Starting at Yosemite…WWYD?

loveswdw

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 21, 2001
Right now, we are booked to fly into and out of LAX for our October trip. I got a really good fare on SWA to LAX. We are driving from LAX to Yosemite to start our trip. My question is would you pay a little more (around $200 for 4 of us) and fly into San Jose or Oakland instead of LAX? Google says LAX to Yosemite Valley Lodge is around 6 hours. San Jose or Oakland to the same is around 4 hours. Are those time tables from each airport close to correct? (Flying into Fresno isn't an option as it's EXPENSIVE)

I booked non stops to/from LAX. I can't get non stops to/from SJC or OAK. Is having the non stops worth the extra drive?
 
Never driven from SJ or Oakland but 6 hours is about right from LAX - a little longer
depending on what time you leave LA - so I'd say the estimate from Oakland is too.
I can't really address if it's worth it to you. How much extra is the car rental and gas
from LA? That extra 4 hours (RT) on the road may eat up that $200.
 
What time do you land at LAX? If during rush hour it could easily be much longer than 6 hours.
 


I was going to stay out of this since it seemed like the answer was well in hand. However, the additional details are something I think I can address.

LA traffic is going to brutal all afternoon. However, you might consider it a wash with the requirement if a connection to get to OAK/SJC.

Oakland is probably the fastest option in terms of driving, although you would be running into the early afternoon commute on I-580. From San Jose you would need to get to I-680 to connect to I-580. The way into Yosemite on CA-120 is kind of boring, but it's the fastest way from the Bay Area. There are also some small cities along the route where there's the possibility of getting lost if you don't notice a sign, so definitely use GPS of some kind.
 


We land at 1:15 PM on Friday afternoon.
So by the time you're on the road it will be closer to 3PM. The 405 will be pretty bad at that
point - the interchange to the 5 will be quite bad. Add at least one hour to the stated
time.
 
Your decision might depend on what the rest of your trip is like. Where else are you going? Is one of the airports better for the return trip?

For the question of a direct flight being worth $200, I think you really have to look at ALL the facts in both scenarios.

What is your total travel time with connecting flights? Flying into LAX, I think the estimate above of being on the road a little before 3 PM is a pretty good estimate. So, you're arriving in YOSE in the 9-10 PM range. What time would you be arriving there with the connecting flights?

What are the on-time rates for arrivals at your transfer point and for the connecting flights? Are you connecting through an airport where you might have major weather around your connection time?

Also, you didn't mention SFO. I've often found direct flights into SFO at competitive prices.
 
Your decision might depend on what the rest of your trip is like. Where else are you going? Is one of the airports better for the return trip?

For the question of a direct flight being worth $200, I think you really have to look at ALL the facts in both scenarios.

What is your total travel time with connecting flights? Flying into LAX, I think the estimate above of being on the road a little before 3 PM is a pretty good estimate. So, you're arriving in YOSE in the 9-10 PM range. What time would you be arriving there with the connecting flights?

What are the on-time rates for arrivals at your transfer point and for the connecting flights? Are you connecting through an airport where you might have major weather around your connection time?

Also, you didn't mention SFO. I've often found direct flights into SFO at competitive prices.

I wasn't at work today and actually was on the Peninsula. The traffic through San Francisco to Oakland was horrible around 2:30 PM. I might be possible to go around through the San Mateo Bridge. I also made the mistake of thinking that traffic wouldn't be bad until later and got caught in the traffic - about 40 minutes just to go two miles. I probably should have taken 280 though. It would have shaved at least 20 minutes.

Personally I'd think Oakland is better for on-time performance, cost, and car rentals. It's a much easier airport to deal with than SFO.
 
I wasn't at work today and actually was on the Peninsula. The traffic through San Francisco to Oakland was horrible around 2:30 PM. I might be possible to go around through the San Mateo Bridge. I also made the mistake of thinking that traffic wouldn't be bad until later and got caught in the traffic - about 40 minutes just to go two miles. I probably should have taken 280 though. It would have shaved at least 20 minutes.

