Need Cheap Plane Tickets to Cali

My mother in law lives in Carlsbad, CA. She loves John Wayne Orange County. I think SNA is the airport code.

I go back to Cali once a year and cheap tickets don't exist, BUT you can compare the airlines with your dates and see which is lower. With the exception of Hotwire, anywhere online you find will probably cost you AT LEAST $250 per ticket (tax/fees included).

You can look into Southwest. They are VERY reasonable, but the downside is you have to leave out of Love, AND more than likely you will need to change planes in Houston. Also, where is it that you need to be in LA? LAX and San Diego are not even remotely close. Tell me the city where your brother is and I will tell you the airport that would be the closest. One thing, LAX is almost always the lowest in cost based on the sheer volume of flights available. John Wayne is in OC, and Ontario is in San Bernadino County, which is south east of LA (about 1.5 hr with traffic). There is also Burbank (or I think it might be called Bob Hope Airport now) that is very nice and I know Southwest goes there. I think it's cheaper if you leave like Tuesday or Wednesday. Friday and Monday are almost always the most expensive because of business travelers.

It really depends on how far you want to drive to where your brother is and how much you want to spend, but like I said plan on at least $500 unless your travel date/time is VERY flexible.

I fly my stepson out every year from california and we do american airlines. Check wedn evening through there website at about 8pm they are usually cheaper and we fly him out from john wayne in santa ana,cali to dfw airport. I don't know how far san diego is fron santa ana. We usually pay like 250.00 bucks doing it that way

www.sidestep.com is the best way to compare

Hi R.,
I am currently living in San Diego and will be moving to Waxahachie by end of month. :o)

Anyhow... to answer your question about plane tickets and where to go, if you have the flexibility of where to land, you may want to also check other airports around the area as LAX and San Diego may be more difficult to get in and out. Check out Ontario International and Orange County Airport. As for cheap tickets, I find that Southwest usually has very good rates if you book at least 7 days in advance. Also try Jet Blue as a lot of business travelers use it and it is very reasonable. You might want to check Red-Eye schedule as there is usually more available seats.

Good luck!! You'll love Southern California right now. Weather is gorgeous.. I know I will miss it when we leave. :o(

R.,
Last year I did Hotwire.Com and managed to get tickets for myself and 4 kids for $175 each. I flew into Ontario.

D.

Hi, R.. I'm not sure which airport would be less expensive; however, the cheaper fares typically run Saturdays and Tuesdays. Go to cheaptickets.com, orbitz.com, and travelocity.com. There are other cheap ticket websites, too. But if you compare at least these three, you should be able to find the best airfare for the dates you will be traveling. Good luck, and have an awesome trip. I've heard California is beautiful!

We always buy our tickets from travelocity.com. You can type in all the locations and see what destination is the cheapest route. If you buy them the same week, you can get some great last minute deals including hotel and rental car but they are non-refundable. HTH.

Hey, I am originally from cali and travel back and forth frequently. I found the cheepest is Southwest airlines out of Love field. Prepare to have a least a stop over in Midland on your way out though. In order to get the deals you will need to book on their actual website. You might also want to check rates out of Burbank Airport.

go to sidestep.com--it compares all the airlines and all the travel websites (orbitz, travelocity, etc.)It can give you the price on all surrounding airports so you can really compare costs.

My husband is in sales and travels a LOT on short notice. I book all of his travel arrangements. I have found that I do better dealing directly on the website of the carrier. I use American and Southwest. If you book now for July 14 you should get a reasonable fare.

I do have the number of a travel broker if what you find is so unreasonable. I go through him if I cannot find anything within reason for the business man who finds out he has to be someplace in 24 hrs or so and not get burned on price. This broker buys bonus miles and tickets from people and then he gets you a reasonable deal. It is all on the up and up. We have bought and sold tickets through him.

I am online booking tickets daily. Also, if you need a hotel or car, go directly to the website. Hertz is always the best but the most expensive.

Susan

Hi,

I use all the discounted sites to find the lowest ticket, then I go to the carrier website and buy with them. For example if the cheapest was jetblue, then I go to jetblue and purchase directly with them. Every single time, their fair is about 5.00 lower than the discounted site like expedia or hotwire. I flew to lax last month for 200.00 round trip on american airlines.

Good luck.