What Terminal Is Alaska Airlines at LAX? Terminal 6 Gates and Connections

Alaska Airlines flies out of Terminal 6 at Los Angeles International Airport, gates 60–69. That’s where you check in, clear security, and — on a domestic flight — land. According to LAX, six other carriers share the building: Air Canada, Breeze Airways, Hawaiian Airlines, Horizon, Porter, and Southern Airways Express. If you last flew Alaska through LAX a few years ago, Terminal 6 looks different now, and that’s the part the older guides miss.

I spent six years in ground ops at LAX, a lot of it walking these concourses at 5 a.m., so let me give you the version I’d give a friend.

The short answer: Terminal 6, gates 60–69

Alaska has been a Terminal 6 tenant since 2012. Per Wikipedia’s history of the LAX terminals, Alaska struck a deal with Los Angeles World Airports in April 2011 to renovate the building and add a first-class lounge, then moved its flights over from Terminal 3 on March 20, 2012 (Spirit took the space Alaska vacated). So if your memory says “Alaska is in Terminal 3,” that memory is more than a decade old.

Everything for a normal Alaska departure happens under one roof: ticketing and bag drop downstairs, security up a level, and gates 60–69 beyond it. Hawaiian, Horizon, Air Canada, Breeze, Porter, and Southern Airways Express use the same concourse, so don’t be thrown if the board shows a mix of carriers at nearby gates — you’re still in the right place.

What actually changed after the $230 million Terminal 6 renovation

This is the part worth reading, because Terminal 6 just came out of a major overhaul and most of the pages ranking for this question never mention it.

The airport broke ground on a $230 million modernization in July 2021. According to trade coverage from Simple Flying and the project’s own write-ups, it rebuilt the gate holdrooms and lounges, replaced the passenger boarding bridges, modernized the TSA checkpoint (five automated screening lanes plus three standard lanes), and added a drive-through bus gate for inter-terminal transfers. Engineering News-Record, which named it a best project, reports the work lifted gate capacity from 13 to 15, added a 25,000-square-foot expansion of the boarding areas, and touched roughly 100,000 square feet of the terminal — all over about three years and, impressively, without shutting the place down day to day.

If you’re wondering why it felt like it took forever: it did. A February 2023 status update from LAX still listed the project as under construction with completion pushed to around March 2024, after the original 2023 target slipped. That’s normal for LAX right now — the whole airport is a construction site ahead of 2028 — but Terminal 6 is essentially the finished product.

The short translation for a traveler: wider holdrooms, more seating and outlets, a quicker checkpoint, and a lounge that’s been rebuilt rather than patched.

Getting from curb to gate: security, kiosks, and the walk

Terminal 6’s layout is friendly to people in a hurry, which is not something you can say about every corner of LAX.

If you don’t have a printed boarding pass, Alaska’s self-service kiosks let you check in and go; when the airline opened its Terminal 6 operation, it specifically pitched a short walk to a security checkpoint sitting one level above the ticketing hall. That vertical layout is the thing to remember — you’re not hiking sideways across the building to find security, you’re going up.

The renovation added one genuinely useful piece for connecting flyers: a post-security walkway linking Terminal 6 toward the federal inspection facilities near the Tom Bradley International Terminal. The project’s architects describe it as a scenic connector, and functionally it smooths the path for international passengers who’d otherwise be shuttled around. For a family making a tight connection with a stroller, staying airside instead of re-clearing security is the whole ballgame.

Where’s the Alaska Lounge, and is it worth a day pass?

The Alaska Lounge sits on the mezzanine level near Gate 64, open daily from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., per Alaska Airlines. It sells day passes to travelers flying Alaska or a oneworld partner, so you don’t need elite status or a membership to get in — just a same-day ticket and a card.

Honest take: it’s a calm place to reset, not a destination. If you’ve got a delay or a long gap and you’re traveling with kids, being able to sit together with real snacks and reliable Wi-Fi is worth the pass. If your flight boards in 40 minutes, save your money and grab a seat at the gate — the new holdrooms are a lot more comfortable than the old ones.

Air Canada’s Maple Leaf Lounge is at the other end of the concourse

Worth knowing if you assume there’s only one lounge in the building: there isn’t. Air Canada leases a couple of gates in Terminal 6, and per LAX’s gate directory, the elevator up to its Maple Leaf Lounge is near gates 67–69A — the opposite end of the concourse from the Alaska Lounge. If you’re flying Air Canada or connecting on a Star Alliance ticket, don’t walk down to Gate 64 by mistake.

International arrivals: T6 or Tom Bradley? Confirm before you assume

Here’s the one that trips people up. Departing Alaska is simple — always Terminal 6. Arriving isn’t always symmetrical.

LAX’s own May 2025 airline location map confirms Alaska passengers check in and depart from Terminal 6, but it flags that Alaska international arrivals can land at either Terminal 6 or the Tom Bradley International Terminal (Terminal B), depending on the flight — and it tells you to confirm with the airline. So if someone’s picking you up off an international Alaska flight, don’t have them idle outside Terminal 6 on faith. Check your specific flight first.

How Terminal 6 connects to the rest of LAX

Terminal 6 sits in the middle of the south side of LAX’s horseshoe-shaped Central Terminal Area, between Terminal 5 (American overflow, JetBlue, Spirit) and Terminals 7–8 (United). Post-security tunnels connect the south-side terminals, and a same-day boarding pass gets you into any terminal for dining and shopping — so you’re not stuck with whatever’s in front of Gate 64.

That connectivity is the reason a delay here doesn’t have to be miserable; I’ve written a whole playbook on turning a LAX delay or misconnect into a controlled layover, and Terminal 6 is one of the better places to be stranded thanks to that middle-of-the-U position. If you want the bigger picture of how LAX’s terminals actually connect to each other, start there.

One change is still coming. Per Wikipedia, LAX’s new SkyLink automated people mover is expected to link the terminals landside — along with the rental car center and the new LAX/Metro Transit Center — in 2026. That’s about how you’ll reach Terminal 6 from the curb, not how you move once you’re inside, but it’s the next big shift, and it reshapes every honest way to get from LAX into Los Angeles.

Is Alaska’s terminal about to change again?

Short answer: no. You can bookmark “Terminal 6” without worrying it’ll be wrong next month.

There’s a 2024 LAWA wayfinding proposal, tied to the 2028 Olympics, that would renumber some terminals — merging Terminals 2 and 3 into a single “Terminal 2,” and creating new “A Gates” east of Terminal 1. But per Wikipedia, a LAWA spokesperson said no final decision on numbering had been made as of 2024, and the plan as reported doesn’t touch Terminal 6. Alaska’s terminal number isn’t expected to change — which is more than the stale aggregator pages can promise you.

Quick answers

Which gates does Alaska use at LAX? Gates 60–69 in Terminal 6. The recent renovation raised the building’s gate count from 13 to 15.

Where exactly is the Alaska Lounge? Mezzanine level near Gate 64, open 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Day passes are sold to Alaska and oneworld-partner flyers.

Can I walk to other terminals after security? Yes. Terminal 6 links to the rest of the south-side terminals through post-security tunnels, and a same-day boarding pass gets you into any terminal for food or shopping.

Did Alaska ever fly from a different LAX terminal? Yes — Terminal 3, until it moved to Terminal 6 on March 20, 2012.

Where do international Alaska flights arrive? Either Terminal 6 or Tom Bradley (Terminal B), depending on the flight. Check your specific flight before assuming.

For the full rundown on the airport, see our full Notes on LAX.