r/LosAngeles • u/levine2112 • May 29 '23
LAX Current location: LAX cellphone lot. Empty. Do people know about this convenient free waiting spot?
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u/YouAreOneUglyMutha May 29 '23
I also wait at this other cool cell phone lot, it’s called in and out burger
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u/CyberMindGrrl May 30 '23
Mine is the Carl's Jr. on W Century.
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u/goldenglove May 30 '23
Way less busy than In N Out for sure. Food is awful though, IMO.
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u/Casper042 May 30 '23
South side of the street by In-n-out with that little grass mini park was like the OG Cell phone lot.
Only takes 2 right turns to get into the airport from there.
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u/Dommichu Exposition Park May 29 '23
Likely it’s a little slow today because of the holiday. It will pick up in the evening.
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u/robywade321 May 30 '23
I gotta pick up my spouse tonight. I will keep this lot in mind for the inevitable delay instead of parking! Thanks for the tip
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May 29 '23
[deleted]
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u/Riluke May 29 '23
That’s the same place
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u/Old-Book3586 May 29 '23
It's not. OPs lot is on the West side of Sepulveda (per their first image) and the lot in this map is on the East side. The image orientation on OPs image makes it look like N and S of Sepulveda (just an FYI).
The lot he has tagged is directly across from the police station, and I'm not sure it's a cell phone lot. I would suspect it's police parking (given there are two cruisers in there.
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u/Riluke May 29 '23
I stand corrected. It’s close, but you’re right, it’s the other side of the street.
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May 29 '23
[deleted]
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u/thetaFAANG May 30 '23
or know what a cellphone lot is
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May 30 '23 edited Jun 08 '23
My hovercraft is full of eels.
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u/thetaFAANG May 30 '23
I've ubered to and from airports everywhere for like 10 years straight now, I've never requested or relied on friends to get me, I've occasionally done short term parking. Pre-Uber days with my parents we did long term parking before for vacations.
I have never heard the term cellphone lot and have no association of that with "get picked up here by your friends by calling them on your cell phone in this special purpose parking lot". I agree that the terminal loop at LAX is atrocious. Don't know what else to say.
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u/suncursor May 29 '23
and its not really advertised either
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u/caholder May 30 '23 edited May 30 '23
For a super long time I thought cell phone lots were a place to make calls at the airport cause you couldn't make them at the airport due to FAA regulations.
Then I learned
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u/Hollowpoint38 Downtown May 29 '23
Not hidden either. I thought it was common sense. Airports have had cell phone waiting lots for like 20 years or more.
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u/K-Parks May 29 '23
Maybe people would use this if LAPD (or whoever is in charge) actually went around and ticketed all of the people just sitting at the terminals waiting to pick people up.
Last time I flew into LAX I literally watched 4 cars in a row just sitting curbside for over 20 minutes (presumably waiting to pick people up) while the person I had picking me up drove over to get me (my flight was early, yay I guess).
When I lived in Chicago ORD certainly had its problems but the cops constantly moved around the pickup areas and if your car was not moving or actively had a person loading/unloading they would just start ticketing you, no questions asked or warning given (and they’d just mail you the tickets so you might not even know). As a result the traffic actually moved through the terminal pickups and you’d go to the cell phone lot or short term parking if you were waiting for somebody (first 30 mins of parking was also free to encourage that over clogging up the traffic).
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u/Hollowpoint38 Downtown May 29 '23
Maybe people would use this if LAPD (or whoever is in charge) actually went around and ticketed all of the people just sitting at the terminals waiting to pick people up.
They used to pre-Covid. If you stopped your car for more than about 10 seconds then security would come out and scream at you and then ticket you if you didn't move immediately.
One time I was picking up someone who was a "smart stupid person". Like went to a top school but had zero common sense. She told me she was "right outside the terminal." What she meant was she had just gotten off the plane and needed to walk to the exit. So I pulled up and I'm waiting like "WTF are you?" and security comes out and blasts me. I had to do a full lap because of dumbass not being accurate with her description about where the hell she actually is standing.
