Tom Bradley International Terminal LAX Arrival Guide

Landing at Tom Bradley: what happens, in order

1. 1

   Deplane

   A full wide-body empties slowly. Rear cabins can be twenty minutes behind the first passengers off.

2. 2

   Immigration

   All arriving passengers are processed before entry. Queue length depends on how many international flights landed together.

3. 3

   Baggage claim

   Checked bags are collected after immigration. Oversized items are released separately.

4. 4

   Customs

   Cleared with bags in hand. Most pass straight through; a small share are selected for inspection.

5. 5

   Arrivals hall

   The first point a greeter can see you — and the right moment to message whoever is collecting you.

6. 6

   Curbside or meet and greet

   Private cars collect on the lower/arrivals level; a chauffeur with meet and greet is already waiting past the customs exit.

Getting out of Tom Bradley: option by option

Terminal layouts and ground transportation areas change with construction. Confirm current details with LAX before travelling.

TBIT arrivals: do this, avoid that

Your Pickup Options at Tom Bradley

Being collected by family or friends. They wait at a free Cell Phone Waiting Lot — the 96th Street Lot at 6217 96th Street, or the smaller Century Lot at 5800 W. Century Boulevard — and drive in once you are outside. Both are free for up to two hours and open 24 hours, but the driver must stay with the vehicle and there is no shuttle from the lot into the terminal. For a TBIT arrival, that two-hour ceiling is a genuine consideration: a long customs queue can eat most of it.

Parking and walking in. If someone wants to be physically waiting when you emerge, they need to park in a Central Terminal Area structure and pay the posted rate. It is the only way for a private individual to greet you inside, and it is the right call for an unaccompanied minor or a passenger needing assistance.

Rideshare or taxi. Both are collected at the LAX-it lot beside Terminal 1, reached on foot or by free shuttle from the arrivals level. After a twelve-hour flight this means walking or shuttling to a separate lot and then joining a queue — the part of the journey most long-haul travellers rate worst.

A prearranged chauffeur. A licensed livery operator is authorised to meet clients at the terminal, so there is no LAX-it queue. Standard service is curbside in the outer lane of the lower arrivals level, and rates and booking for this terminal are set out on our Tom Bradley International Terminal car service page. For TBIT specifically, the stronger option is in-terminal meet and greet: your chauffeur waits just past the customs and baggage exit doors — the point where every arriving passenger funnels out — holding a name board, and takes your bags from there.

What to Tell Your Chauffeur Before You Land

A good international pickup is set up before departure, not improvised on arrival.

Give the flight number and airline, not just an arrival time. Dispatch tracks the aircraft itself, which is what makes a delay a non-event rather than a series of phone calls.

Confirm the terminal. Most international flights arrive at Tom Bradley, but not all — some carriers arrive at other terminals, and a codeshare booking can be misleading. The flight number settles it.

Say whether you want to be met inside or at the curb. For a first visit to Los Angeles, a night arrival, elderly travellers, children, or anyone who would simply rather not navigate, ask for meet and greet. It is a $60 one-time round-trip add-on, and at TBIT it is the difference between walking out into a wall of people and walking out to someone holding your name.

Flag the luggage and the party size honestly. Four passengers with six checked bags is a Suburban or a Sprinter, not a sedan. It is far easier to size the vehicle at booking than at the curb.

Mention anything that changes the car. Child seats, a wheelchair, ski bags, instruments, a pet carrier, or a stop on the way to the hotel — all of it is routine when it is known in advance.

Share the traveller's mobile number. Before landing, the passenger receives a text with the chauffeur's name, photo and direct number, so the person walking out already knows exactly who they are looking for.

Who Should Book Meet and Greet at TBIT

Curbside pickup is included and works perfectly well for a seasoned traveller with a carry-on. Meet and greet earns its cost in specific situations.

First-time visitors to Los Angeles, who step out of customs into an unfamiliar hall at the end of a long flight. Guests who do not speak English confidently, for whom a name board removes all ambiguity. Elderly parents and anyone travelling with limited mobility, who should not be walking the length of a terminal with luggage.

Teenagers and students arriving alone, where a parent thousands of miles away wants a named, vetted chauffeur meeting the flight rather than an app match — the same standard we apply on our teen transportation service. Women arriving alone late at night, who would rather walk out to a driver whose name, photo and number they already have than into an open curb.

Executives and clients, where the arrival sets the tone for the visit and a queue does not. Families with small children, strollers, car seats and a pile of cases. Event and hospitality guests arriving on many different flights, where one dispatch contact coordinating every arrival is the whole point.

In all of these, the flat rate is agreed before the trip and does not surge because the flight landed at midnight, and airport pickups carry 35 minutes of complimentary wait time measured from landing. Lux4Rides operates as a California TCP-licensed livery service, TCP #40987, with $5M commercial insurance.

Related LAX guides and services