Stories from Burbank Airport

June 24 2024

After living in LA for nearly a decade, I take any opportunity I can to avoid LAX and fly out of chaos-free Burbank Airport. For anyone who hasn’t flown out of Burbank Airport, it’s a tiny regional airport that feels like it’s stuck in the 1950s. They have two terminals and a whopping 14 gates. The two baggage claims are outdoors, which makes it very California. It’s the type of place you can arrive 17 minutes before your flight and still be fine. Maybe give yourself 20, just to play it safe.

1. Pizza Night in SF

I watched two girls go through the security at Terminal A carrying nothing except one pizza box each. It looked like they were walking home to have a pizza night instead of getting on an airplane. After each pizza was X-rayed to make sure it was really just pizza, I saw them at the gate for my 45-minute flight to San Francisco. Once boarded, they put the pizzas in the overhead bin. When we landed, they walked off the plane still carrying only one pizza box each. Is the pizza in LA even good enough to warrant carrying to SF? I have so many questions.

2. The Cake that Traveled the West Coast

Similar to the pizza girls, I saw a woman at the gate whose carry-on and personal item were two giant Porto’s bags. For those who don’t know, Porto’s is a popular Cuban bakery in LA. She deplaned in Seattle carrying only Porto’s cakes and pastries. Unlike the pizza, I think this is something actually worth flying out of LA with.

3. Forgetting Something in the Car

There was a couple scanning their boarding passes for my flight to Phoenix. I didn’t hear the first part of the conversation, but the man turned and ran out of line and back through the terminal. The woman explained, “He just ran to the car to get something.” I scanned my boarding pass and went through. The couple somehow ended up only a few places behind me in line on the tarmac.

It turns out he had forgotten his suit for the wedding they were attending in the car. Burbank is so small that if you forget your suit in the car and don’t realize it until you are moments from stepping onto the plane, you will have time to run back through the terminal, run to the parking lot, find your car, get your suit, go back through security, and still board with your original boarding group. The last part of their conversation I overheard was an argument over where the iPad was and who had it last. Perhaps it was also still in the car.

4. Arriving 2 Minutes Before the Doors Close

Due to a series of errors and bad planning, I arrived at Burbank Airport 17 minutes before my flight was supposed to take off. This gave me exactly 2 minutes to get from the Lyft to the gate before boarding was over. When I got to security, there was exactly one very stoned person in front of me. I politely asked him if I could cut him. He just said, “Whaaaat?” before I slid my bins on the conveyor belt and rushed through the metal detector. The ten TSA people standing around with nothing to do just rolled their eyes at me. Luckily I was at Terminal B, which has only 5 gates (should this even be its own terminal?). The airline worker at the gate watched me go through security, glaring at me for my irresponsibility. “Hi, Allison,” she said curtly as I ran the 100 feet from security to the gate. I suppose it was easy to guess who I was. She scanned my boarding pass, and I was on the tarmac and up the ramp in less than a minute. They closed the door behind me and said, “Okay, everyone is here now.” Sweaty and panting, I was that person.

5. Boarding Group 1… Finally?

A friend and I were flying on a tiny budget airline that specializes in flying between regional airports called Avelo. When we looked at our boarding passes, we were in boarding group 1. “Wow, that’s really a good boarding group, that never happens!” we high-fived while waiting to board.

First, Avelo boarded customers that require assistance and need extra time boarding. Then they boarded priority boarding and active-duty military personnel. Next up were families traveling with children under the age of two. Then customers with Priority Boarding. Then everyone who has an uncle named ‘Jimmy’ and anyone who has ever eaten at Applebee’s.

This is it, we must be next.

The next group they called were “all even numbers.” We both broke out hysterically laughing.