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May 30 '23 edited Jun 30 '23
[deleted to prove Steve Huffman wrong]
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u/Hollowpoint38 Downtown May 30 '23
But she asked me to drive up and pick her up. She probably thought I can sit outside for 10 minutes or something. People are stupid.
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May 29 '23
How do I find that? Do you have an address or google maps pin?
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u/levine2112 May 29 '23
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May 29 '23
Thanks! You’re a life saver. I literally need it right now, picking up fam from an international flight
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u/A_Nick_Name North Hollywood May 29 '23
Wish I knew this a couple days ago after doing 3 laps after waiting 1.5 hrs for them to get through immigration.
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u/Hollowpoint38 Downtown May 29 '23
Cell phone waiting lots have been around for more than 20 years. You've been doing this that entire time?
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u/A_Nick_Name North Hollywood May 29 '23
Yes. TIL about them. I don't fly often and pick someone up from LAX maybe once or twice a year.
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u/Gobshite87 May 29 '23
Why wait in a lot when you spend the same time waiting in the traffic?
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u/samwise7ganjee May 29 '23
Because you might spend all that time in the traffic just for the person you’re picking up to not be out there waiting yet and have to do another lap.
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u/thecl4mburglar May 29 '23
pretty sure they were being sarcastic
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u/samwise7ganjee May 29 '23
Oh well. Would be nice if Reddit had a thing to add to the end of a comment that indicates sarcasm /s
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u/rpnye523 May 30 '23
Why would I do another lap? Impeding the flow of traffic for every other person at LAX is certainly less important than me picking up my friend I haven’t seen in days the absolute second they arrive. /s
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u/wasteplease May 29 '23
... why are you giving away the secrets
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u/FiveTalents May 29 '23
If there are more people who know about this, the less congested the terminal pick-up is. Win win imo
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u/wasteplease May 29 '23
The people mover taking travelers out of the loop and to a separate pick up location will be the win.
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u/xlink17 Long Beach May 30 '23
It is mind blowing to me this is a secret. These have been around so long I am completely shocked at how many people don't know about these. This explains why everyone clogs up the loop waiting.
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u/8i66ie5ma115 May 29 '23
What’s a cellphone lot?
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u/knarf86 Highland Park May 29 '23
A parking lot you wait in until the person you’re picking up is ready. They call you when they’re ready, then you go into the airport to pick them up. It’s always empty, I assume a ton of people just do laps in the main part of the airport
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u/Daveyd325 Koreatown May 29 '23
As a moron who's been doing laps for years, thanks
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May 29 '23
Wait really you’ve been doing laps?? A lap on a bad LAX day can be 90 minutes. Even a medium day is like 45. Then you gotta come back around??
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u/Daveyd325 Koreatown May 29 '23
I'm a pretty patient dude
who also went to the LAUSD public school system
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u/Jazzlike_Log_709 Long Beach May 29 '23
Thanks for your answer. I understand the purpose of it, a place to meet your ride, but why exactly is it called a cell phone lot?
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u/knarf86 Highland Park May 29 '23
Before everyone had cell phones, it was a place where people could wait if you actually had a cell phone. If you didn’t have a cell phone, you did laps until you saw the person you were picking up. Now everyone has cell phones, but I guess they just haven’t changed the name.
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u/pargofan May 30 '23
OMG! Thanks for the explanation. I've always been puzzled why they called it the cellphone lot!
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May 29 '23
[deleted]
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u/knarf86 Highland Park May 29 '23
Yeah, your flair and my flair definitely aren’t the same, lol. If I did that, it could be like 1.5 hrs before I got there
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u/kurai808 South Pasadena May 30 '23
I've seen more and more starting to wait on the shoulder lane coming up to arrivals. I guess they don't really enforce it cuz it seems more crowded each time I go.
