$93 Find Cheap Flights from California to Iowa

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Good to know

Low seasonFebruary
Cheapest flight$93
Best time to beat the crowds but there is an average 5% increase in price.
Most popular time to fly and prices are also 8% lower on average.
Flight from Los Angeles to Des Moines

FAQs for booking flights from California to Iowa

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

    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 Iowa.

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

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

    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 Iowa 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 Iowa?

    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 Iowa up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.

  • How many airports are there in Iowa?

    There are 8 airports in Iowa. The busiest airport is Des Moines Airport (DSM), with 61% of all flights arriving there.

  • Which is the cheapest airport to fly into in Iowa?

    Prices will differ depending on the departure airport, but generally, the cheapest airport to fly to in Iowa is Cedar Rapids Airport (CID), with an average flight price of $84.

  • What is the cheapest day to fly to Iowa?

    Based on KAYAK data, the cheapest day to fly to Iowa is Friday where round-trip tickets can be as cheap as $229. On the other hand, the most expensive day to fly is Thursday, where round-trip prices are $393 on average.

  • What is the cheapest time of day to fly to Iowa?

    The cheapest time of day to fly to Iowa is generally in the morning, when round-trip flights cost $229 on average. Morning departures are around 48% cheaper than evening flights, on average. The most expensive time of day to fly to Iowa is generally at night, which is peak travel time and where the average cost of a ticket is $484.

  • What is the cheapest flight to Iowa?

    The cheapest ticket to Iowa from California found in the last 72 hours was to Cedar Rapids, at $98 round-trip. The most popular route is Los Angeles (LAX) to Des Moines (DSM) and the cheapest round-trip airline ticket found on this route in the last 72 hours was $106.

  • What is the cheapest month to fly from California to Iowa?

    The cheapest month for flights from California to Iowa is March, when tickets cost $279 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are February and December, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $553 and $494 respectively.

  • How far in advance should I book a flight from California to Iowa?

    To get a below average price on the flight from California to Iowa, you should book around 4 weeks before departure, which saves you about 16% compared to booking last minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 25 weeks before departure.

  • How many cities have direct flights to Iowa?

    From California, there are direct flights to Iowa from 3 cities. The city with the most direct flights is San Diego, with 4 direct flights each week.

  • How many direct flights to Iowa are there each day?

    There are around 2 direct flights from within California to Iowa every day. Most flights (63%) depart in the afternoon.

  • How many direct flights to Iowa are there each week?

    Each week there are around 8 direct flights from within California to Iowa. The most common day for departures is Monday, with 25% of flights taking off on this day.

  • How long is the flight to Iowa?

    An average nonstop flight from California to Iowa takes 5h 27m, covering a distance of 1449 miles. The shortest route is Las Vegas (LAS) to Omaha (OMA) with an average flight time of 2h 35m.

  • How many long-haul flights are there to Iowa each week?

    There are not any long-haul (6-12 hour flight duration) or medium-haul (3-6 hour flight duration) flights to Iowa. Instead, there are 8 short-haul flights (up to 3 hour flight duration), with the most arriving from San Diego.

  • What are the most popular destinations in Iowa?

    Based on KAYAK flight searches, the most popular destination is Omaha (36% of total searches to Iowa). The next most popular destinations are Cedar Rapids (26%) and Des Moines (25%). Searches for flights to Moline (10%), to Sioux City (1%) and to La Crosse (1%) are also popular.

Reviews of the top 5 airlines serving from California to Iowa

 
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from California to Iowa? 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
SouthwestOverall score based on 4241 reviews
8.0Comfort
8.6Crew
8.1Boarding
7.0Food
7.5Entertainment
Airline reviews

Delayed flight. Nicest crew member was a SW pilot flying seated next to me who kindly move to seat the final passenger. Flight extra delayed. My cup of refreshment of ginger ale was so packed with ice it was literally 2 sips.

4.0 OkayTraci, Jun 2025OAK - SEA
Read more Southwest reviews

Delayed flight. Nicest crew member was a SW pilot flying seated next to me who kindly move to seat the final passenger. Flight extra delayed. My cup of refreshment of ginger ale was so packed with ice it was literally 2 sips.

