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Find cheap flights from San Jose to Costa Rica from $186

This is the cheapest one-way flight price found by a KAYAK user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight from San Jose to Costa Rica departing on 5/21. 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
Sat 5/25
Sat 6/1

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Best Costa Rica Flight Deals

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

San José
San José2 stops$311
Liberia
Liberia1 stop$405

Good to know

Low season

October

High season

December

Cheapest flight

$186
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 20% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 52% increase in price.
Flight from San Jose to San José

FAQs - booking Costa Rica flights

  • What travel documentation should I know about before I board my flight to Costa Rica?

    Any traveler making a trip to Costa Rica for a great vacation does not need to get a visa so long as you don't plan on staying for more than 90 days, but you will need to show the immigration authorities your return plane ticket. You will also need a valid passport when flying to Costa Rica, and your passport needs to be valid the entire time you are in Costa Rica.

  • I am planning on renting a car in Costa Rica. What are the child car seat laws I should know about when driving here?

    Every child traveling in a car in Costa Rica that is up to 12 months old needs to ride in a car seat that faces to the rear. If they are between 12 months and four years old, the car seat needs to face forward. After that, children up to 12 years old need to travel in a booster seat or a booster cushion.

  • Is there any way for me to get freshened up at the San José Juan Santamaria International Airport after a long flight?

    This airport offers showers inside of the terminal building that are free of charge to travelers and make a great way to get freshened up after a long flight.

  • Are there any hotels that have a location right at the San José Juan Santamaria International Airport?

    There are several hotels that have a location right at the entrance of the airport property, and some of them include the Hyatt Place San Jose Airport and the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott San Jose Airport.

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from San Jose to Costa Rica?

    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 San Jose to Costa Rica.

  • How does KAYAK's flight Price Forecast tool help me choose the right time to buy my flight ticket from San Jose to Costa Rica?

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight to Costa Rica from San Jose 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 San Jose to Costa Rica?

    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 Costa Rica with an airline and back to San Jose with another airline.

  • What is KAYAK's "flexible dates" feature and why should I care when looking for a flight from San Jose to Costa Rica?

    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 Costa Rica from San Jose 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 Costa Rica

  • Morning departure is around 20% more expensive than an evening flight, on average*.
  • When people want to fly from San Jose to Costa Rica, they often fly to the San José Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO). Choosing this route, you will find one-stop flight offerings aboard United Airlines and Delta Airlines from San Jose Airport (SJC).
  • One of the most convenient ways to get to the San Jose Airport from downtown San Jose without having to drive your own car is to travel aboard the bus and train lines operated by Santa Clara VTA, which offers service from downtown to the airport in around 12 minutes.
  • If you're looking for a comfortable place to wait for your flight to Costa Rica at the San Jose Airport, consider one of The Club SJC locations at the airport that not only offers plenty of comfortable seating but also quite a few food and beverage options as well as some entertainment options.
  • For travelers planning on driving their to the San Jose Airport and looking for parking options, the airport offers quite a few different choices, with several lots right at the airport terminal building. A more cost-effective solution is to choose Economy Lot One that offers a much lower rate on a per day basis and has a shuttle service to the airport terminal buildings.
  • For nursing mothers traveling from the San Jose Airport, you'll be happy to know that this airport offers five different nursing room locations at gates 8, 18, 21, 24, and 26. Each of these rooms has a very comfortable chair as well as a changing station, power outlets, and a sink.
See more tips
*Average of the lowest prices shown in KAYAK’s search results for departures within the next 30 days

Top 5 airlines serving from San Jose to Costa Rica

 
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from San Jose to Costa Rica? 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
Alaska AirlinesOverall score based on 9114 reviews
7.3entertainment
7.9comfort
7.3food
8.2boarding
8.6crew
Airline reviews

The messaging about the change in flight destination and options for getting to SFO was poor. There should have been frequent updates. When I spoke to the boarding agent moment before we were supposed to board, he was flippant and offered no help before the announcement was made that transportation would be arranged. It was as poor of an experience that I've ever had.

