$101 Find Cheap Flights from Orange County to Iowa - Compare and Save

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Low season

January

Cheapest flight

$101
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 10% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly and prices are also 1% lower on average.
Flight from John Wayne (Santa Ana) to Des Moines

FAQs for booking flights from Orange County to Iowa

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from Orange County to Iowa?

    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 Orange County to Iowa.

  • How does KAYAK's flight Price Forecast tool help me choose the right time to buy my flight ticket from Orange County to Iowa?

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight from Orange County to Iowa 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 Orange County to Iowa?

    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 Orange County to Iowa 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 Orange County to Iowa?

    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 Orange County to Iowa up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.

  • How many airports are there in Iowa?

    There are 7 airports in Iowa. The busiest airport is Des Moines Airport (DSM), with 62% of all flights arriving there.

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

    Prices will differ depending on the departure airport, but generally, the cheapest airport to fly to in Iowa is Des Moines Airport (DSM), with an average flight price of $275.

  • What is the cheapest day to fly to Iowa?

    Based on KAYAK data, the cheapest day to fly to Iowa is Friday where round-trip tickets can be as cheap as $172. On the other hand, the most expensive day to fly is Wednesday, where round-trip prices are $462 on average.

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

    The cheapest time of day to fly to Iowa is generally in the morning, when round-trip flights cost $198 on average. Morning departures are around 60% cheaper than evening flights, on average. The most expensive time of day to fly to Iowa is generally in the evening, which is peak travel time and where the average cost of a ticket is $462.

  • What is the cheapest flight to Iowa?

    The cheapest ticket to Iowa from Orange County found in the last 5 days was to Des Moines, at $142 round-trip. The most popular route is John Wayne (Santa Ana) (SNA) to Des Moines (DSM) and the cheapest round-trip airline ticket found on this route in the last 5 days was $142.

  • What is the cheapest month to fly from Orange County to Iowa?

    The cheapest month for flights from Orange County to Iowa is October, when tickets cost $128 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are April and December, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $442 and $360 respectively.

  • How far in advance should I book a flight from Orange County to Iowa?

    To get a below average price on the flight from Orange County to Iowa, you should book around 4 weeks before departure, which saves you about 21% compared to booking last minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 19 weeks before departure.

  • How many cities have direct flights to Iowa?

    From Orange County, there are direct flights to Iowa from 1 city. This city is Los Angeles and there are 7 direct flights each week.

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

    There are around 1 direct flights from within Orange County to Iowa every day. All flights depart in the morning.

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

    Each week there are around 7 direct flights from within Orange County to Iowa. The most common day for departures is Monday, with 14% of flights taking off on this day.

  • How long is the flight to Iowa?

    An average nonstop flight from Orange County to Iowa takes 10h 07m, covering a distance of 1477 miles. The shortest route is John Wayne (Santa Ana) (SNA) to Des Moines (DSM) with an average flight time of 3h 15m.

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

    There are not any long-haul (6-12 hour flight duration) or medium-haul (3-6 hour flight duration) flights to Iowa. Instead, there are 7 short-haul flights (up to 3 hour flight duration), with the most arriving from Los Angeles.

  • What are the most popular destinations in Iowa?

    Based on KAYAK flight searches, the most popular destination is Cedar Rapids (37% of total searches to Iowa). The next most popular destinations are Omaha (36%) and Des Moines (24%). Searches for flights to La Crosse (3%) are also popular.

Reviews of the top 4 airlines serving from Orange County to Iowa

 
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from Orange County to Iowa? 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
SouthwestOverall score based on 4204 reviews
8.0Comfort
7.5Entertainment
7.0Food
8.1Boarding
8.6Crew
Airline reviews

Seated at front bulkhead for a smidge extra leg room away from home and on flight back home. Away crew was very proactive about assuring our carryons had space close behind us (because no seat in front of us our personal items had to be in a small bin overhead). They actively required passengers place overhead luggage on its side so more items could fit in bins. Home crew made no such efforts. I had to struggle back rows to get overhead bags upon landing, no crew help then either, and some disgruntled passengers as I and others retrieved our bags. There was a system that worked pretty well. The home bound crew just didn't feel like working.

4.0 OkayMather, Aug 2026
Read more Southwest reviews

Seated at front bulkhead for a smidge extra leg room away from home and on flight back home. Away crew was very proactive about assuring our carryons had space close behind us (because no seat in front of us our personal items had to be in a small bin overhead). They actively required passengers place overhead luggage on its side so more items could fit in bins. Home crew made no such efforts. I had to struggle back rows to get overhead bags upon landing, no crew help then either, and some disgruntled passengers as I and others retrieved our bags. There was a system that worked pretty well. The home bound crew just didn't feel like working.

Red eye from San Diego. Temperature of the cabin was way too warm and the air duct flowed very little air.

I think Southwest is the number one airline that anyone can fly I have flown for the first time Frontier and what a joke and their customer service United was a very strange experience I'm only sticking to Southwest from here on out for sure

Great job Southwest! My family doesn't fly often but we felt safe the whole time.

Flight was delayed, full flight and I had to change gates. Southwest flights are always late later in the day.

Was fine, delayed and feels like southwest is always late

The entire experience from boarding to landing was amazing! The crew were very friendly. Will definitely be back.

