$198 Find Cheap Flights from Central America to the United States - Compare and Save

This is the cheapest one-way flight price found by a KAYAK user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight from Central America to the United States departing on 10/15. 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.
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Low season

February

Cheapest flight

$198
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 18% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly and prices are also 6% lower on average.
Flight from San José to Miami

Flights from Central America to the United States: the best tips from KAYAK users

Insights shared by verified travelers who flew the route from Central America to the United States 
Verified travelerFlew with Copa Airlines-Aug 2026
Tips for Flying From Panama City to Chicago Overall, the flight experience was good and the crew was excellent, very friendly, professional, and attentive throughout the journey. My only issue was with the baggage/liquor policy during the connection in Panama City. I had purchased liquor in Montego Bay and packed it in my luggage, but I was required to check my carry-on bag in Panama and couldn’t take it onboard as planned. What was confusing was that I later purchased more liquor in the Panama airport and was allowed to bring that onboard without any issue. It would be helpful if the baggage and duty-free liquor rules were communicated more clearly to passengers connecting through Panama so there are no surprises.
Verified travelerFlew with United Airlines-Apr 2026
If you have a connecting flight in SFO you have to grab your bag and recheck it
AFlew with Copa Airlines-Jan 2026
Bring your own food and your own screen because you won’t have any for the next couple of hours.
JeffreyFlew with Copa Airlines-Mar 2025
Be sure to use the restroom BEFORE you sit down in the gate area. There is a second level of security screening just to sit in the gate area. If you leave the gate area for any reason, you must go through the gate screening upon your return.
LisaFlew with Copa Airlines-Mar 2025
You have to go through an additional security clearance at the actual gate, and there was a long line so I'd get to the gate right when it opens to avoid the additional long line.
Verified travelerFlew with Spirit Airlines-Apr 2025
Take a day flight, window seat, the view is fantastic. Avoid Spirit at all costs.
RicardoFlew with Alaska Airlines-Mar 2025
BRING YOUR OWN SNAKS NOT MUCH HERE TO CHOOSE NONE OF THEM HEALTHY OPTIONS
Verified travelerFlew with Copa Airlines-Feb 2025
Whatever you purchase before boarding your flight make sure all liquids are finished before boarding or you will have to throw it away. That there is another checkpoint once you reach the gate even if you go to the bathroom you will have to clear the second checkpoint each time you leave the gate. That most of the Copa crew in Panama did not speak English, so as an English speaker you have to just watch what everyone else does, because the Panamanian crew does not speak English.
RajFlew with Copa Airlines-Jan 2025
Pack your lunch or dinner with you either from airport restaurant.
RobertFlew with United Airlines-Feb 2025
IAH is efficient but security and checked baggage transfer and rescreening for connecting flights causes unnecessary anxiety for short stop overs.
Verified travelerFlew with United Airlines-Feb 2025
International transfer at HIA was difficult with self baggage transfer, multiple security screens.
AdrianFlew with Copa Airlines-Oct 2024
When booking, the distance between gates must be something you need to plan ahead... always leave at least 2 hours between flights
Verified travelerFlew with Alaska Airlines-Nov 2024
The airport is expensive. I would not buy things there. You don’t need to take off your shoes for security. Have your passport ready for boarding
Verified travelerFlew with United Airlines-Oct 2024
If you take another flight in Denver, expect to go through the security line again with all your luggage. Take enough time. Denver Airport is a mess, and the people working there are not patient; some are even rude.
Verified travelerFlew with Avianca-May 2024
Bring something to drink or eat, at least sweets especially if traveling with children or are elderly.
KathyFlew with American Airlines-Apr 2024
I was through security in 10 minutes. Food choice took some time, be aware that waiting 20 plus minutes for a hot sammie will be about right.
MichaelFlew with United Airlines-May 2024
Small airport. Easy and quick. Don’t get there too early though as it gets crowded and not really any food or shopping.
StephanieFlew with Copa Airlines-Mar 2024
Get to the airport early especially if you're not a US citizen because you have to pass through security twice.
Verified travelerFlew with Avianca-Mar 2024
Bring a pillow Bring phones charged Bring your own entertainment Be patient for luggage to get off plane.
JulioFlew with Avianca-May 2024
Check carry on status before. Check in online to avoid lines.
DominicFlew with Alaska Airlines-Feb 2024
Take the direct flight to avoid an overnight layover
MayumiFlew with Avianca-Jan 2024
Eat well before boarding and bring your own entertainment.

