$45 Find Cheap Flights from California to District of Columbia

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Good to know

Low seasonFebruary
High seasonMay
Cheapest flight$45
Best time to beat the crowds but there is an average 2% increase in price.
Most popular time to fly and prices are also 3% lower on average.
Flight from San Francisco to Reagan Washington National Airport

Flights from California to District of Columbia: the best tips from KAYAK users

Insights shared by verified travelers who flew the route from California to District of Columbia 
DaneFlew with Hawaiian AirlinesSFO-IADApr 2025
Fly first class if you can afford it so that you're not squeezed in next to or between HUGE, FAT passengers.
karenFlew with Alaska AirlinesLAX-IADJun 2024
Personal tips are bring your own food if you're hungry; keep foot space as open as possible for leg room; pack your patience
Verified travelerFlew with Alaska AirlinesLAX-IADJun 2024
Get to the airport on time because traffic in LA is unexpected
Verified travelerFlew with United AirlinesLAX-IADAug 2024
Request united to track your checkin bags timely
DavidFlew with United AirlinesSFO-IADJun 2024
Be prepared to pay for WiFi and food.

FAQs for booking flights from California to District of Columbia

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from California to District of Columbia?

    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 California to District of Columbia.

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

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight from California to District of Columbia 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 California to District of Columbia?

    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 from California to District of Columbia with an airline and back with another airline.

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

    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 from California to District of Columbia up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.

  • Which is the cheapest airport to fly into in District of Columbia?

    Prices will differ depending on the departure airport, but generally, the cheapest airport to fly to in District of Columbia is Baltimore/Washington Airport (BWI), with an average flight price of $198.

  • What is the cheapest day to fly to District of Columbia?

    Based on KAYAK data, the cheapest day to fly to District of Columbia is Wednesday where round-trip tickets can be as cheap as $425. On the other hand, the most expensive day to fly is Sunday, where round-trip prices are $586 on average.

  • What is the cheapest time of day to fly to District of Columbia?

    The cheapest time of day to fly to District of Columbia is generally in the evening, when round-trip flights cost $377 on average. Morning departures are around 25% more expensive than evening flights, on average. The most expensive time of day to fly to District of Columbia is generally in the afternoon, which is peak travel time and where the average cost of a ticket is $487.

  • What is the cheapest flight to District of Columbia?

    The cheapest ticket to District of Columbia from California found in the last 72 hours was to Baltimore, at $126 round-trip. The most popular route is Los Angeles (LAX) to Baltimore (BWI) and the cheapest round-trip airline ticket found on this route in the last 72 hours was $126.

  • What is the cheapest month to fly from California to District of Columbia?

    The cheapest month for flights from California to District of Columbia is September, when tickets cost $317 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are June and July, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $562 and $560 respectively.

  • How far in advance should I book a flight from California to District of Columbia?

    To get a below average price on the flight from California to District of Columbia, you should book around 4 weeks before departure. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 24 weeks before departure.

  • How long is the flight to District of Columbia?

    An average nonstop flight from California to District of Columbia takes 7h 12m, covering a distance of 2312 miles. The shortest route is Las Vegas (LAS) to Washington, D.C. Dulles Intl Airport (IAD) with an average flight time of 4h 25m.

  • What is the most popular destination in District of Columbia?

    Based on KAYAK flight searches, the most popular destination is Washington, D.C. (100% of total searches to District of Columbia).

Top 5 airlines serving from California to District of Columbia

Need help choosing which airline to fly with from California to District of Columbia? 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 9968 reviews
8.2Boarding
7.1Entertainment
8.5Crew
7.9Comfort
7.1Food
Airline reviews

My youngest didn't have a assigned seat until we biard6the plane.

2.0 MediocreStephanie, Apr 2025SAN - SLC
Read more Alaska Airlines reviews

My youngest didn't have a assigned seat until we biard6the plane.

I got the last seat on the plane, in the back in the corner against the window, and I paid a competitive price for my ticket several weeks before the flight.

Long delay before boarding. By the time I was informed of the delay I was already at the gate.

