$41 Find Cheap Flights from New York State to California

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Low seasonFebruary
High seasonJuly
Cheapest flight$41
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 6% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 6% increase in price.
Flight from Newark Liberty Airport to Los Angeles

Flights from New York to California: the best tips from KAYAK users

Insights shared by verified travelers who flew the route from New York to California 
LuisFlew with DeltaJFK-SFOMar 2025
It’s a long flight, come prepared to either watch movies, read or sleep.
HowardFlew with Alaska AirlinesJFK-SANMay 2025
Must have a tablet to watch videos. Bring a seat cushion.
Verified travelerFlew with American AirlinesJFK-LAXJan 2025
Be there on time it really need two hours for security checkups
Verified travelerFlew with Qantas AirwaysJFK-LAXNov 2024
there was an instance where a non speaking couple didnt know when to board. people cut in front of them and the crew didnt respond. it would be nice if there were translators available to assist when needed. i get that you want people on board as quickly as possible. sometimes, it's like herding cats. but do assist the people who dont understand the language.
JulieFlew with Alaska AirlinesJFK-SFOOct 2024
Leave early. JFK can be messy. I couldn’t find healthy food choices so eat before you arrive.
Verified travelerFlew with Alaska AirlinesJFK-SANOct 2024
Landing in La Guardia or Newark (New Jersey) is more convenient for commuting to Manhattan.
Verified travelerFlew with Alaska AirlinesJFK-SFOJun 2024
SFO is one of the most convenient and pleasant airports. When flying Alaska Air make sure to bring your food and a larger water bottle that usual (you get only two drink services (one small cup each) for a 6 hour flight.
Verified travelerFlew with Alaska AirlinesJFK-PSPMar 2024
Bring an iPad with lots of shows downloaded. The terminal at jfk is nice and small, easy to go thru security. Palm Springs airport is amazing. You step out and feel like you’re on vacation.
Verified travelerFlew with Alaska AirlinesJFK-SFOMay 2024
The airport food was limited and expensive. Best to bring a sandwich from outside…
LaurenFlew with JetBlueJFK-LAXDec 2023
Be very careful that you don’t misplace anything. If you have to go through TSA multiple times, be sure to retrieve ALL your things even if it means you have to hold up the line unfortunately. Otherwise, there will be zero help to retrieve your things afterwards even though there are so many cameras.

FAQs for booking flights from New York State to California

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from New York State 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 New York State to California.

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

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

  • 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 Palm Springs Airport (PSP), with an average flight price of $118.

  • What is the cheapest day to fly to California?

    Based on KAYAK data, the cheapest day to fly to California is Monday where round-trip tickets can be as cheap as $368. On the other hand, the most expensive day to fly is Sunday, where round-trip prices are $499 on average.

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

    The cheapest time of day to fly to California is generally in the morning, when round-trip flights cost $385 on average. Morning departures are around 37% cheaper than evening flights, on average. The most expensive time of day to fly to California is generally in the evening, which is peak travel time and where the average cost of a ticket is $608.

  • What is the cheapest flight to California?

    The cheapest ticket to California from New York State found in the last 72 hours was to Los Angeles, at $154 round-trip. The most popular route is Buffalo (BUF) to Los Angeles (LAX) and the cheapest round-trip airline ticket found on this route in the last 72 hours was $154.

  • What is the cheapest month to fly from New York State to California?

    The cheapest month for flights from New York State to California is May, when tickets cost $324 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are December and June, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $651 and $549 respectively.

  • How far in advance should I book a flight from New York State to California?

    To get a below average price on the flight from New York State to California, you should book around 4 weeks before departure. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 21 weeks before departure.

  • How long is the flight to California?

    An average nonstop flight from New York State to California takes 7h 16m, covering a distance of 2409 miles. The shortest route is Buffalo (BUF) to Las Vegas (LAS) with an average flight time of 4h 40m.

  • What are the most popular destinations in California?

    Based on KAYAK flight searches, the most popular destination is Los Angeles (29% of total searches to California). The next most popular destinations are Las Vegas (21%) and San Francisco (19%). Searches for flights to San Diego (7%), to Ontario (5%) and to Burbank (5%) are also popular.

Reviews of the top 5 airlines serving from New York to California

 
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from New York 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
Alaska AirlinesOverall score based on 10000 reviews
7.1Food
7.8Comfort
8.1Boarding
7.1Entertainment
8.5Crew
Airline reviews

I had a negative experience, the flight delay was very long, I didn't like it

2.0 MediocreДарима, Jul 2025JFK - SFO
Read more Alaska Airlines reviews

I had a negative experience, the flight delay was very long, I didn't like it

Original flight was canceled, and the automatically booked second flight was immediately delayed. I arrived about 4 hours later than planned with only a $12 meal voucher that didn't fully cover a sandwich at airport prices.

