Flight option question!

Skjhjb

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 8, 2012
I know all this can change, as it is WestJet and it is over a year away.

However, our trip to DL & California next October - we have two choices:

1. Fly into John Wayne, closest to DL. However, from Toronto, this involves a flight to Vancouver and then on to California. I believe the layover is 2 hours.

2. Fly into LAX, furthest from DL. But this is a non-stop flight.

We are using WestJet because I have the elite card, so my flight will be covered mostly by WJ dollars, and DH's flight will be $99 with the companion flight fee.

Would you rather the layover or the direct flight and fighting LA traffic?

We will be taking an Uber to DL - we plan to rent a car after our time at DL, no point in renting at the airport and pay to have it sit in a lot for 3 days!
 
No brainer for me ... direct flight whenever possible! Every time you take a connecting flight you have the possibility of the first being late and making a mad dash thru the airport. In this case you're opening yourself up to two opportunities for westjet to mess up your flight times. You only mention L.A. traffic as the downside of flying direct but you also said you'll be using Uber so again, no brainer!
 
IMO I'd fly direct as a lot less hassle. With the layover your total time through Vancouver would be almost double no?

Flown LAX to stay close to DL and took a shuttle to get to the hotel (no different than Uber). Traffic was bad but not that bad (being used to GTA traffic) and we made good time with a mid-afternoon arrival it taking less than 45 minutes from shuttle pick-up to hotel.
 
I know all this can change, as it is WestJet and it is over a year away.

However, our trip to DL & California next October - we have two choices:

1. Fly into John Wayne, closest to DL. However, from Toronto, this involves a flight to Vancouver and then on to California. I believe the layover is 2 hours.

2. Fly into LAX, furthest from DL. But this is a non-stop flight.

We are using WestJet because I have the elite card, so my flight will be covered mostly by WJ dollars, and DH's flight will be $99 with the companion flight fee.

Would you rather the layover or the direct flight and fighting LA traffic?

We will be taking an Uber to DL - we plan to rent a car after our time at DL, no point in renting at the airport and pay to have it sit in a lot for 3 days!

I agree with the direct flight. Last year my son & I were in California and took an Uber from Anaheim back to LAX. It was super easy and about $40. We left Anaheim on a Friday morning around 10 AM and didn't experience any traffic issues. I deleted the APP from my phone (as I have not needed it since) or I'd look at the history and tell you the exact fee.
 


I'm going to be the voice of dissent. We fly to DL a number of times and will ALWAYS fly to SNA (John Wayne, Orange County, Santa Ana..it has a bunch of names!). I would rather have a 2 hour stopover in YVR than an hour+ (depending on traffic) bus or car ride from LAX. SNA is a 20 minute bus/car ride to the DLR.

When looking at flights, I don't even search for LAX, it's SNA or LGB.
 
Thanks!

I should add - we would be flying home from SanFransisco, and it would be a connecting flight through Calgary for the flight home, so we can't avoid the layover for the trip home.

We aren't having a park day on arrival day, we plan to chill, check out Downtown Disney, have a great dinner and then hit the parks for three days after that!
 
I've flown into both and definitely prefer SNA over LAX. What is the flight length difference? What time of day do you arrive/depart? Is one schedule better than the other? SNA is a much smaller airport and so much closer to the DL area. We chose a connecting flight through YYZ over a direct to MCO from YVR on our trip to Disney World in February only because the direct was a red eye and didn't work with our hotel reservation. Otherwise would choose the direct every time. Connecting through YVR on Westjet has always been smooth for us, way better than connecting through YYZ, so no real worries there if that's the choice you make.
 


I feel it's about 50/50. A direct flight is amazing but LAX does suck. I've never flown into SNA. How often is that flight from Vancouver to SNA? Would you be at all worried that if you miss your Vancouver flight you might be stuck in Vancouver for a day or two waiting for the next flight? What is the price difference? I know you are paying with WJ dollars but I might go with the cheaper option in this scenario with a slight lean towards the direct flight option.
 
We've done both as well. We did the one stop going from Buffalo to SNA. It is really nice flying there. If you are renting a car, I'd do SNA. If you are just going to take a bus from the airport to Disneyland, then it doesn't really matter.
 
I've flown into both and definitely prefer SNA over LAX. What is the flight length difference? What time of day do you arrive/depart? Is one schedule better than the other? SNA is a much smaller airport and so much closer to the DL area. We chose a connecting flight through YYZ over a direct to MCO from YVR on our trip to Disney World in February only because the direct was a red eye and didn't work with our hotel reservation. Otherwise would choose the direct every time. Connecting through YVR on Westjet has always been smooth for us, way better than connecting through YYZ, so no real worries there if that's the choice you make.