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u/Dommichu Exposition Park May 29 '23
It’s a temporary waiting spot for you so when your loved one has their luggage and is ready to go… you can swing by the terminal to get them. This is the new location. The old airport configuration had one as well.
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u/rasvial May 29 '23
Where you park your cellphone to recharge it. Back in the day, it took a team of 2 men over three quarter an hour to fully load a cell phone with coal
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May 29 '23
...and why is named that?
Can we call it an "Arrival Waiting Lot"? Its empty because people are confused as to what it is.
So, OP - No. People dont know.
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u/maracle6 May 29 '23
I wanted to use it when recently picking someone up and there were basically no signs for it that I could find. So I ended up circling instead.
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May 29 '23
Are people here serious? Every airport has this. It is the only correct way to wait on someone arriving.
Is the LAX loop traffic all people that dont know this?
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u/Hollowpoint38 Downtown May 29 '23
I've never been to an airport that didn't have a cell phone waiting lot. But apparently these guys have been just doing laps around LAX clogging up traffic for everyone else. Cell phone lots started to be a thing around 1998 or so if I remember correctly.
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u/Mender0fRoads May 29 '23
On the rare occasion I have to pick someone up at LAX, I just park in the garages inside the loop. It isn’t free, but I’m willing to spend a few dollars to be there when they’re ready. Picked up my wife a week or so ago and spent like $9 for the convenience of already being right across the street when she was ready.
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u/Hollowpoint38 Downtown May 29 '23
Yeah I just have people wait outside the terminal for me to get there from cell phone waiting. A taxi is like $40 so me for free is worth a 5-minute wait.
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u/levine2112 May 30 '23
It’s not that I’m surprised it exists. I’m surprised that it is completely empty. I’m surprised that no one seems to be using it. Especially at the end of a busy three-day travel weekend.
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u/drdisme May 29 '23
Most people don’t leave until your flight has landed. By the time you get your baggage and hit the curb I’m pulling up.
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u/gerrysaint33 May 30 '23
Totally. Hit me up when you’ve landed… OMW… I’m here… oh really? Shit ofc your gate isn’t available and you have to sit on the runway for an hour. Fml
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u/Ok_Island_1306 Mid-Wilshire May 29 '23
Just found out about it yesterday after I waited at a gas station no too far away. As I drove into LAX to pick up the missus, I saw a sign for the cell phone lot. I had no idea!
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u/PraderaNoire May 29 '23
This is one of my favorite secrets about LAX. The other is that Ubers are literally half the price if you call them from the in n out nearby.
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u/palmtreesplz May 29 '23
Yes. There used to be a free terminal bus that dropped passengers there too, but I think they might have stopped that now. Which is a hummer because it’s a great place that keeps traffic out of the circle.
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u/CaliSummerDream May 30 '23
I feel like an idiot for never wondering what the heck a cell phone lot means when I almost always come across a direction sign for it driving to any airport.
Today I learned. Thanks, OP.
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u/BrainTroubles May 29 '23
Weird that it would be empty at 1pm on a Monday. Almost like that's not typically when people fly into town or something.
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May 30 '23
Not gonna lie I’ve been to 100 airports and been to LAX 100+ times and I didn’t know or ever try to use a cellphone lot
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u/queensilvershoes May 30 '23
Coming from the 105, the signage for the cell phone lot is severely lacking. They could do a better job of directing traffic there.
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u/sunchasinggirl May 29 '23
Wait, In’nOut isn’t the cell phone lot?
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u/Hollowpoint38 Downtown May 29 '23
In N Out is where you speed along the progress of heart disease. Different place.
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u/Ispellditwrong Mid-City May 29 '23
I just hang out in the lot on Sepulveda, basking in the presence of the Starbucks triad.
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u/YetiBot May 29 '23
I use it fairy frequently. Ive only ever once seen it so crowded I had to wait for a spot. Usually it has five to ten cars on average.
