Flight Connections at Los Angeles (LAX) Airport

It’s fun to think about these situations even if they don’t come to fruition for a trip in 3 weeks! I’ve flown in and out and through LAX many times. I usually walk between terminals if connecting, it can be faster than taking the bus as it stops for each terminal. Getting from terminal 4-6 should be a brisk 5 minute walk after exiting terminal 4. The problem I see with a 67 minute connection would be that you’d have to go through security at terminal 6 and your international flight from terminal 6 (not Tom Bradley?) begins boarding at what time? Even with TSAPre, it’s too tight for my comfort level.

Edit: is SEA-LAX-LHR the flight you are contemplating?

is 31,
Going from domestic to international flight at LAX, different terminals.....I wouldn't consider it at all. With 2 hours, maybe, but getting through security in that time....I would predict you will miss your connection, even if you have precheck. I speak as a SoCal person who has flown many flights into and out of LAX. Definitely no on this one.

Another option would be to take an AlaskaAir flight as a day trip during your stay in Seattle if you just want to fly that airline (although a lot of the short hops fly under the Horizon or SkyWest brand). Or add a day or two in LA (or San Francisco or Vancouver BC) with a multi-city ticket.

Thanks for confirming my suspicions that this is a non viable connection. I was very surprised to see it listed as a possible.

As a non US passport holder I didn't actually think I am entitled to TSA pre-check, but see that Global Entry does actually give that.

I wouldn't even have thought of a day or two layover domestically in the US either on a scheduled long visit or an unscheduled short visit like this.

The terminals at LAX are these days all connected airside by a mixture of tunnels & bridges so there is a route that doesn't involve going through security again. About 15 minutes comfortable walk for T4 to T6 is my guess (I used to regularly do 6 to 8.)

The minimum connection time for a domestic to international connection at LAX is given as being low as 45 minutes (possibly just within one terminal) but personally I wouldn't feel comfortable under 2 hours.

I’ve flown out of LAX many times and I would not take the risk of a transfer as short as 67 minutes involving an international flight at LAX. You never know how long it will take to get through TSA security checkpoints with luggage. The new tunnels and passageways connecting terminals and directing you through duty-free stores can be confusing and time-consuming as well

Edit: is SEA-LAX-LHR the flight you are contemplating?

Yes, the 1344 SEA to LAX arriving at 1628, connecting with the 1735 American Airlines (BA codeshare) flight to LHR- as the return part of a BA ticket (outbound on BA direct). That flight (as the return leg of a RT ticket) is £232 on the date I am looking. But if booked as a single ticket SEA to LHR is $696.

As Marco noted, there would be no need to go landside for this domestic to international connection at LAX. Airside tunnels, 5 minutes between any 2 terminals, so 10 minutes to walk 4-6. No security, so no worries about that. It might be mildly time-consuming to find the tunnels or passageway (they are signed) but once in them it's just a walk through a tunnel. The only thing giving me pause would be the inbound being late.

Sticking with OneWorld, there must be a more logical SEA>>ORD (Chicago) >>LHR option that gets you an Alaska Airlines leg without the big detour south to LAX.

Sticking with OneWorld, there must be a more logical SEA>>ORD (Chicago) >>LHR option that gets you an Alaska Airlines leg without the big detour south to LAX

Having been through ORD I am not the world's biggest fan of that airport, although having said that there is something very specific and unusual I would like to do through ORD one day if the opportunity presented itself.
However looking last night what was really interesting was that connection opportunities on One World exist through DFW. Now that is interesting because I have family history long ago in Dallas. I only really need a day in Dallas, and that would be a good opportunity for a stopover.
I have actually spent a long time in the past looking for an essentially Alaskan routeing via the west coast or the mid west and haven't come up with much. Complicated by my wanting to fly into SWF for family history close by.
I did once get an offer of a Transatlantic repositioning line voyage to Miami, which would have picked up an Alaskan from Miami to PAE (if I remember rightly via SFO). But the time of the year was wrong due to potential snow over the I90.
For various reasons I have something of an interest in the history of Civil Aviation in the Seattle area and PAE would suit me just fine- I would prefer it to SEA in an ideal world. As would BFI- although BFI is really tricky now it is only used by Kenmore Air. And yes that interest extends to the former Sand Point field (Seattle's first civilian airport) and Matthew's Beach float plane base, for the old Pan Am Clippers- to be visited as one stop on the Burke-Gillman trail.

We all have our different interests- when I went to San Francisco (twice) I missed out Alcatraz because in the time available an in depth use of BART was more important- it was one of my special case studies at University, as originally BART was quite an innovative system. That, the heritage street cars, the cable cars, the GG bridge and Sausalito among other things filled my time.

