$347 Find Cheap Flights from Zurich to California

This is the cheapest one-way flight price found by a KAYAK user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight from Zurich to California departing on 10/20. Fares are subject to change and may not be available on all flights or dates of travel. Click the price to replicate the search for this deal.
1 adult
1 adult, Economy

KAYAK searches hundreds of travel sites at once for deals on flights to California

 
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results in flight searches from Zurich to California.
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results in flight searches from Zurich to California.
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Cheap Flights from Zurich to California

Cheapest round-trip prices found by our users on KAYAK in the last 72 hours
Los Angeles
Los Angeles1 stop$586
San Francisco
San Francisco1 stop$505
San Diego
San Diego2 stops$602
San Jose
San Jose2 stops$444
San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo2 stops$1,836
Reno
Reno2 stops$883
Sacramento
Sacramento2 stops$655
Los Angeles
Los Angeles1 stop$586
San Francisco
San Francisco1 stop$505
San Diego
San Diego2 stops$602
San Jose
San Jose2 stops$444
San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo2 stops$1,836
Reno
Reno2 stops$883
Sacramento
Sacramento2 stops$655

Book Cheap Zurich to California Plane Tickets

 
Here are some of the best deals found on KAYAK recently from the most popular airlines for round-trip flights from Zurich to California that are departing in the next months. While these flights were available on KAYAK in the last 72 hours, prices and availability are subject to change and deals may expire.
Discover the best prices for you by selecting your travel dates on KAYAK.

Recent round-trip flight deals from Zurich to California

Fri, Sep 5 - Sun, Sep 14
United Airlines Logo
9:50 am - 9:18 pmZRH-SJC
20h 28m2 stops
United Airlines Logo
8:45 am - 12:15 pmSJC-ZRH
18h 30m2 stops
$444United Airlines
Find Deal
Fri, Sep 5 - Sun, Sep 14
United Airlines Logo
9:50 am - 10:40 pmZRH-SJC
21h 50m1 stop
United Airlines Logo
8:45 am - 12:15 pmSJC-ZRH
18h 30m2 stops
$448United Airlines
Find Deal
Sat, Nov 22 - Sat, Dec 6
Scandinavian Airlines Logo
8:25 pm - 2:35 pmZRH-SFO
27h 10m1 stop
Scandinavian Airlines Logo
7:05 am - 9:40 amSFO-ZRH
17h 35m2 stops
$505Scandinavian Airlines
Find Deal
Wed, Nov 5 - Fri, Nov 14
American Airlines Logo
10:15 am - 9:27 amZRH-SJC
32h 12m2 stops
American Airlines Logo
2:38 pm - 6:25 pmSJC-ZRH
18h 47m2 stops
$507American Airlines
Find Deal
Fri, Oct 10 - Sun, Oct 26
British Airways Logo
7:15 am - 1:50 pmZRH-SFO
15h 35m1 stop
British Airways Logo
1:19 pm - 8:10 pmSFO-ZRH
22h 51m2 stops
$508British Airways
Find Deal
Wed, Sep 10 - Wed, Sep 17
SWISS Logo
1:35 pm - 4:35 pmZRH-SFO
12h 00mnonstop
SWISS Logo
2:20 pm - 10:20 amSFO-ZRH
11h 00mnonstop
$509SWISS
Find Deal
Mon, Oct 13 - Wed, Oct 29
American Airlines Logo
11:45 am - 8:46 amZRH-SFO
30h 01m2 stops
American Airlines Logo
6:30 pm - 6:25 pmSFO-ZRH
15h 55m1 stop
$510American Airlines
Find Deal
Sat, Dec 27 - Sat, Jan 3
British Airways Logo
6:35 am - 8:09 pmZRH-SFO
22h 34m2 stops
British Airways Logo
6:00 am - 11:40 amSFO-ZRH
20h 40m2 stops
$513British Airways
Find Deal
Mon, Sep 8 - Mon, Sep 15
Scandinavian Airlines Logo
8:25 pm - 4:30 pmZRH-SFO
29h 05m1 stop
Scandinavian Airlines Logo
7:40 pm - 7:45 pmSFO-ZRH
15h 05m1 stop
$525Scandinavian Airlines
Find Deal
Sat, Oct 11 - Tue, Oct 28
SWISS Logo
8:55 pm - 3:25 pmZRH-SFO
27h 30m1 stop
SWISS Logo
8:25 pm - 3:30 pmSFO-ZRH
11h 05mnonstop
$529SWISS
Find Deal
Booking Insights

KAYAK's insights & trends for Zurich to California flights

Get data-powered insights and trends into flights from Zurich 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 Zurich to California?

What is the cheapest Zurich to California flight route?

Data is based on round-trip flight searches on KAYAK over the past month.

