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Cheap Flights from Des Moines to California

Cheapest round-trip prices found by our users on KAYAK in the last 5 days
Sort by: Cheapest
Las Vegas
3h 05mNonstop
from $111per person
Santa Ana
3h 37mNonstop
from $120per person
Ontario
5h 17m2 stops
from $159per person
San Diego
5h 26m2 stops
from $190per person
San Francisco
5h 36m2 stops
from $196per person
Fresno
5h 30m2 stops
from $221per person
Los Angeles
3h 55mNonstop
from $237per person
Reno
5h 42m2 stops
from $242per person
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Booking Insights

KAYAK's insights & trends for Des Moines to California flights

Get data-powered insights and trends into flights from Des Moines to California to help you find the cheapest flights, the best time to fly and much more.

How much is a round-trip flight from Des Moines to California?

Flight prices are below average for this route right now.

Flights to California from Des Moines usually cost between $311 and $453 in October.
The lowest price found in the past 5 days was $237 on Multiple Airlines (Oct 26-Oct 29).

What is the cheapest Des Moines to California flight route?

The cheapest ticket to California from Des Moines found in the last 5 days was to Burbank, at $62 round-trip. The most popular route is from Des Moines (DSM) to Los Angeles (LAX), and the cheapest round-trip airline ticket found on this route in the last 5 days was $266.

What is the cheapest time of day to fly to California?

The cheapest time of day to fly to California is generally at night, when round-trip flights cost $351 on average. Morning departures are around 104% more expensive than evening flights, on average. The most expensive time of day to fly to California is generally in the morning, which is peak travel time and where the average cost of a ticket is $868.

Can I save money by flying with a layover from Des Moines to California?

No, with an average price for the route of $382, prices are generally cheapest when you fly direct.

What is the cheapest month to fly from Des Moines to California?

The cheapest month for flights from Des Moines to California is January, when tickets cost $374 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are March and June, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $496 and $460 respectively.

What’s the cheapest day of the week to fly from Des Moines to California?

Your flight ticket price will generally be cheaper if you fly to California on a Wednesday and more expensive on a Sunday. On your return trip to Des Moines, you should consider flying back on a Tuesday, and avoid Sundays for better deals.

How far in advance should I book a flight from Des Moines to California?

To get a below average price on the flight from Des Moines to California, you should book around 5 weeks before departure, which saves you about 23% compared to booking last minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 11 weeks before departure.

Good to know

Low season

August

Cheapest flight

$50
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 4% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly and prices are also 5% lower on average.
Flight from Des Moines to Las Vegas

FAQs - booking California flights

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

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

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight from Des Moines to California 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 Des Moines 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 from Des Moines to California 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 Des Moines 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 from Des Moines to California up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.

Top tips for finding cheap flights to California

  • Looking for a cheap flight? 25% of our users found tickets from Des Moines to the following destinations at these prices or less: Las Vegas $128 one-way - $264 round-trip; Los Angeles $344 one-way - $355 round-trip

Reviews of the top 5 airlines serving from Des Moines to California

 
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from Des Moines 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
SouthwestOverall score based on 4189 reviews
8.0Comfort
7.5Entertainment
7.0Food
8.1Boarding
8.6Crew
Airline reviews

Terrible delay today. also, waited 90 minutes for baggage to unload in Seattle earlier in the week.

4.0 OkayHervey, Sep 2026
Read more Southwest reviews

Terrible delay today. also, waited 90 minutes for baggage to unload in Seattle earlier in the week.

Seated at front bulkhead for a smidge extra leg room away from home and on flight back home. Away crew was very proactive about assuring our carryons had space close behind us (because no seat in front of us our personal items had to be in a small bin overhead). They actively required passengers place overhead luggage on its side so more items could fit in bins. Home crew made no such efforts. I had to struggle back rows to get overhead bags upon landing, no crew help then either, and some disgruntled passengers as I and others retrieved our bags. There was a system that worked pretty well. The home bound crew just didn't feel like working.

Flight left on time and was early landing. Seats not comfortable and not enough space…

It would have been better if the flight was on time

No wifi, seems to be very common with Southwest currently. Everything else was normal.

Poor customer service, no accommodation for passengers when the flight was delayed over 5 hours.

The flight was late. The crew was rude. There was no food. Cramped and uncomfortable. Nothing about this flight was good.

It was just okay, no frills, basic transportation with no luxury. No screens on the seats, no water or drinks on a short flight. Full flight but at least it was on time.

