Palm Springs Help

[vlapinta]

I am looking to travel from NJ to Palm Springs in April. I have never been to PS. Any help would be appreciated. We are looking to stay at either one of the three Marriotts or the Westin. Does anyone know what is the best way to fly to Palm Springs? What airline has the best prices?

Vicki

 

[ricoba]

Palm Springs has its own airport.

You can also look at flying in to Ontario, Long Beach, John Wayne(Orange County) or LAX.

 

[vlapinta]

Is there advantage into flying into another airport other than Palm Springs, price? It seems from what I see there are no direct flights from the East Coast. Is there one airline that is better, or less expensive and has less layover time from the East Coast?

Is April a good time to visit Palm Springs?

Vicki

 

[suskey]

April is a great time.

I fly there a few times a year from Newark. I prefer to fly right into PSP with a connection in Houston..however, it is more $$$ than flying non-stop to LAX,SAN or SNA.

The PSP airport is small as oppesed to the others and sometimes the drive from the other airports is long due to terrible traffic conditions.

Susan

 

[cr4909]

The only other airport that I would consider would be Ontario. You'll still hit some traffic on the 10 freeway until you get past San Bernardino, but it shouldn't be too bad. Probably about 1:30 or less to Palm Springs. Still, you're save yourself a lot of aggravation by flying into Palm Springs, as the airport is only 10 minutes or so from downtown.

April is great, but during the end of April it really starts to get hot.

 

[GetawaysRus]

About Ontario International:

Ontario is a treat compared to LAX. I find LAX to be horribly congested, but flying in and out of ONT is comparably much easier. I avoid LAX when I can.

Several major airlines serve ONT - most fly in through a hub city. JetBlue has a non-stop from JFK to ONT, but it's a red-eye on the return.

If you are planning on renting a car, it's not too bad a drive to the Palm Springs area. I'd estimate 1 1/4 hours or so (depending on how much lead is in your foot - this is S California, and people just fly on these freeways). But traffic is heavily dependent on the day and time of arrival. If you arrive or depart on a weekend, traffic won't be that bad. On a weekday, expect heavy rush-hour traffic westbound (going towards LA) in the morning and heavy eastbound traffic starting in the mid to late afternoon. The rush hour traffic will lighten up to the east of the Redlands/Yucaipa area.

 

[ricoba]

You could fly Jet Blue into Long Beach.

As others have noted Ontario will be the closest airport besides PSP.

Long Beach is even smaller than Ontario, it will be about a two hour drive from LGB to Palm Springs, but just make sure that you come in non peak traffic times and you should do OK.

April is a wonderful time of year here in SoCal.

 

[suskey]

I don't believe there are any direct flights from Newark to Ontario. Continental used to have one, but no more. So if you have to to make a connection, you might as well connect right into Palm Springs.

Susan

 

[vlapinta]

Thanks for all your responses. It seems I am better off flying into PSP airport. Which airline is best from NY/or NJ airports?

Vicki

 

[BillR]

http://www.kayak.com
and
http://www.cheapoair.com/

 

[UWSurfer]

You probably are best flying in to PS directly. Long Beach Airport (Jet Blue) and LAX are roughly equivalent drives to PS & Ontario is just a little more than 1/2 way to PS from these.

I was a huge Jet Blue fan when I lived 10 minutes from Long Beach Airport. These days I'm 10 minutes from LAX and nearly all the cheap flights are out of LAX. Hands down, Long Beach is a much easier airport to deal with than LAX though.

 

[ricoba]

You probably are best flying in to PS directly. Long Beach Airport (Jet Blue) and LAX are roughly equivalent drives to PS & Ontario is just a little more than 1/2 way to PS from these.

I was a huge Jet Blue fan when I lived 10 minutes from Long Beach Airport. These days I'm 10 minutes from LAX and nearly all the cheap flights are out of LAX. Hands down, Long Beach is a much easier airport to deal with than LAX though.

So where do you live?

I am in Rancho Dominguez on the Carson/N Long Beach/Compton border.

We really do enjoy the fact that LGB now has very regular service, it is so much easier than anywhere else. We are about 20 minutes from it and just a bit further for LAX.

 

[UWSurfer]

I'm in WLA/Mar Vista area. I used to live across the street from Cerritos College near the 605/91 fwys.

 

[John Cummings]

Is there advantage into flying into another airport other than Palm Springs, price? It seems from what I see there are no direct flights from the East Coast. Is there one airline that is better, or less expensive and has less layover time from the East Coast?

Is April a good time to visit Palm Springs?

Vicki

The advantage is price. I would only consider flying into either Palm Springs or Ontario. Any other choice requires a lot of driving in what can be horrendous traffic problems. Ontario, our local airport, is very easy to get in and out of and is about an hours drive from Palm Springs.

 

[fnewman]

Definitely Palm Springs (PSP) if at all possible unless you enjoy a long drive in a lot of traffic. PSP is within a few blocks of downtown and many of the resorts and only a short drive to Palm desert, etc. The main advantage to flying into PSP for us living in the east is on the trip home - usually the flights leave fairly early in the day so you would have to leave in the middle of the night to get to most of the others.