A new luxury car service at LAX is letting wealthy flyers skip the terminal by meeting them planeside - and a single ride costs more than $3,000
- PS Direct is the latest offering of PS, the private terminal at Los Angeles International Airport.
- Wealthy travelers can pay $3,450 to have a private car and driver pick them up planeside.
- The one-of-a-kind service is currently only available to those with a PS membership, priced at $4,500.
Hopping off the plane at LAX just got a massive upgrade for certain types of travelers.
PS, the private terminal at Los Angeles International Airport that lets wealthy travelers skip the commercial terminal entirely, is introducing a new pandemic-era luxury car service that offers planeside pickups upon arrival.
PS Direct lets travelers skip the terminal entirely, including the PS private terminal, and head straight to their final destination just moments after stepping off of their commercial flight. That means no more waiting in taxi lines or walking through a crowded terminal to find one's driver.
A PS representative greets passengers in the jetway and escorts them directly to the airport tarmac where their stylish BMW 750i awaits. The four-seater sedans feature executive passenger seating complete with seat-back entertainment screens, recline functionality, seat-warming capabilities, individual climate control, and a sunroof, to name just a few amenities.
Only PS annual members have access to the service and just a single ride incurs a fee of $3,450, which is $200 more than the cost of booking a luxurious suite at the facility. A yearly membership at PS costs $4,500 and comes with benefits like complimentary valet parking, free spa services (not available during the pandemic), and priority reservations when booking suites.
Amina Belouizdad, co-CEO at PS, told Insider that the higher price point for the service compared to its suites comes as a result of the cost of licensing for its drivers and other expenses associated with launching the service.
For frequent PS users, the experience will be largely similar to what they're accustomed to when frequenting the suites except they'll just skip the private terminal be driven straight to their homes, hotels, or wherever they're staying in Los Angeles. Even those flyers that have checked bags can skip baggage claim and use the service.
"If you've checked bags, you wait five minutes on average in the BMW while we retrieve your bags from the plane, put them in the trunk of your car, and then we drive you straight home," Belouizdad said.
The service is currently only available when arriving on a domestic flight. PS has its own US Customs and Border Protection facilities that inbound arrivals can use but that requires a stop in the private terminal.
Planeside pickups have historically been a benefit of flying private but PS is the first to make it available for commercial flights in the US, an impressive feat considering the heightened security environment that exists at bustling international airports like LAX.
"We're the only ones in the world, to my knowledge, that can do this," Belouizdad said.