Personal Finance
How Does Palo Alto Stack Up for Air Fares, On-Time Flights?
Find out if your airport is a soaring success — or if that's hardly the case.
UGH! That's bound to be your instant reaction when you see the word "airport," especially if you're a person who has endured today's long lines, pat-downs, baggage fees, surly workers, crowded gate areas, dirty restrooms, weak WiFi, flights delayed, flights cancelled, garbled announcements, bad food at high prices, and annoying monitors booming cable news.
Not to mention confusing fares, packed planes, cramped cabins, smelly seatmates, testy flight attendants, disgusting seat-back trays, bumpy flights, late landings, dragged-out deplaning, missed connections, baggage delays, lost luggage, and aggravatingly long bus rides to your parked car.
Ugh, indeed.
Find out what's happening in Palo Altowith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Think you’ve had it worse than most air travelers? Find out how your local airport stacks up against others across the U.S. when it comes to ticket prices, on-time arrivals and departures, and more.
Average Air Fares from Palo Alto, California
A Delta airliner taking off from an airport into a clear blue sky.
According to the government’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics, people flying out of Los Angeles International (LAX) or San Francisco International (SFO) or San Diego International (SAN) are paying an average round-trip fare of $353.21 and $377.56 and $328.24 respectively.
Find out what's happening in Palo Altowith free, real-time updates from Patch.
What do you think? Does that seem high to you? Or maybe lower than you've experienced? Remember, that's the average.
The average airline ticket price in the State of California during the third quarter of 2018 was $392.60, the government says.
The national average airline ticket price during the quarter was $444.27.
In California, you'll pay an average 12% less than the national average.
| Region | Airport | Avg. Fare |
|---|---|---|
| U.S.A. | — | $444.27 |
| California | — | $392.60 |
| Los Angeles | Los Angeles International | $353.21 |
| San Francisco | San Francisco International | $377.56 |
| San Diego | San Diego International | $328.24 |
| San Jose | Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International | $304.74 |
| Oakland | Metropolitan Oakland International | $288.23 |
| Sacramento | Sacramento International | $352.24 |
| Santa Ana | John Wayne Airport-Orange County | $366.46 |
| Burbank | Bob Hope | $265.42 |
| Ontario | Ontario International | $340.81 |
| Long Beach | Long Beach Airport | $208.19 |
| Fresno | Fresno Yosemite International | $429.95 |
| Palm Springs | Palm Springs International | $402.10 |
| Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara Municipal | $523.88 |
| San Luis Obispo | San Luis County Regional | $520.49 |
| Santa Rosa | Charles M. Schulz - Sonoma County | $299.11 |
| Monterey | Monterey Regional | $417.46 |
| Stockton | Stockton Metropolitan | $124.44 |
| Bakersfield | Meadows Field | $608.72 |
| Arcata/Eureka | California Redwood Coast Humboldt County | $672.32 |
| Redding | Redding Municipal | $491.40 |
| Santa Maria | Santa Maria Public/Capt. G. Allan Hancock Field | $137.87 |
| Mammoth Lakes | Mammoth Lakes Airport | $214.65 |
| El Centro | Imperial County | $287.78 |
| Merced | Merced Regional/Macready Field | $1,111.00 |
On-time performance at LAX & SFO & SAN
An aerial view of the airport in Newark, New Jersey.
Now let’s see how your airport rates for getting flights in and out on time. And see if your feeling that the place is ALWAYS running behind schedule is accurate.
Given your ease-of-access to multiple airports, consider booking your next flight from the airport with the best on-time performance. Of the departures from LAX and SFO and SAN last year, 81.3% and 79.2% and 81.6% respectively got off on time, and 17.7% and 19.5% and 17.4% respectively were delayed.
Now you know the odds, next time you have a flight to catch.
Where you live, do the airports have some work to do? For comparison, 82.0% of flights at all U.S. airports were on time last year through October and 16.0% were delayed, according to the federal agency.
