$365 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 2/9. 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, 0 bags

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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$649
San Francisco
San Francisco1 stop$616
San Diego
San Diego2 stops$646
San Jose
San Jose2 stops$652
Fresno
Fresno2 stops$810
San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo2 stops$832
Reno
Reno2 stops$799
Sacramento
Sacramento2 stops$656
Los Angeles
Los Angeles1 stop$649
San Francisco
San Francisco1 stop$616
San Diego
San Diego2 stops$646
San Jose
San Jose2 stops$652
Fresno
Fresno2 stops$810
San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo2 stops$832
Reno
Reno2 stops$799
Sacramento
Sacramento2 stops$656

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, Apr 3 - Fri, Apr 17
TAP AIR PORTUGAL Logo
6:10 am - 4:50 pmZRH-SFO
19h 40m1 stop
TAP AIR PORTUGAL Logo
8:20 pm - 10:30 pmSFO-ZRH
17h 10m1 stop
$616TAP AIR PORTUGAL
Find Deal
Thu, Nov 20 - Thu, Nov 27
Scandinavian Airlines Logo
12:15 pm - 2:35 pmZRH-SFO
35h 20m2 stops
Scandinavian Airlines Logo
4:40 pm - 6:10 pmSFO-ZRH
16h 30m2 stops
$617Scandinavian Airlines
Find Deal
Fri, May 1 - Thu, May 14
United Airlines Logo
2:35 pm - 8:00 pmZRH-SFO
14h 25m1 stop
United Airlines Logo
7:40 pm - 3:50 pmSFO-ZRH
11h 10mnonstop
$645United Airlines
Find Deal
Fri, May 1 - Sat, May 9
United Airlines Logo
2:35 pm - 8:00 pmZRH-SFO
14h 25m1 stop
United Airlines Logo
2:00 pm - 10:20 amSFO-ZRH
11h 20mnonstop
$646United Airlines
Find Deal
Tue, Nov 18 - Tue, Dec 2
SWISS Logo
1:15 pm - 4:30 pmZRH-SFO
12h 15mnonstop
SWISS Logo
7:25 pm - 3:30 pmSFO-ZRH
11h 05mnonstop
$657SWISS
Find Deal
Mon, Nov 17 - Mon, Dec 1
SWISS Logo
1:15 pm - 4:30 pmZRH-SFO
12h 15mnonstop
SWISS Logo
7:25 pm - 3:30 pmSFO-ZRH
11h 05mnonstop
$660SWISS
Find Deal
Sat, Dec 13 - Fri, Jan 30
British Airways Logo
6:35 am - 4:10 pmZRH-SAN
18h 35m1 stop
British Airways Logo
6:00 pm - 8:25 pmSAN-ZRH
17h 25m1 stop
$679British Airways
Find Deal
Wed, Apr 29 - Thu, May 14
American Airlines Logo
3:20 pm - 2:55 pmZRH-SAN
32h 35m1 stop
American Airlines Logo
7:40 pm - 10:45 pmSAN-ZRH
18h 05m1 stop
$681American Airlines
Find Deal
Fri, May 1 - Thu, May 14
British Airways Logo
7:15 am - 2:55 pmZRH-SAN
16h 40m1 stop
British Airways Logo
4:45 pm - 6:15 pmSAN-ZRH
16h 30m1 stop
$683British Airways
Find Deal
Fri, Feb 20 - Tue, Feb 24
American Airlines Logo
6:05 am - 4:10 pmZRH-SAN
19h 05m1 stop
American Airlines Logo
6:15 am - 3:30 pmSAN-ZRH
24h 15m2 stops
$684American Airlines
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?

This analysis is based on the cheapest round-trip price found on KAYAK in the last 12 months by searching for a flight from Zurich to California departing in November.

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 Los Angeles, at $645 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 $661.

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 2 stops layover the cheapest option at $750 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 $665 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are December and July, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $1,019 and $937 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 Wednesdays and the most expensive ones on Saturdays.

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 23 weeks before departure.

Good to know

Low seasonJanuary
Cheapest flight$365
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 8% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 17% 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 $856.

