Getting from San Jose to Vegas?

[Schema]

Hey all,

I'm able to make it this year!

I'll be on vacation in San Jose that week and would like some advice from locals on the best way to get from there to Vegas for Friday. Can I carpool with someone, is there a good option for cheap flights, bus, etc?

Thanks,
Leif B.

[flipper]

Hey, I'm flying out so can't offer you a ride. I can say that Southwest often has excellent fares from the Bay Area to Vegas, and you want to avoid JetBlue like the plague. Nothing wrong with the airline as such, but you'll be routed through Long Beach which is an exercise in misery in my experience. All airports are always changing, so it may be different now.

Three airports to check, SFO, SJC, OAK. I make it a policy to check all three every time, as each one has specials to different destinations. It's not too hard to get from San Jose to SFO on public transit (Caltrain to BART, to SFO. It works, but leave time), but you might have difficulty getting to OAK.

For that matter, I forget where I'M flying out of. I'd better figure that out, no?

[flipper]

Actually... experimentally, it does look like SJC is generally the cheapest airport, but you're going to be paying around $400-$420 round trip, and Southwest may be a little pricier than some of the others.

Southwest USED to have a reasonable allotment of same-day standby seats at a reasonable price, but I'd suspect that's gone the way of the dodo along with standby seats on most other airlines. First couple of times I went to vegas, did that trick and saved a bunch of money for sitting around an airport for a few hours. But that was around 2003 or so, and things run leaner than they used to.

[rbernardo]

Can I carpool with someone...

I know of no one coming from San Jose. The drive would take 9 hours.

is there a good option for cheap flights...

For Friday departure with Monday return, Kayak.com lists a few seats left on Delta Airlines at $352 US. For the same dates, Hotwire.com lists its "mystery" airline at $274 US (when you pay, then Hotwire then reveals the airline's name and the exact flight times).

I did not check for a Friday departure with a *Sunday* return.

Writing from Stockton, California,