"...cheaper out of SMF than SFO. I ended up booking America West to LAX and AA to LHR. It was an easy connection and nearly $200 cheaper than SFO/LHR."

Good to know! My closest airport since moving is SMF.

(America West or Southwest?)

Oops I meant American Eagle. I usually fly southwest. But this was on American eagle because it was a BA/AA single booking SMF to LAX to LHR to EDI and LHR to LAX to SMF open jaw.

For me, the desire to simplify the trip is not at all compatible with a lot of complicated train/bus/BART yoga.

By playing with departure timing from FAT you could "force" an overnight at LAX or SFO without the overall airfare growing by an amount equal to the train+bus+transit costs, never mind the hassle.

For example, if you're going to London and want to use American Airlines/Oneworld, take the last Eagle departure of the day from Fresno, which arrives at LAX after the last London flight has departed. Use the free shuttles for one of the many (cheap, okay) hotels on Century Blvd., then return to the airport the next day for the London departure. You'll find that the round trip price might be a little more than if you had a shorter connection, but still less overall than the surface transit options.

I agree w/ Gardyloo. That is why I booked the SMF/LAX leg. Accomplished two things - could leave from home w/o trekking to SF for a non-stop, and avoided having a short connection at DFW. But in my case I didn't stay overnight. Took a late morning flight down and a mid afternoon flight to LHR.

I've doen the same sort of thing through SeaTac. Relatively short/painless flights from SMF to get a nonstop to Europe (or Asia)

You do have another option since the famous/infamous Allegiant flies out of FAT, you could fly to Las Vegas and get a non-stop from there.