[steffan]

A plane heading to Japan from SFO would be carrying quite a bit of fuel. It's possible / likely that the takeoff weight would exceed the safe landing weight, requiring circling to burn off fuel or dumping fuel. If they have to get rid of fuel anyway, it might make sense to continue to another airport where they could get a replacement aircraft.

[genocidicbunny]

In addition to that, SFO is already down a runway which is causing some delays because planes need to go around the construction zones. An airplane with a potentially damaged landing gear can close all of the remaining runways due to the cross layout that SFO uses. LAX is laid out a little differently, so you aren't risking having the whole airport close for a while if something does go wrong.

When combined with the need to burn off some of the fuel, LAX seems like a sensible choice. You don't need to travel over any particularly tall terrain, LAX is large and should have sufficient runways for an airplane that might have trouble coming to a stop quickly. Since there was no issue with actual in-flight operation of the airplane, it's also not a 'land right the frak now' situation.

[hinkley]

Is SFO a maintenance hub? That could be another variable, if the repair facilities in LAX are better.

And then there’s a potential bias against SFO, given they just let an airplane take off that HAD A WHEEL FALL OFF. Maybe they aren’t the best party to examine the plane just now.