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Find cheap flights from Los Angeles to Costa Rica from $136

This is the cheapest one-way flight price found by a KAYAK user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight from Los Angeles to Costa Rica departing on 5/20. 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
Mi 6/5
Mi 6/12

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Best Costa Rica Flight Deals

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

San José
San José1 stop$199
Liberia
Liberianonstop$273

Good to know

Low season

October

High season

June

Cheapest flight

$136
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 19% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 24% increase in price.
Flight from Los Angeles to Liberia

FAQs - booking Costa Rica flights

  • When I fly from Los Angeles to Costa Rica, do I need to obtain a visa before my trip and will I need a passport?

    For travelers that are hopping aboard flights from Los Angeles to Costa Rica, a valid passport is a requirement for the trip and the passport needs to be valid for the entire length of your stay in Costa Rica. The passport should have one blank page inside of it for an entry stamp. If you are traveling on vacation as a tourist and you plan on staying for less than 90 days, you will not need a visa but you will need to present a return airline ticket.

  • After landing at the airport in San Jose, what is a good choice for public transportation to travel to the center of the city?

    There is a bus service operated by TUASA that makes the trip from the airport to the downtown area in about 30min. The cost for this trip is around ₡640 ($1).

  • What is the best way for me to get to Puerto Viejo from Los Angeles?

    Start your journey by booking a one-stop flight from Los Angeles to Limon Airport (LIO) that will most likely have a layover at San José Juan Santamaria International. Once in Limon, you can take the bus service offered by Autotransportes MEPE that makes the trip in around 1h 30min for a cost of about ₡1920 ($3).

  • Are there any lounges at Los Angeles International Airport where I can wait for my flight to Costa Rica?

    Since two of the airlines that offer direct service between Los Angeles include United Airlines and Avianca, travelers will be happy to know that the airport offers a United Airlines Polaris Lounge and a United Airlines United Club inside of Terminal 7 at the airport. Passengers traveling on Avianca can make use of the Star Alliance First-Class Lounge inside of the International Terminal since Avianca is a member of this alliance.

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from Los Angeles to Costa Rica?

    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 Los Angeles to Costa Rica.

  • How does KAYAK's flight Price Forecast tool help me choose the right time to buy my flight ticket from Los Angeles to Costa Rica?

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight to Costa Rica from Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles to Costa Rica?

    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 Costa Rica with an airline and back to Los Angeles with another airline.

  • What is KAYAK's "flexible dates" feature and why should I care when looking for a flight from Los Angeles to Costa Rica?

    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 Costa Rica from Los Angeles up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.

See more FAQs

Top tips for finding cheap flights to Costa Rica

  • Morning departure is around 10% cheaper than an evening flight, on average*.
  • The two international airports that you can choose from in Costa Rica are San José Juan Santamaria International (SJO) and Liberia International (LIR). San Jose is located right in the center of the country whereas Liberia is in the northwestern corner of the country.
  • If you're looking for public transportation to take you from downtown Los Angeles to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), you can travel on a combination of the Metro A line, C line, and finally, the Greenline Shuttle. The trip takes about 54min and will cost around $12.
  • If you have just arrived after a long flight to Costa Rica and need currency exchange services, the airport in San Jose offers the services near both Gate Nine as well as in the baggage claim area. These currency exchange services are open 24h per day.
  • If you're looking for a public transportation option to take you from Liberia International Airport to the center of Liberia, the bus offered by Flor de Polanco makes the trip in about 27min for a cost of around ₡640 ($1).
  • If you are driving your own car to Los Angeles International Airport, there are parking lots adjacent to the terminal buildings. If you prefer to spend less, there are economy parking lots that are about 7min from the terminal buildings that offer free shuttle service to and from the airport.
See more tips
*Average of the lowest prices shown in KAYAK’s search results for departures within the next 30 days

Top 5 airlines serving from Los Angeles to Costa Rica

 
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from Los Angeles to Costa Rica? 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 9137 reviews
7.3Food
8.2Boarding
7.9Comfort
8.6Crew
7.3Entertainment
Airline reviews

The messaging about the change in flight destination and options for getting to SFO was poor. There should have been frequent updates. When I spoke to the boarding agent moment before we were supposed to board, he was flippant and offered no help before the announcement was made that transportation would be arranged. It was as poor of an experience that I've ever had.

