In-N-Out Burger at Los Angeles Airport

Updated: October 2026 – Some spots you know from photos long before you ever get there. The In-N-Out Burger on Sepulveda Boulevard is one of them: a small fast-food restaurant with a red roof on the edge of Los Angeles Airport, over which airliners pass every few minutes on final approach to runway 24R. Across the street is a small green space where spotters, families and tourists stand side by side and look up.

This page explains why the spot works so well, when it doesn’t, where you can stand legally and where to go when wind, light or a runway closure don’t cooperate.

A burger joint under the approach path

Los Angeles International Airport lies about 29 kilometers southwest of downtown, right on the Pacific. It is operated by Los Angeles World Airports, a city agency. The airport has four parallel east-west runways arranged in two pairs: 06L/24R and 06R/24L in the north, 07L/25R and 07R/25L in the south. Between the two pairs sit the terminals, including the Tom Bradley International Terminal and the distinctive Theme Building from 1961, which looks like a flying saucer on four legs.

In-N-Out sits at the northeast corner of the grounds, just short of the east end of the northern outer runway 06L/24R. On west operations, landings on 24R come in from the east over the city and cross Sepulveda Boulevard immediately afterward. The restaurant and the park across the street lie exactly on that line. The aircraft are so low here that you can make out landing gear, flaps and registrations without much focal length.

What makes it special is the mix: not just domestic traffic lands here, but long-haul flights from Asia, Oceania, Europe and the Middle East. While you wait for your order, a regional jet, a Boeing 737 and a widebody from the Far East come in one after another. Hardly any other spot in the world offers this density of widebodies at such low altitude – the only comparable ones are Myrtle Avenue at London Heathrow and Maho Beach on Sint Maarten.

Runway direction: when In-N-Out delivers

LAX has three basic configurations, and only one of them brings aircraft over your head.

On west operations, aircraft take off to the west over the Pacific and land from the east over the city. Takeoffs preferably use the inner runways, 24L and 25R, and landings the outer ones: 24R in the north and 25L in the south. Historically, more than 90 percent of flights were handled this way, with takeoffs on the inner runways and landings on the outer ones. During the day, between 6:30 a.m. and midnight, west operations are the norm because the sea breeze from the Pacific mostly blows from the west. That is what makes In-N-Out so reliable.

In over-ocean operations between midnight and 6:30 a.m., aircraft land from the west over the sea for noise reasons and also take off to the west. During this time nothing happens at In-N-Out.

On east operations everything flips: takeoffs go east, landings come from the west. This happens with east winds, for example when the dry Santa Ana winds blow from inland, and in certain severe-weather situations. Now and then you will see takeoffs from 06L or 06R climbing over the spot, but the landings are missing.

Configuration	What you see at In-N-Out	How often	Recommendation
West operations (daytime)	Landings on 24R right over your head	the rule	first choice
Over-ocean operations (midnight to 6:30 a.m.)	nothing	every night	go to sleep
East operations	at most takeoffs from 06L/06R	with east winds and severe weather	Imperial Hill or the terminals
West operations, 24R closed	Landings on other runways at a greater distance	during construction	check the status beforehand

One point is often overlooked: even on west operations, 24R can be closed for a while. In late 2023 the runway was out of service for months for a major rehabilitation, and landings moved to other runways farther south. From the park you then only see them from the side in the distance. How to read wind and runway direction correctly before you set off is explained in the guide Understanding runway direction at airports.

Light and photography

The aircraft come toward you from the east and pass over you heading west-southwest. That defines the light window: in the morning the sun is in the east behind the arriving aircraft, so you shoot into the backlight. On top of that, the coast of Southern California often has a marine layer that makes the light flat and gray and only burns off around noon – especially stubborn in early summer.

From late morning the sun moves south and then west. The arriving jets are then lit from the front to the side, and the fuselages show their colors. In the late afternoon and at sunset it gets interesting for silhouettes: if you shoot the aircraft from behind after the flyover, they stand dark against the glowing western sky. Many spotters report that backlight is an issue for large parts of the day – so plan the hours around and after noon.

For focal length the opposite of many fence spots applies. The aircraft are so close that a widebody directly overhead barely fits in the frame. A standard zoom, say 24 to 105 mm, covers the flyover, and with a light telephoto up to about 200 or 300 mm you bring head-on aircraft farther out closer. Even with a smartphone you get impressive shots. What you really need is a fast shutter speed, because the aircraft rush through the frame. You will find suitable settings in the article Camera settings for plane spotting.

Typical subjects at In-N-Out:

• Head-on on approach over the rooftops of Westchester, with landing lights on and gear down
• Belly shots right over Sepulveda Boulevard, ideal for landing gear and engines
• The combination of aircraft and the restaurant’s red roof or sign – the picture everyone wants to take once
• Silhouettes in the late afternoon, when the sun is over the Pacific

What you will see in Los Angeles

LAX is one of the busiest airports in the world and a gateway to Asia, Oceania and Latin America. That shapes the picture at In-N-Out: lots of domestic traffic, plus an unusually high number of widebodies. Which airline flies which type changes with every schedule – so check the current connections before your visit.

