Help with flights options (LAX or SNA)

[kayteekt]

Planning a first time trip out to DL from the East Coast.

AA hostage here, they're the only ones who fly direct to SNA and even to LAX (besides Spirit) plus we have AA points.

For reference, looking at Wed. Dec. 11-18 or Thurs. Dec. 12-19. Early 40's with teenagers.

The drawback with SNA is that there is just one direct flight per day and the times aren't optimal. 8:18pm arrival and 7:45am departure. Meaning our first DL day we would likely be tired and would be more of a half day and our departure day we'd probably have to leave before 6am. Staying at the DL Villas so hotels aren't cheap, hate to waste. Plus we'd have to go Wed-Wed which isn't ideal due to several factors.

So...I started looking into LAX.
If we were to land at 9:40am OR 7:30pm on a Thursday.... Depart 1:30pm the next Thursday (12/19). What's the feeling on traffic? I'm thinking those times would avoid the worst of rush hour(s)?
For departure flight at 1:30pm on a Thurs. how early should we leave? We have precheck and won't have any checked bags.

I don't want want to make everyone miserable with a painful airport/commute experience after a 5.5hr flight - but the logistics of the trip would be better with the different flight times at LAX. Thoughts??? Would appreciate any input

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

I travel from Ireland and LAX is my only option. What Terminal at LAX will you be flying in to? LAX is U shaped and a one way system. The traffic at LAX is bad all the time , there is no rush hour, its just busy all the time.

How will you be travelling from LAX to Anaheim?

UBER and LYFT pick up at LAXIT, the main transportation hub. When you exit the arrivals area, you need to take a free shuttle to LAXIT.

Private carhire service can pick up at kerbside. I use Midwilshuttle and its approx $100 for me , solo female with one checked bag and one carry on from LAX to Anaheim.

Journey time from LAX is usually about an hour once you get into a car. However it can take 30 to 40 minutes from the time you walk off the plane to the time you are in the car.

Getting onto the freeway from LAX can be bad traffic. Once on the freeway, if there are no issues its about 40 minutes to Anaheim.

 

[kayteekt]

I travel from Ireland and LAX is my only option. What Terminal at LAX will you be flying in to? LAX is U shaped and a one way system. The traffic at LAX is bad all the time , there is no rush hour, its just busy all the time.

How will you be travelling from LAX to Anaheim?

UBER and LYFT pick up at LAXIT, the main transportation hub. When you exit the arrivals area, you need to take a free shuttle to LAXIT.

Private carhire service can pick up at kerbside. I use Midwilshuttle and its approx $100 for me , solo female with one checked bag and one carry on from LAX to Anaheim.

Journey time from LAX is usually about an hour once you get into a car. However it can take 30 to 40 minutes from the time you walk off the plane to the time you are in the car.

Getting onto the freeway from LAX can be bad traffic. Once on the freeway, if there are no issues its about 40 minutes to Anaheim.

Thanks for the info. It looks like American would be either Terminal 4 or 5. We would most likely hire a car. I'm trying to research now, seems like you're picked up/dropped off right at your terminal and go through security there?

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

Thanks for the info. It looks like American would be either Terminal 4 or 5. We would most likely hire a car. I'm trying to research now, seems like you're picked up/dropped off right at your terminal and go through security there?

If you are hiring a car you will need to take a shuttle from curbside at arrivals to the car rental company. Each company has their own shuttle bus and the places to stand for pick up are marked. Some pick up directly at curbside, some you have to cross to the centre section. The company will give you directions about getting the shuttle.

When you are leaving, you will return the car to the offsite return area and take the shuttle bus to your departure terminal. You enter the terminal and go to the check in desks if you don't have a boarding pass. If you have a boarding pass you will then take the escalators up to TSA and the departure gates.

 

[kayteekt]

If you are hiring a car you will need to take a shuttle from curbside at arrivals to the car rental company. Each company has their own shuttle bus and the places to stand for pick up are marked. Some pick up directly at curbside, some you have to cross to the centre section. The company will give you directions about getting the shuttle.

When you are leaving, you will return the car to the offsite return area and take the shuttle bus to your departure terminal. You enter the terminal and go to the check in desks if you don't have a boarding pass. If you have a boarding pass you will then take the escalators up to TSA and the departure gates.

I'm sorry, I meant hiring a driver to pick us up and drop us off.

 

[Vala]

I'm sorry, I meant hiring a driver to pick us up and drop us off.

Your assumption is correct in this case.

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

I'm sorry, I meant hiring a driver to pick us up and drop us off.

Oh sorry, yes.

With Midwilshuttle I booked and paid in advance. They have a WhatsAp number to contact them when you land. I had checked bags, so I send them a text to say I had arrived and was waiting for my bag. When I got my bag I sent them a text and was told to exit the arrivals area and go out to the centre section and the Passenger Pick Up Area. When I was at that area I sent them another text with the number I was standing beside. I also sent a selfie. They replied back with the drivers name, make of car and licence number. The driver arrived within 10 minutes.

 

[Pluto468]

Would you consider doing 2 one way flights instead of a round trip flight? You could fly into SNA and have a relaxing arrival, then get a shuttle to LAX on departure day which would drop you right at the curb and you'd avoid some of those LAX headaches. You'd probably get to Disneyland earlier flying into SNA on that 8:18 flight vs. the 7:30 flight into LAX.

I often split up my flights when going to Disneyland because there are so many good airport choices.

