Fly into LA or San Diego?

[Planogirl]

I'm planning a 9 day trip to California for early August which I plan to split between LA (Anaheim) and San Diego. I've found flights from Dallas to LAX on American which cost $275 a person round trip which is fairly reasonable but the times are pretty bad in all cases. We either have to leave VERY early or come back past midnight.

I'm wondering if we could fly into San Diego instead for about the same price and maybe find some better hours? Has anyone done this? I haven't heard any comments about the airport in San Diego. And what about renting a car? Would it make a difference between the two airports?

 

[ParkFreak]

We'll be flying into SD next monday (woo hoo!) mostly because that's where we'll be for the bulk of our vacation. We're renting a car and driving up to Anaheim after rush hour dies down. If you can wait until May when we get back, I can try to answer any questions you have about SAN airport. I've never flown into LAX, so I won't be able to make any comparisons for you.

 

[Tink33]

San Diego airport is very easy to navigate - just two terminals. I would ONLY choose LAX if you can get a really good deal.

 

[Planogirl]

I'm not real excited about the prices into LAX so far but I haven't seen those for San Diego yet. I may change my mind and do the red eye if they're too high. That is, if we can even fly directly to SD. We can't even fly Southwest out of Dallas into California thanks to some goofy law. And I don't know who else flies there frankly but I'm working on it!

Thanks for the info.

 

[Floydian]

If I had the choice, I'd pay as much as $50 more to fly into any airport that ISN'T LAX. Then again, I'm used to places like Reno and Orange County Aiports. Even Las Vegas isn't half as bad as LAX.

LAX is huge, it's confusing, it's congested, and I've dealt with delays on about half of my 5-6 trips into and out of that airport. Sadly, it's the only place in Southern California that I can fly into directly from Reno, so we're kind of stuck with it.

Check the San Diego prices. If they're within $20-30 per ticket, I'd suggest flying there. The drive is longer mileage, but with the traffic at LAX, and on the freeways all over the LA area, the time to make the drive may not be all that much different going from the airport to the DL area.

Best of all, in my opinion, would be if you could get flights into and out of Orange County (SNA). Small, simple, and perfectly located for a SoCal vacation.

 

[ceejay13]

We have used all three and Orange County is much more convenient. I go to a conference in San Diego every May and my ticket is paid for so we make the drive every year. Interstate 5 is right outside of the San Diego airport and goes directly to DL. It is about a 90" drive. I actually prefer that instead of LAX but Orange County is a 15" drive. I would go wherever you get the best fares.

 

[MarkRG]

There IS one other thing to keep in mind with respect to choices. On my last trip out, we drove down to SD Zoo for one day of the trip. The border patrol security checkpoint on I5 going northbound gets VERY backed up in the morning. Being we were going the other way it was no big deal. You might want to do Anaheim first then drive down to spend the rest in San Diego, or, plan on going up to Anaheim really early.

 

[Tink33]

The border check point in San Clemente is NOT open 24 hours a day. The hours are random to catch people/products entering California illegally.

Since you are splitting your stay between San Diego and Anaheim, it makes sense to fly into SAN. You can either start your trip in San Diego or end it here. The airport is located near downtown and is 15 minutes from Sea World, 20 minutes from the Zoo, 10 minutes to Old Town, and 5 minutes to the Gaslamp.

 

[Planogirl]

What is this border patrol checkpoint? If we have anything like this in Texas I've yet to hear of it. Is this always located in the same area?

I definitely appreciate all of this info!

 

[Planogirl]

Another question...

It appears that I can fly with Frontier to San Diego for roughly the same price as from Dallas to LAX via America West. I'm a little leery of America West but American isn't too much more. The only problem is that we have to transfer planes in Denver if we go with Frontier. So what's worse? A transfer or the heavy traffic at LAX?

 

[profdsny]

We did a similar trip last year, going into San Diego then heading north. Would do it again in a sec. Even if it cost a bit more. Great drive, with the ocean off to your left for part of the way up. We went on a Sunday, so there was little traffic. Even coming back to SD on a week night, after a day at DL, it was pretty good. Actually we left towards the end of rush hour, and it still was not bad. Check for SD over LAX. It's worth the extra time and money.

 

[mm42]

Planogirl, you should check United - they have a $148 R/T fare into SNA and $158 R/T into San Diego in that time period. Hurry, it's not the sort of fare that is around for long.

Either one is connecting through LAX (which is pretty silly for SNA, but the fare is not available to LAX itself.)

 

[Planogirl]

I already paid for round trip tickets on Frontier Airlines to San Diego. We did pay a lot more than that but it was less than flying into LAX at least.