4.0 OkayAnonymous, Apr 2024LAX - SFO
Read more about Alaska Airlines reviews

The messaging about the change in flight destination and options for getting to SFO was poor. There should have been frequent updates. When I spoke to the boarding agent moment before we were supposed to board, he was flippant and offered no help before the announcement was made that transportation would be arranged. It was as poor of an experience that I've ever had.

My plane ride down landed 20 min late. Boarding at SFO was strange too. The people at the terminal were nice—but, boarding lacked direction, and was confusing . Coming back was worse—the plane was hours behind—and I barely caught the last Bart train back to San Francisco (3 min more and I would have been in trouble). It was a very stressful trip, and it didn’t need to be.

This leg was better than the previous leg mostly because I upgraded my searing and the crew was nicer

I like that we took off on time and arrived a bit early. I like that I could gate check my bag and board early. I don't like how crowded the flight was. I had ok leg room, but could feel every move of the person next to me. And the aisles are very narrow. The gate and flight crews were terrific.

I appreciated the ability to choose between multiple flights both into and out of Portland from Burbank on the same day, so we were able to attend an event and return without spending the night. I am unable to appreciate what Alaska Air calls "streamlining" the checkin/boarding process at Burbank Airport. If you have a smartphone and the Alaska Air app, it is probably fine, but removing the option of using onsite kiosks to print boarding passes does not meet my definition of "streamlined". I also found it challenging that both Portland and Burbank airports required the plane to sit on the runway for some time due to lack of an open gate at which to disembark. It would not be so bad if we could at least remove our seat belts and move a little bit while we waited, but that is not an option. I honestly don't know whether this is because of how Alaska Air operates, or just the circumstances of the particular day and airports we were using, but I normally do not experience these kinds of delays to reach a gate using Southwest Air.

This flight was significantly affected by poor wifi connections. I couldn’t get my work done because the wifi kept dropping. Even texts were not going through. There is no seat power in premium class either. I fly a lot. Today was my 10th flight in 4 weeks. This was by far the only flight that was sub par.

the departure got delayed due to SJC situation, but it was a quite good waiting thanks to Alaska airline teams.

I was not given a seat when I bought the ticket. I know airlines are trying to squeeze every penny out ot the customer, but we are buying a seat on the airplane, right? I find this irritating with all airlines, but especially Alaska because I fly it so often. No sense of customer use and loyalty.

WiFi connection bad. Food is really awful. Crew very nice and efficient

It was the worst experience because they delayed the flight by 2 and half hours. We were supposed to depart by 3:41 but they did the depart by 6 pm. It was so boring!!

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

I didn’t not like that I could not select my seat and ended up with the worse seat.

The landing was bad and the hostess came two times and i was sleeping but when she served the person that nexts to me I woke up and she didn’t even asked me if I need any drink or snacks two times!!!!

Plane was late because of a mechanical malfunction and the food listed as available was not. Flight attendants seem over worked and under paid. They just done seem happy. And that can be seen in their faces.

Waited 3 hours on a plane to de-ice due to manpower issues. Waited another hour and a half once we landed because of a gate issue. Missed my connections. Created. A total of 13 hours of delay.

Great, on time departure, friendly and accommodating crew, great leg room, Smith flight

Plane was turned around due to fog half way into the flight, Delta did not properly direct passengers to stay on same flight and instead failed to properly rebook on Alaska

Honestly, I didn’t expect that I will experience this long time wait during the check in. There was only one person who was taking care of the passengers for the economy class and it took us to wait about one hour to do our check i. As a result we barely get to the airplane as the gate was at the end of the airport. That is totally not professional where one crue is working at the registration desk with economy and 3-4 crues are helping for the business class.