There was no seating at the gate, no where to charge your devices, super crowded. Boarding in group F meant all luggage space was taken when it was time for me to board. The boarding crew was short with everyone and seemed irritated. The luggage space was insufficient, the seat was too small for me (6'4") and very uncomfortable trip. I was in a middle seat between a person snoring the whole trip and a person with very strong body odor. The flight crew was terse and unfriendly, seemed irritated and impatient. Yelled a lot at people with earbuds in, understandable. Finally, we arrived 10 minutes early, only to sit on the tarmac for 20 minutes and wait for a gate. Worst flight experience I've had in years.

Check your emails that you sent me. 9 emails were sent telling me that my flight is Delayed. Each one with a different time 7:10, 7:55, 9:31, 9:09, 9:29, 9:44, 10:00, 9:49, and 10:10. That was how my experience went.

It was my first time flying Alaska Airlines and first time flying from Santa Rosa airport. The staff was very professional and friendly. Their instructions were clear and any question was answered satisfactorily. My seat was comfortable and the in-flight beverage service very adequate for the duration of the flight. We arrived ahead of the scheduled landing time and deplaning was simple. I look forward to flying with Alaska again.

Personal demeanor not good on flight returning to LAX..Great and superb on the way to Portland

No non-alcoholic drinks available except water and small apple juice cans.

Flight attendant took my carefully folded coat and flung it across the aisle to the bin across the way. Where one of the passengers rescued it for me, because that just wasn’t right!!

First time flying with any airline that has decent seating. Great experience crew was friendly and the pilot was as well.

Delta flight was on time, seats were comfortable, and crew was nice.

The Dekta Rep that checked us in was great. She's very personable, pleasant, and can tell she enjoys her job.

Thank you for not flipping the plane on the run way. You guys get a 5 star rating for the flight!!!

Boarding is, as it always is… horrible. Gate lice. Slow moving zones. Too many people with carry ons

It was terrible, if they ran flights on time it would make a big difference.

Delta seems to be improving in many areas, except they are super bad with the food available. Bring back normal food service on long flights.

I actually received a notification from kayak on email but not one by text from Delta when my departure gait changed and I almost missed my flight

New boarding doesn't make sense. Filling front first is slow.

Delta flight was great from the check in all the way to arrival. However, I had a very bad experience. I requested a wheelchair and the wheelchair employee that went to pick me up from the plane in Boston to bring me to the baggage claims told me I have to pay him. I was under the impression that it was a free service and I usually give tips but the person forced me to pay and since I said no because I was upset with his demand when my daughter walked in to pick me up he demanded payment from my daughter who paid him thinking maybe now it is a charged service.

Horrible. Grateful to be alive but spent 13 hours at airport only to return back to my familys house and flight changed to next day. They tried to fix a part on plane, had no back up plane and after 10 hours , reattempted the flight and it STILL wasn't fixed. We got a meal voucher and rescheduled flight but there should be some other compensation for the 15 hours spent in airport

The gate was too far away for the connecting flight

Compared with other carriers business class for an overnight was not worth the extra expense.

Easy to board. Flight was super crowded though so I didn't sleep well on that cross country red-eye flight. The aisles seem ot have gotten narrower and the seat smaller whn luggage and people are getting bigger so it would be AWESOME to have more space and breathing room in general ;)

Pilot Erika DeLong made us feel safe and at ease in a frankly scary time to be flying. Her warm smile and greeting and excellent command of the aircraft in foggy bumpy weather helped us all to calm our nerves and get us home safely.

Terrible. First of all we were delayed 4 3/4 hours departing Honolulu. As we had to leave our condo and the rental car had to be returned we had to go to the airport. Even though we had a business class boarding pass to Washington, since we did not have business class to Montreal we could not access the lounge without paying a $59 fee each. This does not make sense to us. Since we could not meet our original connection United booked us to Montreal via New York LaGuardia on Air Canada. In Washington a further delay got us into LaGuardia too late to make our connection to Montreal so we were booked on another Air Canada flight 3 hours later. We were originally scheduled to arrive in Montreal at 10:40 and arrived at 19:55. A totally exhausting day, United did not offer a meal voucher or any type of compensation. Air Canada did give us a digital meal voucher. The food in United business class is poor among all meals offered. The pods look nice but are not that confortable. Overall would not fly on United again.