Personally I'd think Oakland is better for on-time performance, cost, and car rentals. It's a much easier airport to deal with than SFO.
No question Oakland is closer and you don't have the problem of needing to go East-West with only a few routes available. We have the same challenges here in Miami trying to get to and from Miami Beach, and local knowledge of alternate routes trumps a GPS every time.

Whenever I'm out there, I'm usually going to San Francisco, so SFO is my obvious airport of choice. I've also used San Jose and never found either one difficult to use. But...I always take early morning flights (around or a little before 8 AM), so I'm arriving at SFO or LAX about 10:15-10:30 AM Pacific time. BIG difference from arriving at 1 PM! I usually figure about an hour from debarking to freeway, so I'm on the road before noon if I'm going someplace else. Noon traffic and 3 PM traffic are totally different animals in any large city.

Like OP, San Jose or OAK are connecting flights for me, so a later arrival and more total travel time door to door. I haven't used OAK except to drop a buddy off for his flight home...which was very easy.

But as I said above, there are probably more important factors for OP than the drive time between any two points, and those factors will depend on where else they are going, how long they have, and lots of other things.
 
Sacramento airport is another option to consider if you haven't already. It's probably the closest of all of them, and Southwest flies there. There will be traffic during rush hour, but not as bad as the bay area (which in turn is not as bad as SoCal rush hour IMO).
 
This probably isn't the most budget friendly idea, but I am visiting both Yosemite end Disneyland in a couple of weeks and I chose to fly into Reno. It is a shorter, more scenic drive to enter Yosemite from Tioga Pass and then exit Wawona to drive to Anaheim (than to and from LA). Again, this would require probably 2 one way tickets that may be more costly but it is probably preferable in terms of scenic driving time. Car rental may be more expensive to do from Reno to LAX also (although I got a smoking deal). I'll let you know how it works for me when I return!
 
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Sacramento airport is another option to consider if you haven't already. It's probably the closest of all of them, and Southwest flies there. There will be traffic during rush hour, but not as bad as the bay area (which in turn is not as bad as SoCal rush hour IMO).

It's almost the same distance as Oakland. Google Maps gives almost the same distance and time.

I've flown through SMF when I was working in the area. It was convenient, but there was a convenient flight with Alaska to my destination.
 
Sacramento airport is another option to consider if you haven't already. It's probably the closest of all of them, and Southwest flies there. There will be traffic during rush hour, but not as bad as the bay area (which in turn is not as bad as SoCal rush hour IMO).

I did consider Sacramento as well. As of now, we are still flying into LAX solely based on cost. It is cheap to fly into LAX vs SMF, SJC, OAK, SFO, any of the northern airports I've looked at. There are 4 of us flying so cost is a big factor. I keep checking though! Thanks!
 
This probably isn't the most budget friendly idea, but I am visiting both Yosemite end Disneyland in a couple of weeks and I chose to fly into Reno. It is a shorter, more scenic drive to enter Yosemite from Tioga Pass and then exit Wawona to drive to Anaheim (than to and from LA). Again, this would require probably 2 one way tickets that may be more costly but it is probably preferable in terms of scenic driving time. Car rental may be more expensive to do from Reno to LAX also (although I got a smoking deal). I'll let you know how it works for me when I return!
Please update how your trip goes. I did look into flying into Reno but with this being a late October trip, I'm hesitant to book that due to Tioga Pass being closed with snow. I've read that it usually doesn't close until November but it would be just my luck that an early storm would roll through then. :)
 
Oh and we've changed our flight so we now will be landing at 12 NOON. I don't know if this will make a difference as far as traffic goes.
 
Please update how your trip goes. I did look into flying into Reno but with this being a late October trip, I'm hesitant to book that due to Tioga Pass being closed with snow. I've read that it usually doesn't close until November but it would be just my luck that an early storm would roll through then. :)

It might not be closed for the season, but there are snow dumps that can close it for up to a day.

As far as traffic goes, that might be a decent time for the LA area. You might start running into Fresno commute traffic though. Barring any delays, you'll probably pick up you rental before 1 PM, and through Fresno around 4:30 PM.
 
Trip went great! I would do it that way again as long as I was not flirting with the Tioga Pass closure dates.
 

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