FAQs for booking flights from Central America to the United States

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from Central America to the United States?

    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 Central America to the United States.

  • How does KAYAK's flight Price Forecast tool help me choose the right time to buy my flight ticket from Central America to the United States?

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight from Central America to the United States 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 Central America to the United States?

    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 Central America to the United States 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 Central America to the United States?

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

  • Which airlines fly most frequently to the United States?

    Central America and United States are connected by different airlines. The airlines that fly that route the most regularly are United Airlines (608 flights per week), Copa Airlines (368 flights per week), and Avianca (333 flights per week).

  • How many airports are there in the United States?

    There are 580 airports in the United States. The busiest airport is Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport (ATL), with 8% of all flights arriving there.

  • Which is the cheapest airport to fly into in the United States?

    Prices will differ depending on the departure airport, but generally, the cheapest airport to fly to in the United States is Orlando Airport (MCO), with an average flight price of $337.

  • What is the cheapest day to fly to the United States?

    Based on KAYAK data, the cheapest day to fly to the United States is Thursday 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 $593 on average.

  • What is the cheapest time of day to fly to the United States?

    The cheapest time of day to fly to the United States is generally in the evening, when round-trip flights cost $335 on average. Morning departures are around 76% more expensive than evening flights, on average. The most expensive time of day to fly to the United States is generally in the morning, which is peak travel time and where the average cost of a ticket is $589.

  • What is the cheapest flight to the United States?

    The cheapest ticket to the United States from Central America found in the last 5 days was to Orlando Airport, at $193 round-trip. The most popular route is Belize City Philip S.W.Goldson Airport (BZE) to Miami (MIA) and the cheapest round-trip airline ticket found on this route in the last 5 days was $248.

  • What is the cheapest month to fly from Central America to the United States?

    The cheapest month for flights from Central America to the United States is December, when tickets cost $206 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are July and August, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $344 and $330 respectively.

  • How far in advance should I book a flight from Central America to the United States?

    To get a below average price on the flight from Central America to the United States, you should book around 5 weeks before departure, which saves you about 21% compared to booking last minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 19 weeks before departure.

  • How many cities have direct flights to the United States?

    From Central America, there are direct flights to the United States from 10 cities. The city with the most direct flights is Panama City, with 764 direct flights each week.

  • How many direct flights to the United States are there each day?

    There are around 323 direct flights from within Central America to the United States every day. Most flights (49%) depart in the morning.

  • How many direct flights to the United States are there each week?

    Each week there are around 2,255 direct flights from within Central America to the United States. The most common day for departures is Sunday, with 17% of flights taking off on this day.

  • How long is the flight to the United States?

    An average nonstop flight from Central America to the United States takes 4h 29m, covering a distance of 1697 miles. The shortest route is San Pedro Sula (SAP) to Fort Lauderdale (FLL) with an average flight time of 2h 18m.

  • How many long-haul flights are there to the United States each week?

    Each week there are around 22 long-haul flights (6-12 hour flight duration), 1,080 medium-haul (3-6 hour flight duration) and 1,153 short-haul (up to 3 hour flight duration) flights to the United States. The most long-haul flights depart from Panama City.

  • What are the most popular destinations in the United States?

    Based on KAYAK flight searches, the most popular destination is New York (33% of total searches to the United States). The next most popular destinations are Miami (17%) and Houston (13%). Searches for flights to Los Angeles (10%), to Washington, D.C. (7%) and to Dallas (4%) are also popular.

Reviews of the top 5 airlines serving from Central America to the United States

 
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from Central America to the United States? 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.
7.9
Volaris Costa RicaOverall score based on 81 reviews
7.9Boarding
8.3Crew
7.6Comfort
5.9Food
5.2Entertainment
Airline reviews

Smooth flight. Easy boarding. Come early. Check in line is long

8.0 ExcellentJanice, Feb 2026
Read more Volaris Costa Rica reviews

Smooth flight. Easy boarding. Come early. Check in line is long

If they listen to you especially when there’s a problem with a passport now I lost my tickets and also my seat money

The worst airline I have ever experienced. Terrible customer service. Absolutely disgraceful

Checking bags at the airport, very confusing they make lines for different flights but they don’t have any signs, so if you are on the wrong line be aware they will send you to the end of the correct line. No priority for check in even if you pay and no priority to disabled persons and elderly persons.

