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Find cheap flights from Des Moines to San Francisco Bay Area from $101

This is the cheapest one-way flight price found by a KAYAK user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight from Des Moines to San Francisco Bay Area departing on 5/18. 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
Fri 6/7
Fri 6/14

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Best San Francisco Bay Area Flight Deals

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

San Francisco
San Francisco1 stop$177
San Jose
San Jose1 stop$416

Good to know

Low season

February

High season

June

Cheapest flight

$101
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 11% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 10% increase in price.
Flight from Des Moines to San Francisco

FAQs - booking San Francisco Bay Area flights

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from Des Moines to San Francisco Bay Area?

    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 San Francisco Bay Area.

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

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight to San Francisco Bay Area from Des Moines 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 San Francisco Bay Area?

    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 San Francisco Bay Area with an airline and back to Des Moines with another airline.

  • What is KAYAK's "flexible dates" feature and why should I care when looking for a flight from Des Moines to San Francisco Bay Area?

    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 San Francisco Bay Area from Des Moines up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.

See more FAQs

Top 5 airlines serving from Des Moines to San Francisco Bay Area

 
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from Des Moines to San Francisco Bay Area? 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 9147 reviews
7.3Food
7.9Comfort
7.3Entertainment
8.6Crew
8.2Boarding
Airline reviews

Ground crew was great in Austin, flight crew left a lot to be desired. Not particularly friendly, helpful or nice.

6.0 GoodAnonymous, May 2024AUS - SFO
Read more about Alaska Airlines reviews

Ground crew was great in Austin, flight crew left a lot to be desired. Not particularly friendly, helpful or nice.

My baggage was in another flight, anit was delayed for one hour.

They canceled the flight 30 minutes prior to departure without any heads up.

Like South West(2 check in baggage free) if Alaskan Airlines could give at least one check in baggage free then it would be great.

Up on arrival, due to twisted ankle, I wasn’t able to walk. Requested for a wheelchair. They immediately asked for it. After 10 minutes wait a young man named Carlos picked me up at the gate, got my baggage and took me to the pick up area. It was a great service. Thanks Alaska Air line

Staff great. Tight seating. Pretzels and drink same as any other airline.

We had a very scary attempted landing in Palm Springs and were redirected to Ontario. It was a stressful flight.

Every thing means , crew, service, timing, boarding is very good.

My boarding pass birthdate was printed incorrectly causing me to spend an extra hour in a check-in and then again TSA line and to miss a chance to have dinner pre-flight. My window seat was given away and was replaced with a middle seat. I would have liked an opportunity to charge my phone and take advantage of movies but many of the departure gate chargers weren’t operational and I don’t know of an in-flight charging option, The flight left 45 late after trouble with unruly passengers, and I was glad staff removed them.

Horrible. I likely will have to spend several thousand dollars to rebook my international flights, due to their delays, plus a hotel in SF. I can’t wait to never fly them again!

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

Had a broken tray in business class. Crew just shrugged it off.

I didn’t like that I could not select my seat and was assigned a seat when I checked in at LAX

Great experience overall. Check in at Austin was congested as they only have about 6 check in kiosks, one was broken, and there was a lot of Spring Break travelers.

Bag drop off was slow and annoying. Only 2 agents at the entire delta desk, and no one directing traffic for what line to be in, many confused people slowed down the process. Boarding was fine. Seats in Delta comfort plus were fine. Snacks were great! Definitely a bonus. The entertainment system was awful — old, slow, not responsive, and completely unable to play games due to some kind of error. But on the other hand, thank you to Delta for the free WiFi. That made it better.

Everything was very good other than I had selected a specific seat when I booked the flight and they changed it once I checked-in the day before my flight. I was still in first class but lost my aisle seat for a window seat. Being tall, the aisle offers more comfort so I always select an aisle seat.

Flight diverted in SD. Later take off in Seattle by 1.3hrs

Crew was not friendly when I went to request a seat change.

Really impressive staff at airport and on plane, especially given how busy it was

Was a great smooth flight from Detroit to San Diego.

Should have video screens Plane audio was poor and without wired connection hard to understand crew. Should serve more than just cups of water and pretzels on six hour flight. Did not see crew rest of flight. Fix charging sockets to retain charging blocks.

Generally good but there wasn’t any staff available when my luggage didn’t appear at baggage claim in Fresno. It took about half an hour to locate a staff member to open up the locked room where it was being kept.

Do not like the feeling of being in the basic economy. Everyone should feel good no matter what.

Our original business class flight was cancelled so we not only downgraded but we were also spread out across the plane not sitting together in separate middle seats. My poor kids were scared and couldn’t see me on the flight and the crew wasn’t sensitive to the situation and what the airlines did to us. Very dissatisfied with United airlines.

The WiFi didn’t work and the seats are too close together. Very uncomfortable.

So so. Terrible aircraft choice for that leg of the flight.

delay several times and wait extra long to board. no entertainment service because there are problem for some rows. always encounter some delays for the last flight of the day.

On time every leg of the journey and exceptional staff at counter, gate, and on board. I haven’t travelled in US for a long time and was genuinely surprised how pleasant this was.

This was a Lufthansa flight. Disappointing main meal. Very rough over Canada and arrival at FRA. IFE was almost unusable.

Too many fees (but that seems to apply to all airlines nowadays)

Fight crew was not very attentive and the bastions were gross!

Our flight was great we left Kona earlier and got into LAX almost an 1hour earlier as well. LAX AA is in repair so to get out and found our bus to get pick up was a bit confusing.