The cheapest ticket to California from Zurich found in the last 72 hours was to San Francisco, at $506 round-trip. The most popular route is from Zurich (ZRH) to San Francisco (SFO), and the cheapest round-trip airline ticket found on this route in the last 72 hours was $506.

Can I save money by flying with a layover from Zurich to California?

The average round-trip price for all non-stop flights, flights with one layover, and flights with two layovers for the route found by users searching on KAYAK in the last 2 weeks.

Yes, flying with a layover may cost you more time, but you can also save money on the route, with a 1 stop layover the cheapest option at $2,105 on average.

What is the cheapest month to fly from Zurich to California?

To calculate monthly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each month over the last year for round-trip flights from Zurich to California, removes the top 0.1% to account for outliers, and then takes the median of all values for each month.

The cheapest month for flights from Zurich to California is February, when tickets cost $660 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are December and July, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $1,030 and $962 respectively.

What’s the cheapest day of the week to fly from Zurich to California?

The average price of all round-trip flights from Zurich to California clicked on KAYAK for each day over the last 12 months.

When flying from Zurich to California, you should consider leaving on a Sunday and avoid Thursdays if you are looking for the best rates. For your return to Zurich, you’ll find the best rates on Tuesdays and the most expensive ones on Fridays.

How far in advance should I book a flight from Zurich to California?

To calculate weekly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each week before departure over the last year for round-trip flights from Zurich to California, removes the top 0.1% to account for outliers, and then takes the average of all the values for each week.

To get a below average price on the flight from Zurich to California, you should book around 3 weeks before departure, which saves you about 26% compared to booking last minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 25 weeks before departure.

Good to know

Low seasonJanuary
Cheapest flight$347
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 8% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 19% increase in price.
Flight from Zurich to Las Vegas

Flights from Zurich to California: the best tips from KAYAK users

Insights shared by verified travelers who flew the route from Zurich to California 
Verified travelerFlew with SWISSZRH-LAXDec 2024
Don't pack too much, as the carry-on back size is smaller than most other airlines.
Verified travelerFlew with SWISSZRH-LAXSep 2024
Have Swiss app it keeps you updated pretty instantly of any delays or gate changes

FAQs - booking California flights

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from Zurich 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 Zurich to California.

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

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

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

    The cheapest time of day to fly to California is generally at night, when round-trip flights cost $655 on average. Morning departures are around 6% more expensive than evening flights, on average. The most expensive time of day to fly to California is generally in the afternoon, which is peak travel time and where the average cost of a ticket is $858.

Top tips for finding cheap flights to California

  • Looking for a cheap flight? 25% of our users found tickets from Zurich to the following destinations at these prices or less: San Francisco $612 one-way - $731 round-trip

Reviews of the top 5 airlines serving from Zurich to California

 
See real verified KAYAK customer reviews for airlines flying from Zurich to California. Airline scores are aggregated from all reviews left by passengers on KAYAK after flying with an airline. KAYAK doesn’t show reviews that are older than 5 years. Learn how KAYAK collects reviews.
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from Zurich 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.
7.6
SWISSOverall score based on 1711 reviews
7.1Food
7.4Comfort
6.8Entertainment
7.7Boarding
8.3Crew
Airline reviews

Swiss is the. Only airline I use when I go to Europe. They are on time and they are fantastic!

10.0 ExcellentAnonymous, Aug 2025ZRH - BOS
Read more SWISS reviews

Swiss is the. Only airline I use when I go to Europe. They are on time and they are fantastic!

At the boarding gate, passengers were offered the option of checking in their carry-on luggage, as the plane was full. However, they failed to specify that they would not be dropping it off at the exit. Instead, everyone had to wait over 30 minutes at the airport carousel, and to everyone's surprise, not even the carry-on luggage, but the checked luggage, was the first to arrive. An hour later, we finally collected our bags. Lesson learned: I will never check my carry-on luggage with Swiss Air / Helvetic Airways again.

Not good. We returned on united airlines and the food was horrible.

The cabin was warm and few used the blankets. I should’ve upgraded.

The plan was delayed for takeoff by an hour, but we ended up making the landing on time which was a nice surprise.

The crew was very friendly and nice! Very smooth flight.

The meal was wonderful and strawberry ice cream was a plus.

Absolutely amazing! Best airline i have flown with, huge difference to United!

All the flight to USA were arranged to E terminal whereas from Dubrovnik arriving on Zurich is on A80, have to walk all the way from A to E, even need transfer bus , for short transfer time like in an hour, we have to work fast, as soon as arrived at E, it is about time to boarding, pretty tight schedule, I hope Zurich airport can make some rearrangement so that transfer people do not have to walk long way. For short transfer time people, such as 50 min, this is even impossible if still like this.

...as stated previously, red tape should be shorted by Swiss in terms of generating refunds...

I paid extra for our seats on the way coming back from Stockholm to New York the seats were changed and it was totally waved. This happened to three more passengers.