4.0 OkayAnonymous, Apr 2024LAX - SFO
Read more about Alaska Airlines reviews

The messaging about the change in flight destination and options for getting to SFO was poor. There should have been frequent updates. When I spoke to the boarding agent moment before we were supposed to board, he was flippant and offered no help before the announcement was made that transportation would be arranged. It was as poor of an experience that I've ever had.

This leg was better than the previous leg mostly because I upgraded my searing and the crew was nicer

I was not given a seat when I bought the ticket. I know airlines are trying to squeeze every penny out ot the customer, but we are buying a seat on the airplane, right? I find this irritating with all airlines, but especially Alaska because I fly it so often. No sense of customer use and loyalty.

I’m a first time mom and traveled with my 18mo old boy and it was not a great experience with the flight attendants. They were not friendly or helpful at all. It’s hard enough traveling with a toddler and have people be rude and unkind does not help.

The cabin stewart took care of my garment bag and then made sure I did not forget it on my way out. The stewardess gave me water after I missed the earlier service (I was asleep). I received good service overall.

only refreshments and biscuits available but it was a short flight from LAX to LAS thus it was fine.

High travel time and the flight was full but the staff handled it all well.

The person sitting next to me did not fit in one seat, so I effectively only had half a seat to myself. Airlines should come up with a strategy to sit oversized people in a way whereby they are comfortable but don't disrupt or take over other people's seats. It's unfair.

Horrible, missed my connecting flight because Alaska did not give me enough time

No hot water on a plane so no hot beverages , seats are cramped

I didn’t not like that I could not select my seat and ended up with the worse seat.

Great, on time departure, friendly and accommodating crew, great leg room, Smith flight

Honestly, I didn’t expect that I will experience this long time wait during the check in. There was only one person who was taking care of the passengers for the economy class and it took us to wait about one hour to do our check i. As a result we barely get to the airplane as the gate was at the end of the airport. That is totally not professional where one crue is working at the registration desk with economy and 3-4 crues are helping for the business class.

I guess they don’t serve drinks on planes anymore

Delta planes have the WORST seat comfort of any plane in history. It's the opposite of ergonomic, in every sense. They also recline minimally, are covered in a vinyl and have no feet rests. Then the disembarking process is chaotic and time consuming (because of the way they load the plane and deal with luggage). Overall, somewhat frustrating but we arrived safely :)

It was a very smooth ride. Not sure on a flight departing at midnight can be much better but it was late arriving and I had an early day so really just the logistics.

Really liked the choice of the 4 free snack options. Crew great. Good vibe on plane.

Very disappointed in the food selection. It was not good compared to other airlines.

Good breakfast granola bar good crew seamless flight and baggage transfer we’ll done!

Everything was great but the difference in paying for comfort + did not seem worth it.

Quick boarding and check in.. but premium seats don’t recline.. very hard to relax. But overall, it was a Great a satisfying experience.. Thank You

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.

No water for a 5 hour flight entertainment not working seats with little room for knees when person in front of me reclined kept bumping my knees.

I don't think anyone actually reads these comments, so I won't spend much time on this submission. If you want to talk, you know how to reach me. The D/FW manager of Avianca (self-identified), Juan Calderon, insisted I buy an onward ticket from San Salvador even though I have diplomatic status in El Salvador and live here. It cost me $1,393 and Mr Calderon would not let me make the ticked flexible so I could get a refund. He went out of his way to be rude to me. He gave me seat 32K -- windowless window seat in the last row and did not offer to let me upgrade even though there were plenty of seats. I have flown well over a million miles in my life and this is the worst experience I have ever had. I would like a refund on the ticket I was forced to buy. Just awful!

