
Cheap Flights from Philadelphia to California
Cheapest round-trip prices found by our users on KAYAK in the last 5 daysBook Cheap Philadelphia to California Plane Tickets
Cheap flights from Philadelphia to California with top airlines, updated regularly. Compare round-trip, one-way, direct and last-minute deals.
KAYAK's insights & trends for Philadelphia to California flights
Get data-powered insights and trends into flights from Philadelphia to California to help you find the cheapest flights, the best time to fly and much more.
How much is a round-trip flight from Philadelphia to California?
Flight prices are below average for this route right now.
Flights to California from Philadelphia usually cost between $421 and $600 in December.The lowest price found in the past 5 days was $408 on Southwest (Dec 16-Dec 19).
What is the cheapest Philadelphia to California flight route?
The cheapest ticket to California from Philadelphia found in the last 5 days was to San Francisco, at $379 round-trip. The most popular route is from Philadelphia (PHL) to San Francisco (SFO), and the cheapest round-trip airline ticket found on this route in the last 5 days was $379.
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 $547 on average. Morning departures are around 28% 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 $760.
Can I save money by flying with a layover from Philadelphia to California?
No, with an average price for the route of $509, prices are generally cheapest when you fly direct.
What is the cheapest month to fly from Philadelphia to California?
The cheapest month for flights from Philadelphia to California is January, when tickets cost $432 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are December and June, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $513 and $498 respectively.
What’s the cheapest day of the week to fly from Philadelphia to California?
When flying from Philadelphia to California, you should consider leaving on a Saturday and avoid Sundays if you are looking for the best rates. For your return to Philadelphia, you’ll find the best rates on Saturdays and the most expensive ones on Sundays.
How far in advance should I book a flight from Philadelphia to California?
To get a below average price on the flight from Philadelphia to California, you should book around 5 weeks before departure, which saves you about 13% compared to booking last minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 18 weeks before departure.
Which airlines fly non-stop between Philadelphia and California?
There are 5 airlines that fly nonstop from Philadelphia to California. They are: American Airlines, Frontier, JetBlue, Delta and United Airlines. The cheapest price of all airlines flying this route was found with Frontier at $149 for a round-trip flight to Los Angeles (LAX). On average, Frontier offers the best prices for nonstop flights between Philadelphia and California.
Which airlines fly most frequently between Philadelphia and California?
Philadelphia and California are connected by different airlines. The airlines that fly that route the most regularly are American Airlines (102 flights per week), British Airways (70 flights per week), and Air Tahiti Nui (49 flights per week).
How long does a flight from Philadelphia to California take?
The duration of a flight to California depends on your arrival airport. The shortest routes to California from Philadelphia are to Los Angeles, which takes 5h 55m, San Diego, which takes 5h 57m, and San Francisco, which takes 6h 03m.
Which cabin class options are there for flights between Philadelphia and California?
There are 4 cabin class options for the route. These are First, Business, Economy and Prem Economy. Perform a search on KAYAK to find the latest prices and availability for all cabin fares, which differ across airlines.
What’s the earliest departure time from Philadelphia to California?
The earliest flight from Philadelphia to California departs at 7:00 am, landing in Los Angeles at 10:09 am.
What’s the latest departure time from Philadelphia to California?
If you prefer to fly at night, the latest flight from Philadelphia to California jets off at 7:50 pm and lands in Los Angeles at 10:46 pm.
Good to know
Low season | January |
|---|---|
High season | June |
Cheapest flight | $95 |
FAQs - booking California flights
Top tips for finding cheap flights to California
Reviews of the top 5 airlines serving from Philadelphia to California
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.
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.
Just crazy with times being pushed and pushed and pushed and gate crew at Philly super rude and unprofessional with many under stress with delays.
My experience will Southwest was good. I wish there was more entertainment and the boarding process was slow at time but other than that my experience was great definitely will be flying with SouthWest again.
For my birthday trip this was my second time ever flying, this trip was the best.