Plenty of room for me and the cat in Premium Economy. Seat was comfortable. Boarding was a breeze. The lady at the special check-in desk was great, super helpful and professional.

Wish movie and music choices changed more often. Mostly same from a month or two ago when I last flew.

It was good. Just that the seats could not be reclined. The people behind were not ready to let the chairs be reclined

Attendants zipped through cabin so fast hardly anyone got the water they told us we could have in the short flight. Nothing else was offered.

Sucks ! All three flights I was on this trip were delayed.

Very helpful ground crew after an earlier flight delay and being rebooked on a different flight.

The plane was late and then sat on the runway for almost 45 minutes before taking off.

We kept being told that the flight was full and that all overhead compartments were full and therefore had to check in our hand luggage. We were some of the last people to board and noticed that there was still sufficient space in the overhead compartments. We were obliged to check in hand luggage when there was space and so had to wait at luggage retrieval which took a while to then noticed damage to our luggage - not a great experience!

This was an overnight flight. There was no meal service in first class, just a simple snack basket was offered along with beverages. There should have been some type of continental breakfast prior to arrival in PHL. As an Executive Platinum American Airlines Advantage member, I received no name recognition from the first class flight attendant. When disembarking at PHL, the flight attendants were more interested in their cell phones than saying "thank you" to the passengers as they disembarked.

The flight was quick and to the point. The crew just did their job w/o excessive talking and everything was just perfect.

The boarding crew was incredibly helpful getting me on an earlier flight

Awkward carry on process. Forced to check all carry on. No overhead space of worthiness. Left delayed, but made up the time. Crew was amicable.

Great experience. Flight boarded easily. Departed early. Smooth flight. Great arrival in DC--almost no taxing! Almost direct to gate from runway. Crew was terrific. Same cookies and beverages in main cabin. I did not use the entertainment system on this flight.

Flight delayed on both ends - have a gate ready at DCA, don't make us sit for 30min after being late to take off as well.

AA can't control the weather. But the airplane was hot and stuffy while stuck on the runway with a broken entertainment system.

The seats were awful, hard plastic covered in sheet vinyl. The airline tries to scam you into paying extra to get seat together when the flight wasn’t full. They were going to separate a family with young children but my wife who had a row to herself gave up her seat so the young mom could be with her young boys. I’m never giving this airline my money again.

It was a short flight so no food or entertainment….

Frontier had yet another flight cancellation. Have never made a complete round trip with this airline without at least one leg getting cancelled. Miserable flights - dirty, uncomfortable planes that apparently always have issues since I've had multiple delays and cancellations with them.

Flight was delayed 3 times, would have been nice to have received text message instead of email notifications. Frontier app wasn’t even updated accordingly, no gate number disclosed. No agent at front desk of gate to inform of delay. Very confused and left if the dark

They changed the timing , first delayed by 4 hours then went back to 40 mins late, we had to run back to airport to not miss our flight. This is ridiculous

No frills for sure. No gate announcements about flight delay, not even water to drink on the flight.

I loked walking out on the tarmac to board and no first class. I didn't like that they have no snacks or onboard wifi to bide your time.

It was a redeye flight, so every passenger just wanted to sleep, but through the entire flight, the flight crew made announcements over the loudspeaker at maximum volume every few minutes making sleep impossible. For example: it’s 2am, and the crew decides to give an extremely detailed announcement about snacks and beverages for sale. And 3am is the perfect time to wake up everyone with a lengthy announcement about how to get a coffee refill and how to take advantage of new offer from frontier for a credit card.

The takeoff was the smoothest I've ever experienced on any airline and this is the first time I've flown on frontier so this was an extremely pleasant surprise!

A lady asked to stop the flight after the tunnel pulled away and we began to depart a flight that was already hours late. The attendance respectfully stopped the the plane and had the tunnel return. After the tunnel returned the passenger claimed to have changed her mind . The tunnel was then put in reverse and the passenger remained on the plane .. They should have sent the sick passenger off the plane like initially replaced. They existed a couple off the plane prior to that situation.. So.. all and all.. it was a long and flight.. .