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u/Old-Book3586 May 29 '23
You sure that's the cell phone lot? The lot I'm familiar with is on the other side of Sepulveda (East side) at like 96th and Vicksburg. That lot is also easier access to the bridge to the loop.
I think you might be in some other airport parking. Or they moved it.
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u/brendankelley May 29 '23
I've seen signs for those over the years and just assumed that they were there to provide a place to wait for the phone call from the person you're picking up to let you know they've landed (and maybe gotten their bags), but it's not like I've ever seen any other info on it, or been told it. Where would someone get that info? The airport website maybe? So I'm sure people either just figured it out, or most, just ignored it. Doesn't surprise me they're hardly ever used because as logical and civilized as it seems, their usage goes against human nature. It would require foreplanning and patience, why not just drive around circling the airport until you magically meet up. Maybe professional drivers know and use them. No idea. Luckily I have no friends who ask me to pick them up, and that seems like less of a thing after Uber and Lyft came on the scene.
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u/metajames Redondo Beach May 29 '23
The ironic thing is the cell service in the cell phone lot is hot garbage. At least on T-Mobile and ATT, maybe Verizon is better.
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u/levine2112 May 30 '23
I’m AT&T and made this very post from the lot no problem.
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u/ke7in11 May 30 '23
Yeah. On AT&T also, and I've streamed media, and played games on my Switch with no problem there.
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u/chili_ladder May 30 '23
I love the cellphone lot. Usually the porta-potty is usable too, something rarely said in LA.
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u/pears2u May 30 '23
I use it but the last time I did was reallllly late at night and it was sketch. Very dark. Not nearly enough lighting. Suspicious vehicles. I was worried as a solo female driver and couldn’t wait to get out of there.
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u/Cinemaphreak May 30 '23
Unless that is an unannouced 2nd lot, that is not actually the cell phone lot OP was in.
According the LAX website, the cell phone lot is still on the EAST side of Sepulveda next to to the onramp for the 96th street bridge. Which is why most people don't use it, it's very awkward to get out of it to use said bridge (you have to make a left across constant traffic).
And by next year, it will be useless - when the People Mover opens, all curbside civilian drops & pick-ups will be forbidden. If you want to take your grandmother to or meet your BF with a funny sign arriving at LAX you will have to park and walk them over. Uber & Lyft will also be banned, but taxis will be back at curbside.
Everything from Sepulveda to Terminal 1, including the 96th bridge, is going bye-bye so that T1 can be expanded.
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u/levine2112 May 30 '23
There was several signs directing me to that lot that each read “Cell phone lot”.
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u/Prior_Valuable_6364 May 30 '23
On an unrelated note, why does LAexit look so bad? It's been around for years at this point, but still looks like a quickly thrown together unfinished project
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u/Vagabond_Hospitality May 30 '23
I continue to believe that the flyaway bus is the best way to and from LAX
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u/ItsEday May 31 '23
I feel like a moron for making multiple repeated trips through the horseshoe traffic while my parents get out. Next time I’m using the cell phone lots. I honestly didn’t even know about this until recently and that’s because I just happened to ask my partner what that small sign that said “cell phone” lot meant.
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u/spicykimchee May 29 '23
Its a little small tbh. But its there and very convenient. My only complaint is that a majority of Taxi Drivers wait there as well and take up a lot of the spaces.
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u/Hollowpoint38 Downtown May 29 '23
Why would cabs sit there and wait? Wouldn't it be better for them to go grab a fare and get out of there?
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u/spicykimchee May 29 '23
Apparently its there waiting spot until they get the call from their office to pick someone up from the airport.
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u/MintRegent May 29 '23
Flown through LAX more than any other airport in my life, and I’ve never heard of that spot.
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u/LimitedWard May 29 '23
Every airport I've ever visited in the US has a cell phone lot. This isn't unique to LAX 😂
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u/IsraeliDonut May 30 '23
It’s a common place to wait, but the goal is still to spend little time there
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u/RudeRepair5616 May 29 '23
LAX is a clusterfuck and this 'waiting lot' does not help.