Will not recommend SAS for business travel. Food was so-so. Service was very good. First leg was very good. Second leg from Copenhagen to Barcelona was terrible. We paid a LOT for business class and to have seats worse than most coach seats with no entertainment and no charging available for 1/3rd of the whole trip was not acceptable. Very disappointing. I thought they were coming back in the U.S. with style, NOT YET.

I do not have a problem with the airline but both my two suitcases that were supposed to go from Hawaii to Copenhagen didn’t get on the plane in Seattle. I arrive on Monday the 21st at 10:30 in the morning. I did not get my two suitcases before Friday late afternoon that is unacceptable.

Love thiscsirlibe. So civilized and kind. Good food. Good treatment. On time. Excellent communication.

No choice of food. Needed to pay more even for a can of coke!!!

great crew, professional, funny, and great service. good condition plane too! great experience

The seats were really close together and hard to get comfortable. The food was okay. The cheese was amazing! I loved the cold towels they gave us.

When my flight was changed from delays they were quick to rebook me.

I really enjoyed how clean and big the aircraft was, as well as how friendly the crew was.

The seats have no legroom. I was bruised on my knees for having them pressed up against the seat in front of me. Then I got food poisoning from the special meal I ordered. Pretty horrible all around.

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!

I found the staff to not be very attentive at all. When paying for Business Class you expect a certain type of service and that was not found. They were almost rude even

Ok. Get a different kosher caterer. The food was odd.

Our experience on United Airlines was extremely poor. The plane was extremely cold throughout our entire flight- which multiple people complained about- and we had to wait 2 hours to get a blanket which was too thin and barely helped warm us up. As well as this, none of the entertainment features were working so we had to sit through a roughly 10 hour flight with nothing to keep our attention, including the actual flight path screen. It was an extremely disappointing experience and I would hope that this gets fixed if we ever choose United Airlines again.

I really enjoyed flying with United airlines amazing experience , good customer service and great food

1.It will be better if sandwich is warm. 2.The food is too salty. 3.Breakfast needs some vegetables or fruits.

Boarded plane and then delayed 1.5 hours while on the plane

It was all good flight was on time, service was good I enjoyed a few movies and everything was smooth

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.

American Airlines is a mediocre airlines: they do not maintain the highest standard of cleanliness in the cabins, and the food is not well thought out. Service is not at top of mind compared to other international airlines such as Singapore Airlines, JAL or others.

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.

I flew Business Class. Rory, one of the Cabin stewards, was attentive, explained the menu, provided appropriate drinks. was

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.

We missed the connection because we had to wait for a shuttle from the plane to the Terminal. Also, we needed assistance and none was available.

When we arrived at the airport - 1st step - printing out your boarding pass - no issue. Not long lines as these machines. 2nd step - processing your bag drop off. There was only one associate there to help 10 kiosks. We had a family in front of us for 20 minutes trying to work on the machine and figure out every step for 4 pieces of luggage. My husband alerted the associate who was able to assist the family. Highly suggest that there are more associates to assist in this process. Besides this issue, security check went very quickly. Our flight was direct to Philadelphia. We had to carry our bags down two flights of steps, then out to the tarmac to a bus, then carry our bags up two flights of stairs to the plane. No one on the flight was expecting that long trek. I could see some people were struggling a bit. All in all - great flight crew, plane was clean and food was great!

There were no gluten-free vegan options available, so food was very limited on this flight, and some of the crew weren’t especially helpful about it. To make matters worse, a passenger was sick on board, and although the area was cleaned, the smell lingered for the rest of the journey. On top of that, we ended up circling for an extra hour, which only made the unpleasant situation drag on even longer.

Checking in prior on line and wait time at Gatwick was terrible. I would rate a big fat ZERO.

There was a slight delay. Otherwise, everything else was satisfactory.

The company that I bought my tickets through, Cheapflightsfares, failed to provide my confirmation information in a timely manner, so I was unable to check on at the country and therefore unable to make my flight. As a matter of fact, I STILL have not received the confirmation. After having read more and more reviews about the company, Cheapflightsfares appears to have scammed hundreds of hopeful travelers out of thousands of dollars. Please look into this company and, for the sake of anyone planning their next trip, stop allowing them to do business through you.

I checked in to bags, one arrived one was delayed. I did not receive the bag for 4 days - arrived on Tuesday, received bag on Saturday!

It was ok. Our flight was delayed 2 hours, and then again on arrival. The explanation given felt feeble.

The plane was known to be late in advance of takeoff. My guess is that it was known to be late at 11am or 5 hours before scheduled takeoff time. We were late to leave and with a wheelchair and the a cart, we only made it to gate. We raced! Inside plane, all was great

The booking agent, cheapflightsfares, messed up, and the information for the seats we paid extra for was not sent to American Airlines. We were separated on the return flight and sent to the lowest economy section. The flight attendant helped arrange seating at the back of the plane to allow my wife and me to sit together.

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