I hear LAX is a nightmare. I’ll be flying from KCI to visit Tustin, CA 3 times this year so I can attend schooling of my own. Which airport is better, Santa Ana/John Wayne or Long Beach?
Anyone wanna let me sleep in their recently vacated kids room? lol
John Wayne Airport is very close to Tustin and much less freeway driving so lower chance of getting derailed by traffic. I doubt that Long Beach has better flight options than John Wayne from Kansas City. But both airports would likely require a stop and layover from KCI. Conversely you could probably get direct flights to LAX and deal with the traffic from LAX to Tustin. And you may be able to schedule your arrivals after 7PM when the traffic calms down. Matter of preference I guess and the tradeoff is better flight options to LAX vs. worse ground options once in CA.
John Wayne is much better. It’s small but nice and there usually is no problem getting through security fast. Long Beach is extremely small and not nearly as nice. My entire family lives in SoCal and I lived there for five years and we’ve always come to this consensus. Good thing you understand the mess of LAX too!!
Yep to SNA and if the fares are much better you could try Ontario, but you don’t want to drive to Ontario airport with the evening rush hour nor drive to OC from ONT during morning commute. It’s a very crowded freeway, full of people living east of OC for cheaper housing.
Of course the 55 southbound in the morning and northbound in the afternoon will also be gridlock.
Whereabouts in Tustin will you be physically? If it’s not North Tustin, bordering Orange, but rather south Tustin near Irvine, then SNA all the way.
I love SNA but landings can be kind of hairy, they have severe noise restrictions. It’s a nice size.
^^They call that an “E Ticket ride” around here. 
Can you fly nonstop from KCI to SNA? I would rather fly nonstop to LAX. LAX is only a hassle if you need to rent a car. If you are taking a shuttle between the airport and your destination LAX is just as annoying as any major airport.
@bluebayou ,the good ole days, finding an E ticket on the ground at Disneyland.
^^back in the dark ages, when dinos roamed The OC!
D lives in LA nearish LAx but really doesn’t like even tho I believe that’s been her primary airport. Even without construction and delays it’s not a lovely space but it mostly gets the job done. Will have to warn her about the current construction. What is the projected completion date?
^^lotsa “phases” HiMom. They’ll likely be working on LAX for at least another ~10 years.
Wow, oh well, it’s likely we will be going to and from LAX–it’s the only airport we’ve ever used in LA. Here’s hoping it will be amazingly wonderful when done!
I see you’re going to be flying out of LAX, however, if I could exclusively fly out of John Wayne (Santa Ana, SNA) I would. Best airport ever. We have TSA pre-check lines, plenty of seating, no long in/out traffic congestion, close to a major freeway, easy taxi pick ups, Uber and Lyft are both approved, super clean restrooms, free wifi, and for those that like it, Starbucks.
I dunno, is it really such a big deal flying out of/into LAX? Just allow yourself plenty of time. Lots of traffic, taxi delays, not such a big deal. I wouldn’t spend a lot of extra money or massively inconvenience myself to avoid it. I would schedule plenty of time if I had a stopover there. And at least LAX generally has a number of backup flights, whereas the other airports don’t.
Long Beach is another airport to consider, especially if JetBlue serves the other end of your itinerary. It’s much smaller and simpler than LAX, and very close to Orange County.
Our family flew into Long Beach once for a Disneyland trip and it was a breeze.
Agree with " in # 12…slightly off topic, but big kuddos to Customs at John Wayne. Hands down the fastest we’ve ever breezed thru (more than once) from Cabo.