This is what is called an origin/destination airport,” explained Lee Nichols, a spokesman for the City of Los Angeles Department of Airports. “That means that 75% to 80% of the passengers that come through here either begin or end their flights here, rather than make connections to somewhere else.”

However, there is insider information to be had. Frequent flyers, airport officials, skycaps, taxi drivers and police all have their theories for getting in and out of the world’s third-busiest air travel center without (1) getting stuck in traffic, (2) having apoplexy in the parking lot or (3) missing the plane or the arriving relatives. What follows is a distillation of the best of their advice.

GETTING THERE For many travelers, this is the worst part. Traffic approaching the airport on the San Diego Freeway can be agonizingly slow, the closer you get. And at peak holiday hours, it can take 45 minutes to travel the few blocks of Century Boulevard from the San Diego Freeway to the airport entrance.

The safety valve, said Los Angeles Police Officer Jim Dahl, who works at the LAPD substation at LAX, is Sepulveda Boulevard. Consistently less crowded than Century, Sepulveda runs north and south and borders the airport loop on the east. For those approaching the airport from the south on the San Diego Freeway, Dahl suggests exiting at Imperial Highway and driving west to Sepulveda. For those coming from the north, he suggests exits at Sepulveda, La Tijera or Manchester boulevards (La Tijera and Manchester eventually intersect Sepulveda).

Also, Dahl said, while there are overpass ramps connecting Sepulveda to the airport loop, “probably the best way to get into the airport from Sepulveda is on 96th Street.” The short 96th Street is parallel to and just north of Century Boulevard. Not a lot of people know, but it hooks neatly into the airport loop just next to Terminal 1.

Once in the loop, Dahl offers another tip for picking up passengers: “If you’re going to meet somebody and they don’t have any baggage to claim, the secret is to park on the upper level rather than on the lower level.”

The upper level of the airport is designated for departing passengers, the lower level for arrivals. “People don’t know that they can park up there,” Dahl said, “and they tend to crowd into the lower levels.” But passengers without heavy luggage often find it just as easy to exit on the less crowded upper level.

For those who want to avoid the vehicular madness altogether (or view it from somewhere other than behind a steering wheel), a variety of public transportation serves LAX.

The heyday of public transportation at LAX was during the months of heavy construction prior to June, 1984. Today most passengers arrive by car, although extensive public transportation remains.

Buses--A private company called the Airport Bus Service serves LAX from Los Angeles, Hollywood, Beverly Hills/Century City, the Wilshire District, Orange County, Long Beach, Pasadena and Universal City. Airport Bus of Bakersfield serves that city. FlyAway Bus, another private bus company, connects LAX with West Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. Fun Bus travels to and from Anaheim. Great American Stageline runs to and from Woodland Hills, Westlake Village and Ventura County. Sims Executive Airport Shuttle serves Los Angeles and the USC area and Santa Monica. Information and tickets for many of the lines are available at sidewalk booths in front of the terminals or call for schedules using your telephone directory.

Public city bus service to and from the airport is also available on Culver City Bus Lines, Norwalk Transit, Santa Monica Municipal Bus Lines and Los Angeles RTD. Call those offices for their schedules.

Door-to-door transportation services--There are 10 private carriers, serving different areas of Southern California, that will pick you up at your home and drive you directly to LAX. They include Airport Coach, Airport Stage Lines, Airport Transportation, Corjen Transportation, Green Flag Airport Express, Santa Barbara Airbus, Sims Executive Van Service, Stagecoach, Sunworld Airport Van Service and Super Shuttle. Consult your telephone directory; services are summoned by phone much like a taxi. At LAX, many of these companies have direct phone lines on display panels in baggage claim areas.

Rates charged by these companies depend on the distance traveled and the number of persons in the vehicle, but they are generally cheaper than taxis. Mike Dalton, vice president of operations for Super Shuttle, said a typical Super Shuttle fare from Beverly Hills to LAX would be $15 compared to a $20 or more estimated cab fare.

However, he added, the door-to-door transportation services often do not respond to a call as quickly as taxis. Make reservations with the transportation companies in advance.

Recorded information regarding ground transportation between most Southland areas and LAX, as well as about airport parking facilities, is available by calling (818) A-I-R-P-O-R-T. Information on the current location of airlines is available at (213) 646-5252.

Frequency 530 on your AM car radio (on the far left of the dial) is the place to turn while driving to LAX for information on parking and a list of airline locations. It’s a weak signal, however, and extends only as far as Rosecrans Avenue at the San Diego Freeway to the south, the San Diego/Santa Monica Freeway interchange to the north, and the airport approaches on Sepulveda, La Tijera, Manchester and Airport boulevards.

PARKING

There are two basic types of parking areas at LAX: the 54-acre central terminal parking area and the peripheral parking lots.