I'm glad this is just a day dream...or a nightmare? Why anyone would actually choose to do this via LAX will remain a mystery to me! So you basically fly from SEA>LAX>SEA>LHR (not technically, but by how far north the plane goes from LAX on it's way to LHR?) Have you been to LAX? Along with romanticizing Alaska airlines? Flying from SEA to Europe is so much quicker and easier!

Yes I have been to LAX. I have been checking my records and can't find out which terminal I used (I am not sure I knew then) because I was travelling as part of a RS style small group tour. So the chartered bus took us out there from LA Union Station, and our tour leader basically took care of everything at the airport (very much not my usual travel style). I'm sure I could work it out as it was on QF to Melbourne.

I am finally in the position of being able to look at routes other than non-stop SEA to LHR, for a journey which has been very long delayed due to care-giving reasons (then Covid then an unfortunate series of circumstances). For years I would have had to have flown direct. I was never able to actually justify that (or really handing Mum over to someone else for two weeks) because of my own irrationality of getting stuck if I suddenly had to change plans to fly home early and finding flights full. While March may be a pipe dream the wider issue isn't (and will be a far longer trip than in and out for a Church service), and will be quite emotional when it finally occurs which can't be soon enough.

Please read my other response above re Alaskan and don't be so unkind. Plenty of other people on here will go out of their way to try to fly a certain airline due to points (or other reason)- not necessarily something I understand.

This was intended as a technical question, not for someone to question motives. If the connection at LAX was more robust I wouldn't have opened myself to the forum. If that route seems illogical then so be it.

This is one reason why I read this forum so often. I like to help people and I like to learn. Today I learned, after using LAX as our international airport for 34 years, that there tunnels to connect all of the terminals! Our home airport was Santa Barbara, SBA. Usually we were flying directly from or to LAX so no tunnels involved. On the few occasions when we flew on to SBA or now SMF we just walked between terminals. The next time we find ourselves connection through, I will definitely look for signs that connect Tom Bradley International to terminal 1. But if our two tickets were purchased separately, like last time, MEL-LAX then LAX-SMF, it won’t matter much because most likely we’d be collecting luggage and having to go through security at the domestic terminal. But I’ll be looking for signs for tunnels nevertheless.

Two questions: can you stay airside for your connection and how flexible can you be? If the airline is selling this ticket then they have to get you home at some point. There is lots of construction there right now as they prepare for the Olympics, so I don’t know how that is impacting routes between terminals. I am assuming you wouldn’t be checking luggage.

Have you thrown this idea out to the folks on FlyerTalk?

Re Eric's comment about tunnels at LAX. Three terminals have tunnels open, #4, 5 and 6, which connect to their baggage claim areas. They do not connect the terminals to each other for passengers. This is as of 2023. I don't doubt that they may exist, but for passengers moving from one terminal to another, I still believe one has to do so at either the departure or arrival levels. If Eric has info which I have not found, I would welcome it, as LAX is my home airport for international travel. You can walk from some terminals to another, but not in underground tunnels.

To add....tunnels connecting terminals used to be accessiblle to the public, but not since 2023.

The last time I traveled through LAX was 2020 and I see that some of these changes and upgrades have happened very recently: https://thepointsguy.com/news/each-lax-terminal-connected/

Here you go. Click on "Pedestrian Access" for map...

https://www.flylax.com/inter-terminal-connections

"Following the completion of significant modernization projects at LAX in 2023, ticketed passengers and airport employees began enjoying unimpeded pedestrian access across the airport's terminals post-security. With a path of travel that equals approximately 2-miles from Terminal 1 to Terminal 8"

It's always interesting when a thread goes off on a life of it's own, in this case the inter terminal links.

In answer to Patty- yes it would be one ticket, connecting airside.

I've only once travelled long haul without checked baggage (a mad weekend trip home from Hong Kong) but for a week or less could probably do so.

I could live with being delayed at LA for a day or two- just off the top of my head I can think of 3 days out if I was having my hotel paid for- and that's before the film studios and Griffiths Park.

Like Mona, I read this section to help and to learn, and pedestrian tunnels under LAX was news to me. We don’t transfer at LAX, but when we fly out of there in June I think I’ll check them out. We’re always there ridiculously early for our international flights since I’d rather walk/lounge around the airport than sit in traffic at the last minute thinking “we’re going to miss our flight.”

and pedestrian tunnels under LAX

I may be misreading the map but it looks like there are only 2 tunnels, in and out of Terminal 5. All the other connections are overhead skywalks.

You mentioned PAE as a better option than SEA - totally agree! It is a sweet little gem of an airport without the ugly traffic around SEA. Just a few gates, clean and new with lovely wood furnishings, and PA announcements by a refined person with a UK accent - you'll feel right at home.