For Those Who Live In California????

[djm99]

Where is Ontario in relation to the los angeles and Anaheim? I will be in Southern California for two weeks. I'll be staying 3 nights in San Diego (i already booked that), but I'm trying to find something kind of medium between LA and Anaheim for 9 nights. Some place comfortable but not too pricey and I found a cheap flight out from STL to ONT for only $157 RT. So any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[Magix]

Ontario is about 1 hour or so from Anaheim and about 1.5 to 2 hours from LA. It's a great airport to fly in and out of, because it's not so heavily used and it's a very simple set-up. If you fly into Ontario and rent a car, then stay in a hotel somewhere else, you'll be in good shape! I wouldn't suggest staying in Ontario because you'll have a heck of a drive to everywhere else you want to go. Stay in the Anaheim area, so you'll only have a drive to LA (about 1 hour or less, if it's not rush hour) or maybe even somewhere like Long Beach, where you'll be generally in-between both.

 

[Redcon1]

DJM99,
I'm thinking of flying from STL to Ontario as well around Memorial Day. The best rate I can find is America West for $208.30 or I could take a gamble on Hotwire.com where their rate is $190 for an undisclosed time of day.
What airline did you find the $157 on?

Thanks,
Redcon1

 

[KaitlinsMom]

I just wanted to add - Driving from Ontario airport to Anaheim or LA - You WILL encounter LOTS of traffic -

We looked into flying in/out of Ontario, mapquest says it is closer than LAX to us (by about 3 miles), but the traffic to get there adds a lot of time.

You said you were looking at America West Airlines - They fly into Long Beach Airport which would be great if you could fly into there - Small airport, between LA and Anaheim -

Karen

 

[Magix]

The amount of traffic driving from Ontario to Anaheim depends on the time of day. If you're driving during rush hour, then you'll hit horrible traffic, but that will be true anywhere in the area. If you're driving during off-hours, you'll be fine. I've done it more times than I can count (I prefer to fly out of ONT when possible, plus I go out that way for auto races a few times a year and it's on the way to/from Las Vegas) and, so long as it's not at peak times for people driving to/from work, it's clear and fast.

 

[Redcon1]

Thanks for the extra info on Ontario airport.
We would be arriving on Saturday morning around 11am on Memorial Day weekend to drive to DL.
Or we may drive down to SD and spend our first half of the trip there and return to DL for the second half. That way we'd be closer to the airport for our return. Or a third option would be to start at DL over the holiday weekend, drive to SD later than return the night before our flight back to STL, where we'd stay somewhere near the airport.
I just haven't decided what's best and it really just depends on what airport offers the best fare. Right now, Ontario does, but my first choice would be to fly into SD the way we normally do.

 

[djm99]

DJM99,
I'm thinking of flying from STL to Ontario as well around Memorial Day. The best rate I can find is America West for $208.30 or I could take a gamble on Hotwire.com where their rate is $190 for an undisclosed time of day.
What airline did you find the $157 on?

Thanks,
Redcon1

American airlines, but its $208.30 with the fees and taxes. Can you believe its that much in taxes and fees???

 

[Redcon1]

I didn't realize the $157 wasn't including the incidental taxes. Yep, $208 is the best rate I found, except for the dates we're traveling Northwest is the only one with that fare available. Being in the travel industry, I'm constantly checking the airfares throughout the day at work, hoping they'll go down.
If you haven't purchased your tickets yet and if you finish your travel by June 16th, you might want to check out Frontier or America West airlines into LAX. The lowest fare now is $101.70 one-way. As these are not RT fares, you can book a flight out on one airline and then return on the other airline if it's not available on your outbound airline. That may give you a little bit more flexibility.