Umrah Packages from Los Angeles
Flight-inclusive Umrah for pilgrims from the Greater Los Angeles area, departing via LAX.
Umrah from Los Angeles made simple
Of the five US airports our package airfare is priced from, LAX is the only one in the West. For families across Greater Los Angeles that removes a step: the long-haul journey starts at the home airport, with no positioning flight first. What it can't remove is the distance. Jeddah is a very long way from Southern California, and routed through a European, Turkish or Gulf hub, the trip takes roughly 19 to 24 hours from takeoff to landing. So the planning here is mostly about the ground. The notes below stay local: reaching the terminals by train or bus, where a car can wait while you're away, and what to do about a passport in a hurry.
Departures
LAX
Routing
LAX is one of our five priced gateways. Routings usually connect through a European, Turkish or Gulf hub, taking roughly 19 to 24 hours to Jeddah.
Community
The Islamic Center of Southern California traces its start to 1952. By its own account, it began as a group who wanted to pray together, serving a small community of families from a rented building on Fountain Avenue in Hollywood as the Moslem Association of America at Los Angeles. It moved to Vermont Avenue in 1976 and runs a Sunday school and a food pantry. In Culver City, King Fahad Mosque on Washington Boulevard has served its community since 1998 and posts times for all five daily prayers and Jumuah.
Getting to Makkah from Los Angeles
The day starts with getting to LAX. The notes below cover the train, the FlyAway bus and where you can leave a car. Once you're through security, there's usually one connection ahead of you, in Europe, Turkey or the Gulf, and then the leg into Jeddah. Don't treat the shortest layover on the screen as the best one. A longer stop gives you time to stretch your legs and pray on the ground instead of running between gates.
Then there's the clock. Makkah keeps Arabia Standard Time, UTC+3, all year, with no daylight saving. That puts it 10 hours ahead of Los Angeles from early March to early November and 11 hours ahead through the winter. Five in the morning in Makkah is 7 p.m. the previous evening at home while California is on daylight time, and 6 p.m. once the clocks go back. Try to sleep on the long leg when it's night in Makkah rather than night in LA. It can make the first day at the Haram a good deal easier.
Coming home, most taxi and ride-app pickups happen at one lot, which the second question below explains.
Rail and FlyAway to the terminals
Metro's C Line and K Line both run to the LAX/Metro Transit Center, and so do Metro bus lines 102, 111, 117, 120 and 232. From Bus Bays 1 and 2 at that station, a free, frequent shuttle goes to every LAX terminal. If LA Union Station or Van Nuys is easier for you to reach, the FlyAway bus runs from both to each terminal, seven days a week. At Union Station it leaves from Bus Stop 1 on Patsaouras Transit Plaza. Nobody has to drive you in before dawn.
Leaving a car while you're away
Metro lists park-and-ride stations near LAX, but they aren't all the same. Hawthorne/Lennox and Norwalk on the C Line, and Fairview Heights on the K Line, offer long-term as well as daily parking. Aviation/LAX and Crenshaw/Expo are listed for daily parking only, which doesn't suit a car left behind while you're in Makkah and Madinah. Lot rules can change, so check Metro's LAX page shortly before you travel rather than relying on what a friend did last year.
An urgent passport in West LA
The Los Angeles Passport Agency is in the West L.A. Federal Building at 11000 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1000. It works by appointment only, and you qualify if you have international travel within 14 calendar days or need a foreign visa within 28. The State Department doesn't charge to book, and it says any request to pay for an appointment should be treated as fraud. There are free visitor spaces on the Veteran Avenue side of the building. Renewing months ahead is still the calmer route.
Three ways to go from Los Angeles
Seven nights, flights included. The tier decides how close your hotels are.
- AffordableVoco Makkah (IHG)5-7 minutes by shuttle, or about 15 minutes' walkShaza Regency PlazaAbout 3 minutes' walk$1,590per person, quad
- PremiumRotana Jabal Omar MakkahUnder 2 minutes' walkPullman Zamzam MadinahUnder 1 minute's walk$1,790per person, quad
- LuxurySwissotel Makkah, Clock TowerFacing the HaramAnwar Al Madinah MövenpickFacing Masjid an-Nabawi$1,890per person, quad
Umrah from Los Angeles: questions
That depends on the airline operating your first leg. LAX lists more than 40 airlines that check in at the Tom Bradley International Terminal, which the airport also calls Terminal B. If a different airline operates your first flight, check-in may be in another terminal, so read your ticket before you set off. The FlyAway bus and the free shuttle from the Metro Transit Center both serve every terminal, so either one gets you to the right door.
Most taxi and standard ride-app pickups happen at the LAX-it lot next to Terminal 1. The free LAX-it shuttle stops on the arrivals level beside baggage claim, at columns wrapped in green. If a parent is coming home in an airline wheelchair, the airline attendant brings them to the shuttle stop, they board first, and a wheelchair meets them at the lot. Family collecting you in their own car can still pick you up at the terminal's outer curb.
Our 7-night flight-inclusive packages run from $1,590 to $1,890 per person on quad occupancy, with airfare, the e-visa, medical insurance, both hotels and the Haramain train inside that figure.