Which airport for San Pedro departure?

[DarrenDazDaz]

I see everyone talking about LAX, but would it be easier for me to fly into Long Beach? 
 

Any other advice for getting to the port? In general, I dislike LAX.
 

My sister works for Southwest, so I’m not paying airfare and can fly into any of the area airports. I’d like to know which has the cheapest way to get to the port. 

[Honolulu Blue]

4 hours ago, DarrenDazDaz said:

I see everyone talking about LAX, but would it be easier for me to fly into Long Beach? 
 

Any other advice for getting to the port? In general, I dislike LAX.
 

My sister works for Southwest, so I’m not paying airfare and can fly into any of the area airports. I’d like to know which has the cheapest way to get to the port. 

In my research into ground transportation from LAX and LGB, I didn't notice much difference - they're both a fair distance from San Pedro.  Rideshares will work either way from either airport.  Those are the two closest airports; unless you can get an outstanding deal to one of the others, any savings will be eaten up by the extra cost (and time) to get to/from the port.  LAX is a bit of a maze, but Long Beach is much smaller (both good and bad).  It was under construction when I went in April, which gummed things up a bit.  YMMV.

[CruiserBruce]

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

Come over to the West Coast Departure board, here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/315-west-coast-departures/

 

You will see info on logistics for LAX, LGB, as well as SNA, another option for the area.

[bonsai3s]

Long Beach airport...no brainer.

Uber...best way to get to port.

 

* We are currently onboard the Navigator...sailed out of San Pedro.

If you decide to fly in the day before, you have Crown Plaza and Doubletree San Pedro nearby.

[hallux]

As far as accessibility/travel convenience between the airport and the cruise port - LGB would be my pick so you don't have to deal with LAX traffic.  That said - flights to/from LGB can be somewhat limited, since I don't live near a major airport it would have been three flights (two connections) to get to/from LGB, which isn't exactly a situation I desire, but you may have a different level of tolerance for that.

[Zach1213]

1 hour ago, bonsai3s said:

Long Beach airport...no brainer.

 

 

To me it's definitely a brainer. LGB is easier, but to me it's not worth making a connection for, so it kind of depends where you're coming from. For example, I live in Kansas City right now...I can get a nonstop to LAX a couple of times each day (plus an additional one or two direct flights) but would need to connect to get to LGB. To me, it's a no brainer to get the nonstop to LAX. And then I can go to the In-N-Out on Sepulveda and watch the constant stream of planes land 🙂

Edited January 3, 2023 by Zach1213

[DarrenDazDaz]

Thanks for the quick replies! Looks like there isn’t much difference either way. 

[KeepCalmBearOn]

I'd pick LGB first, SNA second, LAX fourth.....

[imola]

On 1/3/2023 at 11:02 AM, DarrenDazDaz said:

Thanks for the quick replies! Looks like there isn’t much difference either way. 

We flew direct flight into LGB in November.  It was very easy to manage even for us old folks.  Called an Uber who arrived in less than five minutes.  From airport to front door of Crown Plaza was about 20 minutes and cost was $30.00 plus tip.  Hope this helps.

[Itried4498]

LGB is the most convenient but as mentioned had limited flight options.  This can be problematic for a multitude of reasons, and if you’re connecting to get to LGB but not LAX, it’ll be more time consuming.

 

Same thing applies to SNA, although there are more flight options.  It can also be challenging to find an affordable Uber at times - I live nearby SNA and could not get an Uber to take on our ride to San Pedro a couple months ago (fare was $70ish).  We use to get ridiculous counter offers, but I think that was a CA thing that stopped awhile ago after a proposition was defeated.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

On 1/2/2023 at 11:18 PM, DarrenDazDaz said:

but would it be easier for me to fly into Long Beach?

 

It would be easier to answer the question if we knew where you are coming from.

 

As I said earlier, I'd always pick any airport but LAX and usually do.

[lgonquin]

We are sailing out of San Pedro in April.  Had our flights set for ORD to LGB, via PHX.  

Just found out TODAY that our airline (AA) is discontinuing service into…wait for it…..LGB!!!

They we’re nice enough to reschedule our flights…wait for it…ORD to PHX to LAX. 
 

Needless to say, we just rescheduled direct, nonstops ORD to LAX. 

[Ashland]

4 hours ago, lgonquin said:

We are sailing out of San Pedro in April.  Had our flights set for ORD to LGB, via PHX.  

Just found out TODAY that our airline (AA) is discontinuing service into…wait for it…..LGB!!!

They we’re nice enough to reschedule our flights…wait for it…ORD to PHX to LAX. 
 

Needless to say, we just rescheduled direct, nonstops ORD to LAX. 

You'll be fine....FYI a taxi from the LAX-It to San Pedro will be $70.00 or at least it was for the two of us this past October.

[techteach]

I wonder what is happening at LGB because we just found out Alaska Airlines is no longer flying there either.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

19 minutes ago, techteach said:

I wonder what is happening at LGB because we just found out Alaska Airlines is no longer flying there either.

 

A lot of regional airports are suffering because of personnel issues especially pilots.

[Sprocket]

We cross the border and fly out of a regional airport in Washington State.  Southwest started flying out of there IIRC in 2021 and we have flown Bellingham to Long Beach a few times, our other option was Alaska to LAX and both require a change of planes.  

 

We Uber and never have an issue getting picked up quickly, we usually stay at Crowne Plaza but next trip are trying out the Westin.  We have to Uber to San Pedro anyway but thought it might be nice to try out someplace different since our arrival is around 11 AM.

 

FYI it did take me a few minutes to figure out where to pick up our luggage as it is outside which I am not used to but no issues.

 

[Team M&M]

On 1/8/2023 at 5:03 PM, Itried4498 said:

LGB is the most convenient but as mentioned had limited flight options.  This can be problematic for a multitude of reasons, and if you’re connecting to get to LGB but not LAX, it’ll be more time consuming.

 

Same thing applies to SNA, although there are more flight options.  It can also be challenging to find an affordable Uber at times - I live nearby SNA and could not get an Uber to take on our ride to San Pedro a couple months ago (fare was $70ish).  We use to get ridiculous counter offers, but I think that was a CA thing that stopped awhile ago after a proposition was defeated.

We recently landed in Phoenix and needed to take an uber to get to my moms in Mesa. Uber was $95!!!!! it is a 25 min ride tops and we generally would get it for $35 or $40 - we spent about 15 - 20 mins surfing to find taxi fare averages, shuttles etc... it was pretty late at night and shuttles didn't seem to be running or often and eventually decided to go back to Uber and very surprisingly to us, the fare level had dropped to $40. I guess we must have been searching when it was surge time? And maybe the 15 ish mins it took us to look up other modes of transport, stopped the "you looked a second time, you must really be interested, increase that so often happens when you go on and look more than once in a short period of time" When hubs and I travel together, he looks up Lyft at the same time I look up Uber and we generally find a difference, so, pick whichever is least expensive.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

On 1/28/2023 at 5:18 PM, Sprocket said:

We Uber and never have an issue getting picked up quickly, we usually stay at Crowne Plaza but next trip are trying out the Westin.  We have to Uber to San Pedro anyway but thought it might be nice to try out someplace different since our arrival is around 11 AM.

 

Westin Downtown Long Beach?

[Sprocket]

20 hours ago, scottca075 said:

 

Westin Downtown Long Beach?

Yes sorry should have mentioned that.