Like most domestic flights in the US, you are basically on your own with this airline when it comes to food, so be sure to purchase meals and drinks ahead of time or expect to arrive starving and dehydrated (like I was).

You need to be a hacker to get the (Free) WiFi

No water for a 5 hour flight entertainment not working seats with little room for knees when person in front of me reclined kept bumping my knees.

I don't think anyone actually reads these comments, so I won't spend much time on this submission. If you want to talk, you know how to reach me. The D/FW manager of Avianca (self-identified), Juan Calderon, insisted I buy an onward ticket from San Salvador even though I have diplomatic status in El Salvador and live here. It cost me $1,393 and Mr Calderon would not let me make the ticked flexible so I could get a refund. He went out of his way to be rude to me. He gave me seat 32K -- windowless window seat in the last row and did not offer to let me upgrade even though there were plenty of seats. I have flown well over a million miles in my life and this is the worst experience I have ever had. I would like a refund on the ticket I was forced to buy. Just awful!

This is the Spirit of Latino travel. And don’t even get me started on customer service.

Awful. I checked in online and there was no option to pay for baggage, at the airport when I checked in my baggage was received and Iwas not charged. When I got to LA during the boarding process I was told I didn't pay for baggage, the crew resolved I was let in the plane. When I got to my final destination my baggage was not there. It took me two days to receive my baggage. Bad service ever!

There was no food or drink service, couldn’t even get a glass of water for free. It was a long and expensive flight to not offer food or beverage on the plane.

It is better at the jfk than my home country. It was very easy and everything was on time.

There is no food. There is no in-inflight entertainment. The seats are cardboard. The airline is a living hellscape.

My experience was amazing! They helped my elderly mother board on early through a wheelchair and were accommodating to have us sit together since our seats were in different locations. When landing at the airport in GUA they were very helpful with full of hospitality.

No complimentary snacks food, beverage (not even water), pillow and blanket on a 6 hours long flight (including economy comfort). A low form of nickeling an diming. Lost a recurring passanger over a soda. Avianca never again.

Flight departure late. Got late in Colombia making us take a different flight next day. Avianca airport crew messed up my ticket so when a I got in Brazil I didn’t have a ticket for my destination. Had to buy a new ticket out of my pocket.

Due to one crew member not showing up to work, our flight was significantly delayed causing us to miss our connecting flight in Houston to Mississippi causing us to be delayed by more than 6 hours and missing our event all together. Very disappointing. All because ONE crew member called in sick. United did grant us a $15 meal voucher, which was a small but appreciated concession that I wasn’t able to use because I ordered my lunch and paid for it before applying the concession, and the staff said it was too late to use it. Ugh! We also had a TWO delay coming back from Mississippi, but that was on American Airlines and it was due to weather, so not their fault. Anyway, not at all impressed with United’s handling of our flight and the HUGE disappointment of missing our important family event for our 90 year old mother. All that money and all that stress and emotions for nothing. Having to wait the hour to bring an employee from LAX seemed like something that should not have happened. Why don’t you have a local back-up? Santa Ana is not a little airport in a rural area.

Hated every minute of it. This flight should have only taken 1.5hrs but was delayed over 10hours. Now I am being told I cannot be compensated or refunded my ticket price or extra leg room, which I purchased but did not receive, because the airline is throwing the blame on the 3rd party I purchased tickets through and 3rd party putting the blame on airline. No one wants to help. They received their money and that's all they care about. Im going on 3 days of still trying to get to my final destination, had to cancel car rental, car insurance and hotel. Currently staying in airport until hotels open up. Thank you Lufthansa, Kayak, Underpricer and United for making this trip the worst ever.

Crew was great and did their best to make us comfortable and captain came out at the beginning to announce why the flight was delayed, weather situation up ahead, and kept us updated throughout the flight.

United WiFi is consistently unusable (it can take 10 mins to load a single web page). If you need Wifi to do work, be prepared to lose half a day of productivity.

