Orange County Airport Makes Travel Easy
No, you don’t have to go to to catch a flight out of the Orange County Area. John Wayne Airport (airport code SNA) is smack dab in the middle of the county in the Santa Ana/Irvine region ().
A small airport with only two domestic flight terminals(but in the process of building a third terminal), departures are just up the ramp and arrivals are on the ground level. The airlines that fly in/out of John Wayne are Frontier, Mesa, Southwest, Northwest, United, US Airways, Alaska, American, American Eagle, Continental, Delta, Delta Connection, and Virgin America.
The best part about this airport is that I have never waited longer than 15 minutes to get through security, even during the holidays! I usually arrive 45 minutes before my flight and have no problem getting to my gate within 10-15 minutes.
There are only three potential downsides to the airport, all three due to the smaller size. The first is parking. There is plenty of parking at the airport, and even an off-site lot (which is at the end of the airport, so not far away at all), but all parking is $17/day. There aren’t other off-site parking choices at cheaper rates, like one would find near bigger airports. The second downer is that there aren’t many food choices once you are inside. There is a Starbucks, and a magazine stand, but the food choices are slim. Eat at one of the restaurants across the street before you fly! The last negative point is that tickets are sometimes more expensive, so it can be cheaper to fly into and drive to Orange County.
In my opinion, the positive points greatly outweigh the negatives, it just requires a bit more planning (i.e. get a ride to the airport, eat ahead of time). So if you are going in or out of Orange County, be sure to check out John Wayne Airport first!
For more information, visit the airport’s website .
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