Better Airport to fly into for DLR trip?

[thomas998]

O.K. all you DL or West Coast travelers: which airport do you prefer to fly into and why? I am in the midst of planning my family's first trip to DLR and I just saw that SWA is having an airfare sale. We will be flying out of BWI and my mother (who has visited SoCal several times), said that if we can swing it, fly into SNA...however, there are no lower fares available for the day we'll be arriving

Sooo, what are your feelings on: LAX, BUR, SNA, and ONT?

I am very much looking forward to any tips and suggestions!

We us LAX, only because it is always the cheapest option for us. We fly out of DFW and if you are careful you can get a flight out and back for less than $275/head including all fees on Virgin but sadly the only fly to LAX so we have no other options.

If I were you I would start with using travelocity to search for fare because it is easy to plug in the option to look at multiple airports in an area. For me price is a big part of it but also I only want direct flights so we never use SWA because I hate multiple stops and plane changes. If you are going SWA for that long of a flight you are going to get at least 1 stop maybe as many as 3.... it is the biggest problem with SWA.

 

[journ116]

We us LAX, only because it is always the cheapest option for us. We fly out of DFW and if you are careful you can get a flight out and back for less than $275/head including all fees on Virgin but sadly the only fly to LAX so we have no other options.

If I were you I would start with using travelocity to search for fare because it is easy to plug in the option to look at multiple airports in an area. For me price is a big part of it but also I only want direct flights so we never use SWA because I hate multiple stops and plane changes. If you are going SWA for that long of a flight you are going to get at least 1 stop maybe as many as 3.... it is the biggest problem with SWA.

Thank you for your input!
After reviewing flights, our travel party is completely O.K. with having 1 stop. Flying non-stop from BWI to LAX was just shy of 6 hours...I will need plenty of dramamine!
There are other airlines that we're considering, but price and times will play a big factor.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

We us LAX, only because it is always the cheapest option for us. We fly out of DFW and if you are careful you can get a flight out and back for less than $275/head including all fees on Virgin but sadly the only fly to LAX so we have no other options.

If I were you I would start with using travelocity to search for fare because it is easy to plug in the option to look at multiple airports in an area. For me price is a big part of it but also I only want direct flights so we never use SWA because I hate multiple stops and plane changes. If you are going SWA for that long of a flight you are going to get at least 1 stop maybe as many as 3.... it is the biggest problem with SWA.

I feel pretty good about my $304 pp round trip BUF-LAX fares that I snagged, if you're happy with $275 from a much closer part of the country! I am sort of angry and sort of glad that there's no nonstop flight from here to LA... I would pay a hefty premium for a nonstop flight! Changing planes totally sucks. We had to basically go across all of Midway to go from one Southwest flight to another that was waiting for us because our original plane left late and the new one was supposed to leave by the time we got there.

The especially sucky thing was that it was originally a direct flight when I booked it, but they changed it up on me about a month before departure. I was supposed to just stay on the same plane, but instead I'm running across a giant airport.

 

[Californian Elitist]

The especially sucky thing was that it was originally a direct flight when I booked it, but they changed it up on me about a month before departure. I was supposed to just stay on the same plane, but instead I'm running across a giant airport.

Look at the bright side... At least you'll be getting some exercise in.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Look at the bright side... At least you'll be getting some exercise in.

If it happens again, I won't be getting exercise... I'll be getting a free flight!

jk... I'm not a really good complainer in those situations. I can dream, though.

 

[thomas998]

I feel pretty good about my $304 pp round trip BUF-LAX fares that I snagged, if you're happy with $275 from a much closer part of the country! I am sort of angry and sort of glad that there's no nonstop flight from here to LA... I would pay a hefty premium for a nonstop flight! Changing planes totally sucks. We had to basically go across all of Midway to go from one Southwest flight to another that was waiting for us because our original plane left late and the new one was supposed to leave by the time we got there.

The especially sucky thing was that it was originally a direct flight when I booked it, but they changed it up on me about a month before departure. I was supposed to just stay on the same plane, but instead I'm running across a giant airport.

Not sure distance has that much to do with the price of airfares. While we can find a flight to LAX for $275 it is closer to $400 to fly to Orlando which is closer to DFW. In Texas their appears to be little logic in how prices are set for plane tickets.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Not sure distance has that much to do with the price of airfares. While we can find a flight to LAX for $275 it is closer to $400 to fly to Orlando which is closer to DFW. In Texas their appears to be little logic in how prices are set for plane tickets.

'Tis true. I'm used to getting flights BUF-MCO for around $130 pp one way and flights BUF-LAX a little under $200 for the same. One time, I was just checking to dispute the "it costs so much more to fly to go to Disneyland"... that day, for those dates, it was cheaper to fly to LAX than MCO. It still makes me feel good to only pay a little more to fly further and from a relatively tiny airport like mine (that second part probably makes more difference).