We boarded the flight and set two and a half hours on the jetway. Would have been better if they had not boarded us at all. Plane was hot and it was limited ability to access the restrooms or get a drink of water. Very unpleasant experience
After boarding the plane had to wait an hour at the for the copilot to show up before we could depart
The cabin and bathroom experience was poor as the cabin and bathroom were dirty and showed signs of an older plane that had not been updated for Customer’s, comfort and health. There was gum on my seat when I arrived and dirt spots around the fan and light controls. The flight was almost entirely full, so there was no way I could be moved from my seat. Th bathroom had the peeling paint.
Great crew. Comfortable seating. Nice overhead bin space. My app didn't allow me to check in for my flight to BOS. When I called Support, they didn't fix it, but just told me to check in at the airport. Seat back entertainment was great. Could be better if the audio could connect to Bluetooth.
I'm 6' 2" and even in economy plenty of leg room
great! appreciated the last minute upgrade to Comfort+ exit row, as well
My seat was changed without my consent. It wasn’t a major deal but annoying.
This a short easy flight. No food or drink but that was not an issue since we were only in the air for 35 minutes.
Connection flights should be spaced out farther because too close I missed my connection.
The gate attendants and the crew were terrible. Because of high winds, they needed to carry more fuel, so they had to get volunteers to take the next flight at 6 am the next day. They did a terrible job of it - our flight ended up taking off just under 3 hours of the scheduled time. I hope to never fly Delta again.
My flight consistently said it was on time and the plane didn’t arrive until after 30 minutes after take off and nothing was announced to passengers
The seats are very small, that is all the staff did a good job.
The flight was for my mom in wheelchair the staff in Newark wer not friendly took a long time to even get a wheelchair she almost missed her flight because they finally got a chair few minutes before boarding they had to rush her to the gate. They took her carryon and checked it as a bag told her don’t worry free of charge but they charge the credit card anyway. She also told me the seats are not comfortable at all as if they were broken she could feel the bars in the seat SFO staff was much better overall she had the worst experience
First class flight crew was barely available. They came through 3 times while we were on the plane for nearly 4 hours.
Like the fact that the boarding was expedited. But the delay and chaos around the onboarding was not appreciated.
The flight crew were very helpful. The seats were very close together. There was barely room to sit without touching the person next to you.
newer aircraft, ability to connect my headset via blue tooth for entertainment.
My husband and I recently had an unfortunate experience with Lufthansa. At the Philadelphia International airport, the ground staff refused to board us because we didn’t have a current visa stamped on our passports for Frankfurt. We completely understand that this was our mistake. we should have double-checked the visa requirements before our trip. However, the issue that upset us most was how the situation was handled by the staff. They told us they would mark it as “boarding denied due to visa issue”, but instead they recorded it as “no show”. Because of that incorrect entry, our return flight was automatically cancelled as well, which caused additional stress and expense. Mistakes can happen, but we expected more transparency and accuracy from a reputed airline like Lufthansa. It would have made a big difference if the staff had been more careful and considerate in documenting the situation correctly.
Everything was good, except the seats in economy were so close together, you could barely get out when the seat in front of your was reclined. If the airlines keep jamming in more and more seats, it will become intolerable. I will look for another airline that considers customer comfort and does not keep adding more rows of seats for more profit.
Flight attendant moved my bag without notifying me and was rude to me when I asked him about it. There was no reason to move it.
Flight was on time, crew were excellent. For some reason our originally selected seats were changed. We had to re-choose our seats when we checked in online and options were limited. One of our two checked bags we placed on the wrong carousel. It was only be shear luck that I saw it. That cost us 20 minutes of wasted time. So much for the “priority” tags. They are meaningless, and have been ever since they were implemented. I wish you would do the save some money and stop using them.
The boarding process was slow and we had a delay on the tarmac, not the fault of the airline. They had ZERO food options available for purchase which shouldn't happen.
They are always late and seats was also not having working charger
Everything about the flight was lovely. My only suggestion would be to offer a few more options of tv series from Apple TV or HBO.
Did not get the seat I selected and paid for.
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.
