Tag Archives for lax.
On August 30 someone in a jetpack was reported by pilots of an American Airlines flight near LAX. Now it’s happened again. China Airlines flight 215 crew inbound from Taipei reported another man in jetpack at LAX Wednesday afternoon.
At first they flagged a “flying object” but wasn’t sure if it was “a UAV or was it a jet pack?” It was a man in a jetpack flying at 6000 feet over Century City.
Whenever I fly through or out of LAX I run into celebrities. And the thing is there must be more of them than I realize, because I don’t know who most people that are conventionally famous even are. I’ve run into Billy Crystal at TSA screening and then the terminal 4 Admirals Club, Reba McEntire in the Admirals Club too, and Randy Jackson escorting a child star in first class across the aisle to name just a few.
Airline employees, either more culturally aware than I am or just with access to a flight manifest, must find this an every day occurrence. So a Los Angeles-based airline customer service agent with a Tik Tok account is a dangerous thing when she decides to dish on the celebrities she’s met at the airport.
Delta Air Lines is now doing temperature checks of passengers at LAX. Anyone departing from their terminal 2 (but not those making a domestic connection) will have their temperature scanned via thermal imaging camera. This is a test that Delta could roll out across other airports.
If the airport were doing this, it would be illegal. And it does very little to catch anyone with Covid-19. There are better alternatives.
Starting Tuesday LAX airport will begin to do temperature screenings at the Tom Bradley International Terminal as people enter the airport and in the arrivals corridor using thermal imaging cameras. This is similar to what I’ve experienced, for instance, in Hong Kong for over 15 years.
Last fall LAX banned taxis and ridesharing services from picking up passengers curbside. Passengers were bused to an off airport lot where they’d meet their ride. (The lot is actually an easy walk from the Southwest terminal 1.)
Initially after banning curbside pickups chaos ensued but after enlarging the lot and getting better signage the process wound up being merely inconvenient.
The American Express Centurion Lounge LAX opens Monday in the Tom Bradley International Terminal and features a spa, celebrity chef meals, and more.
Los Angeles is is considering letting people who take public transit to the airport have priority security. This isn’t PreCheck or CLEAR, just priority line access for the regular security queue, and follows a program at Boston Logan for people who take a shuttle bus or ferry to the airport.
Priority security isn’t actually free, in other words it isn’t costless. “When everybody’s priority, nobody is.” Grant everyone priority and they’re behind everyone else who is also priority that got there first.
LAX is nearing completion of its Midfield Satellite Concourse. This is a 12 gate extension connected to the Tom Bradley International Terminal via a 1000 foot tunnel. As the airport prepares to open this new concourse this year they are looking for 500 people to become actors, playing the role of passenger. This will let them stress test the terminal.
Want to be one of the lucky few to see the new concourse before almost anybody else?
With the LAX Admirals Club space and Flagship lounge space ‘flipping’ – the Flagship lounge taking the larger club space when it opened – the Admirals Club gets really packed. This additional space, once built, should help alleviate that.
Air Tahiti Nui uses the LAX International Lounge – or more formally, Los Angeles International Lounge at LAX. I hadn’t visited this lounge before, and my expectation were low – but exceeded.
The Los Angeles International lounge is used by El Al, Air Tahiti Nui, Philippine Airlines, Fiji Airways. The lounge is also used by Japan Airlines for premium economy passengers. It was basically empty while I was there, and seems a perfect candidate for Priority Pass, but it isn’t accessible through any lounge access programs – just with a qualifying boarding pass.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
