BURBANK AIRPORT VS LAX
 

Hi,
We live in Woodland Hills, traveling to Wisconsin in May.
Our choice is to fly from Burbank with 1 stop in Denver or the same from LAX.
LAX has a dozen flights a day to Wisconsin all with 1 layover. Burbank has only 1 flight with 1 stop every day.
Which is better ?

Which is

CHEAPER?

Easier to get to?

Park?

Most convenient departure/arrival time?

Shorter layover?

Longer layover?

Provides FF miles should you be enrolled?

Answer all of those questions and then I'll tell you.

If there's a big difference in price, I'll forego the FF miles and go to a bit more trouble, but not a lot more, to save money. I also take into account the cost of transport to/from, parking vs shuttle.

I prefer smaller airports in general but I've never been in Burbank airport. But if I lived closer and didn't have to leave at the crack of dawn I'd consider it. But if, with just 1 flight a day, you're on a schedule (getting back to work, for instance) then it would have to be LAX, just in case.

If you live in Woodland Hills one would think you know the difference. Burbank is a very (VERY) easy airport. LAX -- well, isn't.

Bob Hope is less than 20 miles from Woodland Hills. LAX is closer to 30 miles.

If the schedule out of Bob Hope works for you, it would seem a no brainer (unless there is some other issue you haven't mentioned)

For me that would depend on how the fare difference (assuming LAX is better), the airline options, vs the extra time for TSA lines at LAX. Also might depend on the terminal at LAX . Some of the remodeled ones are pretty nice, others not so much.

For going to LAX, if you'd be able to use the Flyaway from Van Nuys, there may not much advantage to going to Burbank in the transportation column. 20 vs 30 miles doesn't make a huge difference, it really depends on traffic conditions which vary by time of day and day of week.

Burbank (Bob Hope) entrance is across the street from an Amtrak station if transport or parking is an issue for you.
Several Surfliner trains and the Coast Starlight stop at the BUR station.

Wouldn't you decide based on the flight syou could get? Price and schedule, that's what I choose by.

Of course I'd choose Burbank if all other things were equal from where you live. I've flown into Burbank rather than LAX because the car rentals were a lot cheaper there, but that wouldn't be a factor to you. From where I live, flying Southwest, which is my preferred domestic airline, I can get a nonstop home from LAX but not Burbank, so I'd choose LAX. Air fares are about the same on that airline when I checked between those two airports to my east coast airport.

Longterm parking is a lot cheaper at Burbank, isn't it? At last for a lot at the airport, not offsite. And LAX has construction, doesn't it?

Your remarks about flights are not accurate. Perhaps that is the case with one particular airline you want to fly, but Southwest flies at least 8 times a day between Burbank and Wisconsin with only one connection (to Milwaukee). they do have a few more from LAX (and one nonstop), but they sure have more than one from BUR. It appears you don't want to fly them, though.

You need to tell us what makes a significant difference FOR YOU.

Flights from Burbank tend to be more expensive than from LAX. For you, BUR is quicker to get to. And by train, even cheaper to get to.

For LAX you can take the Van Nuys Flyaway, parking is $4 a day and the fare $9.75 each way.

If that one and only flight a day from BUR fits you, and everything else about BUR seems right, then what's the question?

Side note. Burbank has a decent quality restaurant BEFORE security just after entering airport.

Burbank is easier unless flight time is horrible. LAX is also under construction right now (unless it has already finished).

It depends on the price if that's important. My best friend lives in Woodland Hills and I live in Pasadena. She seldom flies out of Burbank Airport, but instead takes the Fly Away to LAX. I also once tried the Fly Away to LAX. In my situation. I have found flights out of Burbank to usually cost more than flights out of LAX. Plus, there are fewer flight times to choose from. However, I would much prefer to fly out of Burbank more often as it's so small.

If you decide on Burbank Airport and need to leave your car in longterm parking, you can park at the Marriott Hotel across the street. Really easy. They have a special area, in their parking lot, for long-term parking. I've used it regularly when flying out of Burbank Airport. You have to pre-pay, online, and print your parking reservation and then when you get back to your car, you just give your prepaid, reservation print-out to the parking-booth guy and off you go. There's a Marriott shuttle that comes often and drives directly across the street to the airport.

As for LAX and construction, I was just there week before last and it looked still under construction in some areas. It was insanely busy at Terminal 4 with lots of people at American Airlines as I was stuck on American Airlines. What's nice, with part of the completed construction, is that now there's an inside connector between Terminal 4 and Tom Bradley International for those passengers who need to get over to Tom Bradley.

Happy Travels!

That connector has been open since early last year, I think I posted about it. You can get all the way to T8 if you want to.

A big reshuffle is coming in mid-May, courtesy of Delta wishing to move to T2 and T3. Expect even more chaos approx May12 (midnightt) to May 17. If that is when OP is flying, Burbank sounds like a better option.

Here is the post-shuffle rearrangement.

http://www.lawa.org/uploadedFiles/LA...-Map-FINAL.pdf