Plane was good but was delayed. probably not AA fault but caused a 1 hour delay. Seating was cramped.

5 hour flight - full flight - not enough room to use my computer - slightly delayed - Admirals club was excellent quality food, drink made up for flight seating. No food offerred on flight, you ahd to prebook.

We experience delays on departure and connecting flights resulting in 14 hour to our next departure. We were accommodated with a night's stay but was only provided a 12 dollar meals accommodation. The airlines rules state.at least 50 dollars. In any case, it can not make up for the whole day missed on our vacation in Sydney Australia.

I can say I will not be taking this airline again any time soon. Seat were uncomfortable and too tight. Lack of chair screen and little overhead space.

Plane felt so crowded and tightly packed. The chair itself was not comfortable.

They attended to my needs as I couldn't walk and they provided a wheelchair for me.q

Poor availability of food. Cold cabin temperature. Extremely long waiting time for a flight attendant to respond to a call button signal.

2.5h delay due to unruly passenger in first class. Had to be removed from the flight. No food unless pre ordered. Didn't know we would need it because of delay.

Frontier is a crappy airline nothing about it is honest

I didn't get to do this flight l, hard to review

Not good 😐 Over priced baggage fees Small hard seats No wifi or entertainment options 😕

Didn't like anything!! Horrible flight. Small seating area and hard seats. Butt was sore after 2 hour flight to Seattle No entertainment or free refreshments No wifi or USB charging receptacles to charge phone entoute like other airliners Luggage rates were 3 times as much as competitors. Difficult to navigate online luggue process to pre pay before flight Overall bad experience WILL NEVER RIDE OR RECOMMEND FRONTIER TO FRIENDS OR FAMILY MEMBERS!!! THIS IS A SHAME!! MOST MESERIBLE FLIGHT OF MY LIFE!! AND I THOUGHT SPIRIT WAS 👎 YOU GOT THEM BEAD HANDS DOWN!!

Flight was a little late taking off. Seats are too upright, no ports to charge devices, no wifi, no entertainment

Six hour delay. Poor customer service. No voucher. Bad communication. Missed important appointments.

Our flight was delayed an hour, then when we got to board our flight finally, we were waiting in our seats for take off for 45 minutes before it was communicated that there was a maintenance issue therefore we waited on the plane for over an hour while that was resolved. We did not get to Phoenix until almost 3 hours after we were originally supposed to. This was the first and last time I will be flying Frontier.

Flight was canceled with little warning. Flight was rebooked through Ontario, California and connecting flight was delayed by over three hours. Frontier is living up to their Greyhound of the skies reputation for sure.

I purchased a carry on bag online…was supposed to cost $72 but after a whole slew of bs charges, the total was over $175.00. Because of these hidden charges, I will not even consider flying Frontier ever again. It’s just not worth the hassle. I’m scratching this company off my list forever.

Flight was OK. Seats were good no cell phone charges on the plane no TVs or entertainment.

Book cheap flights from Des Moines to San Francisco Bay Area

Recent round-trip flight deals

9/13Fri
1 stopFrontier
28h 37mDSM-SFO
9/15Sun
1 stopFrontier
17h 34mSFO-DSM
$177
6/1Sat
1 stopFrontier
12h 22mDSM-SFO
6/4Tue
1 stopFrontier
5h 20mSFO-DSM
$180
5/24Fri
1 stop
11h 49mDSM-OAK
6/2Sun
2 stops
24h 18mOAK-DSM
$314
8/27Tue
1 stopUnited Airlines
5h 51mDSM-SFO
9/4Wed
1 stopUnited Airlines
7h 19mSFO-DSM
$315
5/29Wed
1 stopAmerican Airlines
9h 26mDSM-SFO
5/30Thu
1 stopAmerican Airlines
9h 28mSFO-DSM
$318
5/24Fri
1 stop
11h 49mDSM-OAK
6/2Sun
1 stop
13h 15mOAK-DSM
$322
5/29Wed
1 stopAmerican Airlines
9h 26mDSM-SFO
5/30Thu
2 stopsAmerican Airlines
9h 22mSFO-DSM
$323
5/29Wed
1 stopUnited Airlines
5h 26mDSM-SFO
5/29Wed
1 stopUnited Airlines
7h 17mSFO-DSM
$354
6/7Fri
1 stopDelta
8h 29mDSM-SFO
6/11Tue
2 stopsDelta
12h 28mSFO-DSM
$429
8/30Fri
2 stopsDelta
8h 19mDSM-OAK
9/7Sat
1 stopDelta
9h 29mOAK-DSM
$431

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Recent one-way flight deals

5/18Sat
1 stopFrontier
12h 37mDSM-SFO
$101
5/15Wed
1 stopFrontier
18h 25mDSM-SFO
$106
6/21Fri
1 stop
14h 34mDSM-SJC
$156
5/28Tue
1 stopAmerican Airlines
8h 33mDSM-SFO
$160
6/21Fri
2 stops
22h 00mDSM-SJC
$160
6/19Wed
1 stopAmerican Airlines
7h 00mDSM-SFO
$173
6/20Thu
2 stopsDelta
12h 49mDSM-SJC
$213
7/21Sun
1 stopUnited Airlines
5h 39mDSM-SFO
$238
6/5Wed
1 stopUnited Airlines
8h 18mDSM-SFO
$250
6/1Sat
2 stopsDelta
8h 12mDSM-OAK
$289

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Des Moines - San Francisco Bay Area Flights

Departure:

Des Moines (DSM)United States

Return flight deals:

San Francisco Bay Area - Des Moines

Cabin classes:

$493
$908
$167
$48