Flights out of LAX

[ddgg]

I've never sailed in or out of LA before. I have a Mexican Riviera cruise returning to LA at 7 am on Dec 22. Princess suggests no flight earlier than 12:30.

 

I bought the Princess transfer, and my flight leaves at 12:05.

 

Is that going to be a problem?

[rdsqrl]

Hm, the Sunday before the Christmas holiday plus LA's usual notorious traffic . . . I would say, yes. Granted, I'm ultra-conservative when it comes to flight timings (don't even ask me what I consider to be an acceptable minimum connecting time at Dallas -- you could gestate small animals faster!), but I would not rely on Princess's transfer to get me there in time. Instead, I'd ask for a very early disembarkation time and either take a taxi or car service. Shuttles and the Princess transfers take way longer: you have to wait for the bus to fill up, then they may circle the airport stopping at every terminal but yours first, which doesn't sound bad until you add on the time it takes for the driver to unload people's bags at each stop. Plus, SuperShuttle/Prime Time may make other pick-ups between pier and airport. I think you can do it; I just think you need to be strategic about zooming off the ship and having a dedicated transport option in place. Good luck.

[f-mattox]

No, no problem; they disembark passengers according to their flight times. They say 12:30 but that's just to make sure there is plenty of wiggle room.

[Pam in CA]

A 12:05pm flight should be fine. With LA traffic so unpredictable, wiggle room is a good thing. Better to wait for your flight than miss it. All it would take is one accident on the 405 or 110 and you'd be really stressed out. I was on the 405 on a recent Saturday afternoon, there was an accident and it took me 45 minutes to go 3.5 miles. LAX recommends you be checked in for your domestic flight at least an hour before; international flights two hours before.

[Colo Cruiser]

I've never sailed in or out of LA before. I have a Mexican Riviera cruise returning to LA at 7 am on Dec 22. Princess suggests no flight earlier than 12:30.

 

I bought the Princess transfer, and my flight leaves at 12:05.

 

Is that going to be a problem?

 

You will be fine.

[ddgg]

I'm going to San Francisco, and the next flight would be at 4:00 pm. I hate having to wait that long--I could almost rent a car and be there faster!

[Kamloops50]

We always get to LAX by 11am for our flights. The assign certain terminals to each bus. Example terminals 1,2 an 3 to a bus.

 

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[rdsqrl]

I'm going to San Francisco, and the next flight would be at 4:00 pm. I hate having to wait that long--I could almost rent a car and be there faster!

You can certainly make a noon flight; I don't think that's in question. I would just say not to take the Princess or any other shared transfer, because they take too long. Skip the bus and take a taxi.

[waltd]

Should not be a problem. The only time you would have to worry is if the cruise gets in late or they only have one customs agent for 2000 people. I agree take a taxi. :)

[cherylandtk]

The timing of your flight should be no problem as long as you get off the ship earlier rather than later. The only caveat is that the Princess system will likely not allow you to enter your actual flight into the the personalizer, as it will consider the time to be too early. You can always provide the information once onboard, so keep an eye out for the debarkation form which will be delivered about halfway into the cruise.

[sassyredhat]

The timing of your flight should be no problem as long as you get off the ship earlier rather than later. The only caveat is that the Princess system will likely not allow you to enter your actual flight into the the personalizer, as it will consider the time to be too early. You can always provide the information once onboard, so keep an eye out for the debarkation form which will be delivered about halfway into the cruise.

 

Agreed. I did book and earlier flight and PCL sent me a message that it was too early, and they would not accept it. I couldn't complete my boarding info until I changed it.

 

If PCL thinks it's too early, they will tell you. Unfortunately, it cost me money to change the flight, but I did get on the next flight.

 

Pat

[Cruisin' Chick]

Most likely you'll be fine unless you hit both holiday traffic (I've flown into LAX a few days before Christmas and the day before Thanksgiving a couple of times and it will be a mess on the 405!) and any accidents/construction. I doubt if you have to disembark but do fill out your flight time on that disembarkation form and hand in ASAP (just in case they go in order of receipt). When you leave the terminal, flag down a taxi (there should be a line of them waiting).

[nekosimon]

What is the usual cost of a taxi from the LA port to LAX?

thank you

[DrivesLikeMario]

We always get to LAX by 11am for our flights. The assign certain terminals to each bus. Example terminals 1,2 an 3 to a bus.

 

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Forums mobile app

 

Yes, but the bad thing about that is they wait until those buses are pretty full before they let them leave the port for LAX.

 

IMO, I'd pay the $57 for a taxi or pre-pay for PrimeTime Shuttle. They'll get you there faster than the Princess buses. If you still want to go with the cruise line's transfer, you should be okay, but LAX will be a ZOO that close to Christmas!! :eek: It seems they always get more bomb threats then, there are more suspicious packages, etc. and they clear the entire terminal more often around that time of year. I'd get there 2 hrs. prior to the flight, at least.