It was very good and comfortable, Crew was also great

Good experience, although it was a little cramped being a tall person. Otherwise everything went smoothly and professionally though

Delay of more than 3 hours I didnt recieve neither a voucher for food Attention disaster

I'm a platinum member with American Airlines, however, my ticket did not display status and thus I did not board with an early group. I traveled with my two daughters and we were given a row of seats that did not recline. Not the treatment I would have expected for a platinum customer. The flight was also a bit late leaving Portland. Also on my flight to Portland we were not given premium seats. In fact, we were in the last row of the aircraft.

The seats in first class are very dated and quite uncomfortable. I don’t need lie-flat seats for a 6 hour flight, but more recline is really necessary.

One of the stewardess, Tre, went above and beyond to ensure my comfort!

Alaska app and website had numerous problems so couldn’t get boarding passes or check seats

Flight was very warm. It felt like there was no working AC.

At first, we were on the runway for about an hour, literally. The Captain did explain that the Control Tower just had a change shift (sounds like an unrealistic excuse) and then that we had to change a runway. A regular economy seat is made for 12 yo twiggy. I understand Delta wants to push for an upgrade, but after sitting in a Comfort seat and in First class. I would say First class is not worthy of my money. The landing was delayed because of the weather in NYC, I don't hold that against Delta, of course. The Captain did alert us to that upon takeoff in Vegas and again as we reached NY.

My flight was extremely cold. I had a jacket and a cover was left in each seat. The cover was extremely thin and I have a disability, fibromyalgia and arthrithis and AC air is the worst. I closed my vent and my husbands vent and it still was frigid. I asked the attendant if I could get another cover and she quickly almost dismissively and totally unconcerned stating, (I quote) (one per chair) and walked off so quickly that I didn't get a chance to explain to her that I literally have adisability. I didnt want to make a seen so I set on that flight for over 5 hours in pain, joints locking up and extremely uncomfortable. When my fibromyalgia flares up my joints not only ache but they will lock up also and it takes me days to get back to my regular self even though I take medication for it. I felt like it would not have hurt anyone at all for her to just give me an extra cover because I'm sure they have all types of medical issues in people that fly every day.

Not a "Delta" issue, but a JFK issue: We booked a connecting flight with 3 1/2 hours between to clearn immigration and customs. Our inbound flight (BCN to JFK) was on the taxiway 45 minutes which ate into our layover time. Immigtration was insanely quick with the CBP MPC app; however, clearing TSA (again, after we were ALREADY cleared in Spain on the inbound international flight) took over 95 minutes. This left us with 10 minutes before boarding the connecting flight (JFK to SAN) to walk to the far end of Terminal 4 and try to find food. We didn't find any food that could promise to serve us in under 10 minutes so we boarded the Delta flight after coming off a plance and an 8-hour flight knowing that we wouldn't be served any food on the next 5 1/2 hour flight. I feel like Delta needs to put pressure on the JFK TSA to open more screening stations (by our count, we saw only 5 scanners open and a line of - as we said - over 90 minutes. The insult is that we WERE ALREADY SCREENED through TSA, but as you come off one flight into the USA, you have to go through the whole process again. It seems like if you have a connecting flight, there should be a way to pass through immigration and customs without needing to return through TSA.

There are 4 flights in consecutive gates with about the same departure time. Two flights were boarding at the same time. One was delayed or boarding would be happening at the same time. I am not sure what Delta and LAX need to do to have a better layout at the end of Terminal 2

5 hours of delay that could've been much shorter if Delta had taken the 1 hour delay they imposed on the flight before boarding to run any of the plane checks required for flight to find the hydraulic issue that required nearly 3 hours to fix. $24 of meal credit buys a sandwich and a soft drink. Poor communication within the terminal about what gate we'd be re-boarding from and when we'd be re-boarding.

The entertainment and wifi mostly didn't work on this flight.

Terrible entertainment system - kept freezing and audio kept cutting out. Snacks were mediocre at best for a 5 hour flight.

I am still upset that my bag was lost on a recent trip to Rome ; we were inconvenienced and out €150 Euros ; delta has refused to reimburse us

This had nothing to do with Delta… The flights were on time and flawless. The service was excellent. We purchased seats in (aisle/middle) comfort plus since this was a cross country flight. Unfortunately, the woman seated at the window was 300+ pounds and, as might be expected, covered up about a third of the middle seat also. there was absolutely nothing that Delta could have done about that… I just don’t know what the answer should be. If you purchase a seat, you should should be able to use the entire seat and not just the portion that someone else is not sitting/oozing in. Disappointing…there should be something that could be done….I'm just not sure what solution could be.

