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Find cheap flights from Des Moines to California from $72

This is the cheapest one-way flight price found by a KAYAK user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight from Des Moines to California departing on 5/9. Fares are subject to change and may not be available on all flights or dates of travel. Click the price to replicate the search for this deal.
1 adult
0 bags
Thu 5/30
Thu 6/6

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Best California Flight Deals

Cheapest round-trip prices found by our users on KAYAK in the last 72 hours

Los Angeles
Los Angelesnonstop$162
San Francisco
San Francisco1 stop$149
San Diego
San Diego1 stop$140
San Jose
San Jose1 stop$363
Palm Springs
Palm Springs1 stop$365
Fresno
Fresno1 stop$331
San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo1 stop$468
Bakersfield
Bakersfield1 stop$363
Reno
Reno1 stop$356

Good to know

Low season

September

High season

June

Cheapest flight

$72
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 0% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 12% increase in price.
Flight from Des Moines to Santa Ana

FAQs - booking California flights

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from Des Moines to California?

    KAYAK is a travel search engine. That means we look across the web to find the best prices we can find for our users. With over 2 billion flight queries processed yearly, we are able to display a variety of prices and options on flights from Des Moines to California.

  • How does KAYAK's flight Price Forecast tool help me choose the right time to buy my flight ticket from Des Moines to California?

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight to California from Des Moines is likely to change within 7 days, so travelers know whether to wait or book now.

  • What is the Hacker Fare option on flights from Des Moines to California?

    Hacker Fares allow you to combine one-way tickets in order to save you money over a traditional round-trip ticket. You could then fly to California with an airline and back to Des Moines with another airline.

  • What is KAYAK's "flexible dates" feature and why should I care when looking for a flight from Des Moines to California?

    Sometimes travel dates aren't set in stone. If your preferred travel dates have some wiggle room, flexible dates will show you all the options when flying to California from Des Moines up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.

See more FAQs

Top tips for finding cheap flights to California

  • Looking for a cheap flight? 25% of our users found tickets from Des Moines to the following destinations at these prices or less: Santa Ana $78 one-way - $188 round-trip
  • Morning departure is around 22% more expensive than an evening flight, on average*.
*Average of the lowest prices shown in KAYAK’s search results for departures within the next 30 days

Top 5 airlines serving from Des Moines to California

 
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from Des Moines to California? KAYAK airline reviews give an overall score for each airline based on loads of factors, including comfort, boarding, in-flight entertainment and more, to make your decision easier. See airline scores according to verified KAYAK customer reviews.
8.0
DeltaOverall score based on 10895 reviews
8.6Crew
7.9Comfort
7.4Food
8.0Entertainment
8.2Boarding
Airline reviews

There was a loud squeaky sound the whole time we were flying.

6.0 GoodEliza, Apr 2024SAN - LAX
Read more about Delta reviews

There was a loud squeaky sound the whole time we were flying.

Had a broken tray in business class. Crew just shrugged it off.

I didn’t like that I could not select my seat and was assigned a seat when I checked in at LAX

Great experience overall. Check in at Austin was congested as they only have about 6 check in kiosks, one was broken, and there was a lot of Spring Break travelers.

Bag drop off was slow and annoying. Only 2 agents at the entire delta desk, and no one directing traffic for what line to be in, many confused people slowed down the process. Boarding was fine. Seats in Delta comfort plus were fine. Snacks were great! Definitely a bonus. The entertainment system was awful — old, slow, not responsive, and completely unable to play games due to some kind of error. But on the other hand, thank you to Delta for the free WiFi. That made it better.

Everything was very good other than I had selected a specific seat when I booked the flight and they changed it once I checked-in the day before my flight. I was still in first class but lost my aisle seat for a window seat. Being tall, the aisle offers more comfort so I always select an aisle seat.

Flight diverted in SD. Later take off in Seattle by 1.3hrs

Crew was not friendly when I went to request a seat change.

Really impressive staff at airport and on plane, especially given how busy it was

Was a great smooth flight from Detroit to San Diego.

More facilities to transport to the gates......felt too much walking distance

Just happy I flew Qatar Airways awesome no wonder they are #1 in the world right now! The food was just delicious, very courteous, professional crew.

It was good no problems made it on time for the next flight overseas!

It was a really long flight from Doha to Philadelphia and it was overall a good one. The one area that I would comment on is that there is a lot of single-use plastic and disposables in the meal service for American Airlines. It would be great to see more circular options in the meal service to reduce the amount of waste.

