Getting from DC to San Fran in September - good/bad/ugly *please*

[agnes!]

Any tips/hints/horror stories greatly appreciated. We have a family wedding near San Jose (actually in or near Mountain View) the weekend of September 18th, am thinking of going out September 17th and either coming back the 20th or 21st.

DH travels a lot on business, but DD & I are used to going mostly to WDW. I've started looking at fares ! And travel-times !!! And layovers... in BOSTON's Logan? Or at JFK?!? to get from a DC-area airport to San Francisco?!?

I'm looking for good/bad/ugly experiences traveling to/from East/West Coast. Do you hate to have layovers at a particular airport because there always seem to be delays there? Is the leg-room for a cross-country trip on one airline over another a breaking-point for you?

We don't care which airport we travel out of, they're all pretty much the same to me, but would prefer a non-stop.

Thanks ,
agnes!

 

[PlutoPony]

Check United out of Dulles for west coast non-stops. San Jose would be my first choice on the other end given where you're going, but if you can't get a decent fare there look at San Fran. We're paying $320 for Dulles to SF this summer, leaving and coming back on the weekend. Our return is a red-eye (there's one at 10:30 pm and an 11:30) which we don't mind if it saves us $. Right now there are 5-6 non-stops on the IAD-SFO route so you have quite a few choices.....and I definitely agree with you on the non-stop preference.

As for leg room, if we can get our 3 seats together we're OK.... I'm short so take the middle, the 14yo gets the window and husband with the long legs on the aisle. Since we can encroach on each other's space it works but I wouldn't want to do it regularly. My husband will often pay for E+ upgrades if he's traveling alone on business but this trip is vacation so right now we're being cheap and not paying for an upgrade.

Oh - when you look at travel times, don't forget the 3 hour time change. It's a killer on the way back but helps going west...

 

[PlutoPony]

Holy Cow - I just found $239 for IAD to SFO non-stop....
This is on United, leaving on the first flight the 17th (7:15 am) and returning either the 20th or 21st on the 2nd red eye (leaving 11:30 pm),
You can also get the same fare by going out on the 6:58 pm flight the 17th but that gets you into SFO after midnight west coast time...

Personally I'd book those flights NOW if you can live with the times. That's a GREAT fare!!!!!!!!!

 

[DisneyWalker44]

If you want non-stop, you are flying out of Dullas. UA and Virgin fly to SFA. Jet Blue flies to Oakland. I love Jet Blue, that would be my first choice.

I'm also a huge Southwest devotee. No direct flights, but many options out of BWI to all 3 San Francisco airports (including San Jose) many of which only involve stay-on-the-plane connections. Prices look pretty good now on SW too.

 

[disneylove69]

I live in Sacramento about 90 minutes from Mtn. View. They usually have cheap flights and very easy airport for check-in, TSA, etc. I fly to Florida and it takes about 6 hrs 20min. Usually one change over with less then an hour. Normally bathroom break and get to next plane. Never had an issue.

 

[uva185]

DH travels a lot on business, but DD & I are used to going mostly to WDW. I've started looking at fares ! And travel-times !!! And layovers... in BOSTON's Logan? Or at JFK?!? to get from a DC-area airport to San Francisco?!?

I'm looking for good/bad/ugly experiences traveling to/from East/West Coast. Do you hate to have layovers at a particular airport because there always seem to be delays there? Is the leg-room for a cross-country trip on one airline over another a breaking-point for you?

We don't care which airport we travel out of, they're all pretty much the same to me, but would prefer a non-stop.

Thanks ,
agnes!

Well personally I refuse to fly out of Dulles unless I am taking an international flight. I cannot describe how much I despise that airport! I would much rather make a connection (usually in Charlotte or Atlanta) than use Dulles. I prefer Reagan DCA but sometimes (not always) you will pay more to use that airport but IMO the convenience is well worth it!

Jet Blue has nonstop flights to Oakland from Dulles and United has nonstop flights to San Francisco but a connection is required to fly into San Jose or Oakland.

You might want to look at Virgin America. They fly nonstop from Dulles to San Francisco. They look like a nicer Jet Blue and have some decent first class fares (their first clas cabin looks quite nice -- seats have a built in massage function) www.virginamerica.com