If you live in SoCal you know all about this, so bear with us. The rest of the country is fixated on the debt-reduction pas de deux going on in D.C. and may not know that the San Diego Freeway (a.k.a. ‘The 405’) is shutting down July 16 through 17, bringing an end to life—albeit temporarily—as Los Angeles residents know it.
With The 405 closed, other freeways and surface streets will bear the brunt of the traffic. There are ground-bound ways to cope, and we’ll tell you about them in a minute. But here’s the niftiest solution we’ve heard of: simply soar over the mess.
Discount airline JetBlue will be lofting a pair of “planepool” flights between the Valley and the Beach July 16, from Long Beach to Burbank. Wednesday July 13, JetBlue was letting you book passage for $4 or $5 each way (no misprint).
OverThe405 Burbank to Long Beach flights depart at 12:20 pm and 6:35 pm, and arrive at 1:05 pm and 7:10 pm respectively. We assume there’s no in-flight film. Return Long Beach flights to Burbank leave at 1:50 and 7:55 pm and get to BUR at 2:34 pm and 8:30 pm.
If it’s too late to get in on the airborne end-run, there’s still time to flat-out flee in the face of Carmegeddon. JetBlue is selling vacations to Las Vegas from Burbank or Long Beach. Use the promo code CA405 (you see a pattern here?) and get 40.5 percent off a JetBlue Getaways vacation package, in addition to a 40.5 percent break on the airfare. Book that vacation by Friday July 15 and travel July 16 through July 19.
If you book the Vegas vacation for the 16th or 17th leave for the airport very, very early.
If you’re connecting through Los Angeles International Airport this weekend there shouldn’t be a problem. If you’re driving to or from LAX that could be another matter.
In a prepared release Los Angeles World Airports says, “Motorists going between the San Fernando Valley, northern Los Angeles County, and further north of the metropolitan Los Angeles area are expected to encounter significant traffic congestion as I-405 traffic will be redirected to other regional freeways – most of which lead to the downtown Los Angeles area.” The release goes on to say, “From downtown L.A. freeway traffic will be diverted back to westbound I-10 Santa Monica Freeway to return to the L.A. Westside and beach communities.”
Got that? There are better weekends in which to rent a car.
For the chapter and verse as to how to cope, just look to LAX. Here a few highlights:
- Check in on line and have boarding pass in hand when you get to the airport.
- Be at the airport at least two hours ahead of time.
- Take shared-ride vehicles to the airport such as the LAX FlyAway bus, SuperShuttle, or Prime Time Shuttle.
- If you have an early-morning flight, consider booking a room at an airport hotel the evening before, and catch their free shuttle to the terminal the next morning.
- Finally, if you can afford it, fly to LAX via helicopter. The website lists lots of options.
One option some flyers are exercising is avoiding the LA Basin altogether this weekend. You be the judge on that one.
Story by Jerry Chandler
(Image: epSos.de)
