Sailing out of San Pedro - what airport

[alwalaska]

If price, airline choice, and route are all about equal, which airport would you choose for heading to San Pedro for a short hotel stay and then a cruise, and why?

 

[princeton123211]

59 minutes ago, alwalaska said:

If price, airline choice, and route are all about equal, which airport would you choose for heading to San Pedro for a short hotel stay and then a cruise, and why?

They won't be, but basically Long Beach Airport is the physically closest airport to San Pedro-- about 20 minutes in normal traffic. That being said, service to and from Long Beach Airport can be limited-- if a flight gets cancelled or delayed you don't have other options like you would at larger airports. 

 

John Wayne and LAX are each about 40-45 minutes away but are larger with LAX having the most choices in airlines and flight times out of the three. 

 

If you have a direct flight from where you are into Long Beach and you can come the day or two prior and you feel good about it-- good option. Small airport that takes minutes to get through and close to the pier. 

 

If you want flexibility and the ability to adapt to changing things like delays or cancellations, LAX or John Wayne would be the way to go. 

[KeepCalmBearOn]

I think you can't just consider drive time when comparing airports, but the time from when you step off the plane until you are at your destination.

 

For example, at LAX, it can be a very long walk from your gate to baggage claim and then if you want to use a taxi of Uber, you have to transfer to a secondary lot for pick up. Overall it is very time consuming. Add to that that LAX is undergoing massive construction projects and LAX is a bigger disaster than it normally is.

 

LGB and SNA are small airports and very easy to maneuver through. I'd choose either one before LAX. SNA will give you the most flight options.

[alwalaska]

17 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

They won't be, but basically Long Beach Airport is the physically closest airport to San Pedro-- about 20 minutes in normal traffic. That being said, service to and from Long Beach Airport can be limited-- if a flight gets cancelled or delayed you don't have other options like you would at larger airports. 

 

John Wayne and LAX are each about 40-45 minutes away but are larger with LAX having the most choices in airlines and flight times out of the three. 

 

If you have a direct flight from where you are into Long Beach and you can come the day or two prior and you feel good about it-- good option. Small airport that takes minutes to get through and close to the pier. 

 

If you want flexibility and the ability to adapt to changing things like delays or cancellations, LAX or John Wayne would be the way to go. 

Thanks.  We live in the midwest at a small airport, so very little is direct. Also, for this trip, we'll have a companion pass, so Southwest will most likely be the cheapest and all of the surrounding airports when I checked different dates (ours aren't out yet), were within $10 of each other. 

We do not plan on flying in the day of the cruise.  I'm wound a bit too tightly to be able to handle doing that. 🙂

 

I'm guessing since Long Beach is so much closer, the Uber or whatever transport we take to our hotel will be less expensive too hopefull.

[alwalaska]

26 minutes ago, KeepCalmBearOn said:

I think you can't just consider drive time when comparing airports, but the time from when you step off the plane until you are at your destination.

 

For example, at LAX, it can be a very long walk from your gate to baggage claim and then if you want to use a taxi of Uber, you have to transfer to a secondary lot for pick up. Overall it is very time consuming. Add to that that LAX is undergoing massive construction projects and LAX is a bigger disaster than it normally is.

 

LGB and SNA are small airports and very easy to maneuver through. I'd choose either one before LAX. SNA will give you the most flight options.

Good to know.  Thanks.  We had a surprisingly easy time at LAX this past Feb (but we stayed at an LAX hotel with a shuttle, rather than trying to get an Uber and all), so I wasn't as "anti" big airport as I normally would be.

[princeton123211]

23 minutes ago, alwalaska said:

Good to know.  Thanks.  We had a surprisingly easy time at LAX this past Feb (but we stayed at an LAX hotel with a shuttle, rather than trying to get an Uber and all), so I wasn't as "anti" big airport as I normally would be.

It's sort of the Goldilocks dilemma here. SNA is the one right in the middle for convenience, flight choice, airport size, etc. The only reason I would consider Long Beach is if there was a direct flight (or else the smaller size and proximity time savings go out the window anyway) and LAX is... well LAX. 

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

All things being equal I would pick John Wayne.  It has better services when you are waiting for the flight at the end of the cruise.  

[93yearsyoung]

SNA (John Wayne) is our home airport and we love it. Hate LAX.