Heightened sanitation
Daily cleaning, installation of cabin HEPA filters on flights from Des Moines to San José
Entry restrictions
Costa Rica has allowed all countries in the world to enter by air.
Entry requirements
Travelers must complete the digital Health Pass 48 hours before boarding.
Travelers must have a travel insurance with coverage of COVID-19 treatment and accommodation costs. Check Visit Costa Rica website for more details.
Costa Rica has eased their travel regulations and removed the requirement of RT-PCR tests for the detection of the coronavirus.
All other info
Expired residence permits (DIMEX) with category “permanente" are extended until 11 January 2021, with categories “temporales" and “especiales" which expired after 18 December 2019 are extended until 11 January 2021 and with category “estancias" which expired after 17 March 2020 are extended until 12 February 2021.
For information on visas, refer to the General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners.
There are currently 22,989 active cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in CR and 3,000 deaths as of Apr 7 2021
Please see our Coronavirus (COVID-19) Travel Restrictions page for more information on restrictions worldwide.
There are no direct flights for this route listed on KAYAK, the shortest multi-flight duration is 7h 05m.
In the past 3 days, the cheapest one-way tickets were found on American Airlines ($186) and Multiple Airlines ($214), and the lowest round-trip tickets have been found on American Airlines ($307) and United Airlines ($309).
Yes.
From Des Moines to San José, Wednesday is the cheapest day to fly on average and Tuesday is the most expensive. Flying from San José back to Des Moines , the best deals are generally found on Wednesday, with Sunday being the most expensive.
When flying out of Des Moines you will be using Des Moines, often referred to as Des Moines Airport. You will be landing at San José Juan Santamaria Intl, also known as San José Airport.
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 José.
KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight to San José from Des Moines is likely to change within 7 days, so travelers know whether to wait or book now.
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 José with an airline and back to Des Moines with another airline.
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 José from Des Moines up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.
Scores according to KAYAK customer reviews
Pros: "Everything was amazing"
Cons: "Nothing really."
Pros: "The crew was amazing."
Cons: "The seat backs are very uncomfortable for my neck & upper back. Difficult to tolerate, and gave me headache on each flight."
Cons: "For some reason, we were asked several times for Passports. This didn’t make any sense since we are US citizens with drivers license. They even had TSA talk to us. This has to be fixed. Otherwise, Delta experience was great."
Pros: "Good Crew. Landing was very smooth"
Cons: "line to drop bag was so long!! but on the plus side, we were through it in an hour and didn't miss our flight!"
Pros: "The crew on both legs of our trip were nice and accommodating."
Pros: "Good to have on board internet"
Cons: "Quicker boarding of passengers."
Pros: "The flight was on time and they did give free snacks! Nice change!"
Pros: "Crew"
Pros: "Great staff."
Cons: "They lost my bags in Amsterdam."
Pros: "The crew was awesome. The entertainment was great with a huge selection of movies. The food was really good."
Cons: "Boarding was delayed while waiting for Delta agents to come and assist people off of the plane."
Cons: "Better accommodation for handicap passengers."
Cons: "Leg room on modern aircraft seems to get smaller and smaller"
Cons: "Let was a typical flight. About all you can hope for is that it is on time. That makes it excellent."
Cons: "Great flight. On time and friendly staff."
Pros: "It's a nice and short flight so can't ask for too much. Quick to board and deplane"
Cons: "The flight was delayed by close to an hour. Being a late flight it made for an overly long travel day."
Pros: "Amazing crew, on time, decent coffee, plenty of drinks"
Cons: "The drinks cart was a little slow..."
Pros: "Comfy seats, quick service."
Cons: "If you are in Zone 3 or 4 you pretty much have to check in your bag back there is no more room. Which I don’t understand and is highly incovienent."
Pros: "Nothing"
Cons: "Even vegetarian Hindu food was ordered over the phone. We're presented non veg food. When asked about the non veg food we were told that we dint order. Lie right away. Alitalia members showed worst and discrimination based behavior. Very rude. Won't travel on Alitalia in future"
Pros: "Short and easy"
Pros: "Every aspect of this trip with Delta was super! We were on time, a bit early even. The flight was smooth and comfortable."
