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Find cheap flights from Detroit to California from $53

This is the cheapest one-way flight price found by a KAYAK user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight from Detroit to California departing on 5/7. 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
Tue 5/28
Tue 6/4

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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$115
San Francisco
San Francisco1 stop$153
San Diego
San Diego1 stop$99
San Jose
San Jose2 stops$159
Palm Springs
Palm Springs1 stop$330
Fresno
Fresno1 stop$310
San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo1 stop$578
Bakersfield
Bakersfield2 stops$470
Arcata
Arcata2 stops$382
Redding
Redding2 stops$706
Reno
Reno1 stop$171

Good to know

Low season

September

High season

December

Cheapest flight

$53
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 21% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 6% increase in price.
Flight from Detroit to Santa Ana

FAQs - booking California flights

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from Detroit 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 Detroit to California.

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

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight to California from Detroit 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 Detroit 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 Detroit with another airline.

  • What is KAYAK's "flexible dates" feature and why should I care when looking for a flight from Detroit 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 Detroit 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 Detroit to the following destinations at these prices or less: Los Angeles $129 one-way - $280 round-trip
  • Morning departure is around 17% cheaper 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 Detroit to California

 
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from Detroit 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 10932 reviews
8.2boarding
8.0entertainment
7.9comfort
8.6crew
7.4food
Airline reviews

Wifi wasn’t working well so we couldn't view any media.

8.0 ExcellentAnonymous, Apr 2024DTW - ORF
Read more about Delta reviews

Wifi wasn’t working well so we couldn't view any media.

Food service was bare-bone. Better bot to have any at all rather than hand out premade coffees and cookies to random few passengers.

Crew was great. Friendly, calm, interesting, happy to be there. That makes a huge difference. Plane was very quiet. Also quite empty so I had three seats to sleep across

Had assistance at airport getting from arrivals gate to departure gate; I couldn't have managed without that extra help. Thank you Delta.

They charge me for the luggage which is was included on the ticket

More space in the cabin. The guy in front of me leaned his seat back and I felt he was sitting in my lap.

Was a great smooth flight from Detroit to San Diego.

Late flight, always blaming the flight crew, stale almonds, pushy people. Why don’t they have the people sitting in the back board first? So much easier getting through an empty plane! Duh!!

As we lined up to board they gave our plane to a flight going to Newark. So then we got delayed until they could find another plane. Flight crew was ok. I’m assuming since it’s a shorter flight they only offered water and coffee.

Food could have been better. A little more leg room would have been appreciated.

Great. Loved that there was WiFi on flight to keep in touch and excellent service of beverages and snacks.

Business class is great. New airplane, very comfortable, better than some of the major airlines I am used to

Terrible. Flight was cancelled due to the weather in the east and sout east(florida). Did not get any compesation of any kind. According to them, it was not under their control so I lost all the money paid for the 2 fairs from Raleigh, NC to Orlando, Fl.

great flight. Pilot was communicative, flight attendants were excellent. Really nice experience except my tv didn’t work.

Overall, the flight was better than the flight I took to go to Florida, which had a bunch of problems. The crew is really nice and the plane was new so it had a small problem when we were on the runway, but the flight itself was great. They even made some time back up, which is always a good thing.

There were multiple delays but JetBlue tried to make the boarding and departure process as quick and efficient as possible. The crew was as detached from reality as could be, meaning: not very friendly and just doing things by the numbers.

Service for food to our seat was a bit slow. Snack choices were just pretzels or baked chips. My seat cushion was not attached. Other than Barbie, video choice were not very good or current.

It took an hour to get my bag after landing. Not exaggerating

I had a horrible experience with TSA at the airport. I had to go through TSA several times as there was some issue each time with a piece if clothing I had on. It was so busy & chaotic that I ended up forgetting my Apple laptop at TSA. It’s been days & I can’t get through to anyone to get useful info on how to get it back. I’m very angry because contacting lost & found shouldn’t be this difficult. Employees should know what is going on at their place of work. It seems no one knows as everyone’s answers are contradictory, or you can’t speak directly to anyone as the calls are automated. Very upsetting.

Everything was good instead change the gates! I missed my first flight because it was changed the gate and I didn’t know!

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.

American Airlines is awful!! Will never fly with them again. Connection flight left early leaving 22 people in Charlotte with no way to get to Key West for 24 hours. Would not provide hotel or any other accommodations. Bags were delayed two days.

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.

They charged me 212.00 for a heavy check in bag at the gate. The pricing and process was so confusing - as if it was designed to purposefully gouge customers who need to board plane. That experience combined with the outrageous price charged will prevent me from ever flying Spirit again. And I’ll be sure to tell the story to anyone who cares to hear.

They didn’t let me get my boarding pass through the app because I have a lap infant. The ticket said to see a gate agent but there was no gate agent available. I was supposed to go to the kiosk. Ended up missing my flight and they said that I never checked in to my flight so there was nothing that could be done. I will never fly spirit again. Not even worth the hassle and poor customer service.

The text told me it was changed to Terminal E and Gate D5. But with no one on site to ask questions there was confusion on where to go as all the gates were E's. Then we took the skyline to the D area. We left to get something to eat. No announcement was made but my daughter happened to asked and they told her our gate was moved to D12. I will not fly Spirit again.

The agent at the check in desk was absolutely rude. The rest of the team after that was good, but the check in process at LAS was miserable. The woman at the desk spoke like we were stupid and was rude throughout the process.