The first time I flew in the extra legroom section. It was difficult to notice a difference. I had bad luck with my neighbors. The crew was okay. Southwest has reduced the live TV options.

No gluten free snacks. Seats felt worn or bare bones even though it was a new 737 MAX 8.

Even though the incoming flight was delayed by 20 minutes they managed to get us to SFO 15 minutes early.

Boarding, time to take off, in flight offerings, and staff were all great. I recommend using UA for this short flight.

The flight out of Fresno boarded 1.5 hour past scheduled and made me miss my connecting flight from SFO to SEA.

Airplane is not very clean, food quality and taste was not good. Lufthansa used to be good but nowadays went down. Overall experience is just okay, wouldn't fly again, prefer Turkish airlines.

I did bought anything… I don’t understand how this book appears to me . Ridiculous

My flight from Honolulu (UA 1221) was on a very old 757, no video monitors anywhere. If you wanted to watch a movie, you needed to do so using the United app on one’s phone. WiFi was $8 for Mileage Plus members; I demurred, choosing to spend my time reading a novel using the Kindle app on my Samsung S26. The meal was okay … Breakfast on any domestic airline is so-so as a rule and this one was no exception. The best part of the meal was the fruit plate and the warm croissant. The highlight: The flight left on time and arrived early.

The plane left over an hour late. I missed my connection going to Tokyo. They haven’t sent my bag to Thailand, where I ended up. It took me over 32 hours to get here. Very bad experience so far. I hope they can fix this and get my bag to me, within 24 hours it doesn’t look good at this time.

The flight was excellent. Their was no service as we boarded, the flight attendants spent about 30 minutes just taking and not really caring that the cabin was about 80 degrees and did not offered any beverage to first class passengers or any passenger. The flight from DEN to ONT is not long but not under an hour, we received one drink and bag of chips if you were lucky. I was in first class…. I did leave my hat on the plane and it only took less than five minutes for a United rep to locate and bring it to me.

Very rough getting into denver. my kid threw up it was so rough.

Liked that we left on time for each flight. Snacks not the best, but we're okay.

The flights to and from Cincinnati were great at being on time for both, departures and arrivals. The planes could use some updating.

It was a dismal experience. The flight was delayed for 4 hours, and we spent hours in the plane, without air, during the summer. We were not provided with water, and the medical assistance was inadequate when it arose.

The landing the pilot was very smooth. The flight attendant was kind of rude.The boarding the plane in punta Gorda was not great made us wait out in the heat 😞

My exit seat was very comfortable Coffee was to be purchased but sodas free 😏

It was poor a four hour delay and no explanation for the delay. What’s a 35 dollars going to do. It also made me miss my car rental,

It was on time. Flight was comfortable. Staff was nice. It was the way a flight should always be.

The price was the only good thing about this flight. It was scary during takeoff when the plane tilted side to side. It made me feel very nervous as I have never had a take-off that unsmooth. There was no on-flight movie or music options and the only complimentary option was water. Other airlines offer trail mix or a caramel cookie and pop options as complimentary. This flight was a 2.5 hour flight. I understand for shorter flights not having options, but a flight 2 hours or longer should offer more complimentary options and in flight entertainment. Also the seats did not recline and for a longer flight reclining seats are a must for comfort.

The flight was very delayed (in BOTH directions - outbound and returning). The flight was very very cramped. The plane taxi'd on the runway for a really long time, and I got claustrophobic being in such a tight seat. The pilot and crew both indicated that we were going to make up lost time due to the delay, but the plane arrived LATER than expected.

A foot rest for short legged people and a complimentary water would be nice.

The employees at the check-in counter said my disabled wife and I were going to be separated even though we picked seating together when we bought our tickets. They told us my wife would be seated in row 2 and I would be in row 8, because we bought our tickets from a third party. Fortunately the flight crew said: "No, you two need to be together, we'll fix this." Then they seated us together. We are 75 years old and flying is a challenge for us, so we appreciate all the help we can get. Your flight crew was awesome with us, and with the children on our flight as well. Thank You Allegent Air Lines! 🙂

American Airlines put the food on the wrong plane which had already taken off by the time we took off so we had no food on the plane.

