$581 Find Cheap Flights to California

This is the cheapest one-way flight price found by a KAYAK user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight from New Zealand to California departing on 11/2. Fares are subject to change and may not be available on all flights or dates of travel. Click the price to replicate the search for this deal.
1 adult
1 adult, Economy, 0 bags

KAYAK searches hundreds of travel sites at once for deals on flights to California

 
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results for flights to California
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results for flights to California
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Cheap Flights to California

Cheapest return prices found by our users on KAYAK in the last 72 hours
Los Angeles
Los Angeles1 stop$1,157
San Francisco
San Francisco1 stop$1,262
San Diego
San Diego2 stops$1,608
San Jose
San Jose1 stop$1,286
Los Angeles
Los Angeles1 stop$1,157
San Francisco
San Francisco1 stop$1,262
San Diego
San Diego2 stops$1,608
San Jose
San Jose1 stop$1,286

Book Cheap California Plane Tickets

 
Here are some of the best deals found on KAYAK recently from the most popular airlines for return flights to California that are departing in the next months. While these flights were available on KAYAK in the last 72 hours, prices and availability are subject to change and deals may expire.
Discover the best prices for you by selecting your travel dates on KAYAK.

Recent return flight deals to California

Wed, 10 Dec - Wed, 17 Dec
Air Canada Logo
14:00 - 11:48AKL-LAX
18h 48m1 stop
Air Canada Logo
12:50 - 11:00LAX-AKL
25h 10m1 stop
$1,157Air Canada
Find Deal
Fri, 5 Dec - Fri, 12 Dec
Air Canada Logo
14:00 - 18:01AKL-LAX
25h 01m1 stop
Air Canada Logo
06:30 - 11:00LAX-AKL
31h 30m1 stop
$1,161Air Canada
Find Deal
Wed, 25 Mar - Fri, 19 Jun
Fiji Airways Logo
14:50 - 12:50AKL-LAX
18h 00m1 stop
Fiji Airways Logo
23:55 - 12:40LAX-AKL
17h 45m1 stop
$1,163Fiji Airways
Find Deal
Mon, 9 Mar - Thu, 19 Mar
Fiji Airways Logo
14:10 - 12:50CHC-LAX
18h 40m1 stop
Fiji Airways Logo
23:45 - 13:10LAX-CHC
17h 25m1 stop
$1,175Fiji Airways
Find Deal
Wed, 10 Dec - Wed, 17 Dec
Qantas Airways Logo
15:50 - 07:00AKL-LAX
12h 10mdirect
Qantas Airways Logo
23:45 - 09:55LAX-AKL
13h 10mdirect
$1,177Qantas Airways
Find Deal
Tue, 20 Jan - Wed, 28 Jan
Qantas Airways Logo
15:50 - 07:00AKL-LAX
12h 10mdirect
Qantas Airways Logo
23:45 - 09:55LAX-AKL
13h 10mdirect
$1,180Qantas Airways
Find Deal
Thu, 25 Dec - Mon, 29 Dec
Air New Zealand Logo
16:00 - 11:15CHC-LAX
16h 15m1 stop
Air New Zealand Logo
20:10 - 11:25LAX-CHC
18h 15m1 stop
$1,235Air New Zealand
Find Deal
Thu, 25 Dec - Mon, 29 Dec
Air New Zealand Logo
14:00 - 11:15CHC-LAX
18h 15m2 stops
Air New Zealand Logo
19:05 - 09:55LAX-CHC
17h 50m1 stop
$1,267Air New Zealand
Find Deal
Tue, 3 Feb - Sun, 15 Feb
United Airlines Logo
14:15 - 06:15CHC-SFO
13h 00mdirect
United Airlines Logo
23:25 - 10:35SFO-CHC
14h 10mdirect
$1,359United Airlines
Find Deal
Tue, 17 Feb - Sun, 15 Mar
United Airlines Logo
06:00 - 08:25CHC-SFO
23h 25m1 stop
United Airlines Logo
23:25 - 09:35SFO-CHC
14h 10mdirect
$1,360United Airlines
Find Deal
Booking Insights

KAYAK's insights & trends for flights to California

Get data-powered insights and trends for flights to California to help you find the cheapest flights, the best time to fly and much more.

What is the cheapest flight to California?

These are the best return prices found by users searching on KAYAK in the last 72 hours.

The cheapest ticket to California from New Zealand found in the last 72 hours was to Los Angeles, at $1,148 return. The most popular route is Auckland (AKL) to San Francisco (SFO) and the cheapest return airline ticket found on this route in the last 72 hours was $1,671.

