Found in LA: LAX, Delays, Surprise?

The update: We left LAX 2 hours late in spite of no weather issues whatsover. Missed my connection in Dallas and had to spend the night -- it's about 80 degrees here and it smells like Texas.

The worst part of the delay at LAX seems to be a recurring issue this year. The 767 was boarded in what seemed like record time -- about 15 minutes. But then we sat at the gate for at least a half hour waiting for the cargo to be loaded and then another 15 minutes waiting to get hooked up and taxiied onto the runway.

I did call American from the terminal and tried to revise my flight plans every way possible, but of course, flights are tight this weekend. One thing I CAN recommend -- if you have a tight connection, i.e. an hour or so between flights -- you might want to make sure your originating flight is STARTING at LAX, and not -- as was the case with mine -- a shuttle that was already delayed in arriving from DFW.

Oh yeah, and if you're running late, just get in the First/Business class line for security. Claim ignorance if anyone asks -- it's not like they're gonna turn you away (or get on the waiting list for an upgrade to first class like I did). Also -- and this is something to keep in mind at every public gathering... especially in LA for some reason -- wherever there's one very long line, there is ALWAYS an alternative, shorter line, or the strong possibility that one will soon be made available.

Flight the power.