 

[dina444444]

The only thing to keep in mind with SNA is they have a noise curfew. I would look up that fights history on flight aware to make sure it’s not a cancel prone flight route due to delays.

I regularly fly AA in/out of LAX and I have precheck and find it a very smooth process but lax without precheck can sometimes be a nightmare.

Edit: with regards to arrival times, you would be outside of rush hour windows with both options at lax by the time you land, deplane and collect luggage.

 

[BlueRibbon]

The times you mentioned are good since they'll be going against traffic. Traffic flows westbound in the morning and eastbound in the afternoon/evening. Once you get in your car, it'll probably take an hour to get to Disneyland.

As others have mentioned above, at LAX I HIGHLY recommend hiring a car to take you. I don't live too far away from Anaheim, and I've been stranded at LAExit before as no Uber/Lyft drivers would take my fare - ended up paying a taxi, which was $90(this was 2 years ago). I'd always hoped that LAX would employ a system when they had to take you where you wanted to go, but I haven't heard of it being implemented.

 

[dina444444]

The times you mentioned are good since they'll be going against traffic. Traffic flows westbound in the morning and eastbound in the afternoon/evening. Once you get in your car, it'll probably take an hour to get to Disneyland.

As others have mentioned above, at LAX I HIGHLY recommend hiring a car to take you. I don't live too far away from Anaheim, and I've been stranded at LAExit before as no Uber/Lyft drivers would take my fare - ended up paying a taxi, which was $90(this was 2 years ago). I'd always hoped that LAX would employ a system when they had to take you where you wanted to go, but I haven't heard of it being implemented.

When Laxit first opened in 2019 they had to take you where you were going or they were denied being able to give the ride because the car wasn’t pre assigned to you like it is now. I had driver get told to exit by the police that first week because they didn’t want to take me the 5 miles from the airport to my house because it wasn’t a high fare. You would get in line and the cars would be in a line and it worked more like a taxi and they would be given a code from the app to get the address.

 

[AndrewC]

SNA. The drive is such a hassle out to LAX. The only real benefit would be if you were rotating around and doing Disney, Universal, Hollywood/beach area, and then down to fly out of LAX.

Otherwise SNA is so much nicer, it's busy, but it feels like a small town regional airport. Usually fast to get bags and get a rental or find a car that's waiting for you (if you've booked that), maybe 15 to 20 minutes to Disney most of the time. Usually two or two and a half hours from the park to the airport is enough time. Though admittingly I leave late Sunday afternoon usually. But again, like 25 minutes to SNA from Disney, get through security within 5 to 20 minutes, and sit around for about 45 minutes to an hour for my 5pm departure home.

If I'm reading that correctly, the 8pm arrival to SNA isn't terrible, just go the day before and fork over the cost of an extra night hotel. Yes I know hotels are stupid expensive and that sucks, but you have an unrushed travel day, likely get in bed by 10pm at the hotel, and can wake up 7am or however early you want for Disney and be all refreshed. The departure day from Disney/SNA will suck, but you basically just have to get everyone to the airport and then can look forward to falling asleep on a 5-6 hour flight home, or crashing in bed at a decent time when you get home to the east coast (I assume you land late afternoon/early evening).

 

[StarlitNight05]

I love SNA. It's so compact and easy to navigate. That being said, that early morning flight back would be a killer for me. On our departure day, I like doing a slow morning, eating one last breakfast at the resort, then packing up to leave. In your situation, I would probably split it up and do the SNA arrival (good advice from another poster to make sure it's not a flight that's typically cancelled) and LAX departure.

 

[LAS2AMS]

I travel frequently. I live a short distance from SNA (less than 10 minutes without traffic) but most of my flights are from LAX. The SNA experience is less stressful, yes, but LAX offers me far more flight options (often with better airplanes) and that flexibility is with the 90 minutes - 2 hours (depending on the time of day) extra time.

Pick the flights based on the schedule that you like. Don’t be confined to SNA.

 

[Howry]

As someone who hates LAX I would go to SNA anytime over it. That drive from LAX to the resort seems to take forever, but thats just me.

 

[ParkHopper1]

People overblow LAX hassles IMO...all your options avoid the worst of any regular traffic.

All things being equal SNA all day every day but I feel your hunches on schedule are 100% correct and I would without a doubt chose LAX options in that scenario to be more relaxed on both ends of the trip than be worried about an extra few min of drive time.

Uber each way...easy peasy.

 

[lilsonicfan]

We flew to LAX for this reason, the SNA flight times would have really reduced our time in DL and we couldn't take extra days. I checked my photos - we landed in LAX at 11 am. No checked bags so we went to the car rental right away. It was a bit of a mess to get to car rental but we had our car by 11:40 am. We were pulling into the Grand Californian at 1:04 pm and that was after we had stopped at Target to pick up groceries (ordered ahead, but stupidly long wait when we got there) AND had gotten takeout at Raising Canes. I wouldn't avoid LAX just b/c of traffic if it means you lose several hours due to flight times.

 

[LAS2AMS]

As someone who hates LAX I would go to SNA anytime over it. That drive from LAX to the resort seems to take forever, but thats just me

You must be excited to get to Disneyland.

With minimal traffic, most drivers can get from LAX in 40-45 minutes but SNA will often push 20 minutes. Even with peak traffic, LAX will rarely take more than two hours vs. 40-45 minutes from SNA.

 

[LKing]

Is Long Beach an option?

 

[dina444444]

Is Long Beach an option?

American Airlines no longer flies in/out of there. I think it’s solely southwest now.