Hi,
My friend and I are flying into LAX from London in June. We need to find the best way to get to Pasadena. We would prefer not to get a shuttlebus as we want to get to our hotel asap. However the hotel will charge is $75 for this one way trip.

Can anyone recommend any cheaper and quicker forms of transfer please(not car hire)?

For a good balance of cheap and quick, I'd start with the Flyaway shuttle. It goes directly to Union Station with no stops. Then take the Gold line or a cab.

Which hotel are you staying at?

Super Shuttle or Prime Time Shuttle. Make your reservations in advance. It should cost about $30 one way but that was the price about 6 months ago. Not sure with the gasoline prices of today what it will cost. I have the links on my Los Angeles travel page under transportation. You should visit my Pasadena travel page as well for tips.

Also, I'm not 100% sure but it appears the MetroLink will get you to Pasadena as well. I know the Gold line gets you right into Pasadena but you will have to connect to the gold line somehow from LAX. I have the MetroLink map posted on my transporation tip on my Los Angeles travel page as well.

To the best of my recollection, Metrolink does not go to Pasadena.

Actually, it looks like the Goldline DOES go to Pasadena:

http://www.metrogoldline.org/about.html

Getting from LAX to Metrolink still must be done by a shuttle. There's a proposal to connect Metrolink to Ontario Airport, which would be very nice, linking the two airports together.

Metrolink does not go to Pasadena. The Gold line does go to Pasadena. The Gold line is not part of Metrolink.

There are two separate rail systems here which I think you folks are getting confused:

1)Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority which has the Gold Line and several others. This, as the name implies, runs only in LA county.

2)Southern California Regional Rail Authority which runs Metrolink. The Metrolink trains run though LA, Orange, Ventura, Riverside, San Bernadino, and San Diego counties.

HarmoniousBotch you are absolutely right. I hadn't realized that LA had finally matured to the level of rail confusion worthy of a world-class metro. Like the Bay Area though, competing rail systems seem to have forgotten the convenience of cross-platform transfer stations. Taking shuttles or buses between systems is both complex and risky. I once missed the Ace commuter last train of the day when tranferring from end-of-the-line BART Pleasant-Dublin station. The BART train had arrived late and transfer shuttle bus had left too early. However, there was a "cleanp-up" bus that took me all the way back to Stockton. Make sure you have the 800 numbers for all these services plugged into your cell phone in case something goes wrong. The commuter train operators should be able to figure out a fix for you that doesn't involve wasting a lot of money. However, don't do as I did and count on catching the last train, or you may be late to LAX.