Post Punk Kitchen Forum

We are stuck at LAX for 3 hours on our way to the US and on our way home for just over 6 hours. Is it worth trying to leave the airport? Also are there any good vegan and g/f food options at the airport? Keeping in mind that I will have 15 hour flight either side of that visit without meals since airlines can't cater for gluten free vegans so I will be craving some real food!

Bring your own snacks, if you can. I had a few hours in LA both on the way over and on the way home last year, and both sucked. All we could find to eat was a really sub-par burrito. It'll be way too expensive to leave the airport as well, it's definitely not worth it. Who are you flying with? I had good and bad food experiences on those flights depending on the airline (the good was really only because our United flight was cancelled and we got put on an Air NZ flight instead).

I'm flying with v australia but not airline will do both g/f and vegan meals :-(

maybe im slow but what do you mean by this?

the best prices to fly to America are with V, so i've been looking into booking with them.

I would look for Ana Lucia.

I've never flown with them, although I wish that I had. United were terrible. Have you called the airline to confirm that they can't figure something out? I just say this because I fly with Qantas pretty often and their vegan meals are usually gluten free as well, even though they're not advertised that way when you book.

I had a couple layovers at LAX in September. There was really nothing to eat where we were (Alaska/United). I think I may have gotten some nuts or something at one of the news stands for our first layover.

We had a 5 hour layover coming home. My boyfriend really, really didn't want to stay at the airport that long. We decided before the trip to go to Veggie Grill. The El Segundo one is only about 3.5 miles from the airport. Mind you, it was a $30 cab ride each way, but our meal was definitely delicious. We thought about trying to navigate the bus system, but our flight from Mexico was delayed.

If you have the extra money on your longer layover, it might be worth it to head out for a bit. If not, bring snacks.

I mean that no airline have options for meals which are both g/f and vegan. Well at least not any that I know of. So I can either preselect a vegan meal or a gluten free meal.

I have chosen a vegan meal and am hoping that there might a g/f vegan muffin or something.

I've spoken to them but they only have the standard options.

Kara Kara, a trip out for the longer layover sounds like a good idea, I'm glad that it is doable!

jdfunks, is ana lucia a cafe? I tried googling it but it just come up with images of an actress :-)

I don't know what terminal you'll be stuck in but there's a burrito place in one of them with vegan rice and beans. Double check first though, it's been awhile since I was there.

Ana Lucia is a character from Lost who was at one point a TSA official in LAX or maybe Australia...

Probably who jdfunks was referring to.

I was just going to say this. We went there (can't remember what it was called) and ran into snoop dogg on the way. Oh and saw Susie Essman from Curb Your Enthusiasm on the way back.

Yep, I went to the same Mexican place and had fajitas.

I have also noticed that a lot of my vegan meals on airlines are gluten free.

awesome, I will look out for it!

yes, my apologies for any confusion : )

Imma just revive this thread that's been dead for two years, if nobody minds.

Anyone have news on LAX? I just saw in their VegNews ad that there's a Real Food Daily opening there this year?!?!?!!!? But I can't find any specific dates or info on their website. Hallelujah, if/when it happens.

Meanwhile, i'm planning a trip to Asia out of LAX (with a vegan toddler no less! shoot me now). When I booked the flight I requested a vegan meal but then at the end it said "special meal request not applicable." what the fizzle? Does this mean United doesn't do meals on overseas flights to Asia anymore? Are they KIDDING? Well, in any case, I'm not going unprepared, but obviously it's easier to get food in the airport if it's available than to try to get something that passes the silly security rules re pastes and such.

Anybody know of anything new? Tips? I recall buying a package of Uncle Eddy's cookies in the terminal about a decade ago, and immediately concluded that LAX was the vegan-friendliest airport on the planet. Sounds like lately, not so much. But if there's an RFD, that would pretty much be a game-changer for flying.

I got that same notice with my United flight to the mid-east, but there was indeed food service and it was vegan Indian food that was delicious.

i always call and double check about the meals, you never know. then i call again exactly 24 hours before the flight to confirm it, as i've heard that you can't call more than 24 hours ahead, and then you must call more than 24 hours ahead.

i also have found that the vegan options are often accidentally GF. throw away the cookie, and no guarantees for those deadly allergic, but it's usually something rice/bean based.

Annak, your trip sounds like it could be wonderful! Where are you going?

I'm actually not GF (I realize the original poster was) so that's not an issue for us, but I do want my vegan meal! I intend to bring plenty of food for both of us, but a hot meal would be nice. Good to know that United just puts that up to scare people. I am going to call about seats* anyway, so I can probably do it then.

* Apparently on the first flight no seats are available that can be reserved for free, and on the second one it only showed me window and middle ones, so unless we got split up, it couldn't really get worse than that, I figure! But surely they would not separate me from an 18 month old. Surely? Can't wait to have status again.

So, this is weird. I decided to splurge for an exit row seat for one leg of the flight home and today I noticed I was credited the $84 I spent for it. Happy but confused. Also, for the longest leg I was able to snag the row behind the exit row and it went a long way toward making me feel like things were a bit roomier if just in my head.

OK -- and on the trip out, there was a family of 5 that were assigned into 3 different rows, so the flight attendant announced the situation, passengers got rearranged and everyone was happy -- so don't worry too terribly about that; the flight attendants won't want you separated from your little one.

My last note on this trip; on the way back I had a final leg from LAX to SAN and I totally missed the flight. I just spaced. Those tiny planes load rapidly. Thankfully I got on the next one, but the desk attendant was rather scoldy about the whole thing.

the airport was devoid of anything interesting when I was there a couple of weeks ago (in the end I ended up sleeping at my departure gate, haha)

BUT, it's super easy to get to Santa Monica for RFD (which may have been mentioned upthread). $1 and under an hour each way. beats a dull layover either way :)

Are you driving or are you flying out of SAN?
If you fly, the commuter terminal is kind of dinky and they put you on a bus to the main terminals. We never had much luck with food in LAX but we never really tried hard because we were about 60-90 minutes from San Diego and figured we could wait.

Not sure if you bought your tickets yet or are using miles but we loved KoreanAir when we went to China but we did have to stop in Seoul.

Here's a list of the food options in different terminals. It may be helpful for you: http://la.eater.com/archives/2011/12/19 ... rt_lax.php

So late, but I was at LAX last week and there was a Lemonade restaurant (like in Venice) with lots of vegan options. I flew Delta, so whatever terminal that is.