[DrivesLikeMario]

What is the usual cost of a taxi from the LA port to LAX?

thank you

 

As of last September, $57 for up to 7 passengers (van) plus tip.

LGB - $43

Amtrak LA - $73

SNA in OC-John Wayne Airport - $89

Disneyland - $89

[Kamloops50]

Yes, but the bad thing about that is they wait until those buses are pretty full before they let them leave the port for LAX.

 

IMO, I'd pay the $57 for a taxi or pre-pay for PrimeTime Shuttle. They'll get you there faster than the Princess buses. If you still want to go with the cruise line's transfer, you should be okay, but LAX will be a ZOO that close to Christmas!! :eek: It seems they always get more bomb threats then, there are more suspicious packages, etc. and they clear the entire terminal more often around that time of year. I'd get there 2 hrs. prior to the flight, at least.

 

The last time we used the Princess Shuttle , there was only 12 people on board . As soon as the 12 people arrived and loaded we were off and running.

[DrivesLikeMario]

The last time we used the Princess Shuttle , there was only 12 people on board . As soon as the 12 people arrived and loaded we were off and running.

 

That's great, but I wouldn't count on that happening every time. ;)

[Cruisin' Chick]

I had problems with PT when I pre-booked a pickup from our house to take us to the port, and a pickup after our cruise to be driven back to our house. Whoever did the scheduling, sent our driver to the port on the first day. And when we got off the ship, and went over to the curbside rep, he said our name wasn't on the list. He called his office and our vehicle and driver were at our house waiting for us to answer the doorbell. He said no they're here, and the woman started arguing with him (I was standing right next to him). He was also dealing with other screwups that the scheduling did that day.

 

We used a different car service last December (who showed up at the right place at the right time) and were just waiting for the van to circle around to pick us up, and a guy standing by us told us that when they got off their flight and went to the PT shuttle, the driver didn't know how to get to the port.

 

So if you don't have a time squeeze and want to save money by taking a shared shuttle, see if you can just jump on one of them to the airport. But if you want to go directly to the airport, there will be taxi's there or prebook a reliable car service that will get you a non-shared, exclusive vehicle.

[ddgg]

Well, based on your replies, I think I will cancel my Princess transfer, diesembark as soon as I can, and hail a taxi.

 

Although I've never done it before, maybe I should just carry my luggage off. I'm guessing that would be even faster?

[cruisinincali]

You should be fine as Sunday AM traffic is much lighter than a weekday. If 405 is bad, hop off and tell driver to take PCH/Sepulveda north to LAX.

 

Lora

[notentirelynormal]

I had problems with PT when I pre-booked a pickup from our house to take us to the port' date=' and a pickup after our cruise to be driven back to our house. Whoever did the scheduling, sent our driver to the port on the first day. And when we got off the ship, and went over to the curbside rep, he said our name wasn't on the list. He called his office and our vehicle and driver were at our house waiting for us to answer the doorbell. He said no they're here, and the woman started arguing with him (I was standing right next to him). He was also dealing with other screwups that the scheduling did that day.

 

We used a different car service last December (who showed up at the right place at the right time) and were just waiting for the van to circle around to pick us up, and a guy standing by us told us that when they got off their flight and went to the PT shuttle, the driver didn't know how to get to the port.

 

So if you don't have a time squeeze and want to save money by taking a shared shuttle, see if you can just jump on one of them to the airport. But if you want to go directly to the airport, there will be taxi's there or prebook a [u']reliable[/u] car service that will get you a non-shared, exclusive vehicle.

 

LOL :D I've heard this story enough to say "dude move on" and not enough to say "thanks for the advice". I mean no disrespect (really I don't) when I say we've all had that experience we can't let go and want to warn others about. I think it's not about the it happens often stories, it's about the "it really sucked when it happened to me" stories and "Do you feel lucky?" stories.

 

I can say, the times when I've used the cruise transfers with a group we would have been much better using our own transportation.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Well, based on your replies, I think I will cancel my Princess transfer, diesembark as soon as I can, and hail a taxi.

 

Although I've never done it before, maybe I should just carry my luggage off. I'm guessing that would be even faster?

 

Yes. If you go with that plan of doing walk-off disembarkation (form to fill out will be in your cabin about the 2nd or 3rd day of the cruise), and get a taxi, you could be at LAX as early as 9am if the ship's disembarkation starts at the normal time.

 

If there's traffic, the agents slow up the disembarkation (which happens a lot at the Port of LA) or there's CalTrans work being done on the freeway, you should still be at LAX in plenty of time for your flight. ;)