Suddenly Flight has been change by Qatar and there’s no information is there of us from Bom to Doha and counter person is behaving like Qatar owner next I will not buy Qatar and I will not suggest anyone to fly in Qatar

The crew was fantastic and the over flight was perfect as well.

They shld provide food. Between food they are giving 10 hours gap which is toooo much

The crew was great and the food and liquor offerings were good. Seats were a bit cramped. Flight arrived early at destination. That's a plus.

All over with Qatar airlines my experience was really bad due to delays and then putting me on different airlines and after 8 hours of wait I had to listen to their is no plane to fly for another 24 hours. Wore experience ever.

I had already opted for Vegan food before 2 months yet they say we have no record for it,

Our original business class flight was cancelled so we not only downgraded but we were also spread out across the plane not sitting together in separate middle seats. My poor kids were scared and couldn’t see me on the flight and the crew wasn’t sensitive to the situation and what the airlines did to us. Very dissatisfied with United airlines.

The WiFi didn’t work and the seats are too close together. Very uncomfortable.

So so. Terrible aircraft choice for that leg of the flight.

delay several times and wait extra long to board. no entertainment service because there are problem for some rows. always encounter some delays for the last flight of the day.

On time every leg of the journey and exceptional staff at counter, gate, and on board. I haven’t travelled in US for a long time and was genuinely surprised how pleasant this was.

This was a Lufthansa flight. Disappointing main meal. Very rough over Canada and arrival at FRA. IFE was almost unusable.

Too many fees (but that seems to apply to all airlines nowadays)

For a 22 minute flight all you expect is for it to be safe and comfortable

I was not able to buy food in the flight. They refer to include your Credit card in the APP, and if you are not from USA (i have a credit card form Canada) it is not possible

Over two hours wait to get wheelchair assistance from arrival to the departure gate for LA was unreasonable even though there appreared to be heavy demand.

Fight crew was not very attentive and the bastions were gross!

Our flight was great we left Kona earlier and got into LAX almost an 1hour earlier as well. LAX AA is in repair so to get out and found our bus to get pick up was a bit confusing.

Plane was good but was delayed. probably not AA fault but caused a 1 hour delay. Seating was cramped.

5 hour flight - full flight - not enough room to use my computer - slightly delayed - Admirals club was excellent quality food, drink made up for flight seating. No food offerred on flight, you ahd to prebook.

We experience delays on departure and connecting flights resulting in 14 hour to our next departure. We were accommodated with a night's stay but was only provided a 12 dollar meals accommodation. The airlines rules state.at least 50 dollars. In any case, it can not make up for the whole day missed on our vacation in Sydney Australia.

I can say I will not be taking this airline again any time soon. Seat were uncomfortable and too tight. Lack of chair screen and little overhead space.

Plane felt so crowded and tightly packed. The chair itself was not comfortable.

They attended to my needs as I couldn't walk and they provided a wheelchair for me.q

Poor availability of food. Cold cabin temperature. Extremely long waiting time for a flight attendant to respond to a call button signal.

2.5h delay due to unruly passenger in first class. Had to be removed from the flight. No food unless pre ordered. Didn't know we would need it because of delay.

Our flight was delayed an hour, then when we got to board our flight finally, we were waiting in our seats for take off for 45 minutes before it was communicated that there was a maintenance issue therefore we waited on the plane for over an hour while that was resolved. We did not get to Phoenix until almost 3 hours after we were originally supposed to. This was the first and last time I will be flying Frontier.

Flight was canceled with little warning. Flight was rebooked through Ontario, California and connecting flight was delayed by over three hours. Frontier is living up to their Greyhound of the skies reputation for sure.

I purchased a carry on bag online…was supposed to cost $72 but after a whole slew of bs charges, the total was over $175.00. Because of these hidden charges, I will not even consider flying Frontier ever again. It’s just not worth the hassle. I’m scratching this company off my list forever.

Flight was OK. Seats were good no cell phone charges on the plane no TVs or entertainment.

There were 3 leg for the trip and each leg was delayed by 90 minutes or more. The boarding process takes forever with people waiting on the jetway even though most folks do not have carry-on. The whole process is poorly managed.

Flight cancelled and was told by a rude gate agent that they don’t accommodate on other airlines. Had to wait 5 hours for a connecting flight that had a 7 hour layover. Would not allow bags to be checked early so we couldn’t go through security .Had to rent a car for the afternoon to store bags and get a meal. Also incurred a hotel fee. No apology or reason given for the cancellation- just rudeness.

They cancelled the flight then did nothing to help us rebook. It was awful - I won’t fly with them again

The process of buying the ticket and navigating all the hidden charges that Frontier throws at you was a terrible experience. The actual airport experience and flying was fine.

