$143 Find Cheap Flights from Philadelphia to Costa Rica - Compare and Save

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Cheap Flights from Philadelphia to Costa Rica

Cheapest round-trip prices found by our users on KAYAK in the last 5 days
San José
San José1 stop$443
Liberia
Liberia1 stop$319
San José
San José1 stop$443
Liberia
Liberia1 stop$319
Booking Insights

Price, demand and travel trends for Philadelphia to Costa Rica flights

Use KAYAK data on prices, travel dates, airlines and seasonal trends to compare options and book flights with more confidence.

Are flights from Philadelphia to Costa Rica cheaper or more expensive than last year?

Fares from Philadelphia to Costa Rica are running about 12% lower than they were around this time last year, averaging $540 round-trip.

What are the cheapest fares from Philadelphia to Costa Rica right now?

The cheapest fares from Philadelphia to Costa Rica on KAYAK in the last week were to Liberia (LIR) from $319 round-trip, and to San José Juan Santamaria Intl (SJO) from $443 round-trip.

What’s the cheapest month to fly from Philadelphia to Costa Rica?

February is the cheapest time of year to fly, with average fares of $415. Prices are highest in December, when average flight costs increase to around $661.

When is the best time to book flights from Philadelphia to Costa Rica?

Book your flights 9 weeks before your trip. KAYAK data collected over the past 12 months shows that booking in this window can save you around 21% compared to booking last-minute (within 2 weeks of departure).

Which airport in Costa Rica is the cheapest to fly to from Philadelphia?

Based on KAYAK data from the past 12 months, the cheapest airports to fly into Costa Rica are:

• San José Juan Santamaria Intl (SJO) from $532
• Liberia (LIR) from $551

What’s the cheapest day to fly from Philadelphia to Costa Rica?

Sunday tends to be the cheapest day to fly from Philadelphia to Costa Rica, while Saturday is the most expensive. Fares run about 23% higher that day, based on the past 12 months of KAYAK data.

What's the cheapest time of day to fly from Philadelphia to Costa Rica?

Data from the past 12 months shows it's cheapest to fly to Costa Rica during the evening with average prices of $457. The afternoon is the most expensive time to fly, with average prices of $568.

Key details for Philadelphia to Costa Rica flights

Low season

October

Cheapest flight

$143
Beat the crowds with an average 52% drop in travelers.
The most popular month to fly with an average 51% increase in travelers.
One-way flight from Philadelphia to Liberia

Your Philadelphia to Costa Rica flight questions, answered

Find helpful answers about this route, including flight times, airports, airlines and booking tips.

  • Is now a good time to book a flight from Philadelphia to Costa Rica?

    Yes. Fares from Philadelphia to Costa Rica are low right now. As a rule of thumb, a round-trip under $407 (cheaper than most fares this year) is a good deal, so if you spot one at or below that, it's a good time to book.

  • How much should I budget for a flight from Philadelphia to Costa Rica?

    Over the past 12 months, round-trip fares from Philadelphia to Costa Rica have ranged from $407 to $734.

  • What are the main airports serving Costa Rica?

    Flights to Costa Rica use two main airports, San José Juan Santamaria Intl (SJO) and Liberia (LIR).

  • What airlines fly nonstop from Philadelphia to Costa Rica?

    Based on the flight schedule for the next 3 months, just one airline regularly flies nonstop from Philadelphia to Costa Rica: American Airlines.

  • Where in Costa Rica can I fly nonstop from Philadelphia?

    Based on the flight schedule for the next 3 months, you can only fly nonstop from Philadelphia to Liberia.

  • Is it cheaper to fly with a layover from Philadelphia to Costa Rica?

    Yes. Nonstop flights from Philadelphia to Costa Rica average $790 over the past 12 months, but flights with a layover can cost less. The most affordable connecting airports are:

    • Toronto Pearson Intl (YYZ) from $463
    • Boston Logan Intl (BOS) from $516
    • Fort Lauderdale (FLL) from $564

  • How long is a flight from Philadelphia to Costa Rica?

    Flights from Philadelphia to Costa Rica take 5h 27m on average.

  • Which cabin classes are available on flights from Philadelphia to Costa Rica?

