Shuttle from LAX to San Diego?

[dot73]

Does anyone know of a shuttle service (by van or bus) that goes from Los Angeles (LAX) to San Diego? I can't get a direct flight to San Diego and my last trip was a nightmare with connecting flights being missed, etc. Any help would be appreciated.

[wrp96]

I don't know of any shuttles, but if you are flying into LAX to avoid problems getting to San Diego you are setting yourself up for even more problems. It is a couple of hours (at least) between LA and San Diego on very crowded freeways.

[dot73]

Thanks for the advice.

[greatam]

Do a google search. There are numerous shuttles running out of LAX, some going as far as San Diego. Send ones that look promising email or phone.

 

You could take Greyhound, but that would be much more trouble than the plane. Amtrak is another possibility, but you would have to get to downtown LA to board.

 

My best advice: Book a totally separate ticket on America West, which has flights to San Diego just about every hour. Coordinate it with your arrival at LAX,giving yourself a nice cushion of time. Find a porter to handle the luggage for you when (probably) you change terminals, and fly to San Diego. America West fare is usually in the $200-250 price range RT. Shuttle will probably cost you about $100-125.00 each way. And you could spend 4-5 hours on the freeway, EACH WAY. Not a pleasant thought.

[wrp96]

Oh, and San Diego's airport is a lot easier to deal with than LAX, with the added bonus that it is 10 minutes max from the pier.

[JJPNYC]

 

My best advice: Book a totally separate ticket on America West, which has flights to San Diego just about every hour. Coordinate it with your arrival at LAX,giving yourself a nice cushion of time. Find a porter to handle the luggage for you when (probably) you change terminals, and fly to San Diego. America West fare is usually in the $200-250 price range RT. Shuttle will probably cost you about $100-125.00 each way. And you could spend 4-5 hours on the freeway, EACH WAY. Not a pleasant thought.

 

Just a clarifying point, America West does not fly any DIRECT routes between LAX-SAN. You might be thinking of either American Eagel or United Express, both of whom operate almost hourly service between LAX-SAN. On both of these you have the added benefit of flying into SAN's Commuter Terminal which is super small and easy to navigate.

[nparmelee]

An alternative would be to rent a car at LAX and drop it off at SAN and then take the 5-10 minute cab ride to the pier. Depending on time of day and day of the week, traffic may or may not be a factor. Is there another airport to use as the layover? LAX can be such a nightmare! Where are you flying from?

[greatam]

Just a clarifying point, America West does not fly any DIRECT routes between LAX-SAN. You might be thinking of either American Eagel or United Express, both of whom operate almost hourly service between LAX-SAN. On both of these you have the added benefit of flying into SAN's Commuter Terminal which is super small and easy to navigate.

 

My mistake-I was thinking PHX/LAX. AA is the one who flies nonstop. Sorry.

[dot73]

I am flying from Toronto. Last time, I flew to San Francisco by Air Canada and transferred to United to San Diego. Had to switch terminals. Going back was the real problem. I gave myself 2.5 hours in San Francisco between flights. Unfortunately, United was very late leaving San Diego, first because of fog and then mechanical problems. I missed my connection and the next flight would have been seven hours later and I would have had to fly overnight. I was able to hop on an Air Canada Flight to Calgary and then on to Toronto. I was a 16 hour day. Not a great way to finish a relaxing cruise. Anyway, I have a long way to go before I fly, so I will look at all options. One option would be flying Air Canada to Chicago or Denver and then changing to United to San Diego. Which would be a better airport to make connections?

[nparmelee]

That explains much, San Francisco is probably one of the worst airports for delays, in my experience, especially for flights in the morning or late afternoon, summer is probably more unpredictable for fog there than winter. The best laid plans can get screwed up so always take a list of alternate flights with you. I would try for going to San Diego through some path, it will be easier in all likelihood.

[Hoyaheel]

What month are you flying? I generally try to avoid Chicago in the winter months (and Dallas/Ft Worth in the summer--trapped for hours on the runway during a very bad thunderstorm a couple years ago....) if I have the choice (of course, I just flew through Chicago last month without incident....But I like to limit the possibilities of weather-related delays as much as possible.

[wrp96]

I am flying from Toronto. Last time, I flew to San Francisco by Air Canada and transferred to United to San Diego. Had to switch terminals. Going back was the real problem. I gave myself 2.5 hours in San Francisco between flights. Unfortunately, United was very late leaving San Diego, first because of fog and then mechanical problems. I missed my connection and the next flight would have been seven hours later and I would have had to fly overnight. I was able to hop on an Air Canada Flight to Calgary and then on to Toronto. I was a 16 hour day. Not a great way to finish a relaxing cruise. Anyway, I have a long way to go before I fly, so I will look at all options. One option would be flying Air Canada to Chicago or Denver and then changing to United to San Diego. Which would be a better airport to make connections?

 

Do you have to fly United? Have you looked at other carriers because San Diego has tons of flights daily on all different airlines from lots of different airports. Not knowing when you are flying, I did a general search for flights from Toronto to San Diego. American has flights from Toronto that make one connection through either LAX, DFW, or Chicago. America West has flights from Toronto that make one connection in Phoenix or Las Vegas. Continental has flights from Toronto that connect through Newark or Houston Intercontinental (IAH). Northwest has flights that connect through Minneapolis or Detroit. None of these flights require you to switch airlines and they give you a lot more connecting cities. If you are traveling in winter I would avoid Minneapolis, Chicago, Newark, or Denver and look to more southerly airports. Personally, the ones least likely to be affected by weather are the America West flights via Phoenix or Las vegas.

[dot73]

I'm not flying until January 2007 but I thought I would do my research early so that I can find more options. I usually fly Air Canada and their partners (United) because of the points I get on my Aeroplan. However, I am open to all options. As more schedules come out, I will definitely check out the airlines mentioned above. It might be more reliable to fly to a more southern connecting city so that I don't encounter weather delays. I usually fly out at least one day before a cruise and fly back a day after my cruise ends to avoid the crowds at the airport.

 

wrp96 - what website did you look at to find all those fligth possibilities? Thank you for all your suggestions.

[Hoyaheel]

You can check a general travel website like Expedia to get an idea of what airlines fly & their itineraries. Or a meta-crawler like Kayak or Sidestep to look up some airlines.

[wrp96]

I'm not flying until January 2007 but I thought I would do my research early so that I can find more options. I usually fly Air Canada and their partners (United) because of the points I get on my Aeroplan. However, I am open to all options. As more schedules come out, I will definitely check out the airlines mentioned above. It might be more reliable to fly to a more southern connecting city so that I don't encounter weather delays. I usually fly out at least one day before a cruise and fly back a day after my cruise ends to avoid the crowds at the airport.

 

wrp96 - what website did you look at to find all those fligth possibilities? Thank you for all your suggestions.

 

Well, I just went to www.kayak.com to see what flight options are currently available and just looked at various itineraries that were popping up on different airlines. Now, they may change between now and then, but you are definitely limiting yourself if you are restricting yourself solely to one airline in an effort to get points.

 

For middle of winter, I would avoid Chicago, Detroit, Newark, JFK, Minneapolis which can all easily be shutdown by snow storms. Denver and Salt Lake are wintery but are less prone to being shut down although it can happen. DFW is less likely to be shut down, but about once every year or two it will get an ice storm that will shut it down. Same with Memphis. I would look for making connections in the West or Southwest, Las Vegas, LAX, Seattle, etc.