I'm going off the October 2018 info as 2019 isn't available yet. But cost didn't seem to be huge - the LAX flight was actually a bit more. We'd get in to LAX a couple hours before the other location, which is only 2pm California time, so it wasn't a huge time difference either. Both flights leave around the same time in the morning - the time difference is the 2 hours spent in Vancouver between flights.

Thanks for the tips!
 
I don’t like LAX. We are here now and flew into SNA and it was wonderful. That said, I would choose a direct flight any day.
 
I once had to go to Santa Ana on business and the CBP officer at Pearson saw my direct flight to LAX and said that if they ever send me there again, to always insist on a direct flight to SNA if it’s available.

Moral of the story - not all cbp officers are bad folk.

Oh, and avoid LAX if there is a better option at an agreeable price. Even consider San Diego if you don’t mind driving a couple of hours.
 
I don't understand the hate for LAX?!? We flew there in April and it was pleasant. Big but not worst than any other airport I've been too. In fact, I dislike Pearsons a lot more than LAX but maybe I was lucky? We did travel on weekends so that might have helped. As for LA traffic, yes it's bad but we're used to bad traffic since we live in Mtl were the whole island is under construction right now.

I personally would prefer to be stuck in traffic in LA for an hour (or two) on my way to DLR than stuck in Vancouver for a day because something happened to my connection and there's only 1 flight per day to get to SNA.
 
To start, I’ve yet to do a flight from LAX that wasn’t delayed by at least an hour.

After my brothers wedding in San Clemente, we were flying out of San Diego while my parents were flying out an hour earlier from LAX. San Diego was as crowded as I’ve ever seen it - it was the day after the comicon - but we left and arrived on time. My parents, meanwhile, were delayed 4 hours.
 
To start, I’ve yet to do a flight from LAX that wasn’t delayed by at least an hour.

After my brothers wedding in San Clemente, we were flying out of San Diego while my parents were flying out an hour earlier from LAX. San Diego was as crowded as I’ve ever seen it - it was the day after the comicon - but we left and arrived on time. My parents, meanwhile, were delayed 4 hours.

That's bad... Our flight left YUL for LAX at 9am a Saturday and we left LAX at 8am the following Saturday with Air Canada and we even arrived at both destinations a few minutes early. I guess we were lucky or the day and time of day helped...
 
We've done both as well. We did the one stop going from Buffalo to SNA. It is really nice flying there. If you are renting a car, I'd do SNA. If you are just going to take a bus from the airport to Disneyland, then it doesn't really matter.
We have done both Victoria - Vancouver -LAX and Ferry to Vancouver to LAX. Both times we just did Disneyland Express coach shuttle to the hotel from LAX. This time we are going with extended family and they want to do SNA which is about double the cost for flights. DH says we should just arrange to meet them at the hotel but take the flight that suits our needs and budget.
 
We have done both Victoria - Vancouver -LAX and Ferry to Vancouver to LAX. Both times we just did Disneyland Express coach shuttle to the hotel from LAX. This time we are going with extended family and they want to do SNA which is about double the cost for flights. DH says we should just arrange to meet them at the hotel but take the flight that suits our needs and budget.

That's funny. Connecting from Prince George through YVR to SNA has always been cheaper for me than LAX, even though there are more flight options!
 
That's funny. Connecting from Prince George through YVR to SNA has always been cheaper for me than LAX, even though there are more flight options!
Sometimes I don't think there is any rhyme or reason to air fare costs. I've seen flights where it's cheaper from Victoria connecting through Vancouver to LAX than just the direct leg portion from Vancouver (same flight portion).
 
I'm going to be the voice of dissent. We fly to DL a number of times and will ALWAYS fly to SNA (John Wayne, Orange County, Santa Ana..it has a bunch of names!). I would rather have a 2 hour stopover in YVR than an hour+ (depending on traffic) bus or car ride from LAX. SNA is a 20 minute bus/car ride to the DLR.

When looking at flights, I don't even search for LAX, it's SNA or LGB.
We are the opposite, never had an issue with LAX, just take the bus from the airport to the resort. It took us 45 mins on the bus but cost us over $200 each less on the days we wanted to fly even after the cost of the bus so for 20 extra minutes travel time I saved $600. No brainer.
 

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