• US airlines: Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines are the three largest carriers at the airport by passenger share. Southwest and Alaska Airlines add dense domestic traffic. So the most common sights are narrowbody jets like the Boeing 737-800, the 737 MAX 8 and the Airbus A321neo.
• Europe: According to current schedules, Lufthansa from Frankfurt and Munich, Swiss from Zurich, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic from London Heathrow, Air France from Paris and KLM from Amsterdam, among others, fly to Los Angeles. Seasonally, Condor from Frankfurt, Austrian Airlines from Vienna and French bee from Paris Orly join in, and Iberia, Finnair, SAS, ITA Airways, LOT and Turkish Airlines also serve the West Coast.
• Middle East and Asia: Emirates from Dubai, Qatar Airways from Doha and Singapore Airlines bring widebodies like the Boeing 777-300ER, the Airbus A350-900 and the Boeing 787-9. Numerous airlines from East Asia and the Pacific region join them.
• Giants: The Airbus A380 was an everyday sight in Los Angeles for a long time – in 2015, examples from Lufthansa, British Airways, Air France and Singapore Airlines stood at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at the same time. Today it is rarer but still turns up. The Boeing 747-8 has also been photographed here on final approach. Which giant is flying which route right now is best checked in a flight tracker. An overview is in the article The largest aircraft in the world.
• Cargo: FedEx Express, UPS Airlines, Atlas Air and Cargolux land here, as do the cargo arms of big passenger airlines, such as Lufthansa Cargo. Types like the Boeing 777F or freighters of the 747 family are worth watching for. How to tell them apart is explained in the article Recognizing cargo aircraft.

Because all three big alliances are strongly represented in LA – Star Alliance with United, oneworld with American and SkyTeam with Delta – the mix of liveries is huge. Special liveries are not rare; how to find them on purpose is covered in the article Finding special liveries.

Getting there: car, Metro and on foot

By car the spot is easiest. The restaurant sits at the intersection of Sepulveda Boulevard and West 92nd Street. If you come from the south via the 405 and 105 freeways, you pass under the southern runways in a tunnel on Sepulveda Boulevard and drive north along the airport. The road layout around the airport is convoluted, so use up-to-date navigation.

For parking, clear rules apply. The restaurant lot is for customers and not a place for hours-long photo sessions. For a longer session, find a legal spot on the surrounding streets. Spotter reports mention time-limited, free parking in the area; still, read the signs carefully, because wrongly parked cars get towed.

Without a car it is more awkward. Since 2025 there is the LAX/Metro Transit Center Station east of the airport, which connects the Metro network to the airport. From there it is still a walk to Sepulveda Boulevard. The next option is the airport hotels on the north side: if you stay there, you can reach the spot on foot. Check connections, frequencies and walking routes in a current route planner before your visit.

How a good afternoon at In-N-Out goes

What else belongs in the camera bag is listed in the Plane spotting gear checklist. If you are brand new, the guide Plane spotting for beginners helps you get started.

Alternative spots around LAX

In-N-Out only covers landings on 24R. For everything else you need a second location. The best-known alternative is Imperial Hill in El Segundo on the south side. From the hilltop you look over the southern runways and large parts of the airport and see takeoffs, landings and taxiing traffic. It is also the first choice when the wind turns east.

Also on the south side, on East Imperial Avenue in El Segundo, is Clutter’s Park, which spotter guides recommend for east operations and which offers a clear view of the airfield. If you stay in the north, the hotels on the north side of the airport offer more options – some rooftop terraces are popular with spotters but count as guest areas. Not far away on Imperial Highway is also the Flight Path Museum LAX, with exhibits on aviation history and, among other things, a Douglas DC-3.

If you want to put In-N-Out on your list of the great spots worldwide, you will find more classics in the article Spotting spots worldwide: the bucket list. In Europe, the closest to the feeling are Myrtle Avenue at Heathrow and the runway end at Skiathos Airport.

Rules on site

The park across from the restaurant is public, and photographing from public ground is generally allowed in the US. Spotters report that even the police are used to photographers here. To keep it that way, a few simple rules apply.

Consideration for the guests matters too: the restaurant is very busy on weekends and at lunchtime, and the drive-thru line can get long. Take your trash with you, keep paths clear and remember that the park belongs to everyone – including those who only want to look up for a moment.

Conclusion

The In-N-Out Burger on Sepulveda Boulevard is one of the rare spots that truly lives up to its reputation. You stand legally and for free directly under the final approach of one of the largest airports in the world, the aircraft come in low over you, and the variety of types ranges from regional jets to widebodies from the Far East. On top of that there is a burger and a restroom – hardly any world-class spot offers more comfort.

Its limits are clear: it lives on west operations and on 24R, in the morning marine layer and backlight get in the way, and you hardly see any takeoffs here. If you check the runway direction, arrive from late morning on and have Imperial Hill as a second spot in your back pocket, you will still have one of the best spotting days Los Angeles has to offer at In-N-Out.