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.
7.5
SWISSOverall score based on 1775 reviews
6.8Entertainment
8.2Crew
7.4Comfort
7.6Boarding
7.1Food
Airline reviews

0lane 2qs on tim3. Very bad food. No free wifi, only for texts. Entertainment poor and hard to access.

4.0 OkayDavid M, Oct 2025ZRH - JFK
Read more SWISS reviews

0lane 2qs on tim3. Very bad food. No free wifi, only for texts. Entertainment poor and hard to access.

At boarding, the locations where we had to have our passports checked prior to boarding were very unclear. Occasional staff wandered around telling people, but in busy area of the terminal this was not obvious. It was also located well after the check in desk in terms of walking to the gate. The Premium Economy service was attentive and warm. The only big draw back was lack of restrooms, and no division or even curtain between PE and Economy.

We had seats between the bathroom and a screaming baby, and did not have enough room to lay my head down on the tray table. Not ideal.

Everything was fairly easy just hard when you get to Heathrow not know your Gate number until an hour before but otherwise really everything great. Did not get my texts in time though to do me any good but that is why I still like everything the old fashioned way and print everything out.

My experience was wonderful. The professionalism of the crew was exemplary 🙂. The meals were wholesome and tasty. I have no complaints

Everything was smooth and great. I didnt like that they talk so much on the interphone during the flight.

Even though I paid extra for more room, we were very cramped and the seats were hard. Also, when we checked in they did not post the gate we were to arrive at even though we were half an hour away from boarding. The agent did not know either. Actually, the flight from Porto to Zurich did to have the gate posted, and there were very few agents in the boarding areas who could help us. I would never fly Swiss Air again.

Horrible flight. First delay in boarding of approximately 30 minutes. While in the plane, the flight attendants huddle and we get an announcement that the crew's legal time was exceeded, that they don't have replacement crew and that they will need to cancel the flight. One would think that they would know that their time was to be exceeded BEFORE boarding. Took for ever to deplane. Then we were told that flight would not be cancelled but gave us a departure time of 21.15, which of course was not fulfilled. Arrived in Valencia, luggage took 30 minutes to arrive. Absolutely unacceptable

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.

Scandinavian was perfect. Nice A350 with an on time departure and an an experienced crew. What a difference from TAP.

The flight was cancelled without explanation, and the replacement flight was late

The staff were great, the food was good. I just hate being crammed in a tuna can for 10 hours cause I can’t afford a better seat.

Really like this airline. Best food for airlines and comfortable seats and attentive staff. Delay was due to air traffic.

Great logistics and timeliness as we arrived quite early. Flight smooth and fast. Excellent entertainment. Plane itself was a bit tired and the crew mostly indifferent. Baggage took forever but that’s on CPH. Would use SAS again for sure.

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.

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

7 hours delayed due to operational issues on United’s end. Basically laziness.

Flight from Rome to SFO was excellent compared To our flight to Europe from SFO. The food was much tastier. You can see how UNITED is skimping, though. Instead of getting something mid flight you had to ask for it. It was not automatically served. There was a cookie at the end of the arrival meal, for example that tasted like it just came out of a box. They used to serve a little container of nuts, now … a tiny container of nuts, mixed with pretzels. This was business class that you really have to pay for! But this is minor complaints compared to the overall. My major complaint is the position of the even numbered seats by the windows. You have to turn around to see your window & the positioning as some other controls are harder to get at. This is compared to the odd number seat that are perfectly aligned.

The food quality sucks. One must starve if they do not eat flesh Or wheat based products Some variety would be expected. The trivial amount of snacks and or food is inhumane

Flight was timely, relatively comfortable, with decent entertainment and food served. Only problem encountered was with the free messaging which I highly appreciate, but it did not work from iphone to non-iphones.

The internet service I paid for didn’t work at all and the flight crew was not very friendly.