I believe my father had a good flight. What was not good, was the associate who helped us during Step 2 of check-in. After getting his boarding passes and bag tags, we proceeded to Step 2 where we were met with Carol. This was around 3:15-20pm at Phoenix Sky Harbor. She weighed my father’s checked bag which was 2lbs over, she recommended removing a pair of jeans to correct this. My father asked/joked if “she could just let him go” and she fairly rudely responded something along the lines of, “I don’t own the airline so no I can’t do that”. From this point on I just want to assume she was having a bad day. I spent my life raised in a business and front-facing customer service so I understand previous clients can make you feel irritated. How she continued to act leads me to believe she was really careless about her job or racially biased/straight-up racist. After we moved the 2lbs to his other bag, she told us she believed he would need to claim his bag at his connecting flight in Hong Kong, before it could go to his final destination, Malaysia. This thoroughly confused us as we are fairly frequent international travelers and 95% of the time the bag is sent to its final destination without this requirement. Last time we traveled to Malaysia was less than a month ago, so again we’re fairly confused. Multiple times she used a fairly aggressive tone of “I know what YOU THINK, this is what I believe”. The multiple “YOU THINK” as if we didn’t understand what she was saying was rude and insulting, and her tone came along with a insincere smile, hence the feeling of she was racially biased. Despite the fact that she might have been having a bad day previously, it is AA’s airline’s duty to train their employee about international bag protocol, as clearly AA is a major partner of internationally traveling airlines. Carol made the experience overall unenjoyable sending my father off and made us both question AA’s training of their employees.

Old dirty plane but great lie flat seats in business class

The seats cushion on my seat (exit row) needs to be replaced. It felt like I was sitting on a bar rather than a seat cushion. Also, I was in the middle seat and I sat next to an oversized guy (window seat) and he took up about 25% of my space. Otherwise, the experience was good. :)

Worst experience ever, extremely disorganized airline with super rude crew for first class passengers. I have submitted feedback to AA customer care online that this was my worst experience traveling in over 30 years

The plane was late getting to Ontario by half an hour which makes it inconvenient when you have people waiting for you.

In flight connectivity (via T-Mobile) was often not working.

Terrible. Internet/kiosk glitch prevented baggage checkin. Line at ticket co in Ter was under serviced and did not move. Agents did not call for flight but rather allowed time to pass. Then told each person as they reached the front if line that it was too late to check bags so they’d have to rebook flights. At least 15 people missed the flight as a result of this incompetence.

It was exactly what I expected, actually arriving sooner than scheduled.

Terrible, they canceled my flight due to an issue they had, couldn't fly me into the same place within 24 hrs so had to fly in 2.5 hrs away from my destination and spend even more money. The customer service was terrible (except at the airport in Charleston). Had to call to get my checked baggage fees reimbursed 2 wks later in which one customer service agent was very rude, wouldn't listen and then hung up on me. The second lady I spoke with was actually able to help me with that part thankfully. Would not recommend flying AA.

Flight was delayed by about an hour, once we arrived at LAX we had to take a shuttle to the baggage claim - it was completely disorganized. The agents at the shuttles were rude and unable to provide any information. Frontier charges extra for everything from bags to drinks - at the end it ends up being more expensive than flying the better airlines

Tiny seats, no entertainment, no amenities, delays, they charge for carry on and their allowed personal item is smaller than in other airlines.

I really didn't like anything. Paid for my checked luggage online ($79) and then was told that I would have to paid another $79 for my carry on. Was not allowed to enter the terminal until 3 hours before my flight and when I finally was allowed to check my bag and enter, my flight was delayed 3 times. When I finally landed, we were all instructed to "run off the plane" as they had to do a quick turn around to Las Vegas. Me and several of my flying companions will never fly Frontier again.

Our flight was canceled. I will never use Kayak nor Frontier for travel again. The entire experience was a headache.

Terrible. The canceled my entire flight when I requested a refund for a trip frontier canceled trip one way.

i was unable to check in the flight. refund requested

I think Frontier was very good at communication. Their app worked very well. Loading was great and the flight was nice and easy.

Great for the price. No wifi or entertainment, but gate agents and crew were fantastic and we boarded quickly and left on time.

Decent clean onboard experience. Okay discount airline experience. Unfortunately, any customer service interactions are difficult and unhelpful. There is no service. Also, a premium seat only gets you premium boarding if you line up first. Once they start general boarding you must go to the back of the line. Not very premium

The crew was mostly okay. The flight attendant who answered our questions was curt and unhelpful unfortunately. He seemed upset and I understand having off days.

More options for your flight from Des Moines to California

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