Seats are much much more comfortable than United, which is what I usually fly

Boarded plane and then delayed 1.5 hours while on the plane

Horrific. They missed my connecting flight to San Diego. I didn’t get there until Monday at 9am when I had a mandatory court settlement conference scheduled at 6am since we had parties on the east coast. This caused many issues. All because United apparently forgot to hold the doors open until my flight landed that only had a 10 minute delay. This was the last flight to Southern California. So I couldn’t even rent a car to finish the trip. United cannot be trusted when traveling on specific days and times since weather didn’t have anything to do with the delays.

My flight was delayed a very short period of time but they did not hold my connecting flight to San Diego, also through United. So they closed the doors before we got off our plane. They would only have to help the door open for another five to ten minutes. So I missed a court deadline for a manditory mediation settlement conference for my client. I had to get an associate to be there in person and be on the phone with him relaying what he needs to do the entire time. The court was very upset with me and so was my client. United cannot be trusted.

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

Really good 😊 the woman at the gate entrance was a little rude checking in our carry-on but i dont think she worked for the airline, she worked for the airport at sacramento, other than that amazing.

Boarding was mayhem. Late boarding by 15 minutes because of lack of staff (missing 1 flight attendant. We had to wait for an arrival of another plane before we could board). Flight was a little rough, but cannot blame on airlines.

Great experience…left a bit behind schedule but made up fir that in the air and landed 10 minutes early 😁

United out of SFO is having issues with catering so none of our meals were loaded on the plane and no offer of compensation for our tickets purchased was offered.

A bit rush for transit. Food and entertainment are not available

The gate was too far away for the connecting flight

flight was delayed for hours with no explanation. The plane was a very old aircraft.

Communication since no reason or explanation was given for 3 hrs delay

The flight departed more than 1 hour late. Leg room is bigger than most airlines

Excellent. Although they used to greet me as a mosaic member and provide a free drink, early boarding helps me to keep coming back to JetBlue.

Communication with the customer and stay is important. Staff off with a minor inconvenience but it worked out of course. Also this was a very old Mint Class plane. They snuck this one in on us. The updated aircraft are much better.

The flight itself was fine, but the boarding process was extremely frustrating. There is no one scanning boarding passes - passengers just scan themselves and enter the jetway. By the time my husband and I got on the plane and were halfway to our seats they determined there were too many bags on the plane and everything at that point needed to be checked. This created a lot of unnecessary chaos. They should have alerted people before getting on the plane that they would need to start checking bags instead of waiting until people were already on the plane.

The best flight I’ve had in a while. The plane was like 25% capacity, if that. Smoothest boarding and deplaning process I’ve ever experienced. Wish all flights were this smooth.

Traveling with JetBlue from NYC was convenient as accessing JFK airport was straightforward via the LIRR to the AirTrain. Maneuvering through the terminal was hassle-free, which was a pleasant start to the journey. However, the flight experience itself left much to be desired. The seating arrangement was notably uncomfortable; despite securing a window seat, space felt cramped. This was exacerbated by the middle seat passenger encroaching on my area, which made the flight less enjoyable. Additionally, while the in-flight entertainment system initially seemed like a reprieve, the sound outlet on my seat was inoperable. This issue turned what could have been a manageable three-hour flight into a rather tedious ordeal, as I was unable to use the entertainment system effectively. While JetBlue provided a smooth process in terms of airport logistics, the on-board experience highlighted areas in need of improvement, particularly in terms of comfort and entertainment system maintenance.

Over 2 hour delay for a 50-minute flight is unacceptable, especially in normal weather. Very poor communication via app

In-flight staff was very helpful and excellent. However, the flight was delayed by 90 minutes. Also the boarding process should be expedited in case of delayed flights. This will help the passengers trying to make international connections.

Amazing food, great staff, with one noticable detail missing ...but no seat entertainment in any of aircraft ...I am not a fan

Boarding gate in Honolulu was staffed with a great clerk with a soothing voice despite the flight delay of over an hour. Flight attendants in the plane were all grumpy, not pleasant looking bunch. Their sour attitude showed throughout the flight. Inly able to get a select few movies started. Most of the movie links in the “free entertainment” did not work.

This was a horrible experience. For a first class experience, my chair was held together by 3M tape - and I have a photo. The crew weren’t very attentive, somewhat dismissive and forgot my drink and snack, the chair reclined about 3 inches on a 6-hour cross country flight. I was also not informed that there was no lounge available in Newark airport because of renovations, so all around this was one of the worst experiences and I would actively avoid both American and Alaska Air going forward.