    On flights from Philadelphia to Costa Rica you can book Economy Class, Premium Economy Class, Business Class or First Class.

  • What are some popular landmarks in Costa Rica?

    KAYAK travelers' favorite landmarks in Costa Rica include:

    • Parque Metropolitano La Sabana
    • Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica
    • Museo de Oro
    • Morazan Park

  • What are the earliest and latest flights from Philadelphia to Costa Rica?

    The earliest nonstop flight from Philadelphia to Costa Rica departs at 8:20 am and the latest departs at 8:45 am. Nonstop flights take about 5h 27m.

  • What documentation do I need to enter Costa Rica from the US?

    When you go to Costa Rica, your stay must last no more than 90 days and you must have a passport that is valid for that entire time. You must also show evidence that you plan to exit the country within 90 days, such as a return airline ticket.

  • Which airport is better to fly into, LIR or SJO?

    There are a number of factors to consider. For example, LIR is right near the beach, in case you would like to spend an extra day at the shore. One advantage of SJO is that of the two airports, you can catch domestic flights from SJO only. So, if you plan to fly elsewhere in Costa Rica, SJO is the airport for you.

  • Can I rent a car at both SJO and LIR?

    Yes, but renting a car at SJO is a bit more convenient. All the rental car counters are in the Arrivals area of SJO near customs. Once you have booked or checked in for your car, an agent from the rental company will escort you to your rental in the parking lot. At LIR, there are only three agencies at the airport, and the rest you need to get to via shuttle. Some companies at both airports include Enterprise, Budget, and Hertz.

  • Where in Costa Rica can I fly to from San Jose?

    Sansa Airlines can take you throughout Costa Rica to cites is such as Drake Bay, Limon, and Nosara Beach. Costa Rica Green Airways can take you to cities such as Quepos and Tambor.

Your guide to booking Philadelphia to Costa Rica flights

Get tips on when to book, when to fly and what to know before your trip.
  • If you can plan ahead, the sweet spot for booking your flight is 9 weeks before your trip. KAYAK data shows fares in this window are around 21% lower than last-minute bookings (made within 2 weeks of departure). Not ready to commit? Set a Price Alert and we'll let you know when prices change.
  • If your travel dates are flexible, book your trip for February when flights are typically cheapest and avoid December when prices are at their highest.
  • Flying on Sunday is usually the cheapest. Flights on Saturday cost about 23% more on average, so being flexible with your travel dates could help you save.
  • If you're looking to save, San José Juan Santamaria Intl (SJO) is the cheapest airport to fly into from Philadelphia. If you have onward travel, don't forget to factor in the cost of your journey by train, bus or domestic flight.
  • Start your trip in San José, which is the most popular destination in Costa Rica. From there, it's easy to continue on to other popular destinations such as La Fortuna, Tamarindo and Manuel Antonio.
  • If you want the shortest trip, choose the Philadelphia to Costa Rica nonstop route. If you'd rather save money, the route via Toronto Pearson Intl (YYZ) is usually the cheapest.
  • When you book a flight from Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) to Costa Rica, you will be landing at one of Costa Rica’s international airports. The Liberian International Airport (LIR), located in Liberia, Costa Rica, is located near the northwest coast of the country. Costa Rica's primary airport, The Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) is in San Jose, Costa Rica, located virtually in the center of the country.
  • It is unlikely that you will find a non-stop journey from PHL to SJO or LIR. However, airlines such as Delta, Sansa, Spirit, American, Copa, and United operate flights with one and two stops between PHL and SJO or LIR. Some layover cities include Fort Lauderdale (FLL), Miami (MIA), Chicago (ORD), Panama City (PTY), and more.
  • About an hour’s drive from LIR in Liberia, you can visit the city La Cruz, and spend the day fishing or taking ATV tours through the jungles. Santa Cruz in Costa Rica is also about an hour away from LIR by car. In Santa Cruz, you can indulge in natural hot springs, horseback riding, and spending time at the beach. If you drive to Canas, Costa Rica, you can visit the Cougar Refuge, go whitewater rafting, or take a leisurely boat trip down the river.
  • Whether you want to stay the night before your flight near PHL, the Philadelphia Airport Marriott is connected to the airport by way of a Sky Bridge to Terminal B. There is also free airport shuttle every 20min everyday. Inside the airport, you will also find Minute Suites: rooms you can rent by the hour where you can sleep, work, or freshen up.
  • If you are traveling with children, PHL has facilities designed to make your journey easier. PHL has Mamava lactation suites installed throughout the airport for nursing moms who would like to breastfeed in privacy or who need to pump. You can also find the children's indoor playground “Ready for Takeoff” located in Terminal A.

