Confusion, Frustration As LAX Shakes Up Passenger Pick-Ups – Again

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Less than a week after making big changes for rideshare drivers and passengers, Los Angeles International Airport is once again shaking things up — this time for friends or family picking people up.

"It kind of confused me a little bit, so I've been walking back and forth like, 'OK, what's going on,'" Riley Martin, a traveler, said.

What Martin, and many other passengers found out today, was that travelers are no longer allowed to be picked up on the curb closest to baggage claim anymore — those lanes are reserved for buses, more noticeably, the LAX-it shuttles to the Terminal 1 rideshare lot.

The airport said it has added six more LAX-it shuttles, for a total of 35, to ease congestion and passenger wait times.

"I just assumed, you kinda walk out here, and this is where you go," Taylor Dixon, a traveler, said while waiting on the curb for his ride.

Instead of waiting on the curb, passengers will now have to cross to the median to wait for friends and family members to pick them up.

"I sent her like pictures, and I sent her my current location, and I called her and was like, 'Are you coming,'" Dixon said of his mom who was picking him up. "She was like, 'Yeah, I'm a couple of lights away.'"

According to LAX, the new changes have reduced the number of vehicles in the horseshoe by more than 15%, but that does not mean it's easier for passengers.

"It's not too busy, it's just you can't find the shuttle now," Ken Wilkins, a frequent flyer, said.