The truck that was refueling the plane drove away with the hose still connected to the plane and ripped part of the plane off with it

Not have to pay for every single item to take a flight. Seating and delays sucked.

Book cheap flights from Des Moines to California

Recent round-trip flight deals

5/25Sat
1 stopFrontier
11h 16mDSM-SAN
6/1Sat
1 stopFrontier
10h 44mSAN-DSM
$140
5/15Wed
1 stopFrontier
18h 25mDSM-SFO
5/21Tue
1 stopFrontier
12h 16mSFO-DSM
$149
7/22Mon
nonstopAllegiant Air
3h 33mDSM-LAX
7/29Mon
nonstopAllegiant Air
3h 19mLAX-DSM
$162
7/22Mon
nonstopAllegiant Air
3h 33mDSM-LAX
7/29Mon
nonstopAllegiant Air
3h 19mLAX-DSM
$163
5/30Thu
1 stopAmerican Airlines
8h 33mDSM-SAN
6/4Tue
1 stopAmerican Airlines
7h 47mSAN-DSM
$292
5/21Tue
1 stopAmerican Airlines
10h 05mDSM-SAN
5/25Sat
1 stopAmerican Airlines
7h 46mSAN-DSM
$293
5/18Sat
1 stopDelta
8h 57mDSM-LAX
5/25Sat
1 stopDelta
7h 53mLAX-DSM
$315
7/9Tue
1 stopDelta
10h 07mDSM-SAN
7/10Wed
1 stopDelta
6h 58mSAN-DSM
$316
6/25Tue
1 stopUnited Airlines
5h 27mDSM-SFO
7/4Thu
1 stopUnited Airlines
7h 36mSFO-DSM
$323
6/29Sat
1 stopUnited Airlines
5h 37mDSM-SMF
7/8Mon
1 stopUnited Airlines
5h 41mSMF-DSM
$356

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Recent one-way flight deals

5/9Thu
nonstopAllegiant Air
3h 50mDSM-SNA
$72
6/3Mon
nonstopAllegiant Air
3h 42mDSM-LAX
$76
5/20Mon
1 stopFrontier
11h 17mDSM-SFO
$85
5/18Sat
1 stopFrontier
11h 31mDSM-SAN
$86
6/1Sat
1 stopAmerican Airlines
5h 40mDSM-BUR
$148
6/1Sat
2 stopsDelta
12h 02mDSM-BUR
$153
7/2Tue
1 stopUnited Airlines
5h 33mDSM-SFO
$155
6/18Tue
1 stopAmerican Airlines
6h 28mDSM-ONT
$158
6/18Tue
2 stopsDelta
7h 48mDSM-ONT
$194
5/14Tue
1 stopUnited Airlines
8h 01mDSM-SFO
$203

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Last minute flights from Des Moines to California

Last minute flight, train and bus deals

5/4Sat
multi-stopFrontier
10h 46mDSM-ONT
5/30Thu
multi-stopFrontier
17h 35mONT-DSM
$224
5/4Sat
multi-stopFrontier
10h 46mDSM-ONT
5/8Wed
multi-stopFrontier
4h 59mONT-DSM
$235
5/2Thu
nonstopAllegiant Air
3h 50mDSM-SNA
5/9Thu
nonstopAllegiant Air
3h 20mSNA-DSM
$252
5/2Thu
nonstopAllegiant Air
3h 50mDSM-SNA
5/9Thu
nonstopAllegiant Air
3h 20mSNA-DSM
$375
5/4Sat
multi-stopAmerican Airlines
8h 22mDSM-LAX
5/30Thu
multi-stopAmerican Airlines
8h 05mLAX-DSM
$386
5/4Sat
multi-stopAmerican Airlines
8h 22mDSM-LAX
5/7Tue
multi-stopAmerican Airlines
10h 06mLAX-DSM
$479
5/1Wed
multi-stopDelta
8h 09mDSM-LAX
5/4Sat
multi-stopDelta
5h 24mLAX-DSM
$492
5/2Thu
multi-stopDelta
10h 14mDSM-LAX
5/4Sat
multi-stopDelta
7h 24mLAX-DSM
$517
5/4Sat
multi-stopUnited Airlines
5h 52mDSM-LAX
5/4Sat
multi-stopUnited Airlines
9h 11mLAX-DSM
$562
5/2Thu
multi-stopUnited Airlines
5h 32mDSM-LAX
5/8Wed
multi-stopUnited Airlines
5h 23mLAX-DSM
$587

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