Hi we will be traveling from the east coast, arriving on a Friday afternoon and going to Santa Monica; then returning to the airport the following Friday late around mid-day but will be coming from Huntington Beach. The airport options for us are LAX or LGB. We'll be renting a car.

Which airport would be better to avoid traffic to and from (as much as possible)? John Wayne airport not an option for us.

Thank you.

Damned if you do, etc. I'd pick LAX; you can get to Santa Monica on surface streets in a pinch on arrival; coming back you'd be able to time your departure from HB to miss most of the crush.

I suppose open-jaw isn't possible, i.e. fly into LAX and out of LGB?

Flying into LAX and LGB not really an option because of flight costs.

So LAX isn't awful if we have an afternoon flight and need to get from HB?

We are used to flying in/out of JFK; how does traffic around LAX compare? Although at JFK we are typically getting dropped off and picked up by a car service so we're not dealing with rental car pickup/drop off.

Thanks.

No, LAX is not too awful and is close to Santa Monica. Just drive up Lincoln Blvd and stay off the freeway.
Traveling from Huntington Beach for a midday flight should not be bad either, rush hour is usually starting at 3-3:30pm although on a Friday starts earlier.
I'm not sure but think LGB airport may not have jetways yet.

It seems as if you are going to have one long drive regardless. Huntington Beach is going to be considerably more convenient to Long Beach while Santa Monica is going to be more convenient to LAX.

The one thing I was recently told by my colleagues in LA is how fast and easy it is to get in and out of Long Beach airport, while LAX can be maddeningly busy. To me, that might be an argument for flying into and out of Long Beach. What you may save in drive time from LAX to Santa Monica, you might gain in ease of access from Long Beach airport.

However, arriving during rush hour would probably make the drive to Santa Monica less than ideal. I'm no expert on this, but it's something to consider.

Thank you all for the feedback. Think we'd prefer the ease of LGB but will have to compare flight costs.

If it comes down to flights, i.e., cost and number of options, LAX will win hands-down. As long as you leave Huntington Beach after morning rush hour (say, after 9:30 AM), the schlep up to LAX will be fine (maybe 45 minutes if you don't hit weird slowdowns around the 22 or 605 interchanges).

If it comes down to airport ease of use, LGB wins in a landslide, despite the lack of jet bridges (yep, you go down air stairs/ramps and walk across the tarmac!). From curb to gate generally takes no more than 15 minutes, including TSA. And coming in is a snap as well. On our last trip through LGB, we landed, deplaned, went to the restroom and grabbed our waiting bags in 15 minutes! Baggage claim can take longer during peak travel hours, but we were off-peak, I admit. Still, the convenience was great for us. DISCLOSURE: We live about 2 miles due east of LGB, so we have a built-in bias. Plus the fact that they have a great wine bar and Greek eatery gate side. Car rental offices are a short walk from the main terminal, taxis are handy, and you can always call Uber/Lyft.

In short: Kind of a toss-up. I prefer SNA to LAX, but that's more a consideration of freeway traffic (and I have to ignore the short runways and funky takeoff rules at SNA). One gives up a lot of non-stop options using LGB and SNA instead of LAX. Best of luck deciding!

Arriving into LAX is not as bad as flying out. since you don't have to go through TSA on hte way out. If you are renting a car you still have to deal with shuttling to offsite car agencies.


If you are not renting a car and can take a taxi or Uber from LAX to Santa Monica I would go with flying into LAX.

Fying out would be worth any extra costs to split the flights into one way tickets and leave out of LGB.