Subject: Formal Complaint: Discriminatory and Unprofessional Conduct – Request for Immediate Action & Compensation Dear [Airline Customer Relations Team], I am writing to file a formal complaint regarding my recent travel experience with [Airline], which was by far the worst I have ever encountered. What occurred was not only unprofessional, but in several instances discriminatory, unsafe, and unacceptable. On the first leg of my trip, I arrived only four minutes past check-in. Instead of making any attempt to resolve the matter, your representative flatly denied me boarding and made me wait while she attended to passengers who arrived after me. By the time a manager intervened, it was too late to board, costing me time, money, and unnecessary frustration. The second leg of my trip (Chicago–San Francisco) raised even more serious concerns. From the outset, it was apparent that the staff—particularly two attendants—prioritized Caucasian passengers while dismissing African American and minority passengers. • When a Caucasian passenger in the exit row refused to comply with federal safety requirements, I, as a first responder, immediately offered to switch seats and assume the responsibility. My offer was blatantly ignored, and instead, a Caucasian passenger seated further up was chosen. This was discriminatory and deeply insulting, especially as I was actively de-escalating the situation that could have delayed the flight further. • During a lengthy tarmac delay of over 90 minutes, passengers were given conflicting and unreasonable instructions that created unnecessary distress and tension. • Throughout the flight, a visibly intoxicated passenger directly in front of me was disruptive, rude to others, failed to comply with seatbelt and electronic device rules, and yet faced no enforcement from the crew. In stark contrast, I was singled out for repeated compliance checks even though I was following every rule. This unequal treatment was so obvious that multiple passengers around me spoke up in my defense. This pattern of behavior demonstrated a clear lack of professionalism, disregard for passenger safety, and discriminatory treatment. I expect far better from an airline of your stature. As a paying customer subjected to this unacceptable treatment, I am formally requesting: 1. A full investigation into the conduct of the staff on both flights. 2. A written apology acknowledging the discriminatory and unprofessional behavior I endured. 3. Appropriate compensation for the distress, inconvenience, and mishandling of my travel. If this matter is not addressed promptly and thoroughly, I will have no choice but to escalate my complaint further, including filing with the U.S. Department of Transportation and sharing my experience through other channels. I trust [Airline] will take this complaint seriously and provide a timely resolution.

Check in was quick and easy during early hours. Flight was on time, and customer services was a plus.

I understand that the food on the airplane wouldn’t be fantastic. However, it wasn’t good at all. 😭

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.

Wish some foods provided rather than just biscuit/cookie for flight more than 2 hours

We are too tired and frustrated to comment politely at this point

The business class seats are dated and uncomfortable. The space is bare minimum and there is absolutely no privacy. For $4K, this is not what I expect.

The flight crew was rude. We were in first class and no one even offered water until an hour after we were in the air. Horrible experience

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.

Airlines have to stop assuming passengers bring entertainment. Provide it like you used to in business class and above!! N

Great flight. One unique individual assisting in business class who should have not been there. Need more generic meals, not British centric.

Not my definition of first class. No leg room and barely any recline. The food was good. The crew was great. The comfort for the price I paid for London to Cairo was highway robbery. The Wi-Fi didn't work for me either.

There might be more food options for people who can't eat so much starch/sugar/bread/rice. Meat, cheese, walnuts/pecans for snack, maybe jerky or other kinds of meat-based snacks would be better than bread and rice and sweets. I had an extra chardonnay, which was fine. The entertainment was great.

Unfortunately, my flight was cancelled because of some sort of emergency over the Atlantic and had to return to London. While I think British Airways made every effort to mitigate the situation, I must say it was still pretty unpleasant. I do appreciate the fact, however, that British Airways put my safety first…and I think the effort to correct a bad situation was very sincere. But I think the process might be handled better in future.

Crew service was poor and very little difference between premium economy and economy. Disappointed.

My bags never made it on the flight and I now have to wait for them to arrive hopefully tomorrow. You can’t even track your bags in the app to see where they are since they didn’t arrive. You have to file a claim and then wait for them to inform you when you will receive your bag. We were already delayed for an hour due to baggage so I don’t understand how my bag didn’t make the flight.

One of the worst experience given the middle seat even asked for the change no one honored,boarded at the end and overall one of the worst experience

It was good although our flight to the UK was cancelled and rescheduled for two days later. This was after we were already seated on the plane. We missed the first leg of our trip. BA did put us up at a hotel and paid for our meals but we lost our hotel costs in Glasgow.

The crew was very nice and pleasant. We were very reluctant to book our flight with British Airlines because we had bad experience with their flight attendants on the previous trips, they were rude and not helpful.

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