Airport Center Parking - Garage (LAX) — Attraction in Los Angeles

My experience with the Los Angeles Airport Center Express has been positive 50% of the time and negative 50 % of the time. This is OK for a restaurant, but NOT acceptable for a service whose reliability directly affects whether or not I catch my plane or at on time for an appointment. On two occasions the service was Extremely Poor to the point of Unacceptable. After the first incident I promised myself to never use the service again. My wife’s preferences and time eroded this commitment and I scheduled another parking and shuttle service last week. Things went fine on my parking and trip to LAX. When I returned to LAX I was unable to locate the shuttle. I called their advertised number several times; I got No Response! We waited at the pick-up area for Hotels and Private Parking Lots for over 20 minutes. No sign of Airport Center.

Becoming increasingly frustrated I went on line to see if I had missed something. To my surprise I discovered a notice directing me to wait for the shuttle on the upper level (the Departure Level) at an area labeled “Private Parking Lot Shuttles”. “Starting January 23, 2017 Airport Center Express shuttle service will change….We are now required to pick-up and drop-off customers at the same level: the Upper Level (Departures.)” The notice was accompanied by pictures of orange and black signs showing a drawing of a shuttle and the words, “Shuttle Zone, Private Parking Lots.” My wife and I, with baggage in tow, took the escalator to the upper level to look for the signs and pick-up area. To our disappointment and growing frustration, NONE EXISTED! The Airport Center Express Website was OBSOLETE!

Approaching desperation, we asked cab drivers for the cost of delivering us to the Center Express parking lot. We also discussed calling an Uber. My wife, who for some reason has an undying loyalty to this company, continued to call Center Express. Having an additional old number (which is no longer posted on the shuttles as it was years ago) used for texting Center Express when waiting at LAX, she finally was successful in getting through. The shuttle finally picked us up over an hour after we left the gate!

After this final disappointing and frustrating experience, I am definitely and permanently looking elsewhere. I suggest that you...

I'll try to stick to the facts. The prices are competitive. It's in proximity to the airport, so shuttle rides are very short. Shuttles just don't arrive at the terminals as frequently as some of the competition. Whether this matters to you for the price trade-off is something you'll have to consider. Parking spaces are too close together and many park over the lines. There's a high probability that your car will get dinged, even though I haven't had this issue both times I've used their garage.

DO NOT book partial days. Only book FULL days to give yourself maximum flexibility on returning because they only bill for full days. I had an issue with this and I had to contact customer service after the fact to ask them to reverse the extra charge for going over my stated return time by 3hrs (which they kindly did for me). So, if you plan to park at 7am on Monday and leave at 5pm on Tuesday, book it for leaving at 7am on Wednesday, it'll cost you the same with the added benefit of having extra time to return. Some garages just remove overstay charges if you don't go over into the next 24hrs, but they don't do this here (even though their website claims that they only book in 24 periods). An overstay on a partial day will cost you another full day.

Would I go back? Most likely. All the negative reviews about vandalism and theft can happen in any garage without manned security or a security gate keeping people out. The small parking spaces are a real pain, but there's no guarantee other garages in the area won't eventually be just as cramped. It'd be a gamble to go with another garage, but it COULD pay off. Their shuttle wait times aren't the best, but I've seen much worse from other garages. All of the garages in the area charge for full days only, but some of them delete over stays on request. This doesn't matter to me because now I know how they operate here.

Should you try them? How comfortable would you be with really tight parking? That's the biggest con in my estimation. If you can roll with that, I suggest giving them a shot keeping in mind the information...

I was visiting Los Angles and arrived on Thursday, August 15, 2024. I had my luggage and I was carrying my black hoodie from the 2013 Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama's second term. So it is very important and very sentimental to me. I brought it with in case it was cold during my flight.

Well, I was in prayer on the day and a few hours before I was to return to Arizona, on Monday, August 19, 2024, and it came to me during prayer that I didn't have my hoodie with me in my hotel room at the Embassy Suites. So I looked around for it and indeed I didn't have it. I really thought it was with me in my hotel room. I asked the hotel staff to see if it was in their lost & found. They didn't have it.

I filed a lost claim with Southwest Airlines and with LAX wondering if I had left it on the plane or inside the airport, hoping that they may have it and contact me.

Well, it was within two hours before my flight was to leave to take me home and I thought that perhaps I left my hoodie on the shuttle that had brought me to the hotel this past Thursday. The shuttle arrived at the hotel to pick up some people to take them to the airport and I told the driver my story and he told me to go the the Airport Center Parking Garage that was about mid-block from the Embassy Suites Hotel entrance and all of the items left on the shuttles by clients are taken their.

I walked to the office and Mr. Chaminda was the official I spoke to and I told him my story. He looked for my hoodie and didn't see it. He told me to leave my contact information with him and the description of my hoodie and if they find it, they will contact me.

I returned home to Arizona on Monday and the following day, Tuesday, August 20, 2024 at 12:43 pm. Mr. Chaminda sent to me a text and a photo of my hoodie and informed me that it had been recovered. Something was on top of it yesterday that prevented him from seeing it.

I was overjoyed that it was recovered and I thank God and Mr. Chaminda that I will soon have my...