Boarding was very efficient. Everyone got on board and we got on our way very quickly. It was frustrating that the entertainment app was not functioning properly. I was not able to activate some of the movies offered. The crew on this flight appears to be pretty grumpy. They had no smile on their faces. I felt like they were doing us a favor for being there.

Loved the staff, boarding and drink options! Wish the comfort of the seat could have been better nevertheless

Honestly, I haven’t flown American in years, probably due to the pandemic and my being unable to travel for certain periods in the last two years, but it was a good experience to dig out or obtain a new American Airlines account after many years of traveling for business with American in the past.

Long 5 hour and 45 min flight and only one drink service and cookie snack

One bottle of water and a package of cookies for comfort plus. We had to literally beg a flight attendant for an extra bottle of water later in the flight due to feeling dehydrated.

Flight boarded from Gate 39 at OGG, the farthest gate in the terminal. There were no Hawaiian themed amenities for the flight. The first class service was mediocre at best; I received not special welcome or recognition as an executive platinum member of American Advantage program. The flight attendants were more concerned with their cell phones than saying "thank you" to the passengers as we disembarked. Fortunately, the flight arrived at LAX a few minutes early.

Bigger seats. Board back to front! Disembark front to back!

Book cheap flights from New York State to California

Recent round-trip flight deals

7/30Wed
1 stopSpirit Airlines
7h 45mEWR-LAX
8/6Wed
1 stopSpirit Airlines
8h 00mLAX-EWR
$92
7/30Wed
1 stopSpirit Airlines
7h 45mEWR-LAX
8/5Tue
1 stopSpirit Airlines
10h 15mLAX-EWR
$105
9/7Sun
nonstopAlaska Airlines
6h 10mJFK-SFO
9/12Fri
nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 47mSFO-JFK
$113
8/31Sun
nonstopJetBlue
5h 40mJFK-LAS
9/4Thu
nonstopJetBlue
5h 02mLAS-JFK
$161
8/23Sat
nonstopAmerican Airlines
5h 34mJFK-LAS
8/27Wed
nonstopAmerican Airlines
5h 12mLAS-JFK
$162
9/4Thu
nonstopJetBlue
5h 35mJFK-LAS
9/11Thu
nonstopJetBlue
5h 02mLAS-JFK
$170
8/9Sat
nonstopDelta
5h 58mJFK-LAS
8/27Wed
nonstopDelta
5h 23mLAS-JFK
$179
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nonstopDelta
5h 58mJFK-LAS
8/23Sat
nonstopDelta
5h 24mLAS-JFK
$180
9/3Wed
1 stopAmerican Airlines
11h 30mLGA-SFO
9/8Mon
1 stopAmerican Airlines
11h 21mSFO-LGA
$185
8/30Sat
nonstopAlaska Airlines
6h 07mJFK-SFO
9/6Sat
nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 46mSFO-JFK
$225

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15h 56mEWR-LAX
$42
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1 stopSpirit Airlines
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$43
8/22Fri
1 stopAmerican Airlines
11h 31mLGA-SFO
$120
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6h 23mJFK-SFO
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6h 11mJFK-SAN
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Last minute flights from New York to California

Last minute flight, train and bus deals

7/15Tue
multi-stopFrontier
8h 54mEWR-LAS
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multi-stopFrontier
8h 46mLAS-EWR
$181
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multi-stopFrontier
8h 33mJFK-LAS
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multi-stopFrontier
7h 56mLAS-JFK
$188
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multi-stopFrontier
7h 56mLAS-JFK
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multi-stopFrontier
8h 33mJFK-LAS
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multi-stopFrontier
8h 13mLAS-JFK
$201
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nonstopSpirit Airlines
5h 30mEWR-LAS
7/22Tue
multi-stopSpirit Airlines
8h 48mLAS-EWR
$204
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nonstopSpirit Airlines
5h 30mEWR-LAS
7/21Mon
nonstopSpirit Airlines
4h 52mLAS-EWR
$218
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nonstopJetBlue
6h 44mJFK-SFO
7/18Fri
nonstopJetBlue
5h 36mSFO-JFK
$385
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nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 52mJFK-SAN
7/22Tue
nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 33mSAN-JFK
$390
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nonstopAlaska Airlines
6h 25mEWR-SFO
7/29Tue
nonstopAlaska Airlines
5h 35mSFO-EWR
$423
7/15Tue
multi-stopDelta
8h 08mEWR-SFO
7/28Mon
multi-stopDelta
7h 41mSFO-EWR
$443

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