$83 Find Cheap Flights from New York State to California

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Low seasonAugust
Cheapest flight$83
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 4% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 15% increase in price.
Flight from New York John F Kennedy Airport to Las Vegas

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 airlines fly most frequently to California?

    New York State and California are connected by different airlines. The airlines that fly that route the most regularly are United Airlines (215 flights per week), Hawaiian Airlines (175 flights per week), and JetBlue (174 flights per week).

  • How many airports are there in California?

    There are 29 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 Ontario Airport (ONT), with an average flight price of $163.

  • 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 $357. On the other hand, the most expensive day to fly is Sunday, where round-trip prices are $500 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 $369 on average. Morning departures are around 39% 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 $601.

  • What is the cheapest flight to California?

    The cheapest ticket to California from New York State found in the last 72 hours was to Ontario, at $128 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 $156.

  • 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 September, when tickets cost $312 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are December and June, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $632 and $538 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 3 weeks before departure, which saves you about 44% compared to booking last minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 17 weeks before departure.

  • How many cities have direct flights to California?

    From New York State, there are direct flights to California from 1 city. This city is New York and there are 3,269 direct flights each week.

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

    There are around 467 direct flights from within New York State to California every day. Most flights (37%) depart in the morning.

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

    Each week there are around 3,269 direct flights from within New York State to California. The most common day for departures is Sunday, with 16% of flights taking off on this day.

  • How long is the flight to California?

    An average nonstop flight from New York State to California takes 7h 30m, covering a distance of 2401 miles. The shortest route is Buffalo (BUF) to Las Vegas (LAS) with an average flight time of 4h 45m.

  • 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 3,269 medium-haul flights (3-6 hour flight duration), with the most arriving from New York.

  • What are the most popular destinations in California?

    Based on KAYAK flight searches, the most popular destination is Las Vegas (28% of total searches to California). The next most popular destinations are Los Angeles (26%) and San Francisco (17%). Searches for flights to San Diego (7%), to Ontario (7%) and to Santa Ana (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
7.1Entertainment
7.1Food
7.8Comfort
8.5Crew
8.1Boarding
Airline reviews

All flights were on time. No crowded and had empty seats. All flight attendents were great.

10.0 ExcellentAnonymous, Sep 2025SEA - SAN
Read more Alaska Airlines reviews

All flights were on time. No crowded and had empty seats. All flight attendents were great.

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

It was not clear the check in shd be at Hawaiian Terminal 1. I got dropped off at Alaska Terminal 2. I did the long walk from terminal 2 to 1. Fortunately I didn’t have a check in bag.

Seattle airport is a mess. New bag tag system has potential, but you need more signage to guide passengers through the process as to where to go next. Told to go in one direction and then met with a very rude agent when we did. He blamed his attitude on all the folks flying over labor day that were paying his salary. Gate area for D3 is a mess compared to the North terminal. Overall Alaska is number 1 in my book.

This time it is good, no delay and right on time

Staff inside Portland terminal were rude, made us fell rushed and not at all accommodating to seniors. For this alone I will probably never booked from them again.

It was a good experience! Thank you:) No sparkling mineral water… 🥲

On time, WiFi worked, reasonable legroom, helpful staff. Unfortunately there was no water for handwashing in the rear lavatory.

The airline staff was great! The best safety review ive ever had!

No food but only snack was provided during the 6-hour flight from EWR to LAX. I was so hungry during the trip.

This route with Delta always has delays or is cancelled. Aircrafts seem smaller and older. I fly Delta quite a bit - haven’t had issues with the international flights. But this route has always been the troublesome one

Three seats in first class were broken and while they were able to still acommodate us it was looking very touch and go and they had others they could not acommodate

I believe that a four-hour trip should have a meal. Delta had none.

I was uncomfortably cold on the plane. Other than that it was uneventful and therefore as enjoyable as a plane ride can be.

Was charged for my luggage despite having been on one ticket from an international flight. Too tired to argue after 15 hours on flight. Was charged for rechecking it at JFK airport. Not sure why those off Kenya Airways were required to do that.

Food was surprisingly good but the WiFi was not great

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 flight was comfortable with the exit row and great service

Plane was crowded and even when we hit altitude, the plane was hot, not enough air flow.

1. when we went to check in, our 2 first class seats had been CANCELED and the flight was sold out. This was done without our prior knowledge. It was all we could do to restore one first class seat for my wife and I flew economy. 2, Our flight home was scheduled to leave at 10:30 pm. Due to tsunami warnings, the roads were closed and our flight status was uncertain as to whether it would leave as scheduled. It was announced that it would now leave at 11:20 pm and the roads were now open since the tsunami had come and gone. We made a mad dash to the airport and checked in. Delays were announced at 12:30 pm, 1:30 am, 2:30 am and at 3:30 am it was canceled. Since this was a flight due to natural (tsunami) causes, there was no compensation. We were told to return at 1:00 pm the next day and our baggage would be kept on the plane since the same plane was going to leave at 1:00 pm. We had to return to our hotel for the rest of the night. The same plane did not leave at 1:00 pm and our baggage was gone! All in all, it was a miserable performance by UA. Information was hard to obtain and no one knew what was going on and what was going to happen. Hundreds of passengers slept on the floor, chairs, etc. No food and no water was made available to the passengers. It was a situation where UA could care less what was going on. As a one million mile flyer, I had not experienced anything like this before and it was hugely disappointing!

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 😁

Great. Quick and quiet and east. The breakfast choices were a welcome surprise!

The stewardess hit me with the food kart twice on the head and didn't say I'm sorry once. The same stewardess gave me a warm Apple Juice with No ice. The Flight was delayed for Departure 6 times, starting from 2:36pm, finally taking off 7:50pm. I was late picking up my child from the sitter by 3 hours.

Did not get the seat I selected and paid for.

My flight was delayed for several hours. Sitting at gate 16 for several hours, I got a text from Kayak the gate changed to 9 before it was announced. Very bad communication at each gate from American Airlines employees. I received 10 notifications of delay from Kayak. My vacation started off horrible! I will write to American Airlines corporate office also.

Delayed flight that lead to a missed connection and a 5-hour trip became a 12-hour flight 🙄

There is no room, no gluten free options, or any free internet/entertainment. You have to bring your own tablet or smartphone because there are no screens.

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.

Everything was great. I liked the text updates so that I never miss a gate change & I have all the latest info.

No internet on a flight over three hours in this age is criminal. Staff inattentive and dismissive

Worst flight experience ever flights canceled. JetBlue told us just did not even bother standing in line to come back in one and a half hours then without any information we had to go pick up all of our luggage and spend over $2000 in accommodation just to get home. JetBlue said that the next flight available for us to get home would be three days later. Absolutely absurd hasn’t offered to give us any compensation do not fly JetBlue horrible company. They said it was based on the weather and the weather is great in all locations that we would’ve been flying to total hoax. I think it’s a conspiracy theory.

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

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.

Everything you need to know for your flight to California

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