Not knowing anything about Los Angeles geography, I thought I’d ask- if I were to fly to Long Beach instead of LAX, how far out of the way would I be putting myself? Particularly if I were to staying mostly in and around Culver City?
I’d appreciate advice from either Angelenos or tourists who’ve tried it- is it worthwhile to use Long Beach, if the airfare is substantially cheaper? Or is the time and inconvenience too much?
As far as proximity goes, LAX is by far the best place to go if you want to go to Culver City. Past that I would suggest Burbank (BUR) before I’d suggest LGB. As far as price, my experience has been that LAX is the cheapest, with Burbank being a bit more expensive, but all that depends on a thousand things, as you know.
Culver City is almost on top of LAX. Takes 10 to 15 min., depending upon where you are going.
LGB would be about 30 - 45 min. away from Culver City, traffic depending. The 405 freeway (somewhat misleadingly named the San Diego Freeway there) can be a real pain to drive up past LAX.
If you are not going to be pressed for time at either end of your stay (airport to meeting or end-of-stay to airport), LGB can easily be worth using, especially since it’s much easier to get in and out of. Just picking up a rental car at LAX can be an hour long venture at times. However, there are not a lot of flights into and out of LGB. Burbank is more likely to have helpful service, and isn’t much further away than LGB.
Go for it. You will have a bit of a drive on the front and back of your trip. Not a big deal.
My house is about a mile from the terminal at LGB…
Getting in and out of LGB is marvelous - it’s a very small airport.
Selection of flights at LGB is a bit more iffy - it’s a very small airport. 
While it may be possible to generalize about whether one airport tends to be cheaper than another, my experience is that it’s usually pointless: You need to just start plugging your particular travel plans into websites to see. For a particular itinerary there may be little difference, or there may be a clear winner.
It’s true that Culver City is much closer to LAX than it is to LGB. How big of an impact that will have probably depends on the details of your trip:
Are you renting a car? If so, car rental at Long Beach is amazingly quick. For the major rental companies there is no shuttle to take - you simply walk across the pickup/drop-off lanes and you’re at the rental lots. You’d then need to drive to Culver City - how long this will take will depend very strongly on the day and time of your arrival. It’s about 30 miles - the extra drive time from Long Beach might compare very favorably with the additional time required to get to your rental car from LAX, though.
I don’t know much about the public transit situation at LGB. City bus to the Metro Blue Line would get you plugged into the rail system, I guess - but like I said I don’t know enough to really comment beyond that.
Despite my really digging the place, I have not personally flown out of LGB in about five years - they just don’t provide nonstop service to anyplace I frequently travel. Our preferred airport is Orange County for most purposes, with LAX lagging behind.
Where are you flying FROM?
It basically comes down to whether you want to spend an hour in an airport (LAX) or spend an hour in traffic (Long Beach). In my experience, traffic is always preferable.
Thanks for the input- several airlines fly directly from Austin to LAX and one, JetBlue, flies direct from Austin toLong Beach.
It sounds as if Long Beach could work fine, IF there’s enough of a difference in airfare… but if fares are identical or prtty clsoe, LAX would be a bit more convenient.
I appreciate all who took time to answer.
I wouldn’t say LAX is more convenient. As other posters have mentioned, you’re essentially trading off time in the airport for time in the car.
You should also consider the return flight. Getting through LAX security and to the terminal can be very time-consuming and aggravating. During “high-alert” times it has taken me 40+ minutes just to get through the vehicle checkpoints.