This is the Spirit of Latino travel. And don’t even get me started on customer service.

Awful. I checked in online and there was no option to pay for baggage, at the airport when I checked in my baggage was received and Iwas not charged. When I got to LA during the boarding process I was told I didn't pay for baggage, the crew resolved I was let in the plane. When I got to my final destination my baggage was not there. It took me two days to receive my baggage. Bad service ever!

There was no food or drink service, couldn’t even get a glass of water for free. It was a long and expensive flight to not offer food or beverage on the plane.

It is better at the jfk than my home country. It was very easy and everything was on time.

There is no food. There is no in-inflight entertainment. The seats are cardboard. The airline is a living hellscape.

My experience was amazing! They helped my elderly mother board on early through a wheelchair and were accommodating to have us sit together since our seats were in different locations. When landing at the airport in GUA they were very helpful with full of hospitality.

No complimentary snacks food, beverage (not even water), pillow and blanket on a 6 hours long flight (including economy comfort). A low form of nickeling an diming. Lost a recurring passanger over a soda. Avianca never again.

Flight departure late. Got late in Colombia making us take a different flight next day. Avianca airport crew messed up my ticket so when a I got in Brazil I didn’t have a ticket for my destination. Had to buy a new ticket out of my pocket.

Terrible! The plane was old and you are required to connect your own device to their Wi-Fi rather than have entertainment options in the back of the seat in front of you. The Wi-Fi went out during the flight and there was only one plug for the devices every two seats. Three out of five surrounding my family did not work. The seats and spaces under them were so small I could not fit my backpack, which I’ve always brought on flights and fit before no problem. The crew were unpleasant and patronizing.

Left 2 hours later for delayed I had to take care a kid with special need since people don’t want to move to accommodate the rest of the family. . It wasn’t bad but that made me upset that people can be that selfish.

For a 22 minute flight all you expect is for it to be safe and comfortable

Flight was on time. Staff were friendly. I paid for Economy Plus but was required to check my standard carry-on luggage due to lack of space on the aircraft. This cost me 30 minutes, unexpectedly, in waiting at the baggage claim. This experience did not meet my expectations.

No snacks served! Seating in the kast row in uncomfortable.

Wouldn’t let me check in said couldn’t find a ticket had to wait very long Time

I liked that we arrived earlier, you could improve your snacks give away

Flight was fine, it was delayed but only 30 minutes, staff were efficient, lady making announcements at LAX was really hard to understand but the rest were great.

I really enjoyed the staff and crew! Very positive and happy people! Made the experience easier! The entertainment was a bit lack luster. Better movie options as well as equipment that works smoother could be nice. My ear buds from the airline didn’t work and my tv screen had a terrible delay that made it hard to search for things to watch. Also the selections were very limited.

Flight was diverted to Canberra because Not enough fuel to circle on Sydney’s skies waiting for showers to pass. After that everything went wrong. It took forever to put fuel. Once back rolling, we stopped short of takeoff because crew had reached maximum work hours per shift. Back to gate we waited and waited in the plane with no water and no food - a total of 4 hours. Received contrasting news about the follow up of our trip. Finally we disembarked but our luggage could not be processed there as not enough custom agents. We ended up on buses and arrived at Sydney airports after a 3 hours trip. There we had to queue in line with 240 more passengers to file a lost luggage claim. We received the luggage after 48 hours, many of which spent holding with non-existent United customer service. Never able to speak to an actual person during those long phone calls. Finally on a chatline I could talk to a baggage agent, who filed another report as our luggage did not appear anywhere in their system. Thus it was surprising to get it back.