No trays in our seats, we sat in first row, purchased a business class fare. Had to hold our drinks and snack in our hands. No plugs for our cell phones. Had to pay for it a drink cocktail each. Seats so uncomfortable.

Flight wasn’t even full, but too many carry-ons caused us to run out of bin space. New bag fee has folks who would usually check their bags carrying on. Watching Southwest morph into Spirit/Frontier is so sad to watch

Southwest is Southwest. No frills. If you're luck enough to get a happy crew (we did), then it makes for a nicer flight.

It was a perfect flight in all aspects! Both legs!

Great flight, 47 passengers on a 180 seat plane. Stewardess was pleasant and cheerful.

I liked the crew member who gave flight instructions on "in case of a problem:. The seats are so small that only a young teenager could sit in middle seat.

Great flight staff. Ease of boarding. Overall, very uneventful and easy trip.

Employees were kind and funny, as always! Flight was late but no announcements were made for people with tight connections to help them transition quickly. No service due to turbulence.

I recently flew Southwest from San Jose to Honolulu. I was very impressed with the flight crew, especially the flight attendant in charge of the front of the plane. She came through the aisle at least five times for drinks and water, and two times for snacks. I have not seen such service since I flew first class. Also, for the first time, they gave us the correct baggage claim number, and the luggage came out quickly. I can't wait for Southwest to have assigned seating! I absolutely hate the Cattle Call boarding procedure and the mad dash to get seats and overhead bins. However, the boarding was efficient.

My husband upgraded our seats and I don't know if it was due to the type of planet was or if they didn't upgrade our seats. We were supposed to be in I believe comfort seats and they were just as tight as any other seat- no leg room and we are very tall people but at least it wasn't extremely cold. My husband did put in a complaint about our seating because he paid extra and if we would have known that the space and the tightness would have been the same, we just would have gotten the emergency row emergency row seats that we normally get. We love Delta but both our flights coming home we're not good. Oh I forgot to mention that on our flight to Hawaii our luggage wheels got broke and we had to purse new luggage on vacation then we never had this problem so we didn't know protocol and reported it after we got home only for them to tell is we only had 24hrs to report the damage. Not sure what was going on with Delta this vacation trip.

Crew was excellent. Comfort seats not as nice as other kinds of planes.

It was a great flight and the stewards and stewardess were all kind and accommodating!! The seats were comfortable and entertainment screen excellent!

There are 4 flights in consecutive gates with about the same departure time. Two flights were boarding at the same time. One was delayed or boarding would be happening at the same time. I am not sure what Delta and LAX need to do to have a better layout at the end of Terminal 2

There was a security issue at the airport and we were unable to land. We circled endlessly and then landed at another airfield for fuel. We then circled the airport again, almost landed but didn’t fully touch down before circling again. I am thankful to the crew for keeping us safe- the issue was the airline and staff at the airport getting us seats on our connecting flights. That part was hours of searching for someone and getting in double my steps.

Most aspects were good however if they assign boarding zones they ought to enforce them or why bother? My luggage from SAN-JFK-MAD was lost in NY so I without my main bag for two days upon arrival in Spain. They were helpful in tracking it and eventually delivered it to my hotel. The flub was because of a delay upon arrival in NYC. I had booked 2 1/2 hours between flights but we had to hold on the taxiway for an hour after landing while waiting for a clear gate which likely caused the baggage error.

Excellent flight, the planes were newer, they did a nice job with boarding, great service overall.

It would be nice if was given wires ear buds. Overall was a good experience was able to sleep on the plane

737-800 in first class was pretty dumpy. Seat had an uncomfortable angle, storage under the seat was blocked so even my very modest backpack didn't fit, power outlet was flaky. Weird tiny seat pockets that couldn't hold a gallon ziploc bag, emesis bag missing, etc. etc. No in-flight service due to turbulence. Crew was excellent, boarding was smooth despite a full flight.

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

I learned that seating towards the end of plane that a line forms for the restroom and people use your chair as a hand railing, bumping your seat consistently. I was seated in the aisle. I think that next time if I am towards the back row I would want to sit in the middle or window seat.