Delayed flight, lack of information, boarding process is a mess as is the carryon luggage causing issues when leaving the plane….just a poor experience.

Comfortable. Easy. No problems. Just wish they had gf options for snacks.

Love Southwest! Always a good trip with a happy crew who goes out of their way to be kind and fun.

Sitting in coach even in the larger leg space is extremely uncomfortable and the staff pay no attention.

The back to back mechanical delays from Denver to San Diego and then on my return flight from Denver to Great Falls it added extra time both ways

Flight was late, the only reason I almost missed my flight was that my connection was also late.

Baggage claim signs were not updated with my flight information, so I had to guess. The app wasn't updated either.

It was a short, comfortable flight. It did leave an hour late due to the pilot having to be replaced (family emergency) but that didn’t inconvenience myself & my friend. The situation was explained, eventually.

A long delay. Don't travel late in the day.

The seat was comfortable. There was a lot of turbulence. If it weren't for that,it would have been okay.

It was great, I’m very grateful for the pilots and crew flight attendants for everything.

Flight was great. Efficient boarding. Short flight. Early arrival. Friendly flight crew. The entertainment system did not work well. Could not access it until the aircraft reached 10K feet or more. Lots of glitches.

No food service almost missed because of first flight delays

My exit seat was very comfortable Coffee was to be purchased but sodas free 😏

It was poor a four hour delay and no explanation for the delay. What’s a 35 dollars going to do. It also made me miss my car rental,

It was on time. Flight was comfortable. Staff was nice. It was the way a flight should always be.

The price was the only good thing about this flight. It was scary during takeoff when the plane tilted side to side. It made me feel very nervous as I have never had a take-off that unsmooth. There was no on-flight movie or music options and the only complimentary option was water. Other airlines offer trail mix or a caramel cookie and pop options as complimentary. This flight was a 2.5 hour flight. I understand for shorter flights not having options, but a flight 2 hours or longer should offer more complimentary options and in flight entertainment. Also the seats did not recline and for a longer flight reclining seats are a must for comfort.

A very pleasant flight but it would be greatly improved with wifi to help entertain kids

This is a no frills, get it done, efficient airline. The seat is a lawn chair. You better bring your own entertainment. If you want something other than water you need to pay for it. But they will get you to your destination quickly, on time, and then they will turn the flight around and go right back where they came from. Reliably. Couple times a week tops. If it fits into your schedule, you can’t get there cheaper or faster.

A three hour delay to board and then another hour on the tarmac because they couldn't get a tractor? Ugh.

Allegiant canceled the flight. The flight the next day was full. Allegiant did not provide any compensation besides a refund. Last time on Allegiant.

Seats were very uncomfortable and being charged for snacks and water.........

Terrible. Still have not received the refund from them. They sent it to some account that I don't even know. Spoke with costumer service and they are unable to help.

Plane had mechanical issues. We had to de plane and board a different plane and were an hour late

More space for economy, and the bathroom size is only for people with size XS

We enjoy the professionalism and cleanliness of the staff and aircraft. We are grateful to the experiences pilots and flight crew

Our experience with American Airlines was extremely disappointing and honestly made an already exhausting international journey much worse. After flying all the way from Melbourne and dealing with significant jet lag, the American Airlines experience at LAX was the last thing we needed. The terminal and boarding area felt very old and uncomfortable, with little to no air conditioning and only old fans running in the area. Boarding was also through outdoor stairs rather than a jet bridge, which felt especially inconvenient after such a long journey. Even though we were traveling First Class, the onboard experience was surprisingly poor. There were no meaningful snack options, no decent coffee available to order, and the aircraft was so small that there was barely enough overhead space for carry-on luggage. The staff experience was also disappointing and lacked the warmth or attentiveness we had experienced on our international flights. To make matters worse, the flight departed late, extending an already very long travel day. Overall, the combination of the outdated terminal, uncomfortable boarding process, limited First Class service, small aircraft, poor staff experience, and delay made this an extremely unpleasant final leg of our journey. It significantly worsened our exhaustion and jet lag rather than making the connection home easier. Unfortunately, this experience was bad enough that I do not plan to travel with American Airlines again in the future.

I was so hungry. No meals. Staff very nice. Seat arms armed too tight and didn’t go up. I was scheduled for First class, but was put on Standby, even though I made my reservation a while ago. Thank you.

The boarding by groups is pointless. The first two groups worked fine, but almost Noone boarded in goups three thru five leaving the vast majority boarding when group six was called. It defeated the purpose of spreading out the crowd.

I blame kayak for my last trip to dca. Kayak cancelled my direct flight and put on a one stop flight and made lost whole day from my vacation and had not even refunded my ticket.

delayed multiple times. no resolution on anything from AA customer service. was put on hold in chat to talk to manager. was 6th in line to talk to manager for more than TWELVE HOURS - from sometime around 9AM until well after I had gone to bed that evening. no explanation, no attempt to make it right. just a five hour delay because of repeated maintenance claims

Was the most uncomfortable I ever had in the air. Felt like I was trapped in the seat legs cramped and was just horrible. The flight to DSM was a lot better. Even being on a smaller plane was better. Staff are outstanding. No complaints about the people.

It was exactly as I expected, on time, smooth flight, courteous staff.

Everything you need to know for your flight to Iowa

Cabin class types available on flights to Orange County