Awful. I got stuck next to a person carrying a dog and behind someone with a dog. People need to board these dogs downstairs. The cabin is crowded enough with your pets

Packed in like sardines, very uncomfortable. Sitting the aisle my shoulder was rammed into numerous times by rushing flight attendants. Also flight was very cold.

the head jack on my seat didn't work and the power outlet didn't work for my seat

Beverage and food services are excellent. We enjoy paying the extra for economy plus for the 3 inches more leg room to be exact.

Left 2 hours later for delayed I had to take care a kid with special need since people don’t want to move to accommodate the rest of the family. . It wasn’t bad but that made me upset that people can be that selfish.

Flight was delayed by 3 hours. The pilot made up 1 hour during the flight, but that made the wait at the airport 5 hours once you factor getting there 2 hours early.

The experience was great and much better than the flight going out. of course I was in first class but the service was excellent

Comfort of seats, ease of boarding. Food selection could be better

Food options were limited which is absolutely embarrassing for a Flight of this size The staff did not come around as much and I am not accustomed to such poor service from American Airlines Drinks I believe were limited to soda and water

Crew were attentive and friendly. Flight was smooth and early! I enjoyed the less crowded plane. Thank you!

We are gluten free, there were not any available complimentary gluten free options.

No meal on a cross country flight? SFO-MiA is pretty much the definition of a coast to coast flight. No meal provided. Sky high wi-fi rates too. Stop nickel and diming your customers.

The staff was unprofessional and didn’t communicate very well. The boarding process was very disheveled, potentially due to a power outage the previous day but there was no contingency plan to properly get passengers boarded the following day. Once boarded the aircraft stayed on the tarmac for over 45 minutes due to high winds. The communication was sporadic but an announcement was finally made an additional 30 minutes later that the flight was cancelled but we couldn’t get off the plane. Prior to deplaning one of the gate agents came on the plane and made an announcement for everyone to pickup their checked bags and take a card to rebook a new reservation because they didn’t have adequate staff. Flights were missed, passengers went to different airports and there was little to no assistance from AA.

You cancelled my flight by email then made it very difficult to get in contact with you. Then put me in a flight with a long layover in Mexico returning to the wrong airport in uk. Mind blowing my stressful. I missed see my grand dad because of you.

Apart from the delay due to unforeseen circumstances. The leg from sjc to dfw was fine. It was the leg from dfw to orf that we encountered issues mainly due to the flight attendant crew not being friendly. We had two small children and we needed some assistance to warm up milk so the baby would sleep. The crew just didn’t get it and made things very difficult. One made a remark that the baby’s dirty diaper smell was a “gift” to the plane in a rude way. Normally I’d brush that off as a funny comment if the rest of the trip the attendants were helpful or understanding of the difficulty we faced. But that wasn’t the case. We were met with rudeness on the second leg. Whereas on the first leg the crew were so nice and helpful.

This was not the BA business class it used to be. Mediocre food, attendants seemed stretched thin. All the little luxuries that used to make BA business fun were missing. Flight delayed and the explanation given was they forgot to pick up crew - I hope I misheard! Transfer in LHR “sticky” - we thought we had way too much time at 3hours but it was needed. Next time will try different route.