Reviews of the top 5 airlines serving from Philadelphia to Costa Rica

 
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from Philadelphia 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.
7.9
SouthwestOverall score based on 4214 reviews
8.6Crew
8.0Comfort
7.5Entertainment
8.1Boarding
7.0Food
Airline reviews

I liked how it boarded fast. I do not like how the seats are just too narrow, and I’m not a big person.

6.0 GoodRobert, Oct 2026
Read more Southwest reviews

I liked how it boarded fast. I do not like how the seats are just too narrow, and I’m not a big person.

Stop asking fir people to check carry on and then bind are free. Then the wait to get your luggage is ridiculous. This particular flight came with a 45 min wait, after waiting in tarmac waiting for a gate inhaling jet exhaust. And how about those landings?! Do the pilots not know the earth is coming up under the descending plane?! This is the only airline I get sick on. Every. Time.

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.

I really wish that SW would ask anyone with a carry-on to wait while those who don’t have to access the overhead bins are boarded. Then, reverse that when the plane arrives. Those without the need to clog up the aisle retrieving their bags from the overhead bins wait for those exiting the plane without needing to clog up. The aisle.

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

The actual flight was great! The 3 hour delay not so much.

Southwest is a garbage airline and the people who fly it are garbage people.

Boarding was easy. Plane wasn’t crowded. Plenty of space. Flight was on time. Crew was pleasant.

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.

No Internet, no backseat screen, no nothing. I bought a Delta ticket and ended up on American Airlines. How did that happen?

Connection flights should be spaced out farther because too close I missed my connection.

The flight was way too HOT! And the plane did not have any in-flight TV entertainment.

Easiest airport experience ever in my life at MSP with Delta check-in and flight attendant gave us a bottle of champagne in celebration of our 10-year wedding anniversary, so overall amazing!

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.

Great. Seamless. Check in agent at kiosk international was amazing and extremely helpful.

Great service. Great staff. Boarding was a little slow, but I think there was a service dog slowing things down.

We splurged and decided to fly first class. Seats were roomy. But flight crew arrived late to the airport. That delayed our flight. Most of the passengers had to try to make connections flights. I felt bad for them. We checked 4 bags. We got three from the baggage claim carousel. 4th one was lost. Delta online help wasn’t good. Baggage claim staff were sympathetic and nice but we waited around for almost 2 hours and it had t been found. They did find it several hours later and we had to drive back to airport to retrieve it. I won’t be splurging on 1st. Lass again anytime soon. I think we got worse service. I am also not a huge fan of delta but we have family in ATL so we don’t have a ton of choice. What should have been an easy flight turned into a stressful event due to flight crew tardiness and baggage mishandling.

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

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.

It was great. All the crew were professional and nice.

The flight I was supposed to be on was supposed to take off at 1:50 from State College. It was delayed over and over and over again until somehow I had to rebook on a flight that was supposed to have left State College at 8 am that morning but didn't end up taking off until almost 6 pm. Not only was this completely unacceptable, the "token from United" was a 15 dollar meal voucher that has to be used by today. I would personally like some miles added to my account for this inconvenience. I was in transit for 8 hours from the time I arrive at State College Aiport to when I got home. I was supposed to be home at 3 pm and I returned at 8 pm. Unacceptable. I have not been on an on Time united flight in nearly 5 years.

newer aircraft, ability to connect my headset via blue tooth for entertainment.

Miserable. They moved my seat, but canceled the next leg of my flight. I resolved the issue at my transfer, but that resulted in lost luggage that has taken days off my schedule with no resolution. Worse, they fail to interface effectively with Lufthansa, forcing me to bounce between two equally useless help desks. The apps are unable to handle the situation, the bag dropped off the tracker, and while the call centers are polite, they do not provide written information to assist with cross-airline communication.

