Should I run during my 3hr layover at LAX airport?

I think that you're over-complicating it. Why leave the airport? Find someone or a counter to leave your baggage with, just hang onto a backpack and run through the airport with a hurried look on your face. It's socially acceptable to run in the airport if you seem like you're trying to catch a flight - just pick the longest route possible so people don't notice that the same person came through a few times. Make it a fartlek to make it seem more realistic. I've done this before and having the backpack was definitely uncomfortable, but do what you have to do.

I fly out of LAX weekly. Have never seen a homeless person.

This after over 3 million miles on United alone.

The homeless poster is a moran.

But I don’t see running in your three hour layover as viable. Sorry.

Grab a Uber to the beach. Get in a few miles and Uber back. Wash off with some Every Man Jack before the flight and you're good to go.

Exactly! I'm through LAX maybe 5-6 times a year - including this week - and have never noticed a homeless person.

The other thing to consider is that LAX has the longest wait times for luggage, usually 30-45mins, if you're checking bags. As others have mentioned there aren't lockers in the airport and getting out and back might be tough in 3hrs, especially if you're trying to run an hour. You may want to check some of the local hotels (Hilton, Westin, Hyatt) on Century Blvd and ask if they have day passes to the gym. Shuttle service, treadmill, and maybe even a shower.

Baltic Babe wrote:

Nope- because there are no storage lockers at LAX for your stuff. I asked. I'm stuck in that hole 10 hours when I'm there coming and going and it sucks. I had to go through again 3 weeks ago coming in from Moscow heading up to Anchorage. It's even worse now because it's apparently turned into a homeless shelter. The bums have taken over the waiting areas. It's disgusting. The cops don't boot them either which is ridiculous. Who knows what diseases and or head lice they are carrying. I saw one nut harass a passenger who was waiting for check in to open and the dumb cops did NOTHING! She went to hide in the bathroom to get away. I moved to the opposite end of the terminal . There were more of them at the international side but too many of them in domestic too.

Airlines are throwing people off planes for bad BO, and you think an international airport is going to allow homeless people to camp out inside the terminal? Too much free booze on those international flights. I've flown in and out and through LAX hundreds of times and have never seen a homeless person anywhere on airport property, let alone sleeping inside.

Zuck wrote:

. It's socially acceptable to run in the airport

O.J. used to do it all the time!!

If I had a 10 hour layover I would check into a hotel, run, shower, eat, nap then head back to airport.

Back to the original question. I have done it last April, though 3 hours is cutting it close. There is an automated luggage storage shop at 8917 S. Sepulveda Blvd, Set B. Entrance is with credit card. Getting to the luggage storage from the airport is around 20 minutes walk and then you can do a nice 10 miles loop that runs along the beach with nice views of planes taking off and landing right over your head. So around 2 hours from the time you land until you are back at the security entrance to the airport. If you have TSA pre it should be definitely doable. Some lounges have showers, so if you have access thats good. Good luck.

LA is a mecca for the homeless. They saw about a 25% increase in the past couple of years despite homelessness declining nationally. Legal weed is a magnet for the homeless. In Colorado, we saw about a 13% increase in the past couple years. As for the OP, you could go with a backpack for your carry on, check a bag and uber to the beach and back, but it would be cutting it close, as most of the streets going to and from the beach don't really have sidewalks. I've never really seen homeless at the airport, but at a lot of the gas stations close to the airport you will get accosted by homeless while filling up your rental car. I would imagine if the weather is bad enough, people might filter into the airport from the surrounding neighborhoods since it is open 24/7.

Zuck wrote:

I think that you're over-complicating it. Why leave the airport? Find someone or a counter to leave your baggage with, just hang onto a backpack and run through the airport with a hurried look on your face. It's socially acceptable to run in the airport if you seem like you're trying to catch a flight - just pick the longest route possible so people don't notice that the same person came through a few times. Make it a fartlek to make it seem more realistic. I've done this before and having the backpack was definitely uncomfortable, but do what you have to do.

yeah OJ did it back in the day in the Hertz ads...he looked good running with the briefcase and the hurried look on his face!

yes

6AM back corner international terminal mid December. Go in the main entrance at departures and all the way in back off to the left and all the way in back to the right are two quiet and isolated corners. I usually go here for a nap and not to be bothered after getting off the redeye the night before. I can't check in for my next flight until around noon, so ,yeah, I'm stuck and as has been mentioned, there are no storage lockers. I have never had issue with sitting in the corner waiting save for it being a long boring kill of time. This time, there were 4 homeless guys there. One female passenger had tried to sit and a guy started harassing her then it got physical and she was yelling to get the police. Dumb cop comes over on one of those foot scooter wheelie dealy things, buzzes by , and leaves without saying a word! WTF!? The lady grabbed her suitcases and hid in the women's bathroom. At this point, I don't feel safe and made a beeline for that other far corner. Anyone can wander in off the street and that's what's happening. This is the first time I have ever seen homeless hanging out at a terminal anywhere in the world. Coming through a month later going from international to terminal 6 where I am again stuck in airport purgatory for 10 hours, I encounter the same sh!t. I'm stuck in that area before security until 4 hours before my next flight as there's no earlier check in. This time it's three guys reeking to high heaven and hacking some chesty sh!t. They are so obviously not passengers. They are filthy and sleeping on old, dirty blankets. That group I actually saw come in from outside.

You might consider a hotel next time. There are a lot of options around LAX and it's not hard to find something relatively cheap.

I have been flying 100k+ miles a year for many years - a lot of it international. I've missed connections and had long layovers but I refuse to spend a night in an airport.

And to the OP, it really doesn't seem worth the trouble for what will probably end up being a 30 minute run.

Have lunch at the airport and run when you get home.

I lived in LA for 4 years and never saw homeless in, on, or around the airport. Neither has anyone else on this thread.

But you have, twice.

Have you considered that maybe you are the only one that can see them? That maybe that is your super power...kinda like a 7th Sense? You see homeless people.

spoiler alert.....plot twist: YOU are homeless!

if you have a 3 hour layover, DO NOT try to uber out of there and back for a run. Could take an hour or more to get from the freeway exit to the terminals at times.

Hotel? for just a few hours. It's actually early morning til early evening in purgatory outbound and mid afternoon until nearly midnight stuck inbound. Those times aren't conducive for hotels. "Nights" are on the planes 2 days in a row. It's still the most direct way from point A to B without 65 connections, but that layover is a b..ch :-(

Ha I was just about the same the same thing!! I’m at LAX probably 6-10 times a year (and have lived here for 8 years). Have never seen a homeless person there.