Many people don’t know about the peripheral lots or don’t consider parking there because they feel the lots are too far away from the airport. But, according to Nichols, veteran fliers and flight crew members use the peripheral lots (when they’re leaving their cars at the airport) and save both money and time.

The two peripheral lots are Lot B (located on 111th Street between Aviation and La Cienega Boulevards) and the closer-in Lot C (at 96th Street and Sepulveda Boulevard). For the handicapped, lot C is accessible by a wheelchair lift-equipped minibus.

Free blue-and-green striped “B” and “C” shuttle buses leave from each lot for the central terminal area about every 10 minutes, 24 hours a day--and let passengers off on the upper airport level. (“A” shuttle buses make the rounds between terminals, stopping at the lower level islands in front of each.)

If you’re going away for Thanksgiving and want to leave your car at the airport, parking at the peripheral lots is cheaper than at the central terminal. In Lots B and C, parking is free for the first two hours and costs 50 cents for each additional two hours. The daily (24-hour) maximum rate is $3 in Lot B, $4 in Lot C. Parking at the Imperial Terminal is 50 cents for each two hours with a daily maximum rate of $5.

In the central terminal area, parking costs $1 each hour, with a $10 maximum daily rate. Metered parking is available opposite Terminals 4 and 7 at 25 cents per 15 minutes (one-hour maximum).

If you’re parked in the passenger loading zone in front of a terminal and trying to look temporary, the rule of thumb is: don’t leave your car. The “immediate loading and unloading” part of that repetitious tape recording is serious and airport police may hold the record for swiftness.

GETTING IN At holiday time the terminals can be the pedestrian equivalent of Century Boulevard. Planning is the key.

Number one is to have your seat preassigned and your ticket out and visible. Then, said Western Airlines senior customer service representative Bill Baker, “you can check your bag with a skycap, go directly to the boarding gate and you’ve eliminated 65% to 70% of your work.”

Western senior customer service representative Emilio Villaverde figures “an average of 30% of our passengers arrive here at the airport without tickets.” Skycaps cannot check baggage through at curbside unless the passenger shows a ticket.

The rule of thumb for tipping a skycap, according to Villaverde: $1 per bag. Also, a lot of planes these days don’t have room for passengers and 15 gaily wrapped packages. Airline personnel recommend either you pack presents in your checked luggage or leave home without them.

At holiday time, said Baker and Villaverde, it’s doubly important to arrive early. Airlines, they said, routinely overbook and latecomers can be bumped off a flight, even with a reservation.

Recommended check-in times: one hour before departure for domestic flights, two hours before departure for international flights.

TROUBLE People lose things in airports--bags, umbrellas, cars and children. Lost items and people are probably the most common forms of airport trouble, said Sgt. L.W. Valentine of the Airport Police. Each airline has its own lost and found department in individual terminals, Valentine said, as does the Airport Police in Terminal 8. If an item cannot be connected with a particular airline (such as a bag without an airline baggage tag), it is taken to the Airport Police lost and found, where it may be retrieved.

Lost and found inquiries should be made to individual airlines or by phoning (213) 646-2260.

When a child is lost, said Valentine, “we usually go to the (nearest) airline with the child and ask if anyone has reported a lost child. If we can’t locate the parents on the public address system, we take children to the LAPD substation and then, if it goes that far, turn them over to juvenile authorities. But 9 out of 10 cases don’t go that far.”

(The LAPD airport substation is located in a quonset-type building in the central terminal area adjacent to the Theme Building.)

To have someone paged, contact an airline passenger service representative in any terminal or pick up a white courtesy telephone, located throughout each terminal and request a page. Each airline operates its own paging system.

In a medical emergency, the nearest facility is a new airport hospital located at Sepulveda Boulevard and 96th Street. A branch of Inglewood’s Centinela Hospital, it is staffed by physicians who can handle emergency cases and even perform operations if necessary, Valentine said.

A smaller medical facility is located in the Bradley Terminal at the far end of the airport loop. Staffed by a registered nurse and two medical technicians, the facility is designed to handle lesser medical problems, but can give initial treatment to victims of heart attacks. They offer free blood presure checks.

Both facilities work in conjunction with city paramedics, Valentine said, and both charge for services.

One airport organization that offers directions, aid and referrals free of charge--and that is often overlooked by passengers--is Traveler’s Aid. Traveler’s Aid desks are located on the arrival level of every terminal and the volunteer workers can provide a wide range of information from airport directions to phone numbers of public agencies that aid transients. In emergencies, they will also help find lost persons or contact family members or friends in the Southern California area.

Valentine said bona fide emergencies--such as fire, serious injury, auto accident, or if a person witnesses a crime or a person leaving a suspicious package or bag and walking away--should be reported directly to uniformed Airport Police officers on duty in the terminals or to the police office at 646-4268. The officers’ uniforms are nearly identical to those worn by the LAPD.

But the emergency phone number should be used only for that purpose.

“We get a lot of people who call and want to know when the flight from Chicago gets in,” he said wearily.