lax

With its gridlocked terminals, infuriating delays and long lines for everything from security checks to coffee, LAX might be where patience goes to die. It’s a place most dream of escaping; instead L.A.-born novelist Alexander Maksik takes readers inside the airport to witness both the unease and shared humanity of people passing through.

Longlisted for the 2026 National Book Award in fiction, Maksik’s new novel, “Passengers,” unfolds within the airport’s sprawling concourses. The story centers on Ivan and Nina, a distant father and daughter meeting up for a flight to Paris. For 75-year-old Ivan, it’s a chance to show his daughter where he once lived. For 29-year-old Nina, it’s a free trip and an opportunity to finally understand a parent she barely knows. When their flight is delayed, and then delayed again, frustration shifts from the departure boards to the fault lines between them.

Maksik, speaking via video conference from his Parisian apartment, always planned that the book would be about a father-daughter pair. “When my daughter was born, like many new parents, I found I could only think in clichés, and I didn’t try to resist them,” he says. “But as time went by, I started to toy with the idea of writing a novel about a father and daughter in which the battle against cliché would become central, would take on huge, even life-saving, importance.”

The author also plays with the idea of nostalgia. “Nostalgia brings you close to the edge of real feeling without forcing you to confront the weight, power and terror of real feeling. It’s too easy to keep yourself wrapped up in the false ease of the past.” One of the things that airports remind us of, he says, is change. Restaurants and boutiques close and open regularly. In one era, people sought out bookstores; in another, they’re looking for headphones and portable chargers.

“For a long time, airports felt to me like places of civility,” says Maksik. “I remember having real conversations with strangers at a bar or in various waiting areas. There was promise and possibility and warmth in such interactions. Now an airport is just one more place to look at your phone.”

As Ivan and Nina walk, talk, do tequila shots and observe their fellow travelers, those travelers are also observing them. One of the most powerful conceits in the book occurs when the two leave an airport venue and readers get the perspective of a person who served or overheard them. For example, one character, “an elegant woman, long gray hair in a braid” thinks about her dead husband when she notices Ivan and Nina: “It was impossible for the woman to see two people together, really any two people, and not feel his absence.” There’s another man who thinks he can tell that father and daughter “were the kind always looking for a way around the rules, who think waiting is for suckers like him.” Each underscores the fact that strangers affect and can even change one another (like our own offspring do).

Something else Ivan and Nina share is physical labor. Ivan spent decades as a building contractor, while Nina is a masseuse who goes to clients’ homes, not liking “the idea of going to the same place again and again. She wanted to travel, to peer inside different lives.” Maksik himself held service positions for many years, experience that gave him a different outlook than some of his colleagues at the renowned Iowa Writers Workshop, which he entered at the relatively senior age of 38.

“At Iowa, I was drawn to those who were writing about worlds that were far away from literature and academia,” he says. “Maybe that’s because I’ve worked so many different jobs. I washed dishes. I was a bartender. I cooked. I delivered pizza. Those experiences were vivid and interesting and at least as formative to me as a writer as anything I learned in the classroom. To write well about work is something I admire a great deal.”

Of course, Maksik is writing fiction, and can write about any sort of life, including that of a teacher, as he did in his critically acclaimed 2011 novel “You Deserve Nothing,” about an affair between an American teacher and his French high school student. As he knows, there’s a shadow over that book because one of his students alleged that the story was about Maksik’s affair with her when she was 17 years old.

“I will aways have to acknowledge my own history, and how I came to write that novel,” he says. “And there will always exist people to whom this acknowledgment means nothing. Perhaps this is as it should be. I’m certainly not proud of that period of my life, and, frankly, I’m no longer particularly proud of the novel either. Nevertheless, it will always be part and parcel of my history, and I have no intention of pretending otherwise.”

As Ivan and Nina wrestle with their own emotional truths, which range from her mother Nora’s departure from their lives to Ivan’s clumsy recitations of Nina’s childhood antics, something alarming is afoot. Nina can’t make or receive calls on her phone. The pair notices that others can’t make calls, either; a restaurant loses its checkout interface; and everyone is snaking cords around to keep devices charged for the moment when service returns.

Something is definitely wrong, and no one seems to know what it is. Soon Nina sees that her father is tired and weak, despite a meal and plenty of water; she becomes convinced that he needs fresh air. When they try to exit the airport, they find barriers set up and armed soldiers who say no one is allowed to leave.