United sent me a mileage plus number last year but that number is invalid so I can’t use it to check into flights or collect mileage. There is human to speak about the problem, only computers who keep asking me if I am using the correct email. It’s so frustrating and I cannot resolve it.

Not a great experience. We paid for the upgrade for premium economy seats and seated ourselves in very comfortable seats. Someone came along with the same seat on their boarding pass. The aircraft had been changed and as a result we were booted out and sent further back to small uncomfortable seats. After complaining we were moved to emergency row seats, which gave us more leg room but the seats don’t recline. For people in our 70’s we found having to sit upright from California to NJ very uncomfortable. Not sure why they chose to move senior citizens instead of the two people that were allowed to take the more comfortable seats. Not happy.

It was great, I’m very grateful for the pilots and crew flight attendants for everything.

Everything was great. Only thing that could’ve made it better was buy on board options for hot food, but the snacks were decent. The flight attendants were great. I had no complaints. I was able to make it to my destination safely

Boarded plane and then delayed 1.5 hours while on the plane

Horrific. They missed my connecting flight to San Diego. I didn’t get there until Monday at 9am when I had a mandatory court settlement conference scheduled at 6am since we had parties on the east coast. This caused many issues. All because United apparently forgot to hold the doors open until my flight landed that only had a 10 minute delay. This was the last flight to Southern California. So I couldn’t even rent a car to finish the trip. United cannot be trusted when traveling on specific days and times since weather didn’t have anything to do with the delays.

Really good 😊 the woman at the gate entrance was a little rude checking in our carry-on but i dont think she worked for the airline, she worked for the airport at sacramento, other than that amazing.

it was so bad. I tried to board my flight from vancouver to saskatoon. And to my surprise they did not board me cause the flight was changed and no email was send to me. and on my boarding pass which i got from seattle says different flight. I did not knew anyone from Vancouver, air canada crew was rude, i asked for today flight but they were rude and i had early morning dental appointment in saskatoon. I was so much in pain and my whole day is wasted today. and i suffered alot. They did provide me hotel but they did not provide me any food. I am really really disappointed first time had so bad experience with air canada. I may think twice to book it again. If i can get any reply or any composition that would be great. Thanks

Very comfortable (upgraded to business class). The audio on my screen didn’t work, but I managed to play the audio through my phone while watching the screen.

Our flight was 1.5 hours delayed. There was no weather for the inbound flight, so I don't understand why. This meant a VERY late arrival and only a quick nap before my morning flight.

Delayed flight, so I switched fights to SFO to Phoenix , Phoenix to DSM. Excellent service through American Airlines

AA re-routed flight from HNL to LAX due to delay. My group of 3 with reserved seats in row 9 was broken up, with one assigned to a middle seat, another in the last row of the plane. Not happy. No explanation to the delay. No apologies. No compensation. Would have been nice to be offered an Admiral Club admission or a voucher for the extra 3 hours of layover in LAX. Could not hear the boarding gate announcements in LAX. Adjacent gate was boarding at the same time. Loud speakers were competing against each other. Barely made my boarding group.

Almost a 6 hour flight and the only food option is a cheese plate… and chips. Also how is it there are no options for texting on American. I’ll be going back to delta and united.

The chair cushions may need an upgrade. I have been noticing they are so worn out, thin so you’d sit in a dip 😄. Other than that, all was an enjoyable trip. Thanks AA!

Cramped seats. FAA should make airlines have more legroom, for even short people complain

Eventless. It was a good flight and good crew. Can’t complaint.

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!

Severe turbulence. Captain never came on to reassure passengers after things settled down.

My first flight was delayed 5 hours. The 2nd flight was canceled til the next day and the never even tried to compensate for it. Worse I was delayed again on the flight the rebooked me on.

Boarding in Orlando was not good. Giant mob at the gate, should have been lines.

Cancelled flight after I arrived at airport after 75 min drive and parking. Next flight was 4 days in the future. Had to scramble and buy a much more expensive flight on another carrier.

I liked the turn-style feature at gate 209B at LAX. Very efficient process. The gate staff also made several, clearly directed announcements so I felt very informed.

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

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