LAX Terminal Guide 2026: Airlines, Lounges, Connections, and Terminal Transfers

Beneath its sprawl, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) runs on a simple shape that its size tends to hide: a horseshoe of nine terminals wrapped around a double-decker loop road. Master that shape and you can find any gate, make any transfer, and skip the frantic terminal-hunt that trips up first-timers.

The complication these days is construction, a sweeping overhaul that has shuffled airlines and shut one terminal entirely, so where your carrier sat last year may not be where it sits now.

Find Your Airline’s Terminal

The Big Picture: A Horseshoe with a Catch

Picture a giant U. The terminals line the outer edge, numbered 1 through 8 around the loop, with the Tom Bradley International Terminal (locals call it TBIT, or Terminal B) anchoring the middle. Parking garages fill the center; the roadway wraps the outside.

Two things trip people up:

• The numbers don’t tell the whole story. Terminal 5 sits empty, mid-teardown, and its old tenants are scattered to Terminals 1 and 4. The gap in the numbering marks shuttered gates, not missing ones.
• The construction breaks the walking chain. Most terminals connect airside, but the closed Terminal 5 severs the stretch between Terminal 4 and Terminal 6, so that hop needs a shuttle.

Keep those two facts in mind, and the rest falls into place.

Terminal by Terminal: Who Flies Where

The current airline-to-terminal map breaks down like this.

Terminals 1 and 2

Terminal 1 is Southwest’s domain, shared with JetBlue and Frontier. It sits at the eastern tip of the horseshoe, closest to the ride-share pickup lot, which is handy on arrival.

Terminal 2 now functions as one connected complex with Terminal 3, sharing a single checkpoint and airside access across the pair. Some carriers use the T2 counters while their gates sit on the Terminal 3 side, so read your boarding pass closely.

Terminal 3

Freshly expanded, Terminal 3 is Delta’s West Coast showpiece, home to its renovated Sky Way concourse and shared with Aeromexico. A secure bridge links it directly to the international terminal, making Delta connections onto partner airlines painless.

Terminals 4, 6, 7, and 8

• Terminal 4 is American Airlines’ main LAX home since the airline consolidated its flights here, though British Airways, Japan Airlines, and a few others use it too. A Level 5 walkway connects it directly to the international terminal.
• Terminal 6 hosts Alaska, Hawaiian, and Air Canada, connecting on foot toward Terminals 7 and 8 (see the note below on reaching Terminal 4 while Terminal 5 is out).
• Terminals 7 and 8 are United’s compound, joined airside so you can cross from one to the other without re-screening.

The International Terminal (TBIT)

The crown jewel, the Tom Bradley International Terminal serves more than 40 global carriers and most long-haul departures. A recent west-gate expansion added extra capacity, and its lounges and dining rank among the best at LAX. Even domestic flyers sometimes route via here on international partners.

A Quick Note on Terminal 5

You won’t fly out of Terminal 5 for now. It closed for demolition and a ground-up rebuild, slated to reopen in 2028 for the Summer Olympics as a modern hall fused with Terminal 4. Its former airlines moved on, with JetBlue heading to Terminal 1 and American consolidating into Terminal 4.

Where Can You Find a Lounge at LAX?

A good lounge turns a long layover into the best part of the trip, and Los Angeles International Airport has more than twenty of them scattered across the horseshoe.

The catch is that they cluster unevenly: the international terminal stacks world-class rooms on top of each other, while a couple of terminals have none at all. Because most terminals connect airside, though, you can often reach a lounge in another terminal without re-clearing security, so your card or your ticket matters more than your gate.

A note on the construction years: the Terminal 2 Sky Club sits closed until its rebuild, and Terminal 5’s lounges went offline with the terminal itself.

How to Actually Get Between Terminals

Now for the part the map won’t teach you. Most of LAX links up airside, so a connection rarely means leaving security, but the Terminal 5 teardown adds one wrinkle worth planning around.

The Good News: Most Terminals Connect Airside

Most of the horseshoe connects airside after a major round of upgrades. Follow the Terminal Connection signs, and you can usually reach your departure gate without a second screening. A few useful links:

• Terminals 6, 7, and 8 join by short walkways, a five-to-ten-minute stroll end to end.
• Terminal 4 ties into the international terminal via a Level 5 connector.
• Terminals 2 and 3 share a checkpoint and connect straight through to the international terminal, an upgrade that smooths Delta connections.

The One Catch: The Terminal 5 Gap

Because Terminal 5 is a demolition site, the airside tunnel that once linked Terminal 4 and Terminal 6 no longer opens. To cross that gap without re-clearing security, hop the free airside shuttle that runs between the two for now. It’s the single break in an otherwise walkable chain, so if your connection spans that stretch, follow the signs to the shuttle rather than hunting for a walkway that isn’t there.

Moving Landside

Already collected checked bags or stepped out of security? A separate terminal connector shuttle loops the arrivals curb at no charge, marked with LAX Shuttle signs on the lower level. The outdoor sidewalk works too, roughly ten to fifteen minutes per terminal. These are the fallback when an airside route isn’t an option.

One note for international arrivals: you’ll clear immigration and customs at the international terminal, collect and re-check your bags, then head to your departure gate and pass security again, so allow extra time.

Getting To and From the Airport

Ground transport at LAX changed a few years back, and the shift still catches people off guard.

• Rideshares usually route via the LAX-it lot east of Terminal 1, reachable by a free shuttle or a short walk.
• Taxis mostly pick up at LAX-it as well, with a few additional spots such as near Parking Structure 3 and Terminal 7.
• Chauffeured services are the low-stress choice, especially with a full flight’s worth of luggage or an early departure. Booking private airport transportation ahead of time lets an authorized chauffeur meet you and take care of the bags, so you skip the lot transfer and the taxi line.
• Public transit runs via the FlyAway bus to Union Station, plus Metro rail from the LAX/Metro Transit Center, linked to the terminals by a free connector shuttle. Both are budget-friendly if you’re not in a rush.

The LAX SkyLink Automated People Mover is still on the way. It’s a landside system built to link the terminals with parking, the rental-car center, and Metro, not a substitute for the secure walkways that already join the concourses.

A Few Navigation Rules to Fly By

Keep these in your back pocket and the airport turns manageable:

• Confirm your terminal the day you fly. Construction keeps reshuffling carriers, so last month’s gate may be wrong.
• Go by your airline’s connection time. No single number fits every transfer, so follow the minimum your carrier gives you and pad it while the detours last.
• Arrive early. LAX advises at least two hours ahead for domestic flights and three for international, and the international terminal earns every minute of that.
• Walk before you wait. When your terminals connect airside, walking almost always beats standing around for a shuttle.

The Takeaway

Get three things right, and the rest takes care of itself. Know your carrier’s current home, since construction may have moved it. Learn which terminals link on foot, so you walk instead of waiting. And pad your layovers during the rebuild years, when a stray shuttle ride can eat your buffer. Manage those, and one of the country’s busiest airports becomes somewhere you move through with confidence.