The sense of unease Maksik creates mirrors the sense of disconnection between all of the people stranded, from a brusque young woman in bunny slippers and giant headphones to an older couple huddled beneath racks of merchandise: “We’re trying to sleep … Can’t you see that?” one of them says. This LAX, unlike the island of civility and good manners Maksik remembers from childhood, fosters alienation and dread.

The author laughs ruefully when accused of his own version of nostalgia, admitting that the version of the airport he’s created feels closer to our present-day reality. As it happens, Maksik himself will be taking a flight soon, from France to Florida, taking part in his fellow author Lauren Groff’s First Editions Book Club. How does he feel about that?

“Our daughter was born in late 2019, and then there was the pandemic. Each day since then seems more dangerous than the previous one. I wouldn’t at all be surprised to find myself trapped in an airport, whether as a result of climate change, AI, or one of the many petulant maniacs who run the world.”

Patrick is a freelance critic and author of the memoir “Life B.”

Dread is usually the first sensation Angelenos conjure when they hear “LAX.” It doesn’t have to be this way, L.A.

You might be preparing to check in toward a faraway destination, or doing what is often called the ultimate expression of love here: driving someone to or from one of the busiest airports in the world. Either way, if timed right, your journey can become a satisfying dip into the culinary scene surrounding our vice for the airborne, our awkward beauty, El Ay Ex.

Mariscos El Chente staff members Denise Miranda and Maria Peñuelas.

(Daniel Hernandez / Los Angeles Times)

No, you don’t have to limit yourself to the touristy In-N-Out on Sepulveda Bouelvard. Skip Randy’s Donuts if you’ve done it before. For this guide, we’re zeroing in on local favorites in the quietly robust scene of dining and drinking within one mile of the airport’s perimeter. No hotel restaurants or lounges.

A tight proximity to the runways means you’re mostly surrounded by busy LAX workers and hardcore locals from the communities of Westchester, El Segundo, Lennox, Hawthorne and Inglewood. Sprinkle in people who’ve just landed from just about anywhere in the world, and the magic of the LAX cultural orbit comes alive. I’m no longer kidding or holding my secret: Because of the restaurants and bars, I actually love hanging out around the airport.

This makes me part of a low-key membrane of Angeleno who enjoys watching jetliners serenely glide their passengers through the sky, landing a kiss away from the gleaming Pacific, as we sip a nice lager or chomp into a mulita. I can trick my brain on any day into thinking I’m just about to take off myself.

In the summer of 1957, Walt Disney spotted a monorail in Europe and decided he’d like to have one of his own. Design and construction began in 1958, and the following year, Disneyland had a monorail.

The LAX SkyLink people mover was approved by the L.A. City Council in 2018 and construction began in 2019, with a targeted completion date of 2023. In the latest news of yet another delay, the hoped-for startup has been pushed into next year.

Almost eight years, and the train has not left the station.

It’s the little engine that can’t.

The people mover that doesn’t.

There’s been finger-pointing, litigation and a grand jury probe into how a $1.9-billion choo-choo has become a $3.3-billion boondoggle.

Maybe they should have hired Disney.

“Tell me about it,” said Los Angeles City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who noted that Disney imagineer Bob Gurr, who helped design the monorail and other iconic Disneyland attractions, lives in her district.

I’m waiting to hear back from Gurr, who’s in his mid-90s, to see if he’s available to work a little magic and help get the people mover moving.

“I’m down with that,” Rodriguez said. “And we get an E Ticket ride.”

To fully appreciate the madness, a bit of historical context is helpful.

Given the region’s legendary traffic, a well-designed transit system has always made sense in Southern California, and billions of dollars have been invested, with quite a bit to show for voter-approved sales tax increases with Measures R and M and boatloads of federal dollars.

But the ride has been bumpy.

In the 1990s, the Green Line, as it was then known, was supposed to go to the airport.

It stopped two miles short.

The rail line known as the purple, or the D, was sometimes referred to as the Subway to the Sea.

But even if its next phase is ever completed, it would stop about 3.5 miles short of the beach. (You can, however, take the E Line to downtown Santa Monica.)

Meanwhile, as The Times’ Colleen Shalby just reported, construction is beginning this week on the Van Nuys-Pacoima light rail line.

Only five years behind schedule.

And the cost has gone from $1.3 billion originally to almost $4 billion.

Are you catching on to a pattern here?

And these are not rocket launches we’re talking about. A light rail line. A people mover.

We’re in California, which has a Silicon Valley and Silicon Beach and a few remnants of the aerospace industry, but we can’t get Joe Blow from the Hertz rental lot to an airport terminal in less than eight years?

