10hr layover in LAX. What should I expect?

9 comments

1. Oh God, I hope LAX is not your introduction to the country. Please do not let that sad place represent the country or even just the city of LA.

   Depends on how long you get through lines, it is a short time to do anything specific in LA so research something accessible from the airport that you want to check out, you don’t have time to explore.

2. The roads/access points to LAX are a horrific nightmare. Bring a tablet and a pillow and find a seat and just wait.

3. Airports can be great! Scratch that, airports that aren’t LAX can be great!

4. LAX is pretty damn dull! It really has nothing much to do there at all (as in totally different then say Singapore or Bangkok) id say. Have a leisurely meal. Have your tablet & phone charged. Have a book. Have a pillow.
   You’ll cover shop briwsing easily in 2 hours …food 1 hour….that leaves you 7 hours to fill.
   I’ve spent 10 hours there….not great.

   There must be public showers somewhere. I never found them. But every time i go through Singapore i take a lovely shower.

5. (FYI – I’m an Aussie) An ESTA will allow you access to the country. And 10hrs is plenty of time to go to the beach and chill for a bit. Just don’t go too far away and you’ll be sweet. LAX is fine, but you’ll be going loco after being on a plane for 12 hours already.

6. Pray that there’s a bookstore. I’ve only ever seen one airport with one(a real bookstore, not just a traveler’s shop with a few generic thrillers for sale), but it was in San Francisco, which is pretty close to LAX(at least in comparison to most other American airports). That thing made my own long layover go by in an instant, although it wasn’t anywhere near 10(!) hours. Who knows, maybe America has dozens of different authors you’ve never heard of before? Or maybe it’s all the same, but now you finally have enough time to read that entire book without paying.

7. LAX music, that is constant, feels like you’re waiting to get a $90 men’s trim haircut at a douchey boutique.

   I used to make fun if LA but in a flight back from Anchorage to Tucson I had a layover.

   Yup. That’s LA

8. The USA has no concept of ‘airside transit’. Everyone in transit through the USA enters the country in the same way as any other visitor. It’s up to you whether you turn around immediately to re-enter the airport or go elsewhere in the country. The US authorities don’t care what you do in transit.

   LA is a large city with a huge mixture of people who know how to look after themselves and are difficult to upset. I suggest you worry more about yourself and less about them – not least because there are parts of LA that are not very safe for random tourists. LA gets a lot of tourists, so simply going about your business looking at things will upset no-one.

   LAX is not near many very interesting things, I’m afraid. If you can rent a car then your oppotunities widen considerably, or perhaps you could trust to Uber. By car, there are plenty of interesting museums and sites in the LA area. The La Brea tar pits are one unique site: a tar pit (literally) which trapped many prehistoric animals and which continues to be excavated today. This is next to the LA County museum of art, the Motion Picture Academy museum, and an automotive museum.

   There is a cluster of museums by the exposition park and the University of Southern California campus.

   There are several beaches near the airport. Whether you’ll find them up to par may depend on how good your local Australian beaches are.

   The In-n-Out burger place near the airport is as fine a specimen of current American fast food burger as you’re likely to find, so if you want to try that sort of food, do it there.

   Avoid some of the areas south and east of the airport, around Compton, as they have a high rate of personal violent crime.

   There is the option to stay at the airport, but LAX is not a very interesting airport and depending which terminal you are entering you may find your options very limited. Terminal 4, 5, and TBIT are connected airside and probably have the most interesting shops and amenities. Terminals 1,2,3 are separately also connected airside, and finally terminals 6 and 7 are also connected to each other. Therefore your options to do things are less than in a fully connected airport (like, say, DFW). The land-side environment and outside area of LAX is grim and I don’t recommend spending any time there at all.

9. You could leave the airport. I recommend if you do that just sleeping at a hotel adjacent to the airport. Because leaving and entering the country is a big ordeal, you should always plan for a lot of time. So I plan for 2 hours leaving the airport and 2 hours coming back. That will give you 6 hours to sleep or whatever. Actually, you should probably call your airline and ask them for advice on this. Also, there’s some food in LAX that is not so bad if you are looking for something to eat. Last time I was there, there was pretty good sushi. And you probably don’t have much access to Mexican in Australia or europe.