Cons: "I would prefer fresh fruit or vegetables as a snack."
Pros: "love that Delta is now giving out Kind bars. Thanks!"
Pros: "Super friendly flight crew."
Pros: "Nice plane, comfortable accommodations, great crew."
Cons: "There was nothing I didn’t like."
Pros: "The crew was gracious and accommodating."
Cons: "The plane showed wear and tear. We paid for delta+ premium economy and an exit row. The seating map online was misleading and we ended up next to the bathroom. The exit row food tray was broken and was hard to even sit a good tray on. The emergency exit door isn’t well insulated and we were absolutely freezing cold the entire flight. The seats were hard and uncomfortable. The food was not good for international travel. Overall I was very disappointed in this flight. I travel the world and on long hauls the planes need to be cleaned well and seats in working order."
Pros: "I like the snacks they are not giving out on the flights. It seems that Delta is trying to make the flying experience nicer instead of more tedious and uncomfortable like many other airlines, which is appreciated."
Cons: "The flights were both operated by Delta but booked through WestJet, and the flights themselves were fine. The booking was through WestJet (found the flight on kayak which kicked me over to West Jet's site) and check in was a pain. Their code did not work for their site or Delta's, I had to FB message them both leaving and returning to ask for the correct one, and the first request took them hours to answer. I'll just book Delta next time and save myself the trouble."
Pros: "Quiet, friendly, fast and efficient. What you'd want for a flight at 6am"
Pros: "Great service, very comfortable."
Pros: "It all went very well. Arrived 20 minutes ahead of time. Wifi movies were great. Stewardesses were very efficient."
Pros: "Movie helped to pass the time this was the longest flight ever I was glad when it was over"
Cons: "I have nothing to complain about"
Pros: "I appreciated that Delta was on time and prompt about getting passengers onboard. I appreciated that the stewardess was very courteous. I appreciated that there was no delay."
Cons: "There was nothing that I did not like. I had a previous bad experience with another airline that canceled my flight three days in a row. So I was very appreciative of the fact that Delta had available flights for me to leave."
Pros: "The crew was fantastic. I generally love flying Delta and find their crew to always be very professional and kind."
Cons: "As this was a smaller, regional jet, there weren't a lot of amenities. But that's fine, it's only a 40-minute flight!"
Pros: "Staff were awesome. Give them a raise."
Cons: "Nothing"
Pros: "Friendly and cleanliness."
Cons: "Cold drinks were warm."
Cons: "No communication between different parts of the airport; early arrival, over 2 hours getting through baggage claim; good luck rechecking your bag; almost missed flight with a 2 1/2 hour layover. Workers on the ground don't care, or either don't know what's next on the transit through the airport."
Cons: "Kids yelling"
Pros: "The in flight entertainment and the pilot being informative about what was going wrong at the Atlanta airport."
Cons: "The insane process that followed the flight of rebooking - it would have been VERY HELPFUL to have access to the inflight internet so that I could have rebooked my missed connection before we landed in the ATL airport where it was past midnight and there were hardly any staff available for us to talk to and the lines to speak to anyone took literal HOURS to get through."
Cons: "We sat on-board the aircraft, at the gate, for almost 2 hours due to a weather delay. During this time, we were not offered refreshments, nor were we offered any type of "compensatory benefit" for our delay (e.g., free Wi-Fi, vouchers good toward a future flight (a $30 voucher per passenger would seem appropriate), additional SkyMiles (3000-5000 SkyMiles would seem appropriate), etc.)."
Pros: "Great staff, quick service."
Cons: "Was never able to get on flight. The plane lost a windshield wiper and didn't have any spare parts."
Pros: "The flight attendants were so nice and accomadating. Even came by to refill our waters! I've never been on a flight with such friendly flight attendants!"
