What a shit hole LAX is...

[elderado]

Had to transit at Los Angeles airport (LAX) today on my way back from a trip to Asia back to my home in Canada. After having been on this trip to Narita, Haneda (both airports in Japan) and Incheon in South Korea I have to say LAX is a real third world shithole in comparison.

To start with in any other local neither a visa/travel authorization is needed when just staying in the transit lounge to wait for a connecting flight. In the US they make everyone get through immigration (even I had no intent nor interest whatsoever to set foot into the US) then had to fetch bags at customs, which is super weird given that my travel did not terminate in the US. I was literally just waiting 3 hours for my connecting flight.

The icing on the cake is that I had to change terminals and had to walk, no terminal connecting shuttle bus, no train, nothing. You literally have to walk from one terminal to the next and all that outside. For weird reasons lax decided they need 7 terminals plus a "B" terminal. No other airport in Asia which handles similar or larger passenger volume has that many terminals.

Inside the terminals at LAX an utter chaos as if one just landed in Bogota. Disgusting and outdated restrooms, the food service offering is mediocre at best.

American city planners really should travel more and learn from concepts in Asia and Europe. Infrastructure in the US seems to be at the brink of collapse.

You're not kidding. I was there 2 days ago. the "B" Terminal (don't know when they named it) is actually the Tom Bradley terminal - used to be called the international terminal but they renamed it for some IDIOTIC reason for a former mayor who sucked at his job (if you consider the overall quality of life in LA during his mayorhood). You noticed all the construction? I said out loud they have been "working on" improvements to LAX for probably 70 or 80 years and IT NEVER GETS BETTER! Just different. It's a mess. There really isn't any incentive for them to get it right. People will just continue to complain and suffer and they still won't care. Ugh.

 

[mervyn]

You are right about LAX, still the same TSA, never change.

Just flew the redeye home, 30 minutes line in front of the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf to get a $5 coffee. It is a human zoo, big and small animals.

 

[LacesOut]

LAX is a disgusting shithole. Every time I go back home I’m astounded at how shitty LA has gotten. It’s still amazing! But fuck it used to be so much better.