Meanwhile, the Vision Zero plan introduced 11 years ago by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti, with a goal of eliminating traffic deaths with roadway design and safety improvements, has fallen far short. As Damian Kevitt of Streets Are for Everyone told Shalby, for three years running, L.A. has had more traffic fatalities than homicides.

“The rest of the world has seen a decrease in traffic deaths,” Kevitt told me. “There are ways to do this, and we run into roadblocks. … It’s lack of leadership … at every level. … To me, the people mover is almost an indicator of systemic issues across the city.”

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass is the chair of Metro and appoints airport commissioners. So unsurprisingly, Councilmember Nithya Raman, her challenger in the mayoral campaign, is going after her on the people mover debacle and other transportation shortcomings.

Bass says the LAX project began before she took office, and regarding disputes that led to delays, “we pushed for a settlement so there would be a firm finish line.”

That’s weak.

There’s never been a firm finish line.

It’s like every other major public project in L.A. and beyond. They come with no firm starting time and no firm completion date, and the only two guarantees are that the tab will keep growing, and when the job finally is complete, public officials will take bows at the ribbon cutting.

So what happened in the case of the people mover?

The grand jury report goes into great detail about an arrangement in which L.A. World Airports awarded designing, building and operating authority to a private contracting consortium called LINXS, for LAX Integrated Express Solution.

Are you comfortable with that? Can you understand why anyone would be, other than the contractors?

The grand jury found no criminal activity on anyone’s part, but you’ll be shocked to know there was a considerable amount of eyebrow-raising behavior. The contractor has sued the city, blaming it for delays, but the grand jury suggested it was the contractor who caused the delays, essentially holding out for payment of $550 million in settlement claims.

It’s as if city officials, who missed out on having the project done in time for the World Cup matches, were easy marks, desperate to make sure the trains are running at least by the 2028 Olympics.

We could have flying taxis by then, but no airport locomotive. This would not be a good look.

Rodriguez, who initially voted no on the upcoming convention center expansion project, said she was explicit about one concern she had regarding that public-private partnership.

“Whatever contract language was in the people mover contract, make sure it’s not in the convention center project,” she said.

“This is an embarrassment, by all means,” said James Moore, emeritus engineering professor at USC.

Although the people mover — which would finally make it possible for rail passengers to connect to LAX — is only 2.25 miles long, it’s a sophisticated feat of engineering. But, as Moore noted, countless airports around the world have figured out how to get the job done.

“Should it have taken this long? No,” Moore said. But “when anything goes right in Los Angeles, that’s when I’m surprised.”

Paging Bob Gurr, Disney designer extraordinaire.

We need your help, Bob, and you can name your price.

Money appears to be no object.

steve.lopez@latimes.com

After 33 months of construction and $1.3 billion in spending, the Hollywood Burbank Airport’s new terminal opened on Tuesday morning, with a medley of arrivals and departures in the minutes after 7 a.m.

Instead of the snug, historic facility whose Spanish Colonial Revival style dated to 1930, travelers found themselves in a sleek terminal at Winona Avenue and Hollywood Way, distinguished by high ceilings, contemporary art, twinkling terrazzo floors, abundant charging stations and landscaping full of cactus and succulents, along with a few “wet paint” signs. Passengers gawked at mirrored grid artwork by Glenn Kaino overhead.

Passengers at Pete’s Pub inside the new Hollywood Burbank Airport terminal. None of the 13 food concessions are fully open.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

“It was weird,” said Tanya Radke, 25, of Van Nuys, who was headed to Kansas City and caught off-guard by the terminal switch. “It was not what I thought was going to happen today for me.”

But looking around, the passenger called the new space a big upgrade. “It reminds me a lot of the Kansas City airport,” Radke said. “It was well overdue.”

The day’s schedule called for about 90 departures and arrivals by eight airlines, roughly the same schedule as in the previous buildings. The new terminal also has the same two runways and same number of gates — 14 — as the airport’s previous two-terminal alignment. And passengers still often board planes from the front and back, using outdoor steps from the tarmac, rather than enclosed tunnels. That practice is something travelers have long praised for its informality and efficiency.

But the new building does bring many changes. It measures about 50% larger than the two old terminals combined — about 355,000 square feet — with higher ceilings and a pair of illuminated steel sculptures by Cliff Garten flanking the main entrance.

The first departure was Alaska Flight 3401 to Santa Rosa at 7:03 a.m. with 33 passengers aboard. The first arrival: Southwest Flight 189 from Las Vegas, which landed at 7:16 a.m. with 30 passengers aboard.

