how early at lax for international flight?

You should check the LAX website to see what they suggest.

When in doubt, ALWAYS give extra time at LAX. What's one more hour to make 100% sure you (and your luggage, if applicable) don't have any problems making your flight. I'm leaving in a couple weeks for Italy and I'm planning at least 3 hours.

The earlier the better. I always plan on at the airport three hours before my flight. Last month as I was driving to Newark airport for a flight to Mexico City, two tractor trailers collided directly in front of me and overturned. Not only did I have to wait for the road to be cleared I had to wait for the police to take a witness statement from me. In the end I finally made it to the terminal with only 20 minutes to spare. Had I left my house any later I would have been screwed.

Here is a picture of said accident:

Miraculously both drivers were able to walkaway from it. Notice that the truck in the background had it's entire engine ripped-off!

Michael....your photo is a prime example of why I like taking the train or subway to the airport (when available), rather than road transportation! I wish more airports around the world had rail connections...especially those in North America.

Good point Norm. In fact that option was available to me...there are Metro-North, Amtrak, and NJ Transit station near my home. I started my journey to the airport at 4am figuring with little traffic on the roads not much could happen...wrong! Ironically I took that picture at a Mobil gas station behind it is a NJ Transit commuter rail station. Stuck in the traffic backup was an airport shuttle bus headed to Newark. All the passengers got off and took the train the rest of the way.

Alright, I am convinced. Our flight is at 3:30 and we will be there by 12:30. I wish you could get to LAX via public transportation. For us the only option is the 101 to the 405, hellish! Thank you all so much for your travel stories.

You could take the scenic route to LAX...U.S. 1 along the coast. Of course, you'd probably have to leave the day before to be safe.....

I used to live in West L.A. and would give myself an hour to get to the airport--just in case of traffic. And I knew all the back roads!!!!

As everyone said give yourself plenty of time especially if you are coming from Ventura. All you need is an accident or something in the Sepulveda Pass to create a mess.

We missed a connection once at Dulles due to a mechanical problem with our plane from Atlanta. We were at the Lufthansa counter with a woman and her daughter who apparently were local and had missed their flight. The woman kept complaining "but there was traffic!" And my thoughts were "duh, it's DC and it's raining, what did you expect?"

So we got on a later flight to Frankfurt. Don't know what happened to her. So my advice is "don't be that lady!"

Jamie,

Does Ventura have an airport shuttle to LAX? We've used the one from Bakersfield to LAX and it's worth it. Costs about $50 round trip but it drops you off at Bradley International and we can relax in the traffic on the way, eat a sack lunch, and not have to find a parking place, etc...

I know I am in the minority .. but I LIKE being at the airport really early,, just because I like airports,,, going somewhere excitment for me starts from the day I start booking it ,, right through the wandering around the airport and looking at all the departure boards,, with stars in my eyes.

I get to my SMALL International airport 3 hours ahead .

My big problem with LAX is getting there. It's hard to know how much traffic to plan on. Unless you plan on arriving at the airport about 4:30 am, you should plan on traffic. Even at 4:30, the traffic is about the same as a busy freeway in other parts of the country (but usually not stop and go at that time of morning).

LAX is probably as crowed as SFO and we take Bart and get there 3 hours early. Check-In through the security is horrible and takes at least an hour sometimes. Better early than sorry and miss flight.