For our Summer 2017 trip, the Michael W Travels family will be spending 5 weeks traveling around the Pacific. (Find out How A Call to Fiji Air Saved Me $645.94.)
We used American Airlines miles to book the international flights to and from the U.S. but they were in/ out of California.
Our first international flight was at 11:30 PM from LAX so Kim and I figured we could catch an early flight and spend part of a day wandering around Los Angeles.
Since check-in for our Fiji Air flight wouldn’t start until 3-4 hours before our flight, we’d need luggage storage at LAX.
To our surprise, LAX does not offer luggage storage and the options were limited in terms of what we could do.
- Hang around LAX all day long, spending most of our time at the KAL Priority Pass lounge. Cost: Free
- There’s the off-airport LAX Luggage Storage service but that isn’t so cheap. We were looking at $12 per large backpack and $10 for a carry-on bag. Each items also has a pickup and drop off fee of $5 each way. Cost: around $64.
- Book a room for day use at the Travelodge Hotel at LAX. This would offer us a place to leave our bags, relax, use WiFi and take a shower. Cost: $79.95 + tax.
After much debate, Kim and I knew that we could no way spend the day at LAX. We then figured for a little bit more money, we should just head over to the Travelodge LAX rather that use the off-airport luggage storage.
In the end, getting a half day room at the Travelodge cost us $79.95 + tax for a grand total of $94 and change. This is definitely the most expensive price that we have ever paid for luggage storage.
Once I realized the situation, I was a bit annoyed that this would be so costly but it actually made a lot of sense for us since we’re traveling with a 5 year-old and almost 11 month old.
We were actually really tired from waking up early for our flight to LA so we did some foodie travel. Rather than head to a beach area after, we decided to head back to our room to relax.
And the best part of paying for the room was that I could shower and feel refreshed from our long day flying and doing some wandering around LA.
Based on the choices I listed above, what would you do with your luggage during a long layover?
