The Airport Train Won't Be Running for the Holidays. Here's How Westchester Gets to LAX Instead

How do you get to a terminal at LAX this Thanksgiving if you live close enough to hear the departures but the new airport train still hasn't carried a single passenger? From Westchester, most of that route has been running since June 2025. The missing piece is the last leg into the terminal loop, and a bus will cover it through the holidays.

Where the Train Stands Heading Into Thanksgiving

The official answer from Los Angeles World Airports is that SkyLink has no opening date. LAWA's October 2026 information sheet says a date can't be confirmed until LINXS, the contractor, finishes final testing. It also says any dates released by other parties "are not confirmed dates but simply estimates." The airport's SkyLink page tells travelers to keep using the shuttles and the existing signs.

The estimate in circulation is LINXS's own. The Los Angeles Times reported in September that the contractor now hopes to begin passenger service by Jan. 6, 2027. The train was originally due in 2023, and as recently as this summer the contractor was aiming for October. In October, the Daily News reported that an Oct. 8 engineering report prepared for lenders called the January target "at risk of further slippage." The same report cited damage to the power rail and guide beam from "blast incidents" at three spots on the guideway during a late-September ramp-up. LAWA's information sheet says LINXS has reported that all repairs from those arc flashes are finished, and that construction of the 2.25-mile guideway, six stations and full train fleet is complete.

According to the Times and the Daily News, these steps all have to happen before anyone rides:

1. Thirty consecutive days of successful system testing
2. An independent review
3. An assessment by LAWA
4. A completed utility agreement with the L.A. Department of Water and Power

Bondholders also merged an Oct. 8 deadline into Dec. 8, according to the Daily News. If LINXS misses that date, LAWA could replace the contractor. Thanksgiving falls on Nov. 26 and the first holiday-week flights leave before that Dec. 8 checkpoint, so every trip this season runs on the system LAX already has.

The Half of SkyLink Westchester Already Uses

Once SkyLink opens, LAWA's project page says the train will link the terminals to economy parking, the Rental Car Center and the LAX/Metro Transit Center at Aviation Boulevard and 96th Street. The transit center is already open. It opened to the public on June 6, 2025, and serves the C and K Lines plus Metro and partner bus lines.

For Westchester, the K Line does the heavy lifting. On Metro's timetable effective June 7, 2026, the LAX/Metro Transit Center is the next stop after Westchester/Veterans. LAWA lists the K Line at every 10 minutes. The bus network meeting at the same platform runs right through the neighborhood:

Some printed materials haven't caught up. LAWA's transit page still shows Beach Cities Transit 109 ending at the old LAX City Bus Center, but the operator's own page, effective Oct. 5, 2026, routes it to the LAX/Metro Transit Center. Culver CityBus's Rapid 6 page still mentions the City Bus Center, while its July 2026 timetable lists the Transit Center. When the two disagree, go by the operator's current schedule.

The Last Leg Is Still a Bus

SkyLink is meant to replace the trip from the Transit Center to the terminals, and until it opens, a shuttle makes that trip. LAWA's ground transportation page lists the Metro Connector Shuttle between the terminals and the LAX/Metro Transit Center every day from 4 a.m. to 1 a.m., on average every 10 minutes. Metro's rider guide to the Transit Center says the free shuttle boards at bus bays 1 and 2 and stops on the terminal arrivals level near the pink columns.

Compare that with what the train is supposed to offer. LAWA says SkyLink will run 24 hours a day, about every two minutes from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. and every three to five minutes overnight. The whole line takes about 10 minutes end to end, and the ride is free with no ticket or app. The shuttle runs a 10-minute average gap through the same horseshoe traffic as every other car at the curb, and it doesn't run between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. Riding the K Line in from Westchester/Veterans takes about as long as it will after SkyLink opens. What the delay costs is the wait at bays 1 and 2 and the crawl around World Way.

The shuttle's hours matter for early departures. Anyone on a flight before about 6 a.m. who plans to arrive two hours early would need to reach the terminal before the first 4 a.m. shuttle. That makes a car drop-off or rideshare the practical choice for that trip.

Pickups Stay at Terminal 1 for Now

The rideshare plan changes only when the train opens. The Times reports that the designated taxi and rideshare lot will move from its spot near Terminal 1 to an area near the Metro center after SkyLink starts service. Until then, the airport's LAX-it page says taxis and standard rideshare still pick up at the lot beside Terminal 1. A free shuttle runs there 24 hours a day, every day of the year, about every seven minutes. Premium rideshare, limousines, town cars and private cars still pick up at the terminal curbs.

In practice, picking up a relative arriving for Thanksgiving works the same way it did last year. Standard rideshare means the green LAX-it shuttle to Terminal 1, and a car from home means the regular arrivals curb.

The Curb Work Already on the Calendar

That arrivals curb is under construction. LAWA's Central Terminal Area roadway bulletin dated Oct. 23, 2026 lists overnight lane and sidewalk restrictions on the Terminal 1 arrivals level, mostly between midnight and 8 a.m. for the curbside improvement work. The listed end dates run to Nov. 6, Nov. 20 and Nov. 30. The same bulletin lists overnight bus-lane and curbside utility work at Terminal 5 on Nov. 14 from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Bus-lane and pickup and drop-off lane work at Terminal 3 is listed for Dec. 11 from midnight to 8 a.m. LAWA posts these bulletins weekly, and each one is short-lived; this one was valid only through Oct. 26. Check the newest version on the airport's traffic and ground transportation page before a late-night drop-off.

Holiday crowds make all of this tighter. LAWA hasn't released a 2026 Thanksgiving forecast yet. For Thanksgiving 2025, the airport expected nearly 2.5 million guests from Nov. 20 through Dec. 1, with more than 230,000 on Sunday, Nov. 30, the busiest day. For Labor Day 2026, LAWA forecast more than 1.9 million passengers over 10 days, with about 231,000 on Friday, Sept. 4, the peak day. That's roughly the same as the 2025 Thanksgiving peak. LAWA's guidance this year is the same as last year's: arrive two hours before a domestic flight and three hours before an international one, plan for construction detours and longer shuttle times, and consider transit.

At The Jones Group Realtors, Greg Jones has followed how LAX's growth shapes Westchester since 1987, from the curb plans to the rail line now running past the neighborhood. If you want to talk through how the airport's changes affect your street or your plans, schedule a free consultation.