We propose a channel access mechanism that allows Long Term Evolution (LTE) to operate in the 5-GHz unlicensed band (LTE-U/LAA) and fairly coexist with 802.11 Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs). The proposed mechanism is compliant with listen before talk, and it can be configured to maximize the channel time used by the LTE-U stations while fairly coexisting with the 802.11 WLANs. That is, an LTE-U station will not affect the throughput of a WLAN more than if it were an 802.11 station.