what time to leave DLR for SNA on a saturday?

[NMcowboy]

hello, was looking for some advice from anyone, as we usually use LAX for our airport, but this year we are using SNA. I've read all info here on forums, and found that SNA will be rather easy to navigate, and is only a 20-30 minute drive from the DLR. my questions is, we have a 4pm flight on a saturday, how early would we need to leave the DLR, to return a rental car, and check in 3 bags?? for LAX we would leave DLR 4 hours before our flight, and may have had a 30-45 minute sitting time before we boarded our flight. what should i expect for SNA?? (ballpark) figure of time... just looking for some advice. thanks!!

 

[Imdboss]

We always fly in and out of SNA but have never had a rental car. Without a car (bags to check using priority line) we would leave at 2:15-2:30 for a 4:00 flight. Honestly I've never paid attention to rental cars in SNA, are they onsite or do you need to take a shuttle? If onsite I would just add in another 15 min maybe. Hope that helps.

 

[ktlm]

We love SNA. It is a smaller airport that is very easy to navigate. Rental cars at SNA are onsite, and it typically does not take long at all to turn them in. We fly in and out of SNA on Saturdays or Sundays. The security lines have never been that long. The lines to check bags are not that bad either. We typically get there about an hour and a half before our flight, and we always have plenty of time and wind up sitting and waiting before boarding. It will take you between 15 and 30 minutes to get there from DLR. We typically do DLR the first part of the week and are driving up to the airport from the San Diego area, but I would think you could leave DLR 2 hours before your flight, or if you want a bigger cushion 2 1/2 hours and have more than enough time.

 

[GoBears 1980]

The drive time is 25-30 minutes tops and you can use the car pool lane, car rental is onsite, no shuttles and the lines are not bad on Saturdays. Leaving at 2PM is fine.

 

[NMcowboy]

thank you of the fast reply's everyone. while i never really had "problems" with LAX, i always remembered to have some patients and allowing a lot of extra time while going through that place. it will be nice to know we can get some pool time before we leave the DLR. When we used LAX in the past, i was always worried about time.. such as returning car, taking bus to terminal, standing in line to check in baggage, and trying to get through security (really long lines), and then if you are "lucky" finding 4 seats while waiting for your flight... SNA is sounding better by the minute.

 

[mrkyyyle]

As someone who frequently flies in and out of the Southern California airports, you'll love SNA over LAX!
Plan on 20-30 min at that time and day to get to the airport. I wouldn't anticipate it will be too busy at that airport on a Saturday.

 

[Geemo]

Getting to and from DLR and SNA is easy and fast!
Returning the rental cars is a breeze too.
What I've had suckup time, is trying to find a gas station real close to the airport.