LauraT

For those of you following my saga (i.e., travel planning)- lol - I am heading to La Jolla in April. Now I'm trying to book the airfare to San Diego (SAN).

I had hoped to be able to fly United, because I have a bunch of upgrade certificates that I want to use. However, the ticket on UAL is 120 more than on AA for the non-stop flight - can't justify the extra cost.

One idea I had was flying into Orange County (SNA) - same airfare as AA to SAN. According to mapquest, the drive should be a little over an hour - is this realistic - or would this only be the drive time at 3:00 am? What could we expect around 6:00 on Friday and Tusday morning?

Any thoughts in general about the drive? I keep hoping that UAL will match AA's fare, but I am not holding my breath. Had a similar dilemma booking to Phoenix last year and UAL never did come down in price.

Thanks to all!
Any thoughts

GoTravel

The very last thing I'd do is fly cross country and then have to dick around trying to get a rental car and having to drive to San Diego.

bamakelly

I agree with GT...and will you be doing the same on the return flight? This could cause even more stress. We used to live in Fort Myers, where airfare is typically high. Once our friends flew into Sarasota (from the midwest) to save fares. The extra hour and a half on both ends of the trip was totally unnerving. The anticipation/excitement of landing and "being there yet" is completely lost. Then on the return trip, you have to leave way early to get to the airport on time, hope for no traffic to slow you down further, etc etc. Admittedly, many people have this problem when they live an hour or more from a major airport, but it's downright maddening when you make a choice to do so (and in the back of your mind you know there was a closer and faster way to do the trip).

I have also flown into Atlanta and driven to Birmingham to avoid higher fares. Again, a total headache.

Additionally, how much will the car rental be? Once you factor that in, how much are you really saving?

Then again, on the flip side, my parents drive over an hour to the nearest airport everytime they fly and have no problems at all.

Just food for thought.

Gardyloo

Rental car exit from SNA (OC) is quite easy to navigate (be sure you get good directions to the freeway southbound.) I don't know about an hour... maybe 1 1/2 to La Jolla, but certainly doable.

Do you mean 6pm Friday and 6am Tuesday? Leaving SNA at 6pm on a Friday will of course be during a trafficky period, but volumes will diminish somewhat en route (but not much - a lot of weekend traffic and I-405/I-5 is a busy corridor.) If you plan to arrive at 6am on Tuesday, no problem. If you mean leaving La Jolla at 6, problem.

Also closely check rental car prices ex-SNA. IIRC, taxes and rates are quite high compared to other places (even LAX.) Not sure about ex-SAN, but don't erode your flight savings through higher net car costs.

Patty

That time estimate from mapquest sounds about right, I'd say an hour and a half at most. If you fly into SAN, you'd be looking at about a half hour drive. You'd have to rent a car either way.

If you can get the UA flight into SNA for the same cost AND it's a nonstop AND you can upgrade, I'd go with that option.