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.

There was more leg room in what was most likely a basic assigned seat (row 25) then on other airlines I've flown lately.

They lost my luggage and have ruined first day of my vacation. Still don’t have it. I have nothing. I also paid for a seat I did not get. They changed both our seats with no notice. Will never fly this airline again.

My overall experience with JetBlue was pretty poor and disappointing. We originally booked a DIRECT flight home from Boston on 9/28 at 8:00pm even though it cost more than the non direct flights. With no reason other than "unforeseen circumstances", our flight home Monday was cancelled and we were rebooked on a 7:00am flight on 9/29 with a layover in JFK. We were traveling with sick kids coming home from a funeral of a loved one and needed to be at work on Tuesday so paying extra for a flight home Monday was something we had to do. The original direct flights were considerably more expensive than the non direct flights- so I don't understand how Jetblue did absolutely NOTHING to compensate or right their mistake. We will not be booking with them in the future because they are not reliable and they showed no remorse nor did they make any attempt to make things right. The least they could have done was credit the difference in cost of flight because I know our original flights cost more than the one we were rebooked on. Once again- we will not be flying with them in the future and will advise family and friends to be aware of the risk you run when giving them your business. Do better.

see my previous response about being kicked off the flight and having to fly the next day, ruining a planned vacation tour.

They lost my luggage and refuse to help. Terrible airline. I've never experienced worse customer service in my life. Pretty much just told me too bad that I lost all my luggage, not caring that I am stuck in Europe for 2 weeks with absolutely nothing.

I especially liked the lead crew officer. His boarding and safety announcements were made with a bit of novelty and humor. The flight also left the gate 10 minutes early and we landed about 20 minutes early… It was a delightful flight…

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

terrible. Because I felt very unwell during the flight. How do they leave a woman alone in the middle of 2 men? an obese man who was falling on top of me.

I booked this flight using JetBlue points and I was just so happy. The plane was so clean, I had every need met. Thank you!!

As with all airline's seats, a little more padding would appreciated. Especially on longer flights.

AA needs to review it's policy whereby it's most tenured staff gets to pick their flights. This tends to place flight attendants with the most jaded customer service attitudes on long haul flights. Whilst I realize this is a generality I have experienced increasing levels of woefully poor customer service. One particular flight attendant on this flight was downright rude to several customers. After serving an awful meal they disappeared to their cots below deck and for the most part did not reappear until 1.5hrs before landing. A very disappointing flight.

Legroom was decent, but the seat comfort was horrible; I believe the seat cushions have lost their cushion. I was uncomfortable and had back pain throughout the nearly five-hour flight. WiFi did not work despite my attempts to get it up and running. This was very frustrating as passengers all around me were streaming football games, movies, and accessing email and text messages. One flight attendant suggested it was my seat, but that makes no sense, given WiFi doesn't work that way. On another note, I rarely have a good experience with aainflight.com.

Id like for them to not have lost my bag. And maybe be a little nicer to me, given the fact they lost my bag.

Seats are uncomfortable and my impressive barely 5’10” frame meant my knees were touching the seat in front of me. My 5’3” sweetheart found the seats equally uncomfortable The crew were transactional. The food edible. The entertainment manageable. The boarding process efficient. The experience okay.

Hey as long as you bring me back to earth in one piece I’m good! Otherwise great flight smooth take off and landing good staff Only thing is the staff at the back of the aircraft chatters a lot it’s annoying at times but I’ll let that go because they are very sweet overall.

The airline company should manage their crew for the plane on better schedule so people don’t have to wait in the plane. And this flight that I had had no snacks offered, and if you would like a water, you had to come see somebody and ask for. If airline would let people know that they are no longer providing or offering any food. At least people could bring their own if they wish.

On time departure was much appreciated. However, as a frequent flyer and American Advantage member, I was as disappointed not to get an aisle seat.

Flight was cancelled due to a myriad of operational issues. You guys really suck

Our gate was changed several times, and the gate agents were just as in the dark as all of us in knowing when our plane would arrive at PHL.

mechanical problem delayed more than 2 hours on the run way.

More options for your flight from Philadelphia to Costa Rica

Complete your trip to Costa Rica with a hotel stay or car rental