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Delta Air Lines is in the middle of its impressive “Sky Way” project at LAX.
And things are a giant pain in the neck (and other body parts) right now.
Don’t get me wrong: I think the Sky Way project will bring fantastic changes for Delta flyers who use LAX (even for connections). The god-awful Terminal 3 was demolished; a new T3 is under construction. A huge Sky Club and separate Delta One lounge debut next year (or maybe 2023).
But like remodels of all sizes, there are tradeoffs and inconveniences during construction. And Delta’s operations at LAX are no exception.
As someone who’s flown Delta through LAX several times in the past two months, I can’t overstate this enough:
Give yourself plenty of time to make your flight.
There are two big snags that grew worse in the past several months.
Add an Hour: Shuttle Busses to the Tom Bradley International Terminal for Domestic Departures
This applies to travelers whose trips originate at LAX or connect in Los Angeles — which Fodors declared the world’s worst airport.
Delta runs a busy schedule of flights to/from LAX. But that’s easier said than done when you’re rebuilding an entire terminal.
Terminal 2 (“T2”) is the base for Delta’s operations right nows. But it has only so much space. And even that is vastly overcrowded.
Delta uses hardstands for some flights. They’re now using more real estate at the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT). But a number of domestic flights now originate from TBIT — because their inbound aircraft arrive from foreign airports.
TBIT isn’t (yet) connected to a Delta terminal. So in the meantime, busses shuttle passengers between TBIT and T2. A couple of weeks ago, my family’s LAX to ATL flight was aboard an A350 that arrived from Sydney, Australia. The shuttle bus line was about a half-hour long. And that’s to board a bus. Then there’s another 5-10 minutes of people cramming into the busses (Delta’s health/COVID protocols apparently don’t apply here, just FYI) and stowing their luggage. The ride itself to TBIT is about five minutes long — and great for planespotting.
Then you disembark and walk another 5-10 minutes to your gate.
Line for the #TBIT shuttle at #Delta #LAX #T2.
Arrive early, folks! pic.twitter.com/VmTTnWeRef
— Eye of the Flyer ✈️ (@EyeOfTheFlyer) October 14, 2021
Our flight was delayed because so many people were backed up at T2 and waiting for the bus. Consider that an A350 holds just over 300 passengers. Let’s say 30 people stuff into a bus (built for 20). That’s 11 buses for just that flight. I counted six Delta tails at TBIT one day. So there are hundreds of people trying to get to TBIT.
The line was even longer when I was at LAX on Sunday morning. A Delta Sky Club rep made a PA that warned passengers that the bus wait was up to an hour. (LAX veterans: the line stretched from gate 21 to Pick Up Stix. Yes, really.)
Tip: TBIT gates are numbered in the 100s. For example, 133, 135, etc.
So give yourself at least an hour (post-security) to get to your flight departing LAX. 90 minutes is a safer bet. Again, not all flights depart from TBIT. Just some domestic hops. Make sure to check your flight’s status on the Fly Delta app or Delta.com.
This is the #Delta line at #LAX at 6:45 on Saturday morning. pic.twitter.com/Bl3LlxCZKN
— Eye of the Flyer ✈️ (@EyeOfTheFlyer) August 7, 2021
Check-In
Your hell begins even earlier if your trip originates at LAX and you check bags.
Even Delta’s Sky Priority check-in desk is swamped; that line is long. (My shortest wait: 25 minutes at 5:30 AM on a Sunday morning. My longest was about 45 minutes on a Saturday morning at 7 AM. My family and I average about a half-hour.) Again, this is the dedicated Sky Priority check-in. The line that’s supposed to be faster than others.
And here’s the #SkyPriority line inside #LAX T2. This is *after* you’ve made it inside. pic.twitter.com/915BrPe9qU
— Eye of the Flyer ✈️ (@EyeOfTheFlyer) August 7, 2021
Sometimes there are just three or four people working. Other times, I’ve seen eight reps. But some of them are dedicated to passengers who tag their own bag at nearby kiosks.
So tack on another hour.
Going to Hawaii?
But, wait! There’s more!
If you travel to Hawaii and apply for a quarantine exception, you can get your Safe Travels wristband at LAX. But let’s add another hour for that.
We flew from LAX to Honolulu recently. There was one agent working the wristband line.
Sad to say, even the Sky Club was a clown show. They offer Safe Travels wristband service — when there’s an agent there. We showed up at the lounge around 6:15 AM and were told a wristband rep would be onsite on 7:30 AM.
