Information on Southwest LAX terminal

[meh56]

We will be sailing on the Royal Princess and usually go to Long Beach Airport but may need to use Southwest to LAX.  The situation with the grounding of the Boeing planes has made Long Beach very difficult, not as many flights and very expensive.  We have never used LAX and are concerned with the size of the Southwest terminal.  We do have TSA precheck so that will help with security.  Can anyone tell me about the Southwest terminal - we will fly into the airport on a Sat (cruise is on Sun) and be returning on 

a Fri.?  My husband will need to get wheelchair assistance - I think that flying into LAX will be OK but flying home I am not sure about how long we would need to allow

for baggage check in ,TSA and what time we will realistically be off the ship.  Is SW the only airline at that terminal?  We are also going to need wheelchair assistance off of the ship.  We have not sailed on such a large ship so are not sure how long we will need to disembark and travel time to LAX.  Do you think we can make a 12n flight out of LAX or should we book the next flight around 2pm?  If anyone has sailed on the Royal to/from San Pedro, any information on how you found disembarkation would be appreciated. Also any recommendation for hotel near ship terminal...we have stayed at Doubletree but it is almost 300.00 per night so any other suggestions.

 

[quack2]

I just flew Southwest to LAX, arriving Friday late morning, and departing Tuesday morning.  I think Southwest has the entire terminal (Terminal 1).  Security was a non-issue when I departed.  With TSA Precheck, I was through it in about 5 minutes.  Bag check another 3 minutes. 

 

Departing Terminal 1 at LAX can be a bit of a pain.  It's the first terminal on a one-way circuit of all the Terminals.  Congestion can be quite heavy until you get off of the terminal access road.  My cabbie did a good job of negotiating our way through but it still took about 15 minutes.

 

 

[meh56]

Thank you...we will be flying in on a Sat mid day and flying out of Lax on Friday am. Not sure if we should try to make a 12N back home or relax and take a 230PM. Once thru security is there places to  eat?  If we arrive at the baggage drop how long do you think we need to allow to get to the gate? We will need to get wheelchair assistance but we do have TSA prechek. We will try to disembark by 9A and plan to use executor private service.

[Mike D.]

I have not sailed on the Royal Princess, I know that she holds about 3,600 passengers.  I have sailed on big ships (NCL Bliss) from San Pedro and the terminal can handle that load pretty well even with another cruise ship in port.  I suspect this is a Mexican Riviera cruise so "probably" there won't be a big customs hold-up.

 

I will agree with the previous poster that the vehicle traffic at LAX is an issue.  15 minutes "stuck" in traffic there isn't unusual.  I generally guess at a 30 minute ride from the San Pedro port to LAX + 15 minutes.

 

Inside the terminal at my airline of choice (Southwest) there can be a pretty long line to check baggage and get a boarding pass if I don't already have one.  Maybe 20 minutes.  Your airline may be much better than this.

 

I am also TSA pre and the delay isn't long there--say 15 minutes from baggage check-in to making my way to the gate.  I have no experience with a wheelchair but there seems to be plenty of assistance available at LAX.

  

There are places to eat in Terminal 1 at LAX.  The terminal is generally crowded but has improved over the last couple years.  Of course there was almost no way to go except up.  I haven't had to sit on the floor there in a while there...which is a step up.  🙂  I've also never been starving as I left a cruise ship so my culinary experience at LAX has been mostly bottles of water and granola bars.

 

My math would say that, conservatively, it would be an hour and 20 minutes (30 minutes travel +15 minutes LAX traffic + 20 minutes check-in baggage +15 minutes TSA) from the time your transport moves from San Pedro to the time you would be making your way to the gate. 

 

Since I hate missing planes, I'd pick the 2:30 p.m. although being stuck at LAX for an extra 2:30 minutes isn't attractive.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

MD    

 

 

 

[meh56]

I think we will book the 230P flight...that’s for all the info