The Best Times to Fly out of LAX

The worst days to fly may be during the holiday season, but do you know what the worst times of the day to book a flight out of LAX are? If you are planning a trip out of Los Angeles, the last thing you want to encounter is a long wait in the security lines before boarding your flight. For this reason, the airport provides a list of peak travel periods when lines tend to be the longest. You check-in process will generally take longer if you schedule your flight during the following times of day:

• 6:30 am to 9:00 am
• 11:00 am to 2:00 pm
• 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm

According to this information, it looks like the best times of day to fly are very early in the morning, the middle of the afternoon, or on the redeye. However, it is important to take Los Angeles traffic into account before scheduling your flight.

Los Angeles is one of the worst cities for traffic in the entire country. Rush hour is relatively predictable, but it can last for hours at a stretch, especially on the congested 405 and 105 freeways. Even on the weekends, traffic can double or triple your travel time to the airport. However, traffic patterns will still usually dovetail nicely with the ideal travel times recommended by LAX.

If you park at the Hilton LAX, you will need to arrive at the hotel at least half an hour before you need to be at the airport. When combined with the recommended arrival times at the airport, this means you should be at the Hilton two hours before your domestic flight is scheduled to take off, with an extra half hour allotted for international flights.

When you combine all of this information, you get a pretty good idea of the best time to schedule your flight in order to avoid traffic and long lines at the airport.

• The middle of the night, between 11:00 pm and 6:30 am. You will want to schedule your flight later in the night the further you live from the airport to avoid rush hour traffic.
• Between 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm, meaning you would need to arrive at the Hilton between noon and 3:00 pm. Midday traffic tends to be lighter, although it gets heavier as you approach the end of the workday.

Midmorning, from 9:00 am to 11:00 am, can be problematic, as you would need to arrive at the parking lot during peak morning rush hour. Fortunately, our airport shuttle can have you to the terminal in no time.

A Novel Solution to Invasive Species at LAX

Los Angeles International Airport occupies a huge tract of land in El Segundo. There are more than 40,000 feet of runways alone, and contained within the confines of the airport is a sea of coastal dunes. What many people don’t know is that the El Segundo Dunes are a protected nature preserve, one under threat from invasive non-native species. Of particular interest to environmentalists and airport officials has been the encroachment of acacia trees, which dot the landscape. Thanks to a joint effort between LAX and the Los Angeles Zoo, a novel solution has been found for disposing of these acacias.

In a recent story from the Los Angeles Times, they reported on an agreement between LAX and Zoo officials to feed these nuisance trees to some of the more exotic animals at the zoo. Although acacias are native to Australia, they are a favorite among many herbivores from Africa. These include giraffes, rhinos, elephants, and other animals, according to the story.

Every week, workers from the zoo make the trek across town to the El Segundo Dunes to trim the acacia trees and remove leafy green branches. The food is brought back to the zoo and fed to the animals, saving Los Angeles landfills from having to store this biodegradable but bulky refuse. It’s a win-win deal for officials at both Los Angeles institutions, helping in the restoration efforts of the fragile dune environment.

The 48-acre dune site sits at the northwest corner of the airport. It is not open to the public, as officials hope to return the region to its natural state. Right now, LAX is in the midst of a $3-million renovation of the region. Following a successful rehabilitation of the coastal dunes, the airport hopes to remove acacias from more than 300 additional acres at LAX.