18 year old with 7 hour wait at LAX - advice please

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MikeG

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Hi,

Our #1 son is headed over to the states to start college this year, and he has a 9+ hour wait at LAX for his connection to Kansas City.

I've done a little Googling and it looks like he can pay to get into Virgin America lounge with a $50 Alaska Airlines Daypass.

He is travelling economy on a Virgin Australia ticket from Sydney.

Does anyone have any other ideas and sneaky tricks he can try to get a rest and/or shower at LAX while he waits for his connecting flight?

This is his first overseas trip flying solo, so naturally I'm a little concerned about him, and want to ensure he is rested for his final leg...

Thanks in advance.

Mike.
 
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Note, I've seen the Alaska Air day pass, that might be useful in the Alaska Air Lounge, although its a far cry from Terminal 2...

Alaska Lounge is in Terminal 6 - do you think a day pass would allow access if he is departing from Terminal 2? The Alaska Air website says "any airline" but the loungebuddy review page says only for terminals B, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ... Does anyone have experience with this?
 
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Well an In & Out burger run has to be on the agenda. :)

Would it be worth him asking at the transfer desk if he can board an earlier flight?
He could, but then he has to wait around until 2230 at Kansas City Airport for a transfer, which has no lounge :) So I had hoped a long wait at LAX would be easier for him. He arrives at LAX at 0615 and departs at 1535 - so I was wrong, that's 9 1/2 hrs.
 
This may be useful for him:


As he MUST clear immigration and customs at LAX, and therefore be land side at LAX, he could do something for a few hours before returning to the terminal - but you may not want to encourage him in that regard :)

I put this thread together some years ago, before LAX was upgraded. Its actually not too bad these days - both arrivals and departures.


The In-and-out burger run seems the best option :)

Note re-entering the terminal at LAX will take some time. If checked all the way through, there is a bag drop facility after customs, on arrival. if he has to re-check in, go to the approriate terminal and check in. Queues can be long, and it will be via a kiosk, so he should have all documentation in hard copy for ease of use. Security wait times/ queues will be long.
 
Santa Monica for sure, and Venice Beach. That's a long layover - sitting in a lounge just not worth it really when you could be out enjoying the sun. Probably an In-and-Out up there as well.
 
Those Lime scooters are big on the Venice to Santa Monica stretch too - I'd be sorting that out, registering online and orchestrating your own scooter-tour.
 
Great ideas... I will ask him about that.

So if he leaves the terminal, he has to collect his luggage? He is ticketed on Virgin Aus all the way to Kansas, so won't they just keep the bags in the terminal? Sorry if I'm naiive on this point, as I've never done this.
 
Ah I just realized, you need to collect luggage to go through customs - duh!
 
Hi,

Our #1 son is headed over to the states to start college this year, and he has a 9+ hour wait at LAX for his connection to Kansas City.

I've done a little Googling and it looks like he can pay to get into Virgin America lounge with a $50 Alaska Airlines Daypass.

He is travelling economy on a Virgin Australia ticket from Sydney.

Does anyone have any other ideas and sneaky tricks he can try to get a rest and/or shower at LAX while he waits for his connecting flight?

This is his first overseas trip flying solo, so naturally I'm a little concerned about him, and want to ensure he is rested for his final leg...

Thanks in advance.

Mike.

Congrats on your son's college admission and his first overseas trip :)

I'd vote for a drive down to the beach and burgers :)

Let us know how he goes. Good luck to him
 
Ditto for down to the beach. 9.5 hrs is a long time at an airport.

I'm assuming someone who's embarking on overseas study is not going to be phased by working out public transport and taking it (or Uber). But if he is, or if the hand luggage is too onerous, then the other option could be day use of hotel room, a number of hotels (with shuttles) offer day use of rooms at LAX, from what I understand. Albeit will cost a bit.
 
Keep in mind the legal drinking age in States is 21. I recall somewhere that age requirements for Lounge access where self-serve bars are available may be different in States... can anyone else confirm?

You could book a day pass at a local hotel, and have access to bed and shower. I did this a few years back when my Status run didn't start until 10pm after arriving at 8am. I also hired a car and went for a drive to Venice Beach, along with the mandatory In-and-Out Burger run.
 
If he's flying out of T2 with Delta (or one of their partners), he can get a day pass for the Delta Sky Club (showers, food, drinks). Also, you may be able to find a Sky Pass on eBay if you're lucky.
 
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I recently did a QF arrival into LAX @ around 7.00am ish and got a shuttle to Santa Monica. Peak hour traffic it took around 70 mins for the journey. Don't bother going to Venice beach until mid afternoon unless all you want to see are the homeless walking along and "poohing" themselfs and fighting amongst each other. IMHO Venice beach is cough. If you go down to Santa Monica anytime before about 2.00pm then its pretty quiet and boring.

After about a dozen days spent in and around LAX on different trips my opinion is to just find anything local, ie walk to in/out burger or a decent burger over the road at the Melody bar (high recommended by me).

Lastly, last trip got a day room at the Crowne Plaza from 8.00am for $USD 80
 
Assuming he won't be too tired as an 18 yo boy can sleep anywhere, even in Y SYD-LAX. I'd be catching the shuttle to the beach especially as it's his first visit. Go see the preeners at Muscle Beach and have a stroll along the beach front.

Hi,

Our #1 son is headed over to the states to start college this year, and he has a 9+ hour wait at LAX for his connection to Kansas City.

I've done a little Googling and it looks like he can pay to get into Virgin America lounge with a $50 Alaska Airlines Daypass.

He is travelling economy on a Virgin Australia ticket from Sydney.

Does anyone have any other ideas and sneaky tricks he can try to get a rest and/or shower at LAX while he waits for his connecting flight?

This is his first overseas trip flying solo, so naturally I'm a little concerned about him, and want to ensure he is rested for his final leg...

Thanks in advance.

Mike.
 
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