Our LAX-HNL flight boarded at 7:25 AM.
The rep who checked us into the Sky Club said she hoped someone would be there sooner. The rep arrived shortly after 7:00 AM. (Hey! Another Delta early arrival! 😉 ) At that point, travelers to Hawaii were called up to the main desk and given pagers — as you get at a restaurant when waiting for a table.
At 7:21, we turned in our pager and decided to get our wristbands in Hawaii. “But you’ll have to wait longer in Hawaii!” the wristband lady said. “Why not just wait here?”
“Because our flight boards in four minutes,” I said.
“But you can get your wristband here,” she said.
“How long will it take for our number to be called?” my wife asked. The agent didn’t have an answer. So we split and got our cute little wristband in HNL.
Final Approach
Delta’s Sky Way project is exciting and will bring some much-needed improvements. But things are a clusterfudge right now. Be prepared and give yourself plenty of extra time.
Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
When confronted with such a massive line to catch the bus from T2 to TBIT, why not just walk between the two terminals instead? Yes, it would mean having to leave the secure area of the airport and go through TSA again at TBIT, but the total transfer time would have been much less than an hour even factoring in the added trip through security.
For some people, sure. But others don’t want to walk a third of a mile from T2 to TBIT.
At an hour-long wait for the shuttle, it’s probably faster to walk to TBIT and re-clear security…
This article is does a disservice to the majority of travelers who fly with only carry-on luggage, but who may be unacquainted with LAX. You can pass security at any terminal there, so if you’ve checked in online and the Delta app says your flight departs from TBIT, why not just go straight there and avoid the T2 shuttle queue?
Timely post for me. Heading to LAX in about a week and have a 6:10am departure to MSP on s Sunday morning. So arriving at 4am might be too close if I’m checking bags? Yikes that’s early, but I’m from the east so it won’t be too awful I hope. Thanks!
Keep an eye on your inbound aircraft to see where it arrives from. When I was at LAX the other day, I remember hearing announcements for an MSP flight departing from T2. 4 AM should be OK.
I may be planning a flight departing from LAX next month. I assume that domestic flights departing from TBIt are usually on internationally configured aircraft like the A350 in your example. When my first leg goes to SEA on some kind of 737 I guess it is highly unlikely that it departs from TBIT?
There are two possible choices I have, either take the flight at 0700 or the one at 0940. The thing is that in SEA I would connect to a flight to AMS and I would have either 40 minutes or more than 3 hours in SEA.
Do you think it is reasonable to get off the plane inbound from LAX, walk to gate for int’l flight to AMS, and board there … all within 40 minutes or less? I have no experiences connecting in SEA from domestic to international flight.
If I would take the earlier flight to be on the safe side in SEA. Does checkin at LAX open early enough? Like when I arrived at the airport … let’s say 3 hours before departure or something like that?
Some of the planes departing TBIT are narrowbodies like 757s and 737s. Delta operates some international routes (i.e. various Central America, South America destinations with narrow body aircraft. So it’s possible you’d depart from TBIT.
Regardless, I’d go with the three-hour layover anyway. 40 minutes is, in my opinion, kind of pushing it. That would absolutely stink to miss an international flight. Hit the SEA Sky Club and relax there for a bit.
Thank you for your reply. A 40 minute layover might indeed be too short. Will take that definitely into consideration.
I know you all don’t have crystal balls and all. But maybe you can make some educated guess or an idea what you would do.
Good info, thanks !
Thanks Chris. I choose to fly into SNA because LAX is such a hassle and apparently getting worse.
Seems like it might be faster for originating passengers whose flights leave from TBIT to just proceed through security at TBIT rather than T2 + the shuttle bus? Obviously, if you’re dropping a bag, you still have to go to T2, but as long as you don’t mind the walk, then that could be an option.
My wife and I experienced the craziness of T2 a few weeks ago. We (unusually) had an extra bag we needed to check, and the line to “drop” your bag after getting the tag from the kiosk (if you could find a kiosk that wasn’t out of order) was crazy long. I figured we had a very good chance of missing our flight if we had to wait in that line. My solution was to take all the bags through the (chaotic) security check, and then gate-check the extra bag. It worked like a charm. As an added bonus, the gate staff didn’t even charge us for the checked bag (I was prepared to pay the normal charge).
I have been disappointed in how Delta has allowed this completely unacceptable issue at T2 continue. Yes, we know you’re doing construction. How about maybe adding staff to make the experience something less than completely miserable?