Book cheap flights from California to District of Columbia

Recent round-trip flight deals

5/22Thu
1 stopFrontier
7h 10mLAX-IAD
5/30Fri
1 stopFrontier
7h 41mIAD-LAX
$175
5/29Thu
1 stopFrontier
7h 18mSAN-DCA
5/31Sat
1 stopFrontier
7h 20mDCA-SAN
$176
8/6Wed
nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 05mLAX-IAD
8/12Tue
nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 29mIAD-LAX
$177
5/28Wed
nonstopUnited Airlines
5h 05mLAX-IAD
5/29Thu
nonstopUnited Airlines
5h 27mIAD-LAX
$179
5/28Wed
nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 14mLAX-IAD
5/31Sat
nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 38mIAD-LAX
$182
5/27Tue
nonstopUnited Airlines
4h 59mLAX-IAD
5/28Wed
nonstopUnited Airlines
5h 34mIAD-LAX
$183
5/29Thu
nonstopDelta
5h 05mLAX-DCA
5/31Sat
nonstopDelta
5h 40mDCA-LAX
$187
5/28Wed
nonstopAmerican Airlines
4h 55mLAX-DCA
6/4Wed
nonstopAmerican Airlines
5h 46mDCA-LAX
$203
5/28Wed
nonstopDelta
5h 05mLAX-DCA
6/3Tue
nonstopDelta
5h 40mDCA-LAX
$207
5/27Tue
1 stopAmerican Airlines
10h 01mSFO-IAD
6/3Tue
1 stopAmerican Airlines
8h 35mIAD-SFO
$217

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Recent one-way flight deals

6/16Mon
1 stopHawaiian Airlines
9h 33mSFO-DCA
$45
5/21Wed
1 stopFrontier
7h 44mLAX-DCA
$87
5/28Wed
nonstopAmerican Airlines
4h 55mLAX-DCA
$90
5/28Wed
nonstopDelta
5h 05mLAX-DCA
$94
5/5Mon
nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 00mLAX-IAD
$96
5/20Tue
nonstopUnited Airlines
5h 21mSFO-DCA
$99
5/19Mon
1 stopUnited Airlines
7h 15mLAX-DCA
$99
5/24Sat
nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 14mSFO-IAD
$99
6/17Tue
1 stopAmerican Airlines
8h 01mSFO-DCA
$109
5/21Wed
nonstopDelta
5h 05mLAX-DCA
$114

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Last minute flights from California to District of Columbia

Last minute flight, train and bus deals

5/5Mon
multi-stopFrontier
7h 26mLAX-IAD
5/8Thu
multi-stopFrontier
9h 03mIAD-LAX
$176
5/3Sat
multi-stopFrontier
12h 44mLAX-DCA
5/10Sat
multi-stopFrontier
14h 30mDCA-LAX
$178
5/5Mon
nonstopUnited Airlines
5h 01mLAX-IAD
5/6Tue
nonstopUnited Airlines
5h 51mIAD-LAX
$187
5/5Mon
nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 00mLAX-IAD
5/10Sat
nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 49mIAD-LAX
$212
5/5Mon
multi-stopAlaska Airlines
8h 44mLAX-IAD
5/10Sat
nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 49mIAD-LAX
$247
5/4Sun
multi-stopUnited Airlines
7h 40mLAX-DCA
5/6Tue
multi-stopUnited Airlines
7h 40mDCA-LAX
$257
5/5Mon
multi-stopAmerican Airlines
7h 00mLAX-DCA
5/14Wed
nonstopAmerican Airlines
5h 44mDCA-LAX
$384
5/5Mon
multi-stopAmerican Airlines
9h 23mLAX-IAD
5/24Sat
multi-stopAmerican Airlines
8h 49mIAD-LAX
$384
5/3Sat
multi-stopDelta
9h 14mSMF-IAD
5/13Tue
multi-stopDelta
10h 36mIAD-SMF
$413
5/3Sat
multi-stopDelta
10h 29mSMF-IAD
5/13Tue
multi-stopDelta
9h 32mIAD-SMF
$418

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Everything you need to know for your flight to District of Columbia

Cabin class types available on flights to California

Cabin classes available on flights to California. Prices are the lowest found on KAYAK over the last 7 days. Price and availability is not guaranteed.

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