LAX Immigration time?

[Nickyboy]

Flying to Los Angeles at the end of September, our flight doesn't land till 19:45 so trying to figure the best time to book the rental car for. I've been told 2 hrs to get through Immigration etc, is this a reasonable estimate?

Many thank you's.

[davepoth]

You need to check the arrival schedule. If your plane is the only one that'll be arriving within half and hour then it'll be quite fast, if not it may take longer.

[Nickyboy]

Good point, i know from looking at flights most from the UK at least land in the afternoon

[Crafty_]

Its going to depend on how busy it is. If you get a bunch of flights all landing at the same time it'll be busy..

From memory I don't think its ever taken me any more than 30 mins to get through security at LAX, JFK, SAN or MCO.

[audidoody]

Strongly recommend an overnight stay at a LAX hotel and picking your car up next morning. Jet lag and car hire are a bad combination.

[Nickyboy]

We are staying overnight, just collecting the car and driving straight to the hotel which is about 10 mins away. Would prefer the extra time in bed in the morning than going to collect the car then as we're heading the opposite direction.

[BigS]

Is that the Air New Zealand flight from Heathrow?
I went on it in June 2010 and I think it took about 1.5 hours to get through

[Nickyboy]

Yes Air NZ, only 2 other flights arrive around the same time. Where is immigration? I'm assuming as you leave the terminal you land at before entering the main part of the airport? We'll be arriving at T2

[Highrisedrifter]

I go through LAX two/three times a month and it varies between 30mins absolute minimum to over two hours if other planes are landing at the same time.

If you are first off the plane you can be relatively quick through. If you are last off then expect longer, but that's obvious really. I mention it though as you can pre-book seats and knowing which order they disembark passengers could influence which seats you choose or which class you buy.

I normally fly Virgin so can't comment on Air NZ.

Have a great time there though

[YRRunner]

audidoody said:

Strongly recommend an overnight stay at a LAX hotel and picking your car up next morning. Jet lag and car hire are a bad combination.

I strongly agree with the above. Taxi to hotel. You could even ask the rental car company to deliver the car to your hotel. Friends of mine landed at the same time, picked up the hire car after 1 3/4 hours in immigration, it was dark and they were given a crap map on a piece of A4 paper. Within a few minutes they'd made a wrong turn and found themselves in the middle of south central... Not the place to be after dark! They were lucky to make it out alive.

[Nickyboy]

Thanks for the advice, we're staying about 5 miles from LAX as it was cheap only for the overnight. I'm good with directions even in foreign countries and the hotel is only 200yds off I105 although if we can get a cheap last min room at the airport then we will change it.

[BigS]

Nickyboy said:

Yes Air NZ, only 2 other flights arrive around the same time. Where is immigration? I'm assuming as you leave the terminal you land at before entering the main part of the airport? We'll be arriving at T2

The terminals are seperate from each other so there is no main part of the airport as such.
From memory I remember there being a walk down a corridor some point along which those carrying on to Auckland split off and we carried on into the imigration area which then leads straight through into the baggage claim, from there you go straight out through their version of the Customs red and green channels and out to the loop road where the shuttle busses for the hotels and car hire places pick up from.

[Flying Toilet]

Just out of interest what hotel are you staying at? I have a similar flight in December and was looking for recommendations for local but decent hotels. Been looking at Manhattan Beach area as its only a few miles away but a decent area.

[Nickyboy]

Was staying in Lynwood but after reviewing the neighbourhood we've changed to the Hilton Garden Inn for £33 each.

[moles]

Did that flight in October and took 1 hr to get through.

[Nickyboy]

moles said:

Did that flight in October and took 1 hr to get through.

How busy was the flight out of interest?

[steveo3002]

id say around an hour or so

thing is when are you due back at the airport for the trip home , car hire will be 24hr slots so judge it by that , the clock starts when they print out your papers not by what time you ask for

its a short bis ride to any car rental depo , so maybe put down 1.5 hrs after arrival ..they wont be stood there foot tapping waiting

[Nickyboy]

steveo3002 said:

id say around an hour or so

thing is when are you due back at the airport for the trip home , car hire will be 24hr slots so judge it by that , the clock starts when they print out your papers not by what time you ask for

its a short bis ride to any car rental depo , so maybe put down 1.5 hrs after arrival ..they wont be stood there foot tapping waiting

Ive booked it for 2hrs after arrival time so 21:45, gives us plenty of time and its no drama if we're late. We've only got the car till the following day as we're collecting a motorhome at midday. We could have used public transport but for £30 for the car between 4 of us it wasn't worth the hassle.

[Dick Dastardly]

Crafty_ said:

From memory I don't think its ever taken me any more than 30 mins to get through security at LAX, JFK, SAN or MCO.

I was at JFK a fortnight ago and it took over 2 hours. They only had about 8 people working there for two planes full of people. Very annoying.

[mike80]

Same for us a few weeks ago at JFK, close to 2 hours for pretty much one flight. I don't think the driver picking us up was too impressed - neither was my wife!