Book cheap flights from Los Angeles to Costa Rica

Recent round-trip flight deals

10/7Mo
1 stopVolaris
7h 23mLAX-SJO
10/16Mi
1 stopVolaris
7h 29mSJO-LAX
$199
10/7Mo
1 stopVolaris
7h 23mLAX-SJO
10/16Mi
1 stopVolaris
7h 29mSJO-LAX
$200
10/7Mo
1 stopVolaris Costa Rica
7h 23mLAX-SJO
10/16Mi
1 stopVolaris Costa Rica
7h 29mSJO-LAX
$221
10/1Di
1 stopAvianca
12h 30mLAX-SJO
10/6So
1 stopAvianca
17h 20mSJO-LAX
$228
9/4Mi
1 stopVolaris Costa Rica
7h 23mLAX-SJO
9/11Mi
1 stopVolaris Costa Rica
7h 29mSJO-LAX
$242
9/16Mo
1 stopAvianca
15h 35mLAX-SJO
9/23Mo
1 stopAvianca
17h 50mSJO-LAX
$251
5/14Di
nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 26mLAX-LIR
5/23Do
nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 55mLIR-LAX
$301
5/11Sa
1 stopUnited Airlines
9h 20mLAX-LIR
5/18Sa
1 stopUnited Airlines
8h 46mLIR-LAX
$329
5/14Di
nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 26mLAX-LIR
5/25Sa
nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 55mLIR-LAX
$346
5/21Di
1 stopUnited Airlines
7h 50mLAX-LIR
5/26So
nonstopUnited Airlines
6h 00mLIR-LAX
$363

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Recent one-way flight deals

5/20Mo
1 stopAmerican Airlines
14h 11mLAX-LIR
$136
5/10Fr
1 stopVolaris Costa Rica
7h 23mLAX-SJO
$139
6/22Sa
1 stopUnited Airlines
13h 49mLAX-LIR
$143
7/23Di
2 stopsAvianca
13h 50mLAX-SJO
$148
5/9Do
nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 26mLAX-LIR
$151
5/11Sa
nonstopDelta
5h 34mLAX-SJO
$162
5/18Sa
nonstopUnited Airlines
5h 47mLAX-SJO
$170
7/26Fr
2 stopsAvianca
24h 05mLAX-SJO
$173
5/20Mo
nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 35mLAX-LIR
$176
7/23Di
nonstopDelta
5h 40mLAX-SJO
$202

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Last minute flights from Los Angeles to Costa Rica

Last minute flight, train and bus deals

5/11Sa
multi-stopVolaris Costa Rica
7h 23mLAX-SJO
5/16Do
multi-stopVolaris Costa Rica
7h 29mSJO-LAX
$272
5/11Sa
multi-stopVolaris Costa Rica
7h 23mLAX-SJO
5/14Di
multi-stopVolaris Costa Rica
7h 29mSJO-LAX
$279
5/9Do
multi-stopSpirit Airlines
11h 32mLAX-SJO
5/14Di
multi-stopSpirit Airlines
13h 16mSJO-LAX
$293
5/11Sa
nonstopJetBlue
5h 37mLAX-LIR
5/15Mi
nonstopJetBlue
6h 03mLIR-LAX
$314
5/11Sa
multi-stopUnited Airlines
9h 20mLAX-LIR
5/18Sa
multi-stopUnited Airlines
8h 46mLIR-LAX
$329
5/11Sa
nonstopDelta
5h 34mLAX-SJO
5/15Mi
nonstopDelta
6h 19mSJO-LAX
$356
5/10Fr
nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 26mLAX-LIR
5/15Mi
nonstopAlaska Airlines
6h 01mLIR-LAX
$361
5/7Di
nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 36mLAX-SJO
5/12So
nonstopAlaska Airlines
6h 32mSJO-LAX
$384
5/10Fr
multi-stopUnited Airlines
12h 30mLAX-LIR
5/18Sa
multi-stopUnited Airlines
8h 46mLIR-LAX
$395
5/7Di
nonstopDelta
5h 34mLAX-SJO
5/12So
nonstopDelta
6h 19mSJO-LAX
$396

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Los Angeles - Costa Rica Flights

Departure:

Los Angeles (LAX)United States

Return flight deals:

Costa Rica - Los Angeles

Cabin classes:

$1,288
$890
$1,784
$144