Looking at flights to bring a family member to visit from Florida and flights in and out of LAX consistently come up the cheapest. My husband insists he hates LAX but we're talking a couple hundred in price difference between LAX and any of the other smaller airports like Burbank, Long Beach, Ontario and Irvine.

I know it's popular to hate on LAX, but is it THAT bad that $200+ is worth avoiding it?

Please tell me why from either a traveller's perspective or picking up/dropping off.

Thanks LA Redditors.

***Update: HOLY MOLY this got A LOT more response than I ever imagined it would. What I've learned: 1. Most Angelenos agree with my husband. 2. Most who fly often are of the opinion that LAX is pretty great compared to other major airports. 3. As a traveler, it's not bad at all once you're in. 4. Picking up/dropping off is where the REAL hassle is (and where my husband takes his stance), BUT there are a multitude of ways to facilitate pickup and drop-off that seem to be quite simple.

All things considered we ended up biting the bullet and getting flights in and out of Long Beach. That decision was more to do with arrival time than other reasons.

Thank you to all who submitted thoughtful responses. I'd be lying if I said I read them all. But I appreciate all of you just the same. 🙌

just got back from a two week holiday in LA. stayed with a friend who’s lived there for a few years. when she wasn’t able to drive me places, she recommended I get an uber. I checked out public transport instead and it was much easier than everyone had warned me about. the buses seemed to be very frequent and reliable, plus extend a long way throughout LA. and only $1.75 a ride including a change! it was very simple to add the TAP card to my apple wallet, and google maps seemed accurate enough.

i’d previously taken the metro and it’s fine, though doesn’t extend far and isn’t very frequent. but the buses are great!

my friend was surprised i’d taken a bus and basically told me she would never get a bus herself. i’m from london, UK where everyone gets buses. they can be shady at night but for the most part they’re fine. is it really so different in LA? uber is crazy expensive so i don’t really understand why this isn’t a more common option, especially for tourists.

Lots of lane closures on Wilshire due to construction. This morning I nearly got rammed by a guy in Beverly Hills who clearly saw a zipper merge coming up. Everybody was moving slow - it's not like I saw an open merge lane, zoomed ahead of everyone, and tried to cut in line. The guy before me got let in just fine. My turn signal was on. I assumed the next guy would do the same for me - instead, he zoomed ahead, AGGRESSIVELY, at the last possible second, into the physical space I was a fraction of a second away from trying to occupy. I slammed on my brakes and honked at him, and he rolled down his window to give me the finger with BOTH hands.

I don't think I've ever seen this kind of thing when there's a zipper merge on the freeway, but I feel like I see it way more often on surface streets - why????? what the hell is the difference?????? why do people suddenly not get how this is supposed to work?

My wife (pregnant) was craving Chipotle, so I tried going to my nearest location. After circling around for 15 minutes just trying to find parking, I was thinking to myself that if this were just me, I’d give up and go somewhere else. But I love my wife and am trying to make her as happy and comfy as possible, so I hung around until a spot finally opened. So LA Reddit, have you ever just said “fuck this” and abandoned your plan because parking was a shitshow?

The craziest car accident I saw... was super gnarly. We were entering the tunnel at LAX, leaving the airport. A car came up super fast on the right side and just straight-up crashed directly into the concrete wall.

The car ended up on its side, on fire.... We called 911 right away. It was a very violent crash...

Anyway, wondering what is the craziest/gnarliest/weirdest things you've seen on L.A. streets. ???

Ahhh, just remembered, in my neighborhood, there's a a guy who rides his bike backwards. Like... the bike is facing forwards, but he's on it backwards... I know I have a short video somewhere of that. Will try to find it.

I have to be in Vegas Friday through Monday the weekend of Thanksgiving. Insane. I know. The busiest travel weekend for LA. But I am also trying to save money however I can as I’ve just gotten a new job. Will the drive home be absolutely awful? I’m assuming the drive there on Friday will be pretty normal but what about the drive home? Should I just buy a flight? I drive a car that requires premium gas.