Pros: "On time Clean airplane Smooth ride Friendly staff"
Cons: "Nothing"
Pros: "Excellent service and on-time"
Cons: "Baggage charge"
Pros: "smooth flight"
Cons: "I'm not sure if this staff is exhausted or just over there job, but they cow towed to a woman who made major complaints about the air conditioning and even gave her points to help her deal with the temperature. Strange. They were only gold stays and I'm only Platinum and didn't complain once. Oh well, that's delta, we all deal with their silence when we post anything that is unfair."
Pros: "The check in personnel was fantastic - very helpful and friendly with a very relevant story that made me feel more relaxed. Our not so good seats were somewhat compensated by the plane staff that gave us each a full beverage can, extra pretzels, and some cookies."
Cons: "Our seats that we'd picked out seemed to get changed when we checked in and we got out in the last row, which had no window, and smelled strongly of bathroom cleaner."
Pros: "Same as previous flight."
Pros: "Nothing"
Cons: "Delay after delay, then missed connection."
Pros: "The quiet so I could sleep"
Cons: "Changing my seat last minute. Had to ask two women to move to get into my seat. Loading the plane first with passengers that have nothing to store above would expedite the experience for me. My seat belt disconnected from the back of the seat. The tray was broken and could not be lowered into a writing or eating position."
Pros: "USB and AC power supplied in-seat is incredibly nice feature."
Cons: "1 of the 3 bags we checked was forgotten at JFK airport. Since we had a 5 hour layover, Delta had ample time to get the bag on the plane."
Pros: "The staff was wonderful, flight nice & smooth"
Pros: "Miserable all around experience"
Cons: "The flight delay was not reported correctly until 30 minutes before expected departure. The baggage carousel stopped running after already being more then a hour late. No members present to rectify. Absolutely terrible trip"
Cons: "Maui to LAX GOOD. LAX to Phx crowded for Covid19 situation. Sat in middle seat between two other passengers. PHX to Santa Ana no one sat in the middle seat. It concerns me that such cheek to jowels seating could backfire"
Cons: "Nothing evething is ok"
Pros: "The crew was incredibly attentive and helpful."
Pros: "Whole row to myself. Greqt movie, in early and informative pro of a captain."
Pros: "Crew was awesome...love AA crew! Always and this time superb!"
Cons: "Leg room gets worse and worse...boarding sucked since they took our bags and we felt like it was only us that were singled out!!!"
Pros: "On time, main cabin extra was great, crew was nice, entertainment was great."
Cons: "No criticism"
Cons: "Time"
Cons: "Less passengers or bigger plane means more room. Everything was perfect except for being uncomfortably cramped."
Cons: "The crew was outstanding and the aircraft was new and comfy"
Pros: "Crew was nice, entertainment was good"
Cons: "Food was mediocre"
Pros: "Everything was excellent"
Pros: "Once boarding, we didn’t wait long for take off."
Cons: "Being on time."
Pros: "I hated the whole experience"
Cons: "I’ve never flown American Airlines and the flight was on time."
Pros: "Seat assignment process was great and considerate of my preferences."
Cons: "If AA could fix its luggage handling process that would be great. BOTH (!) of my bags have been lost on this flight. Both have been eventually located, recovered and delivered to me, but experience was not pleasant this time."
Cons: "On time"
Cons: "My luggage was delayed. I received it the day after"
Pros: "The agent at checkin was so kind, nice, professional and superb...I will always fly American Airlines....you have the best checkin agents, best gate agents (super funny yet professional) and also the flight crew was absolutely amazing!"
Cons: "baggage claim in Costa Rica is terrible service...but that is the airports fault since this happens with other airlines.....something has to0 change!!!!"
Pros: "The crew was amazing, considering the late flight & full plane."
Pros: "4 flights and all of them in middle uncomfortable seats. I requested aisle seats many times and counter agents were unhelpful and rude."
Cons: "Better seat options and more comfortable seats"
Cons: "Took forever to get the bags"
Pros: "Everything was perfect"
Cons: "Baggage was not that faster but was still okay Although improvements will be great"
Pros: "The crew was very nice and friendly"
Cons: "There was a technical difficulty with the plane, which made a short delay in our flight."
Pros: "On time"
Cons: "No wifi"
Pros: "Would fly again- irritated at how does a flight manage to get overbooked"
Cons: "Flight was 3 seats overbooked, they had to wait until 3 people willingly took a later flight. Like a game of chicken between 100 people."
Pros: "0ntime quick boarding"
Cons: "cost to check baggage"
Cons: "Least comfortable flight I've ever been on. It is hard to mess up the boarding process so that was okay, but the seats were cramped and awful. there was no crew around to offer water or anything. No snacks or anything to do for a 5 hour flight. long lines for the bathroom. Luckily I brought a tablet, but having no room whatsoever to move and never even seeing a flight attendant that i could ask for water made for a miserable flight."
Pros: "Nothing"
Cons: "Flight was late and caused me to miss my flight to Dallas."
Pros: "The flight crew was excellent"
Cons: "Nothing will be done about this but you still cram a lot of people in a small space and it’s even smaller when seats recline"
Pros: "On time departure, this flight tends to get delayed, not this time. Good service and pleasant flight."
Cons: "I prefer personal entertainment systems."
Pros: "The crew was friendly."
Cons: "Far and away the most uncomfortable and worst value-for-money international flight I've experienced. This plane is so old it should be put in a museum. The warm food was terrible and the non-hot food was completely frozen so even if I wanted to eat it, this wouldn't be possible. Individual seat in-flight entertainment screens have been the norm for many years, yet this plane had the community-style in-flight entertainment. Half of the time, the screens weren't working, which just made matters worse. The total lack of legroom and chair ergonomics made getting comfortable nearly impossible. I was literally in pain sitting in these seats. I live in Prague and visit family in the US often. This was my first experience with American Airlines' newer direct flight option from Prague to Philadelphia; based on the extreme discomfort of the inflight features and to top it off it was the highest price I've paid for a flight back home...(total lack of value for the money! )I would go out of my way to make sure I never take this route again."
Cons: "The food choices were terrible"
Pros: "They rerouted me so I at least salvaged some of my trip."
Cons: "They rerouted me for no reason making me miss my reunion."
Pros: "Boarding was fast because over fifty passengers were delayed checking in due to computer problems. Air conditioning was good."
Cons: "Flight delayed almost two hours due to computer problems. Seat pitch (room for knees) very limited, felt like I was packed in like a sardine. Crew should have provided refreshments (not just tepid water) and snacks during the delay. Pilot announced computer problem solved and remaining passengers would be boarding in fifteen minutes which turned out to be closer to an hour."
Pros: "everything but the cabin temperature. it was very hot and uncomfortable."
Cons: "Too warm in the cabin."
Pros: "Can’t say anything good"
Cons: "When boarding crew was rude because carry on did not fit the overhead compartment. No options to choose from for entertainment. Flight was delayed almost an hour while sitting in plane. Food options almost nonexistent"
Cons: "Bought 2 tickets but seats weren’t together poor service"
Pros: "Despite numerous delays, we made it to Philadelphia. We were alerted to the delays in a timely manner. We were also treated to a snack cart and cupcakes to celebrate the first day of direct flights."
Cons: "A long delay. Patience is everything and the staff and crew were very friendly."
Pros: "Staff and Entertainment"
Cons: "Back row, but someone has to sit there :)"
Pros: "Smooth Travel! AA is great"
Cons: "N/A"
Pros: "The crew was very friendly and accommodating. The food as usual just snack type food for purchase as expected. The entertainment system malfunctioned and we could not watch the movie they offered. However one flight attendant was very nice and gave my kids special cookies. Nice touch!"
Pros: "Mostly everyrhing"
Cons: "Food was so so"
Pros: "the check in went very well and the crew seemed efficient."
Cons: "the food was not good. it was not hot. the sound system was not good. the plane's screens were too far away. the earphones were a joke and did not fit well in the ear....plus no crew member came around offering them-I had to ask for them."
Pros: "the clerk at the boarding desk was kind"
Cons: "delayed"
Pros: "All good"
Cons: "No entertainment without paying"
Pros: "I did not die"
Cons: "planes were old, they lost my checked bags, the seats did not recline on a 5 hours flight, the movie was the same for everyone on the plane, food was a disgrace, seats were so small I was pretty much bitting my knees the whole trip. Overall, I am ever flying with American Airlines or Latam ever again."
Pros: "Nothing, even boarded front to back how idiotic have thet ever heard of back to front so you aren't waiting on everyone"
Cons: "Entertainment awful thought I was back in the 90's only overhead movies. Couldn't INDEPENDENTLY choose movies on a transatlantic flight are you kidding me. Sat behind huge guy who reclined his seat all the way back. When meal was served the my lap tray was hitting my knees and couldn't fit a can on tray without hitting his seat when I mentioned to flight attendants they did absolutely nothing"
Cons: "2 hours late. Kept moving the boarding time by 10min"
Pros: "Haven't left yet don't leave until today the flight was behind due to maintenance"
Cons: "That fact that on both ways they changed our flights which either we got to the destination late or we had to run across the airport so we don't miss our flights"
Cons: "You take my money for nothing yu stolen my money why why you kayak my husband doesn't travel from Desmoines he is not in system why ????? bring my money back to my account aa"
Cons: "Food"
Pros: "Inflight movies"
Cons: "None"
Cons: "They could have told me more than 24 hours before my flight that they changed me to a different flight 4 hours earlier in the day!"
Pros: "The food and the crew"
Cons: "Entertainment system, it is outdated"
Pros: "Amabilidad de la tripulacion"
Cons: "Podrían dar comida, el viaje no es tan corto. Aire acondicionado demasiado frío, muchos pasajeros solicitaron regular l temperatura, no habían suficientes mantas"
Pros: "Clean, comfortable and on time."
Cons: "Nothing"
Cons: "No screens in the seats. Food options are the usual limited fair"
Cons: "Slow boarding, no food no drinks, no tv."
Cons: "No apologies for being delayed. More than 4 hours. No explanation. Nothing. Awful service."
Pros: "Delays were clearly communicated with ample time to make changes if necessary"
Cons: "TEEEEENY WEENY itty bitty plane - hard to be comfortable- but fortunately it was a short flight"
Pros: "Easy connections, very timely and everything worked out great."
Cons: "Plane was full"
Cons: "I had to check my carry on from DEN to DSM because flight was full which I was told I could pickup at gate.. at the gate the TSA agent was very rude to me as I was confused as where my bag was, which I had to to baggage claim."
Pros: "Nothing"
Pros: "Más espacio, al menos una película que ver, y algún bocadillo por ser un vuelo de tantas horas"
Pros: "The pilot"
Cons: "Everything else"
Pros: "Boarding seemed smother than usual. I had an issue with a large back pack that wouldn't fit in the overhead due to a smaller plane travelling to Houston from Des Moines, Flight attendant was extremely helpful as it was expensive camera equipment and was able to stow it so that i didn't have to check it at the door. Most appreciated their sensitivity."
Cons: "The United crew really needs an attitude check. How can someone be angry at 6 am?"
Cons: "The plane was not at the airport on time and when it caused us to miss the flight they blamed the weather instead of the plane not being at the airport on time. They were rude and refused to give hotel vouchers."
Pros: "The plane took two hours to leave the ground due to weather. This was unfortunate and made the passengers uncomfortable but it was not the fault of the airline."
Cons: "The airline gave all the passengers access to the movies and television channels."
Cons: "My luggage didn't make connnection."
Pros: "Flight left right on time and arrived to the destination early - which was great because i had an extremely short layover"
Pros: "So they lost my bag but where super helpful and nice!"
Pros: "Friendly service,. On time"
Cons: "Nothing"
Pros: "Everybody was so friendly"
Cons: "Nothing"
Pros: "No delays"
Cons: "Everyone was super nice and gelpful"
Pros: "Quick and easy. Nice crew."
Pros: "I was treated wonderfully and had an amazing times."
Cons: "Everything was great."
Pros: "The crew worked quickly to get me another flight when I was not gonna make my connection flight."
Cons: "The plane malfunctioned and their time management of telling us when it was gonna be fixed was poor."
Pros: "Nothing"
Cons: "Crowded, overbooked, made me check my carry on which made me miss my train. Took 4 flights to get to my final destination. Small seats, uncomfortable... list goes on and on"
Cons: "Snack offering was caramely sugar cookie"
Cons: "Fligh delay."
Pros: "I was allowed to get off the aircraft to collect a bag I left behind"
Pros: "Attendants were amazing"
Cons: "We spent the whole delay on the plane and wasn't notified of a problem until after an hour. A lot of my time was wasted. That's not okay. Keep your customers informed."
Cons: "The airplane needed to be swapped, which caused an hour delay and made me miss my flight"
Pros: "Since we were the last ones to arrive at the gate because of our delayed flight they had to check our carry-on baggage with the luggage we didn't have locks and nomally what we carry in that bag are fragile or valuable things. They should at least have plastic gauzes or fragile stickers to put on the bags. I don't know the reason but the flight attendants left about the last 6 rows of passengers without pretzels or drinks. There was no device to view movies. Leg space too tight."
Pros: "Nice and comfy seats, good service on plane, fast boarding"
Cons: "No good food and the entertainment was not the beat"
Pros: "I loved it"
Cons: "Same. No ffood ..poor Service and allso charging. To much for extra weight. $200 for 3 extra pounds. Ridiculous. Also charged for one check in bag..Todo much"
Cons: "Viajar en United es desastroso. Los asientos son demasiado pequeños, yo mido1.57 metros y no me podía ni mover."
Pros: "Staff was ok."
Pros: "The crew were nice though exasperated with cramped new planes and crowded restrooms. Flight was on time"
Cons: "After three years of flying all around US, realized United is the worst of the three major legacy carriers. I'm star alliance gold and it's still a painful experience. Crew admitted in latest redesign of planes they've managed to squeeze another six seats in coach. My seat wouldn't go back but even if it did, would feel too guilty for person behind to do it - so little legroom on newer planes. They've also cut down on restrooms so for most of the flight there was a line of 5-6 people waiting in the aisle. American Airlines seems to have older planes but at least decent legroom (and I'm not tall - anybody over 5'10 would have to sit at an angle on new United planes!). Been very impressed by Delta's service lately. United feels more like Spirit"
Pros: "At least I made it"
Cons: "Flight attendant for United 426 to Chicago was rude, flight delayed and they weren't very helpful"
Pros: "Nothing"
Cons: "Lack of updates"
Pros: "Everything's on time"
Cons: "No,"
Cons: "The snack"
Pros: "Nothing"
Cons: "I paid extra money for our seats so we cud sit together N I ended up on the front of the plane N my boyfriend clear in the back I'll never fly United again y the hell did I pay almost 25$ per seat to sit together to sit on opposite ends of the plane"
Pros: "The seat next to me was empty"
Cons: "United put my bags on the next flight to San Jose, so I had to wait an extra 2.5 hours in the airport for the next plane to land in San Jose, Costa Rica while my ride waited for me."
Cons: "The seats were so small, with no space between rows that you couldn't even recline. The tv on the seat in front was so close you couldn't watch it. Miserable flight, and I'm only 5'5"."
Pros: "Crew was great!"
Airlines flying from Des Moines to San José have enacted additional safety measures and adjusted policies to better accommodate travelers. Policies vary by airline.
Heightened sanitation
Daily cleaning, installation of cabin HEPA filters on flights from Des Moines to San José
Mandatory masks
Masks required on board, masks provided on flights from Des Moines to San José
Social distancing seating
Middle seats unavailable to book on flights from Des Moines to San José
Pre-flight testing
Testing for antibodies, testing for symptoms for flights from Des Moines to San José
Flexible cancellations
Waiving of change fees. Search flexible flights from Des Moines to San José
Des Moines (DSM) United States
San José (SJO) Costa Rica