Its so random that they only allow 40 pounds on checked bags when all airlines take 55. They then charge you for each 10 extra pounds, so my checked suitcase was $130 and the flight $30 ... its like whattt, im for sure not traveling with Spirit again

Cancelled my flight , currently stuck in Houston and will likely miss my cruise

So bad. The check in process was laborious and the check in agent didn't seem to know how to manage the process efficiently and was confused about how to check in my son's sports equipment. The baggage fees were outrageous and so expensive. $90 for a carry on bag? And $200 additional for 2 check ins. The security lines were insanely long and the terminal was not very nice in the Spirit area. $5 for a water on board. It was my first and last time flying Spirit - I tried to save $ by flying them due to the accommodating schedule but I should have paid for Southwest, because it would've actually ended up less expensive due to the free bags with Southwest. There were no charging ports on the airplane, no wifi and really uncomfortable seating. The flight crew were great though, courteous and efficient in their boarding. Flight was delayed 1 hour, but we made up 15 minutes in flight.

Passengers play their phones so everyone can hear them. No one tells them to use earbuds. Very annoying and unenjoyable.

I liked how we boarded early to combat all the chaos from people bringing oversized personal item luggage. It's so painful watching the process and feeling overwhelmed by the process.

Spirit Airlines has the worst customer service. I don't advise flying with them.

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.

Flight was cancelled and I had to spend the night in the airport lugging my suitcase around

The boarding time. I was in Section 1 the lady in charge just let people in section 3 without see us. Make a line , I have to step out and ask her. We were in the line and she just take my ticket and that’s it, so if I don’t ask her she could leave us at the end! We paid more for that privilege and. She doesn’t care….

Book cheap flights from Detroit to California

Recent round-trip flight deals

5/29Wed
1 stopSpirit Airlines
6h 52mDTW-SAN
6/5Wed
1 stopSpirit Airlines
11h 47mSAN-DTW
$99
5/11Sat
1 stopSpirit Airlines
6h 23mDTW-SAN
5/15Wed
1 stopSpirit Airlines
11h 27mSAN-DTW
$108
5/29Wed
1 stopSpirit Airlines
6h 52mDTW-SAN
6/3Mon
1 stopSpirit Airlines
13h 24mSAN-DTW
$110
5/21Tue
1 stopFrontier
12h 11mDTW-SAN
5/22Wed
1 stopFrontier
12h 43mSAN-DTW
$124
5/21Tue
1 stopFrontier
18h 41mDTW-ONT
5/28Tue
1 stopFrontier
27h 33mONT-DTW
$143
8/26Mon
1 stopJetBlue
10h 20mDTW-SFO
9/12Thu
1 stopJetBlue
8h 58mSFO-DTW
$224
5/22Wed
1 stopAmerican Airlines
6h 51mDTW-PSP
5/26Sun
1 stopAmerican Airlines
7h 54mPSP-DTW
$330
5/22Wed
2 stopsAmerican Airlines
12h 05mDTW-PSP
5/26Sun
1 stopAmerican Airlines
7h 54mPSP-DTW
$335
10/2Wed
1 stopDelta
7h 44mDTW-RNO
10/15Tue
1 stopDelta
7h 53mRNO-DTW
$338
10/5Sat
1 stopDelta
7h 44mDTW-RNO
10/15Tue
1 stopDelta
7h 53mRNO-DTW
$348

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Recent one-way flight deals

5/7Tue
2 stopsSpirit Airlines
16h 40mDTW-SNA
$53
6/4Tue
1 stopSpirit Airlines
7h 10mDTW-LAX
$55
5/21Tue
1 stopFrontier
18h 41mDTW-ONT
$55
5/23Thu
1 stopFrontier
29h 45mDTW-SFO
$65
10/16Wed
1 stopAmerican Airlines
9h 14mDTW-LAX
$158
10/9Wed
2 stopsAmerican Airlines
10h 53mDTW-PSP
$169
6/4Tue
1 stopDelta
6h 14mDTW-SJC
$169
6/3Mon
1 stopDelta
9h 07mDTW-SJC
$189
10/16Wed
2 stopsUnited Airlines
12h 44mDTW-LAX
$223
8/20Tue
2 stopsUnited Airlines
12h 25mDTW-SFO
$226

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Last minute flights from Detroit to California

Last minute flight, train and bus deals

5/1Wed
multi-stop
14h 22mDTW-LAX
5/8Wed
multi-stop
10h 15mLAX-DTW
$199
5/1Wed
multi-stop
14h 22mDTW-LAX
5/8Wed
nonstop
4h 26mLAX-DTW
$201
5/3Fri
nonstopSpirit Airlines
5h 06mDTW-LAX
5/7Tue
nonstopSpirit Airlines
4h 24mLAX-DTW
$202
4/29Mon
multi-stopFrontier
10h 56mDTW-SFO
5/15Wed
multi-stopFrontier
27h 56mSFO-DTW
$203
5/3Fri
nonstopSpirit Airlines
5h 06mDTW-LAX
5/7Tue
multi-stopSpirit Airlines
12h 56mLAX-DTW
$239
5/3Fri
nonstopDelta
5h 15mDTW-SFO
5/5Sun
nonstopDelta
4h 29mSFO-DTW
$659
5/3Fri
nonstopDelta
4h 51mDTW-SAN
5/5Sun
nonstopDelta
4h 25mSAN-DTW
$699
5/2Thu
multi-stopJetBlue
11h 03mDTW-SJC
5/3Fri
multi-stopJetBlue
9h 59mSJC-DTW
$713
4/30Tue
multi-stopAmerican Airlines
11h 05mDTW-PSP
5/4Sat
multi-stopAmerican Airlines
6h 17mPSP-DTW
$721
4/30Tue
multi-stopAmerican Airlines
11h 05mDTW-PSP
5/4Sat
multi-stopAmerican Airlines
11h 26mPSP-DTW
$725

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