Horizon Air: Why drive when you can fly to Mammoth?

If you are still making the long five-hour or more drive to Mammoth during ski season,  you might consider trying a quickie 70-minute flight this winter from LAX. Horizon Air, which had one flight a day from Los Angeles-Mammoth Lakes Yosemite airport last year, has added a second daily non-stop flight for this coming winter season. If you can plan ahead, rates start at $69 each way, pre-tax, out of Los Angeles. The big news for skiers and snowboarders all over the West Coast is that Horizon Air has also added new non-stop service from Reno ($49) and San Jose ($69), and direct one-stop service from Seattle ($149) and Portland ($144).

This year’s schedule beginning Dec. 17, 2009, through April 11, 2010:

Depart Los Angeles/Arrive Mammoth

8:40 a.m./9:50 a.m.

2:40 p.m./3:50 p.m.

Depart Mammoth/Arrive Los Angeles

12:50 p.m./1:59 p.m.

5:50 p.m./6:59 p.m.

Tested: Last year prices for these flights ranged between $79-$149 each way. I tested dates this year on their low-fare calendar and saw that it was pretty cheap to fly up for New Year’s. There were $69 flights on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. Flights on Thursday and Friday started at $89, each way, pre-tax. The total price for a round-trip flight Dec. 30-Jan. 2 was $148.

Note for skiers and snowboarders: Skiers and snowboarders can bring their equipment without incurring an oversized baggage fee. However, standard checked baggage fees ($15 first checked bag, $25, second checked bag, $50 every bag after that, each way) and overweight (51-100 lbs) baggage fees will apply ($50-$75 per bag each way depending on dimensions). See Alaska Air/Horizon Air sports equipment page for more info.

Contact: Horizon Air, (800) 547-9308

– Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger

[Photo: Courtesy of Horizon Air]

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 5, 2009 at 9:19 am by Jen Leo and is filed under Airline travel, California, Deals, Los Angeles, News, Tips & Advice, Oregon, Outdoors & Adventure, Pacific Northwest, Washington, Weekend Getaways. 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.