Despite all the negative reviews, I took Volaris with a family of 4 (including a toddler and infant in arms). The only compliant was they charged me $70 to gate check our wagon (which we use as a stroller) and then it was not available for pickup at the gate (which is the entire point), so we had to get through customs and the airport with our luggage and no way to push our kids :(

Après avoir manqué l’avion aucune aide de la part des agents à l’aéroport pour trouver un autre vol

Más comida no cobrar tanto por los asientos y comida food

Worst airline ever!! Delays in all my flights!!! Do not flight with Volaris!

The departures screens in the airport showed the flight as canceled for some weird reason, but when I got to the gate just to double check, it showed it as on time, and not canceled. This was confusing, but ultimately I was able to get to where I needed to go.

For whatever reason, when I was in the San Jose airport, the flight from Volaris read as canceled on the Departures screens you'd find all over the terminal, it wasn't until I got to the gate that it showed it as on time and still on. It was confusing, but ultimately I did get to where I needed to go with the flight I was expecting.

Flight Crew Review The crew was absolutely amazing from start to finish! They were friendly, professional, attentive, and genuinely made the flight feel comfortable and enjoyable. Every interaction was pleasant, and they went above and beyond to make sure passengers were taken care of. You could really tell that they cared about providing great service. I truly appreciate their kindness and professionalism and would be happy to fly with this crew again!

stood in line to check in luggage for nearly an hour. very poor service and not excusable

Same as the previous flight as far as comfort and food. Entertainment didn’t have a watchable screen so everything would need to be watched on your own device in which they didn’t have a charging port that accommodated my iPhone. Seats were very uncomfortable. Staff was very friendly.

Do not book it’s a scam! They stole $1200 from me

Flight got delayed; had to go through security three times.

A lot things happened in this trip.The fly should be less stress.

Some of the Air hostesses are not that friendly. Need improvement

We had a great flight just wished they had a tv so we can see a movie that would of made my trip excellent.

horrible service, food was an embarrassment, no charging for cellphones, stay away

Great experience with a crew always thinking in the passenger

Very kind Lufthansa agent somehow gave us all no charge extra business class seats and helped us get home rested and happy.

The lounge was not accessible because it was located before the passport control, and backtracking was impossible.

Flight was great. Almost miss my connecting flight due to late departure from Haneda. Had to run all through airport in Chicago to make the flight. Experience was great for 1st time flyers using ANA Airlines.

the seat has a problem. the back had a hole.

The back to back mechanical delays from Denver to San Diego and then on my return flight from Denver to Great Falls it added extra time both ways

Really old place. Not as clean as it should be, tray tables needed better cleaning. The items, trays and some other items need to b6 engineered. Anything task you or crew may do is incredibly load, seriously engineer for quiet smooth, easy. Just opening and closing the tray table is actually dangerous and can easily injure a finger. I'm sure it happens as it happened to me! First time I used United and likely will be the last!

The website check in was poor. Baggage fees were in US dollars but registered in Canadian dollars. The site would not accept my credit card. Scanning the passport was the worst. Someone from United needs to try the process. I’m not a novice with tech and I have to say this was a bad experience. Everything else was great.

Like the fact that the boarding was expedited. But the delay and chaos around the onboarding was not appreciated.

Flight was 2.5 late. Maybe not United’s fault but late none the less. We were late as well on the first leg. WiFi quit working with an hour left.

Seats are complete BS for 10 hrs. The guy at counter canceled our return flight from europe. Lufthansa on the way back made United look like a trailer park gathering. If given the opportunity, I will never fly united again. Lufthansa seats werent much better to be fair but the service was a 10 out of 10. Incant express how difficult umited made my trip.

The flight had a 6 hours delay. This should not happen to anyone. Airlines should provide an alternative with no additional costs.

