Actually it could be a very good ide, absent graft (ROTFLMAO!). The Brits have something like it in London that works very well with Gatwick and Heathrow. For Gatwick you get on a nonstop train at Victoria Station and go directly to the airport. Then you go directly to security and thence, via people mover, to your terminal. It could be made really good by putting security at the three outlying stations and restricting certain cars to screened passengers only.
You’re talking about Los Angeles. You want people to stop using cars? I travel through LAX a lot. It definitely could use a tram service. You are right LHR and CDG airports in Europe have trains from the city center right into the airport. That could work for some parts of L.A. but most of L.A. is nowhere near a “tube/metro” stop to make it anywhere near convenient. And the L.A. Metro system is small, and designed to shuttle people from downtown to Hollywood - nowhere near the airport. There is a train (not metro) line that runs out towards the airport but most people would have to make very distant transfers in the downtown area just to try to get on it. I don’t think that line runs to the airport though, just sort of in the direction.
And imagine the massive security line if they tried to clear passengers for all 9 terminals at one spot. I don’t think that is workable at LAX.
I think the main objective is to have an auxiliary pickup/dropoff point that is more convenient than having to drive onto the airport itself. Once you enter that loop with a car you have to make the whole drive around - and on the busiest days that could take 45 minutes for what maybe 2 miles of road? So better to just drop people off at an auxiliary lot and then shuttle them in on a tram. Because of the U shape I figure a tram could run from Century Blvd up the middle of the U with stops between terminals 1&8, 2&7, 3&6, and the last one for the International terminal as well as terminal 4&5 since they are adjacent. I am sure the hotels and car rental places along Century would like that tram, too.
This will just get people from the train to the terminal. Cleveland, Atlanta, Dallas and Fort Worth all have trains from downtown direct to the airport. Phoenix and LA didn’t do that, and you have to take a bus to a train stop some distance from the airport. Sounds like for $5 billion plus, they are going to replace the bus portion. Meanwhile, you can take the train straight from downtown to the ‘hood.
The express bus service from the airport to downtown always made more sense to me.