My gf and I have had 3 VERY close calls in the last week where cars almost hit us as we were walking on crosswalks and/or sidewalks:

1. Walking across a crosswalk in the evening, a car making a left doesn't see us until we scream and she slams on the brakes a few feet away from us

2. Walking on a sidewalk in the evening, a car makes a right turn into a parking garage, sees us, yells "move", and accelerates across the sidewalk, barely in front of us

3. Walking on a crosswalk in broad daylight, two cars making left turns after the light turns red, they speed up to avoid incoming traffic, see us at the last second, and have to swerve to avoid us

I'm honestly furious with the reckless driving in this city and lack of repercussions. I've called the cops for this before (such as incident number 2, the fact that he saw us, acknowledged us, and still accelerated towards us is honestly attempted manslaughter), and they've never shown up or done anything. Who in city government can I start calling about this? Who do I need to vote out of office? If I get license plate photos is there anywhere I can upload them for enforcement?

More urgently, I'm honestly worried about our safety. We'll start wearing high vis vests, and continue being as careful as we can, but in all 3 of this incidents we had walk signals, looked both ways before crossing, etc. I'm thinking about desperate measures like carrying a whistle or even walking with a tennis ball to throw at car windshields to get their attention, any other ideas?

Anyone else as pissed off and scared about this as I am?

Why do people get in the left lane on the 110 pkwy and then refuse to drive faster than 45mph?

In my view, I think it's a combination of factors.

First, you have the hellish traffic, and if that's not bad enough, you don't even WANT to get where you're going most of the time (work). Or on the flip side, you're exhausted from work, just trying to get home to maybe relax or see your family, and the traffic is infuriating.

Second, I think lots of people tend to find themselves exhausted and/or hangry while driving. On top of that, if you're super tired, what do you do? Have some coffee. Now you're exhausted, hangry and highly caffeinated. I'm sure we've all had the feeling where you're highly caffeinated and just anxious and irritable.

Third, there's something about being in a fully enclosed vehicle that seems to make people lose their humanity to some degree. I have friends who are super kind and gentle, and they absolutely go crazy when driving a car. Maybe part of it is frustration over wasted potential. The feeling like: "This car can go 60/70/80 MPH, but I'm doing 15 because of all these other assholes in my way!"

So what do you all think? Are these factors legit? What else is going into this phenomenon?

I'm planning on moving to Los Angeles soon, and I'm also buying a new car.

I would really like to continue learning manual (have had a blast with renting manual cars), but I'm being told Los Angeles traffic makes driving manual a miserable experience.

Any stick shift drivers here? Does your love for cars make it worth it, or would you still recommend I get an automatic? The manual car I would get comes with hill assist so I'd think that would alleviate at least some of the pain.

thanks yall

I live in the South Bay and ride the 550 or 910/950 up to USC. It’s actually extremely convenient and only takes 20 min.

Anyways I was surprised with how many people get on the bus without paying or tapping their TAP card. I am an LA transplant, and where I moved from, the bus drivers were STRICT about people paying the bus fare.

Is this typical? Do they not care? Is it simply my route which goes up the 10 in which the drivers don’t care and just want to get going?

I know it doesn’t impact me because I have the student TAP card, but I am very curious about this dynamic.

I am doing a solo travel trip to LA in November. I'm F22 from Vancouver and I consider myself pretty street smart. I am hoping to use transit/walking as much as I can to save some money during the day then uber at night, to and from the airport etc..

I'm pretty confident walking alone in Vancouver as I know what sketchy areas to avoid, is there any places in LA I should steer away from if I am alone?

Or insight on relatively safe areas would be good to know as well, thank you:)

Edit: wow thanks all!! I was not expecting this many suggestions but I appreciate them all.

A little more info about the trip, I’m only going for 4 days, I’m not big into drinking or partying. I’m hoping to just walk around and explore, go to cafes, restaurants, thrift etc. maybe explore a different part of the city each day. I don’t really have my heart set on any plans, I was just going to play it by ear so it is helpful to know what parts to avoid.

Thanks again everyone❤️

Hi - I'm planning on driving from LA to SF on Saturday and hoping to do the scenic route for at least part of the way. I can't spend the night anywhere, but I can leave pretty early in the morning. What do you think is the best route? Should I do the PCH for the first part and then swing over to 101 or i5 at some point? Any tips or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Why are do the following types of cars drive very aggressive or are so unaware of surroundings?

1. Nissan Altimas/Sentras (Generally always aggressive and has something wrong w their car)
2. Black Car Limo SUVs (With the TCP number) - always on their phone or drives like they own the road (I live by LAX so I see this more)
3. White Teslas - absolutely no awareness when driving, slow on the freeway

why?