The new terminal opened after 33 months of construction and $1.3 billion in spending.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

“The taxi off was a little different. Instead of turning right, you turn left,” said Southwest Airlines pilot Mike Petros, who arrived at 7:31 a.m. with a planeload of passengers from Sacramento. At the start of the flight, Petros said, “We told them that we would be flying to a new terminal, so if they had anybody picking them up, let them know.”

Still, many were surprised. Airport management deployed several staffers to redirect confused travelers from the old terminals (now idle) to the new one. Anthony Bailey, 29, said he learned of the switch from an Uber driver on his way to the airport.

“So far, I’m liking it,” Bailey said of the new terminal, standing near gate 13 before catching a flight to Las Vegas. “Nice and clean. The TSA line was pretty smooth.”

While most of the six retail stores were open on Tuesday, none of the terminal’s 13 food concessions were fully operating. Two eateries were offering grab-and-go options, and airport spokesperson Mike Christensen said more options would arrive later in the day and week.

Katelyn Bailey and travel companion Pigeon check in for a flight to the Bay Area.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

When the new terminal concessions open, dining options will include Guy Fieri’s Flavor Town, Spring Chicken, Diane’s Farm Table and Italian Market, Jones Coffee, Perry’s Joint, Poquito Mas, West Coast Smash Burgers, Massis Kabob, Starbucks, Border Grill, Jet Tila’s Asian Table, Santa Canela bakery and a bar, Pete’s Pub, with picture-window views of the runways and Verdugo Mountains.

Many travelers, including William Langlois and Annie Cerillo of Tampa, noted the shortage of eating options on Tuesday. “It’s horrible, there’s no restaurants and not enough security stations,” said Langlois, who had gone to the old terminal first and was redirected. Before this change, “this was the easiest airport,” said Cerillo.

In the new terminal, airport officials say, the walk from the entrance to the farthest gate is 1,285 feet, down from 1,600 feet now, with wider corridors and sidewalks and access to power plugs for devices from every seat. (Its many charging stations are now mostly USB-C ports, not USB.) The new terminal includes eight TSA lines, versus five in the old set-up. Baggage claim carousels have moved from outdoors to indoors.

The airport’s new parking structure includes about 2,000 spots and 310 charging ports for electric vehicles. (The airport’s total number of parking spaces is 6,637, the same as before.)

Alaska Airlines Flight 3401 to Santa Rosa was the first flight to depart from the new terminal at Hollywood Burbank Airport on Tuesday.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

As it did before, the airport supplies shuttle bus service between the new terminal and Burbank Airport-South Train Station (which connects with Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner) and the Burbank Airport-North Station at San Fernando Road and Hollywood Way.

Among many preparations for the day, Burbank airport officials staged a “passenger simulation trial” on Sept. 19, inviting 1,500 volunteers to behave like passengers in the new building, giving dozens of airport workers staffers, including TSA staffers and airline gate agents, a chance to prepare for Tuesday.

The airport, second busiest in L.A. County, was built in 1930 and is run by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority. For decades it has been favored by many local travelers as a simpler, faster, quainter alternative to Los Angeles International Airport. The Burbank airport’s site in the San Fernando Valley, however, has often put its leaders at odds with residents of surrounding suburban neighborhoods. Unlike LAX, which has no flight curfew, the Burbank airport has limited operating hours — 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Passengers disembark Southwest Flight 189 from Las Vegas just before 7:30 a.m. This was the first arrival into the new terminal at Hollywood Burbank Airport.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Before this week’s move, the aged Burbank facility didn’t meet current state seismic standards or Federal Aviation Administration design standards, which prompted repeated safety warnings. Airport officials said the new design also increases the distance between the terminal and the nearest runway, formerly as little as 257 feet, to about 880 feet — a change that brings the airport into compliance with FAA standards.

Voters approved the Burbank airport terminal replacement project in 2016. Construction began in 2024. The airport reported about 6.2 million arriving and departing passengers in 2025, flying to and from about 30 nonstop destinations.

“It’s a beautiful building, but buildings aren’t anything without people who fill them with dedication and service,” said Tyron Hampton, president of the Burbank-Glendale Airport Authority and City Councilmember in Pasadena. He predicted that the new facility would attract not only new passengers but new businesses to the commercial corridor along Burbank’s Winona Avenue.

As Burbank unveils its new terminal, the opening of LAX’s most high-profile project — the SkyLink automated people mover (a 2.25-mile electric train route linking terminals to rail service and rental cars) has been delayed by technical and legal issues until Jan. 6 at the earliest.

“I don’t like to compare,” said Hampton when asked about LAX. “We have 14 gates. LAX has 161.”