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u/Floomby Montebello May 29 '23
And for all the snotty people, there is next to no signage to help one actually find it, like normal airports have, because why make LAX more usable?
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May 30 '23
[deleted]
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u/levine2112 May 30 '23
I didn’t see any authorized personnel sign. There was a cellphone lot sign there in fact.
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u/CornDawgy87 Santa Clarita May 29 '23
I usually.fly out of terminal 4, by the time I get to the cell.phone lot my uber has already shown up
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u/Either_Room6642 May 29 '23
I use it and always see people waiting when I’m there. Not a ton of cars but some.
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u/anyvvays South Pasadena May 29 '23
I always just sit in the Marriott lot on century lol. Had no idea this was here tbh
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u/dorylinus Cypress Park May 29 '23
Only 45 minutes away from terminal 4!
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u/levine2112 May 30 '23
I picked up in terminal 5… 10 minutes tops. (Took the shortcut across the horseshoe.)
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u/dorylinus Cypress Park May 30 '23
Terminal 4 is the killer. No shortcut, you have to go through the international terminal traffic to get there
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u/Texas03 May 30 '23
Why wait in a lot when you can wait outside baggage and clog up the whole place?
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u/Imnogrinchard May 30 '23
Every time I use the lot I get Los Angeles Airport Police give me the stink eye as if I'm loitering on sacred property. They seem to ignore the random motorhome though.
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u/jack3moto May 30 '23
I’m at JFK now flying back to LA. At jfk there are hundreds of cars sitting on the right lane with hazards on waiting to enter the airport. The cell phone lot is completely empty. It makes no sense.
People don’t use it and while I hear the people saying using it by more people means less in the loop. I don’t think it would ever change the people in the loop by enough to matter so for my own mental health picking up family and friends from the airport I’m hoping it remains a secret.
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u/g0f0 May 30 '23
There might be a new cell phone waiting lot at the rental car parking structure. Where the people mover will take passengers too. That one would be a good way to pick up or drop off.
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u/savehoward Temple City May 30 '23
the cell phone lot is much worse than parking at the Ralphs. the cell phone lot requires two very difficult left turns into lax whereas the Ralphs just slips into a right onramp. plus there are bathrooms at the ralphs.
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u/Stickfigurewisdom May 30 '23
Can you please explain it to me like I’m 5? If I’m picking up a friend at LAX on a Friday night. Where is the best place to park to walk in to meet her? If she doesn’t have bags to check, where should we meet? The last time I did this they had short term parking, but I think that’s long gone. Thank you!
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u/levine2112 May 30 '23
You’re not going to park here and walk. This lot is for waiting until your friend calls/texts you that they are out on the curb. And then you can drive from here and pick them up.
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u/iAintDroid May 30 '23
Yes, I do and I have used it a few times. However, unlike some other airports' cellphone lots where i had been at, this lot has basic minimum amenities. Not sure it has a bathrooms ( i might be wrong, though)
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u/-dudeomfgstfux- May 30 '23
No, the same way google maps doesn’t tell you that theirs a shuttle station bus stop that takes you directly to your terminal instead of getting off on Sepulveda
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u/ke7in11 May 30 '23
Every time I've had to use it, it's been full or close to being full.
I try not to go there unless I need to go to the bathroom bad enough to brave a port-o-potty. It's generally got to be pretty bad for me to do so.
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u/xlink17 Long Beach May 30 '23
I am blown away by the amount of people in here who have never heard of a cell phone waiting lot. Explains why everyone is sitting in their cars blocking up the loop. These things have existed for at least 20 years.
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u/sk3pt1kal I LIKE TRAINS May 29 '23
Feels like people don't realize cellphone lots are a thing at most airports.
Looking forward to the people mover to get up and running and then never go around the horseshoe again.