Book cheap flights from San Jose to Costa Rica

Recent round-trip flight deals

5/30Thu
2 stopsSpirit Airlines
11h 00mSJC-SJO
6/3Mon
2 stopsSpirit Airlines
25h 05mSJO-SJC
$311
5/22Wed
2 stopsSpirit Airlines
15h 04mSJC-SJO
5/29Wed
2 stopsSpirit Airlines
25h 18mSJO-SJC
$322
9/2Mon
1 stopDelta
11h 48mSJC-LIR
9/18Wed
1 stopDelta
30h 55mLIR-SJC
$405
9/1Sun
2 stopsDelta
28h 43mSJC-LIR
9/18Wed
1 stopDelta
30h 55mLIR-SJC
$410
5/13Mon
2 stopsAmerican Airlines
16h 47mSJC-LIR
5/22Wed
2 stopsAmerican Airlines
19h 39mLIR-SJC
$414
5/27Mon
1 stopAmerican Airlines
15h 04mSJC-SJO
6/3Mon
2 stopsAmerican Airlines
17h 36mSJO-SJC
$427
5/13Mon
1 stopUnited Airlines
19h 50mSJC-LIR
5/22Wed
1 stopUnited Airlines
31h 27mLIR-SJC
$427
5/8Wed
1 stopAlaska Airlines
8h 36mSJC-SJO
5/15Wed
1 stopAlaska Airlines
14h 23mSJO-SJC
$444
9/1Sun
2 stopsUnited Airlines
19h 49mSJC-LIR
9/18Wed
2 stopsUnited Airlines
21h 23mLIR-SJC
$469
5/8Wed
1 stopAlaska Airlines
8h 36mSJC-SJO
5/14Tue
1 stopAlaska Airlines
14h 06mSJO-SJC
$472

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Recent one-way flight deals

5/21Tue
2 stopsSpirit Airlines
29h 19mSJC-SJO
$186
7/28Sun
1 stopUnited Airlines
10h 03mSJC-SJO
$225
7/6Sat
1 stopDelta
14h 58mSJC-SJO
$239
5/21Tue
1 stopAmerican Airlines
15h 04mSJC-SJO
$247
5/3Fri
2 stopsDelta
15h 37mSJC-LIR
$275
5/4Sat
2 stopsCopa Airlines
15h 19mSJC-SJO
$278
5/2Thu
1 stopAlaska Airlines
28h 50mSJC-LIR
$282
5/3Fri
1 stopAlaska Airlines
27h 26mSJC-LIR
$347
7/28Sun
2 stopsAmerican Airlines
29h 44mSJC-SJO
$364
5/18Sat
2 stopsCopa Airlines
15h 19mSJC-SJO
$423

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Last minute flights from San Jose to Costa Rica

Last minute flight, train and bus deals

4/30Tue
multi-stopSpirit Airlines
22h 21mSJC-SJO
5/14Tue
multi-stopSpirit Airlines
24h 05mSJO-SJC
$399
4/30Tue
multi-stopSpirit Airlines
22h 21mSJC-SJO
5/13Mon
multi-stopSpirit Airlines
39h 51mSJO-SJC
$441
4/27Sat
multi-stopAlaska Airlines
12h 26mSJC-SJO
5/15Wed
multi-stopAlaska Airlines
10h 08mSJO-SJC
$489
4/27Sat
multi-stopAlaska Airlines
12h 26mSJC-SJO
5/16Thu
multi-stopAlaska Airlines
10h 08mSJO-SJC
$503
4/28Sun
multi-stopDelta
12h 31mSJC-SJO
5/16Thu
multi-stopDelta
16h 45mSJO-SJC
$527
4/28Sun
multi-stopDelta
24h 17mSJC-SJO
5/16Thu
multi-stopDelta
16h 45mSJO-SJC
$532
4/26Fri
multi-stopAmerican Airlines
15h 45mSJC-LIR
5/1Wed
multi-stopAmerican Airlines
21h 53mLIR-SJC
$625
4/26Fri
multi-stopAmerican Airlines
15h 19mSJC-SJO
5/7Tue
multi-stopAmerican Airlines
13h 33mSJO-SJC
$625
4/30Tue
multi-stopUnited Airlines
14h 40mSJC-LIR
5/3Fri
multi-stopUnited Airlines
10h 38mLIR-SJC
$671
4/30Tue
multi-stopUnited Airlines
21h 22mSJC-LIR
5/3Fri
multi-stopUnited Airlines
23h 00mLIR-SJC
$675

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San Jose - Costa Rica Flights

Departure:

San Jose (SJC)United States

Return flight deals:

Costa Rica - San Jose

Cabin classes: