The 96th Street cell phone lot is gone. If you are driving to LAX to collect someone and you were planning to wait at the lot off 96th Street with its 100 stalls, that lot was demolished during the Terminal Drive and People Mover construction. The street itself is closed through that stretch. Plenty of guides, maps and older articles still list the 96th Street address — following them now puts you at a construction zone while your passenger stands at the curb.
Here is what actually works today.
Where is the LAX cell phone waiting lot?
LAX now has one cell phone waiting lot: the Century lot at 5800 W. Century Boulevard, on the southeast corner of Century Boulevard and Airport Boulevard. It is free, open 24 hours, and you may wait up to two hours. You must stay with your vehicle. Pickup itself still happens on the lower Arrivals level outer curb — the lot has no shuttle to the terminals.
The single most important thing to know is the size. The old 96th Street lot held about 100 vehicles. The Century lot holds roughly 23. That is a reduction of more than three quarters, serving the same airport. On a busy evening it fills, and there is no overflow lot to fall back on.
That one fact should change how you plan the trip.
LAX cell phone lot: the facts
| Location | 5800 W. Century Blvd — southeast corner of Century Blvd and Airport Blvd |
|---|---|
| Cost | Free |
| Hours | Open 24 hours |
| Maximum wait | Up to 2 hours |
| Capacity | Roughly 23 stalls — it fills quickly at peak arrival times |
| Must you stay in the car? | Yes. Vehicles must be attended at all times |
| Restrooms | No. There are no restroom facilities at the lot |
| Shuttle to terminals | None |
| Commercial / rideshare vehicles | Not permitted |
| 96th Street lot | Closed — demolished during construction. Do not drive there |
Because you must stay with the vehicle and there are no restrooms, the lot is a place to sit in your car and wait — not somewhere to stretch out, walk around or leave the car briefly. Drivers who step away risk a citation or a tow.
Is the LAX cell phone lot open right now?
The Century lot operates 24 hours a day. The practical question is not whether it is open but whether it has space. With about 23 stalls for an airport handling arrivals across nine terminals, the honest answer at 6pm on a Sunday is: possibly not.
If it is full, your options are to loop the terminal roadway and try again, or to park in a Central Terminal Area structure and pay the posted rate. The CTA structures give you ten minutes free, after which drive-up general parking starts at $9 for the first hour. For a flight that is running twenty minutes late, that is often the calmer choice than circling.
How to use the lot properly
The lot exists to solve one problem: LAX does not let you wait at the arrivals curb. Traffic officers keep the curb moving, and a stopped car gets waved on or cited. The waiting lot is the official place to sit until your passenger is genuinely ready.
The sequence that works:
- Do not leave home when the plane lands. Leave when it lands, and you will arrive as they are still at baggage claim — but that is the easy half. The hard half is the curb.
- Wait in the lot with the engine off until your passenger texts that they have their bags in hand and are walking outside. Not "we've landed." Not "we're taxiing." Bags in hand.
- Agree on a curb marker before they fly. Terminal number plus a door or pillar number. "Outside baggage claim" is not a location at LAX — the arrivals level runs the length of the horseshoe.
- Then make one drive in, one stop, and leave. From the Century lot into the terminal loop is a short run, but the loop itself can be slow at peak times.
The mistake that undoes all of it is entering the terminal loop too early. Once you are in the horseshoe with a passenger who is still waiting on a delayed bag, you cannot stop and you cannot easily get back out — you circle, and each lap is longer than the last.
If you have not been to LAX recently, it is also worth knowing that rideshare pickups are handled separately at the LAX-it lot, which is a different system entirely. Our LAX-IT lot guide explains how that works and why private cars do not use it.
What if you are collecting someone who needs help?
The waiting-lot model assumes a passenger who can walk out to a curb, find your car in moving traffic, and load their own bags quickly. That assumption breaks for a lot of arrivals:
- An international arrival at Tom Bradley, after immigration and customs, with no working phone until they find wifi
- Elderly parents, or anyone with mobility needs
- A family with small children, car seats and a luggage cart
- Anyone arriving late at night into an unfamiliar terminal
In those cases the curb handoff is the weak point, not the waiting. If the person you are meeting cannot reliably text you the moment they are outside, the lot's two-hour clock and 23 stalls stop being a workable plan.
This is where a private car changes the shape of the problem. A chauffeur tracks the inbound flight, absorbs the delay, and — with meet-and-greet — waits inside at baggage claim with a name board so your passenger never has to locate a specific car on a moving curb. Nobody circles, and nobody is standing outside at LAX at midnight wondering which pillar they agreed on. Our guide to meet-and-greet versus curbside covers when that is worth paying for and when it is not.
If you are weighing the options against each other rather than looking for the lot specifically, picking someone up at LAX: curbside, cell phone lot or short-term parking compares all three properly.
Driving yourself vs booking the pickup
Collecting someone from LAX yourself is genuinely fine when the trip is simple: one adult, carry-on only, a domestic arrival in daylight, and a phone that works. The lot is free and the system does work when used as intended.
It gets expensive in time rather than money when the arrival is complicated. A delayed international flight can mean two hours in a 23-stall lot that was full when you got there, followed by several laps of the terminal loop. Booking the pickup instead removes the drive, the parking, the loop and the timing guesswork — and it means the person arriving is met rather than hunted for.
Check LAX pickup availability, or call (657) 334-8622 to arrange a meet-and-greet.
Frequently asked questions
Does LAX have a cell phone lot?
Yes — one. The Century lot at 5800 W. Century Boulevard, at the southeast corner of Century and Airport Boulevard. It is free, open 24 hours, with a two-hour maximum. The former 96th Street lot has been demolished and is no longer available.
Where is the LAX cell phone waiting lot?
5800 W. Century Blvd, on the southeast corner of Century Boulevard and Airport Boulevard, just east of the terminal area. Reached from Century Boulevard or Airport Boulevard.
Is the LAX cell phone lot free?
Yes, free for up to two hours. There is no charge and no ticket to validate.
What happened to the 96th Street cell phone lot?
It was demolished during the Terminal Drive and People Mover construction, and that stretch of 96th Street is closed. Many maps and guides still list the old 6217 96th Street address — it is out of date. Do not drive there.
Are there restrooms at the cell phone lot?
No. There are no restrooms at the lot, and because vehicles must be attended at all times you cannot leave your car to find one. Plan accordingly on a long wait.
How long can you wait at the LAX cell phone lot?
Up to two hours. In practice the limit that bites first is capacity — roughly 23 stalls — not the clock.
What do I do if the cell phone lot is full?
Either loop the terminal roadway and try again, or park in a Central Terminal Area structure. CTA parking gives ten minutes free, then $9 for the first hour on drive-up general parking. On a delayed flight, paying for the structure is often less stressful than circling.
Can Uber and Lyft drivers use the cell phone lot?
No. Commercial and ride-service vehicles are not permitted. Rideshare operates through the separate LAX-it lot.
Is there a shuttle from the cell phone lot to the terminals?
No. The lot has no shuttle. You drive to the Arrivals level outer curb to collect your passenger.
About this guide
LAXToGo runs chauffeured airport transfers through LAX every day, which is how we know the 96th Street lot is gone rather than repeating an address from an old map. We keep this page current because our own dispatch depends on it.
For private chauffeur service beyond the airport — point-to-point work across Los Angeles and Orange County neighbourhoods — our sister company Lux4Rides operates the same network under the same ownership.
