$119 Find Cheap Flights from District of Columbia to California - Compare and Save

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Low season

January

Cheapest flight

$119
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 15% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 2% increase in price.
Flight from Washington Dulles Airport to Sacramento

Flights from District of Columbia to California: the best tips from KAYAK users

Insights shared by verified travelers who flew the route from District of Columbia to California 
Verified travelerFlew with Alaska Airlines-Feb 2026
DCA only has a few flights to other coast. IAD has many. If something goes wrong you’ll have more options flying out of IAD.
Verified travelerFlew with Alaska Airlines-Jan 2025
Reserve your plane seat & bring something to eat in the plane.
PhallyFlew with Alaska Airlines-Oct 2024
Don't take too much stuff. Make sure to have the necessary documents or boarding pass ready.
RebeccaFlew with Alaska Airlines-Sep 2024
Get something to eat in the airport, just in case there is no food onboard.
Verified travelerFlew with Alaska Airlines-Jul 2024
Easy access via metro, and by car with parking available walking distance from the terminal. Lots of seating and dining options near the flight boarding gates.
NoamFlew with Alaska Airlines-Aug 2024
Flying to the Ronald Reagan airport is closer and faster to D.C. than the Dulles airport.
BillFlew with Alaska Airlines-Jun 2024
At Dulles, you can spend 30 minutes getting to your AFTER clearing TSA
DeniseFlew with Alaska Airlines-May 2024
Bring your own device. No screens on the seatbacks.

FAQs for booking flights from District of Columbia to California

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from District of Columbia 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 District of Columbia to California.

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

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

    District of Columbia and California are connected by different airlines. The airlines that fly that route the most regularly are United Airlines (224 flights per week), Air New Zealand (190 flights per week), and Virgin Australia (166 flights per week).

  • How many airports are there in California?

    There are 28 airports in California. The busiest airport is Los Angeles Airport (LAX), with 40% of all flights arriving there.

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

    Prices will differ depending on the departure airport, but generally, the cheapest airport to fly to in California is Los Angeles Airport (LAX), with an average flight price of $336.

  • What is the cheapest day to fly to California?

    Based on KAYAK data, the cheapest day to fly to California is Thursday where round-trip tickets can be as cheap as $434. On the other hand, the most expensive day to fly is Sunday, where round-trip prices are $598 on average.

  • 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 $424 on average. On average, there is no price difference when choosing to fly in the morning or the evening on this flight route. The most expensive time of day to fly to California is generally in the afternoon, which is peak travel time and where the average cost of a ticket is $543.

  • What is the cheapest flight to California?

    The cheapest ticket to California from District of Columbia found in the last 5 days was to Los Angeles, at $297 round-trip. The most popular route is Baltimore (BWI) to Los Angeles (LAX) and the cheapest round-trip airline ticket found on this route in the last 5 days was $297.

  • What is the cheapest month to fly from District of Columbia to California?

    The cheapest month for flights from District of Columbia to California is January, when tickets cost $249 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are July and October, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $318 and $307 respectively.

  • How far in advance should I book a flight from District of Columbia to California?

    To get a below average price on the flight from District of Columbia to California, you should book around 4 weeks before departure, which saves you about 38% 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 California?

    From District of Columbia, there are direct flights to California from 1 city. This city is Washington, D.C. and there are 1,131 direct flights each week.

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

    There are around 162 direct flights from within District of Columbia to California every day. Most flights (46%) depart in the morning.

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

    Each week there are around 1,131 direct flights from within District of Columbia to California. The most common day for departures is Sunday, with 18% of flights taking off on this day.

  • How long is the flight to California?

    An average nonstop flight from District of Columbia to California takes 8h 06m, covering a distance of 2313 miles. The shortest route is Washington, D.C. Dulles Intl Airport (IAD) to Las Vegas (LAS) with an average flight time of 5h 00m.

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

    There are not any long-haul (6-12 hour flight duration) or short-haul (up to 3 hour flight duration) flights to California. Instead, there are 1,131 medium-haul flights (3-6 hour flight duration), with the most arriving from Washington, D.C..

  • What are the most popular destinations in California?

    Based on KAYAK flight searches, the most popular destination is Los Angeles (34% of total searches to California). The next most popular destinations are Las Vegas (34%) and San Francisco (22%). Searches for flights to John Wayne (Santa Ana) (5%), to Sacramento (3%) and to Oakland (1%) are also popular.

Reviews of the top 5 airlines serving from District of Columbia to California

 
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from District of Columbia 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.
7.9
Alaska AirlinesOverall score based on 13139 reviews
7.8Comfort
8.1Boarding
7.0Food
8.5Crew
7.0Entertainment
Airline reviews

Trouble linking to the Tmobile wifi. The legroom on the 737 was fantastic. No more knees touching the seat back in front. Plenty of charging plugs and inovative clips to hold phones and tablets.

10.0 ExcellentAnonymous, Oct 2026
Read more Alaska Airlines reviews

Trouble linking to the Tmobile wifi. The legroom on the 737 was fantastic. No more knees touching the seat back in front. Plenty of charging plugs and inovative clips to hold phones and tablets.

First class flight attendants went out of their way to help me with bag of ice to ice my foot (recovering from surgery) which helped with swelling. And helped with leg rest that I couldn’t move.

Alaska has been my favorite airline for years, so this last trip came as a shock and disappointment. The seats on the plane were so uncomfortable and seemingly cheap. The person sitting next to me said the same thing. I used to love the in cabin lighting, the purple was so relaxing, it's now gone. The little touches that made Alaska great are gone. I purchased the wifi and it wasn't working during much of the flight, the flight attendants kept rebooting it. I wouldn't have spent my money that way had I known it would be unusable for 50% of the flight. I am bummed because I always chose Alaska over price shopping. I have an upcoming flight back to DC and decided to go with American Airlines. It was a better price and I don't feel like Alaska gives me anything special.

It departed an hour and a half late because the crew got in late the previous night due to weather related problems. So we got into LA later than anticipated and traffic was much worse.

Good. I didn’t order food and there was no entertainment available.

Flight cancelled and deplaned. Rescheduled 8 hours later at a different airport. Ended up at destination but late.

The seats are very small. I’m 5’ 3”, so don’t think I should notice. The food selection was non existent and very disappointing. 5 hour flight plus TSA, etc. I would have appreciated a small salad, crudités. Something fresher not just chips.

Flight from LAX to STS das excellent. Flight from DCA to LAX was troubled by the previous flight returning to the one DCA gate putting our flight in jeopardy. However another gate was arranged and that flight was a bit late, but was handled exceptionally.

Boarding process was poorly handled by the gate crew and the onboard crew. No effort was made to provide equal treatment to passengers with overhead bin space. Crew seemed disengaged and unfriendly.

Awesome. Great flight. Super nice people and I like the extra space

It’s too cold like fridge and they don’t offer a blanket with expensive price

A List preferred boarding was nice Asked for a mask and cheerfully received Denver bag check-in is tricky. Not near other checking desk. Have to navigate to east security and up to level six for bag checkin. TSA busy and 20 minutes process thru pre lines Denver train to gates quick but one more thing to plan time for and long concourse walk to gate

Not exactly Southwest’s problem, but the new Burbank airport is not great. No restaurants open and tons of work still to be completed. Can’t believe they opened the airport in that condition.

Southwest has lost most of what made it special. The flight attendants all used to seem fun and like they were having fun. Now they seem just miserable. They do NOT seem happy to give you your pretzels and drinks. They stick it in your hand or on your tray like it's an annoyance. They bark safety instructions at you. It's not just this flight but the last few SW flights I've had to SNA and SAN as well and it's not just me. I've informally surveyed my colleagues (business and leisure travelers) and these feelings are consistent. The tickets are similarly priced to other carriers and the seat assignments make boarding slower. The free luggage and free ability to change flights is still a differentiator. You lose that and there's virtually nothing special left.

Overall good experience...exception: very cold temp in teh cabin.

I liked how it boarded fast. I do not like how the seats are just too narrow, and I’m not a big person.

Despite paying for an ‘upgraded’ seat in row 1, I had to put my luggage in the middle of the plane. Snacks were bleh and seat was small and uncomfortable and I am not large. Attendants were fine but not super helpful. Plane just seemed outdated.

Delayed for no reason at all originally. Then they said it was due to weather conditions. Communication between kayak and Southwest was terrible because both displayed different delays and departure times for HOURS throughout the day. The plane then had technical issues which delayed us from taking off even longer. Didn’t actually take off until 11:45pm when the original departure time was 7:35pm. I didn’t get home until 1:30am the next day. I was exhausted and pissed off. I am not confident if I’ll fly southwest in the future or use kayak to book.

Flight was fine. Only thing was flight was delayed nearly 2 hours. Flight was originally scheduled to depart at 7:50pm but didn't depart until 9:50pm. I got home around midnight. It was later than desired and I had to get up early next day to take kids to practice. I have noticed that last flight of day on West Coast for Southwest always tend to have delays.

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

The food was horrible. There was no. Wifi, and it was just terrible from bangkok to d. C

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

Delayed 2 hours while stuck on the aircraft. If the luggage was properly loaded the first time we probably wouldn’t have been delayed at all

Like: departed and arrived on time. Unlike: Food options for purchase allways bad, 1 of 2 of the crew members not very friendly at all. Seats and leg room aweful. At this point I am thinking on switching to AA.

7 hours delayed due to operational issues on United’s end. Basically laziness.

We were given vouchers we couldn’t use with a 5.5 hour delay

This was a 5 hour flight with no entertainment and with a snack being provided (pretzels and fruit bar), which are both high in carbs and sugar. Nuts would have been a better choice.

Good plane, crew, and flight. Boarding was a bit chaotic. Bathrooms were unacceptable. United DESPERATELY needs a new terminal at IAD.

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.

787-9 Transcon from IAD-LAX FYI no meals in premium plus, not considered Premium - seats are wonderful https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/inflight/premium-services.html Horrible handling of delayed flight

Cabin staff were very disengaged, spoke with no eye contact, dismissive. Disappointing compared to my United experiences.

Flight attendants were pleasant and helpful. Pilot gave fair warning about turbulence.

Unfortunately the flight was delayed. On a positive note the status updates in the app/text message were good

extremely tight seats. seating next to a large person makes the space very uncomfortable. The crew is not very friendly either.

The flight was 3 hours and 40 minutes late. The communication around the delays was awful. I fly this route regularly and it is always late. I don't understand it. The flight attendants were not friendly and were generally loud. This was an overall bad look for American Airlines.

Too little snack and drink for almost 6:00 hr flight. Should have serve some food.

Everything was fine except they changed the gate number and we ended up running all over LAX because of it.

The crew in the Vegas airport clearly was having a bad day … they moved on and the crew that checked us in for boarding was great, as was the flight crew. I did get the wheel of my carry on stuck in the overhead bin. Amazing team effort to include the flight attendants, the pilot, and another pilot who was on the flight as a passenger. Finally got it unstuck ✅

Going non stop to lax like I paid for. Not stopping in MCI for gas. Too long of delays

We were told the flight was delayed 5 times, then it was moved to the next day.

It got me to my destination? However we were an hour delayed departing, and we never received any updates or notifications from staff. Poor communication and customer service.

My experience with Frontier was terrible. We were delayed for 2 hours. At one point during the wait at the gate I left to go get a sandwich - I was gone probably 15 minutes. In my absence, they decided to move our flight up, boarded and left. When I came back the two attendants were very rude and I unavoidably had to purchase another ticket on the next flight. During this whole time, the Frontier app did not update the departure time, so I was SOL.

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.

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