Date: 201310
Local time of day: 0601-1200
Location: LAX.Airport, CA
Aircraft: A319
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight phase: Descent
Airspace: Class E SCT
ATC / advisory: TRACON SCT
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Pilot Flying; First Officer
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Human factors: Communication Breakdown
Second reporter function: Pilot Not Flying; Captain
Anomaly: ATC Issue All Types; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: In-flight
Result: Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Became Reoriented
Contributing factors: Human Factors; Aircraft; Procedure
Primary problem: Ambiguous

Narrative: On descent into LAX on the SEAVU TWO arrival: Just prior to reaching KONZL (280 KTS/17;000 FT) the Controller slowed us to 250 KTS; and then relieved us of the altitude restriction at KONZL. In the same transmission; we were told to comply with all other altitude restrictions on the arrival and then 'Cleared for the approach to 24R'. The Controller then handed us off. The next Controller gave us a descent to 7;000 FT while still on the arrival. The Controller's next transmission was garbled. Once communication was reestablished; we where given left 20 degrees to join the LOC to [Runway] 25L. As the call came late on the arrival; we did our best to join final; still at our assigned speed of 250 KTS and altitude of 7;000 FT. The result left us on the far south side of the inbound course for [Runway] 25L as well as high and fast. Once finally cleared; we made an uneventful; stable approach and landing to [Runway] 25L. On the ground the Captain called Approach Control to gain some insight into why the runway was changed at such a precarious point on the arrival. The approach supervisor informed the Captain that the first Controller had cleared us for [Runway] 25L; not [Runway] 24R. We never deviated from the arrival or the Controller's direction; we simply had to scramble to comply with delayed instructions. Even with our best efforts to communicate with ATC and repeated clarifications; there still was a miss read (?) call and a garbled transmission that resulted in a less than ideal approach.


Second narrative: We were on the SEAVU2 STAR into LAX. Pilot flying; First Officer and pilot not flying; Captain (myself). We had two Approach Controllers involved ATC1; the first controller and ATC2; the second controller Outside of KONZL ATC1 gave us; delete 17;000 restriction at KONZL; speed 250 KTS; join LOC 24R. We were meeting all of the altitude restrictions anyway and continued to do so for the entire arrival. I was the pilot not flying and wanted to clear up ATC1 request regarding the altitude at KONZL and asked for clarification regarding that and may not have read back the Approach clearance for joining 24R. The pilot flying; after hearing the ATC1 instructions set in 2;200 for the FAF altitude for 24R. We both acknowledged this on the FMA. We were then handed off to ATC2 who's first call was for a descent to 7;000 The next call was a very broken transmission with only a partial callsign and maybe 2 to 4 words spread out over several seconds of keyed mic. I replied to say again and the next transmission from ATC2 was an irritated toned instruction for us to maintain 7;000 turn left 20 degrees and join the LOC 25L. This was the first time myself or the pilot flying heard about what we thought was a runway assignment change. Now I got busy of course since this required a change in the MCDU. The pilot flying though had the runway in sight now. We had gotten the 20 left vectors several seconds earlier and were still on an assigned speed of 250 KTS and 7;000. I asked for lower; the pilot flying turned towards the runway as we had gone through the extended centerline of [Runway] 25L a little bit. I am guessing not close to full deflection at all. ATC2 gave us speed 180 to Outer Marker; clearance for the Approach [Runway] 25L and said to contact Tower at the Outer Marker. After we were parked I thought I would call ATC just to discuss our going through the LOC and let them know about our late vector; the late runway change; 250 KTS speed and 7;000 altitude that all contributed to us going through the LOC. I spoke to the Approach Supervisor who said they had been discussing our arrival before my telephone call. I told him about the events as I perceived them. He said he had listened to the tapes and that ATC1 had cleared us for LOC 25L initially and had never given us 24R. I thought I had read back 24R and that is what the pilot flying heard which is why he set in 2;200 for an altitude. The Supervisor said that ATC1 had at no time given us [Runway] 24R and that I had not read back anything about the runway assignment at all; just that I had been inquiring about the altitude over KONZL. The supervisor said that we were never given [Runway] 24R and that ATC1 never questioned us about not reading back a runway assignment. Had I not made a phone call; I would have thought that it was just ATC giving us a last minute runway change; and had we not gone through the LOC I wouldn't even have had a reason to call to voice my concerns.


Synopsis: A319 flight crew reports being cleared initially for the SEAVU2 to Runway 24R at LAX then being changed late to Runway 25L via a broken transmission requiring clarification. After landing a telephone call to ATC reveals that Runway 25L had always been the runway assignment and the crew did not hear correctly.