I can’t be the only one who deals with these types of cars with this result

I have a domestic flight with Southwest tomorrow at 6am. I have TSA pre check and I’m not checking a bag. How early would you arrive to LAX for this flight?

Edit: The variations of recommendations are cracking me up. I’ll update tomorrow with the time I actually arrive.

Update: I arrived at 4:45, was through security by 4:55. Now I have time for coffee. Safe travels, everyone.

The more I travel around LA the more I realize how soul crushing the traffic is.

I especially felt it when I had to switch schools, and now it takes me an entire hour on average to get home in what would be a 15 minute drive because of the traffic.

I absolutely love LA but I truly think the traffic is the worst part of the city. Do you think it will ever improve and lighten up (hopefully sometime soon when the metro is mostly finished?)

Are they good drivers? do they accelerate/brake naturally? does it talk to you? do they feel safe?

My husband (works in tech) and I are floating the idea of moving to LA from Toronto, Canada.

The big problem is that I just hate driving. We have been car free in Toronto for a long time, and it would be hard for me to get used to a lifestyle where I had to get in a car for everything. I've lived in the suburbs before and I was deeply, deeply unhappy.

I think I could cope if I lived in a neighbourhood where I could walk to the things I need for daily life. I work from home so commuting is not necessary. I would just need to live in a pleasant area where I could safely and happily walk to grocery stores, pharmacy, shops, restaurants, and so on.

What are your personal favourite neighbourhoods for a walking lifestyle?

the air quality is so bad but I haven’t heard of any local fires happening… is it just because of holiday travel ?

For the past few weeks on the road I've really been noticing how few people use turn signals. What's up?

This trend is becoming intolerable. All over town, I see more and more drivers just stopping in the middle of moving lanes of traffic. Sometimes they put hazards on, sometimes not. Often they are blocking the only lane, forcing other drivers behind them to wait for a break in oncoming traffic to go around. This is during rush hour and other busy times. And it’s not just gig delivery drivers or Amazon trucks…. It’s regular people just sitting there in the drivers seat on their phone. They don’t seem to care in the slightest that they are causing massive backups.

I’ve lived here my whole life and driven all over So Cal since the 90’s. The long-standing etiquette is that if you need to stop, you find a place where you can pull over and get out of the lane of traffic. Find a quiet side street, an alley, hell even a loading zone if you’re going to be in the car. It takes so little effort. When did this become socially acceptable? Is it inevitable with our increasing density?

I live and work on the westside, so maybe this is more common on more congested streets, but I feel like I see this all over, even when visiting family in OC. Am I the only one bothered by this?

See title. I feel like L.A. drivers are just average. Sure you have some assholes, and some people are oblivious, but that's normal anywhere. When I'm merging onto the freeway or exiting a driveway into traffic, I feel like most L.A. drivers are actually polite when they can...

I've heard East Coast drivers are legit mean. Those with experience elsewhere, who's got worse drivers than L.A.?

Its very slow progress but with the new connections it's starting to look more and more like an actual public transit system and not just a last resort for people unable to drive. Thoughts?

Any day Thursday - Tuesday is going to be a nightmare whether you’re in a car or plane. Why torture yourself? Just take a random Monday off and enjoy a much calmer travel time

Hi all,

Im curious what everyone's thoughts are on Waymo since it started operations in the city. I just took my first one today and it was AWESOME!

It was the smoothest ride share I've even been in, felt completely safe, and got me exactly to where I needed to go on time Also, you have full control over the radio and AC. And the best part imo? No conversation or tipping after!

I can truly see myself never ordering an Uber/Lyft again. I've had multiple experiences of getting horrifically car sick from straight up terrible Uber and Lyft drivers. Not once did I feel nauseous, car sick, or anxious in Waymo.

The only thing I think it could do better at are unprotected left turns. My Waymo was the first at the light and it did not creep into the intersection at all. I could tell drivers behind me were getting annoyed. The LA native in me was honking at it in my head for it to move into the intersection 🤣 Other than that, it was great.

Has anyone else had the opportunity to take one yet? If so, how was your experience? Also, I'm curious what other drivers think of them as well. I don't drive too much in the city and I mostly take public transport. I do have a car that I occasionally use but choose not to most of the time (I live in Ktown with no assigned parking. Need I say more lol?). From what I can tell, they don't seem to be too much of a nuisance to other drivers. At least not as much as some of the other batshit crazy human drivers in this city lmao.