Flying on this airline is nothing short of a full blown circus clown show. On a recent return from my mother’s funeral, my only available choice from IND to PWM was American, which I hesitantly booked as I rarely fly them for many of the following reasons and never will again. I was booked IND-PHL-PWM totaling about six hours. The flight was cancelled due to NE weather. They rebooked me on a two stop flight IND-DFW (Yes DALLAS)-PHL-PWM, still all on the same day. After arriving in DFW, they continually delayed the DFW-PHL flight due to maintenance issues on the arriving flight. Finally it was delayed to the point that my PHL-PWM connection was no longer possible. They then rebooked me thru LGA with the short flight the NEXT DAY to PWM and offered to put me up for the night in NYC (or so I assumed). The flight DFW-LGA was then delayed so much that I asked to be put in an earlier flight with a lessor delay. Throughout this day chats with their AI assistant were useless as were subsequent chats supposedly with a real person(?). Only one customer service agent in DFW was actually helpful and appeared to care. Upon arrival at LGA post midnight, they issued me car and hotel vouchers in Trenton NEW JERSEY at a very old Howard Johnsons ONE HALF HOUR from LGA. The hotel was an $85, 1.5 rated hotel in a very sketchy area of NJ that I would have never voluntarily booked. As I prepared to catch the car back to LGA the next morning I received a text that my flight was cancelled. TWICE IN TWO DAYS. I went to LGA hoping to have AA book me on an earlier Delta flight. The full service line was at least 200 people deep, so I tried to reach a real person agent by phone. After 1/2 hours on hold I gave up and waited for my later LGA-PWM flight. It actually started boarding on-time, but only shortly after announced a maintenance hold. We were told it was nothing serious, just an adjustment to the Captains seat. Only one update was given while we waited 1.5+ hours for a “SEAT ADJUSTMENT”. Can’t forget to mention that on all of these planes the WiFi only worked on two. During that time at least three others flights in my area announced that they were overbooked and were taking volunteers before bumping people. Another flight to ORD announced a gate change and less than five minutes after announced that they were really not changing and announced for everyone to return to that gate. Can’t forget to mention that on all of these planes the WiFi only worked on two.🤡🤡

Paid for wifi but it didn't work once. Seats were incredibly cramped and passengers sitting in front was reclined the entire time and staff did nothing

Delays and cancellations. Mechanics weren’t on site. Replacement plane took hours to arrive although it should have arrived within 90 minutes. Flight back was cancelled. Ended up driving over 12 hours and wasting 3 days between everything.

Flight was delayed multiple times and rerouted to different concourses in the airport because of all of American's delays. App/boarding pass would not update with changed gate information.

Absolutely infuriating. I was flying standby to get home earlier after flying 4 times with American in 6 days. I was #2 on the list with seats near the front and middle, in addition to the 4 first class upgrade seats that came back into the pool. I am a Platinum member, have their card, and they put me in the 2nd to last row in the middle. No loyalty whatsoever and they lost a fan for life. There is reason people have negative comments about American and I am done supporting them.

Horrible - their gate agents do not care and loyalty means nothing to them. Planes are often late and you are left on your own. Oh, and WiFi - good luck!

Awful! We boarded and then sat on the plane for 50 mins before having to deplane due to a maintenance issue which should have been addressed before boarding. Then we had to change terminals as there was no other plane for us at the current terminal. Then we waited another 2 and a half hours to board again only to wait for 50 mins on the plane again for the snacks to be brought from the broken plane. And once we were on the flight we still only got the complimentary cookie and soda or water. No food vouchers provided even though we had waited over 3 hours for our flight.

There was a 6 hours delay in our departure. And yet, no compensation was offered. A company should be responsible for such a delay.

Little bit of trouble getting my KTN and pre-check status onto the ticket, but otherwise the counter staff were friendly and truly concerned to get it right.

Better seats, allow us to upgrade, terrible website, poor telephone service, better equipment

Horrible experience with Avianca, they delayed their flight and when we arrived to NYC, AVIANCA took 1 hr y 30 mins to park the airplane and all passenger get off the plane, it made me lost all my trains to get back home and I came back to my place at 3 am instead of 12 am. On the top of that their plane seat are so uncomfortable and is not enough space and killed my legs and knees, Avianca used to be good when it was a Colombian company, now after Brasilian company bought them, their service quality is bad and their flights are delayed and oversold.

I handed in my suitcase in perfect condition at SAL Airport. And in MIA Airport I received it with one corner broken and the wheels bent.

I like the crew members they're very friendly. Clean plane. The flight was on time. I dont like the comfort my car seat its better that the plane seats. They charge for everything. This airline was very good. Now it's a low cost airline

6 hour flight and have to pay for everything 100 dollars to add a carry-on bag is insane

The check in is the only positive thing in Avianca. The seat is the most uncomfortable I have traveled, the distance is minimal.

Not what it used to be. The sale of food makes them look greedy!

Avianca is not what it used to be. So disappointing

It was horrible. My experience with Avianca. I didn’t know it was Pakistan international Airlines but anyway, whatever it is it is bad horrible you guys need to upgrade everything in those planes. And you guys charge $130 for a carry-on did they wanna let me in with my carry-on that I travel everywhere with the luggage you guys are such a dog thank you

why did we have to go through security mid flight

Everything you need to know for your flight to the United States

Cabin class types available on flights to Central America

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