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.
For coast to coast travel the A321 and even the NEO, even in first class will never be excellent. That would take a B787 or 777 to accomplish.
I was unhappy with having the seat I chose changed at the last minute. I was moved to an aisle seat which did not recline and was next to the bathroom. The bathroom odors made the flight entirely unpleasant. Having carefully chosen my seat months before I was not pleased with my AA experience. In addition, they ran out of tea during flight service, really?
There were delays on both ends. It made it less than excellent. This plane was great though
Attendants were rude. Scowling. Seats were miserable and we paid extra.
Great flight, no problems. I wish they would increase the checked bag weight limit. Packing was very stressful.
I am writing to express my disappointment with my recent Frontier Airlines flight. I was charged $99 at the gate because my bag was said to be too large, yet once onboard there was no available overhead bin space, and I was required to place the bag under the seat in front of me anyway. This made the charge feel unnecessary and unfair. Additionally, before the flight even took off, I was asked to move from the seat I paid for into a middle seat so another passenger and her cat could have my seat to themselves. I was not offered compensation or an explanation for being moved from a paid seat. Between the unexpected bag fee and being forced to give up my seat, this experience fell well below acceptable customer service standards. I would appreciate a review of this situation and appropriate compensation.
Terrible. Flight cancelled with no reasoning and no flights to rebook. Employees were useless and did nothing to help. Did not even know where to retrieve luggage from the cancelled flight. Flyers beware.
sluggish boarding and arrival procedures, fake nice flight attendants, and lots of delays.
You get what you pay for nothing essentially but a hard uncomfortable seat that doesn’t recline and kids screaming all around you and chaotic boarding and limited check bag weight allowance when compared to other airlines
Not very good. Paid in excess of $400 for assigned seating for my family and that was not provided. I want that money back.
Check in at Philadelphia international was absolutely terrible! I fly 2 to 3 times a month and avoid frontier at all cost and will never fly Frontier again! The night before travel, I tried checking in however, the app was giving me an error, so I went to the desktop, which instructed you that you need to use the app. The next day I presented at the check-in gate after trying at least a half dozen times prior to getting into the airport and continuing to getting the error in the app. I actually had rebooted my phone numerous times and reinstall the app just in case. My phone is only one generation older than the current model. It has no problems completing a frontier flight purchase or any other app issues. There was only three frontier employees working at check-in and a huge line while I was in line I continued to try and check in via the app. As I approach the desk, I was dreading dealing with the agent. He was extremely unprofessional, anti-semantic & very ignorant, and mean to the people in front of me, as well as the people who ended up being behind me. He literally told people “Man I don’t care bout y’all” in his native dialect! Maintaining my composure I approached and explained the situation. To which he replied, you’re gonna have to pay then! I don’t understand. It’s an issue with their app not allowing me to check in! Not my issue! He told me if I pay cash it would be $15, $25 if I pay credit card. I don’t understand a $10 difference for paying with a credit card? I am completely cashless so I continued to try using the app to avoid the $25 fee, Which I still don’t believe that I should be responsible for since it was Frontier’s technical issue!!! I continued to check in via the app a couple more times after he verified I was doing everything right he proceeded to continue to belittle the people behind me. Yelling at them saying I don’t care about you people! I cannot believe that this is the way that businesses would treat its customers! Unfortunately, the black mail with dreadlocks did not have a name tag all he had was a frontier sweater on! For the $25 fee that I ended up getting charged on my credit card. I should’ve just booked originally with Spirit or any other carrier! I have no problem paying fees that I should be responsible for, but when it’s due to a technical failure of a company, the customer should not be responsible for it! I cannot believe that it’s not frontier going out of business!
terrible cascading delays and unhelpful customer service. uncomfortable plane. crew was great, however!
Booked direct in July '24. Turned into a 14 hr layover (both ways) in Denver. My 5 day vaca turned into a 1 day . Not good, BUT,... Thank you for the people @ Frontier who were professionally friendly & approachable.
$80 fee for a backpack as a personal item is robbery.