Fare War: Fly within California for less than $30 one way

Peter Pae’s airline news article, “Wi-Fi returning to airlines,” briefly mentions a fare war going on among American, Virgin America and Southwest for flights between Orange County’s John Wayne Airport (SNA) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO). I found fares as low as $45 one way, before taxes. The good news is that United also joined in the fun and is offering equally low fares for this route.

Don’t discount other destinations. It’s important to note that while I tested the SNA-to-SFO route for the fares below (and the one JetBlue Long Beach (LGB) exception), comparable fares can be found for other destinations within California. For example, San Diego (SAN) to San Francisco (SFO) is also only $46 each way on Southwest and just $49 on Virgin America.

Orange County-to-San Francisco Fare War

American Airlines | Pae’s article says that American dropped fares to $42 each way. I found $48 one-way fares. Book by May 24 for travel 14 days in advance on Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday. The total price after taxes comes to $117.

JetBlue | Although not a part of the Orange County-to-San Francisco fare war — if you fly out of Long Beach, you can find flights as low as $29 one way to San Francisco. Book by Thursday with a 10-day advance purchase for travel on a Tuesday or Wednesday through Sept. 9.  You can also find $29 one-way fares between LGB and Oakland (OAK) and San Jose (SJC).

Southwest Airlines | The Times article said that Southwest seats were $45 one way. When I checked their website, I at first saw that fares were starting at $48 one way, but when I clicked through, the fare did drop to $45 (before taxes). The total came to $117 round trip after taxes. But it gets even better — when I looked at Southwest’s Shortcut to check alternate dates, I found fares between SNA and SFO as low as $39 this week, Thursday-Saturday. The total price was only $98 round trip.

United | When I used Kayak’s flexible date calendar, I found that United also had low fares matching American and Virgin America between these two cities. Round-trip fares were $117, including tax, for a June 17 departure. Book by May 24 with a 14-day advance purchase for travel to begin by Aug. 31.  Some blackout dates apply.

Virgin America | I found fares for $49 each way, before taxes. The difference here is that you only need to book a week in advance and I found the rates for travel Monday through Sunday. Also note that Virgin America boasts Wi-Fi on this route.

– Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger

[Photo: Crystal Cove by Ted, Your Scene, Los Angeles Times]

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 18, 2009 at 10:08 am by Jen Leo and is filed under Airline travel, Business Travel, California, Deals, News, Tips & Advice, Orange County, San Francisco. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.