What is the cheapest month to fly from New Zealand to California?

To calculate monthly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each month over the last year for flights from New Zealand to California, removes the top 0.1% to account for outliers, and then takes the median of all values for each month.

The cheapest month for flights from New Zealand to California is February, when tickets cost $1,193 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are April and July, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $1,783 and $1,760 respectively.

How far in advance should I book a flight from New Zealand to California?

To calculate weekly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each week before departure over the last year for round-trip flights to California, removes the top 0.1% to account for outliers, and then takes the average of all the values for each week.

To get a below-average price on a flight from New Zealand to California, you should book around 10 weeks before departure, which saves you about 7% compared to booking last-minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 17 weeks before departure.

Which is the cheapest airport to fly into in California?

Prices will differ depending on the departure airport, but generally, the cheapest airport to fly to in California is Los Angeles Airport (LAX), with an average flight price of $1,073.

Good to know

Low seasonFebruary
Cheapest flight$581
Best time to beat the crowds (14% less expensive on average)
Most popular time to fly and prices are also 3% lower on average.
Flight from Wellington to Los Angeles

Flights to California: the best tips from KAYAK users' own experiences

Insights shared by verified travellers who flew to California 
Verified travelerFlew with Air New ZealandAKL-LAXNov 2024
If you can, and you’re a grown adult, pay the few extra dollars for premium economy. You won’t regret it
SidFlew with United AirlinesAKL-SFOJan 2024
wear layers as our flight over was freezing and return flight back was back sweat hot

FAQs - booking California flights

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from New Zealand to California?

    KAYAK is a travel search engine. That means we look across the web to find the best prices we can find for our users. With over 2 billion flight queries processed yearly, we are able to display a variety of prices and options on flights from New Zealand to California.

  • How does KAYAK's flight Price Forecast tool help me choose the right time to buy my flight ticket from New Zealand to California?

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight from New Zealand to California is likely to change within 7 days, so travellers know whether to wait or book now.

  • What is the Hacker Fare option on flights from New Zealand to California?

    Hacker Fares allow you to combine one-way tickets in order to save you money over a traditional return ticket. You could then fly from New Zealand to California with an airline and back with another airline.

  • What is KAYAK's "flexible dates" feature and why should I care when looking for a flight from New Zealand to California?

    Sometimes travel dates aren't set in stone. If your preferred travel dates have some wiggle room, flexible dates will show you all the options when flying from New Zealand to California up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.

  • What is the cheapest day to fly to California?

    Based on KAYAK data, the cheapest day to fly to California is Tuesday when return tickets can be as cheap as $2,087. On the other hand, the most expensive day to fly is Saturday, when return prices are $2,236 on average.

  • What is the cheapest time of day to fly to California?

    The cheapest time of day to fly to California is generally in the morning, when retur flights cost $1,458 on average. Morning departures are around 30% cheaper than evening flights, on average. The most expensive time of day to fly to California is generally in the afternoon, which is peak travel time and where the average cost of a ticket is $2,883.

Top tips for finding cheap flights to California

  • Looking for cheap airfare to California? 25% of our users found return tickets to California for the following prices or less: From Auckland $4,126, from Christchurch $6,266
  • Enter your preferred departure airport and travel dates into the search form above to unlock the latest California flight deals.

Reviews of the top 5 airlines flying to California

 
See real verified KAYAK customer reviews for airlines flying to California. Airline scores are aggregated from all reviews left by passengers on KAYAK after flying with an airline from New Zealand to California. KAYAK doesn’t show reviews that are older than 5 years. Learn how KAYAK collects reviews.
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from New Zealand to California? KAYAK airline reviews give an overall score for each airline based on loads of factors, including comfort, boarding, in-flight entertainment and more, to make your decision easier. See airline scores according to verified KAYAK customer reviews.
8.1
Fiji AirwaysOverall score based on 209 reviews
8.2Boarding
8.5Crew
7.5Entertainment
8.0Comfort
7.5Food
Airline reviews

The airline is ok, but it needs to improve it schedules.

6.0 GoodHon, Oct 2025NAN - SFO
Read more Fiji Airways reviews

The airline is ok, but it needs to improve it schedules.

Again, Fijian hospitality was genuine, very comfortable, only improvement would be the entertainment. Why Do they only have 5 episodes of TV shows and from like season three...

Fiji Airways was amazing, will definately be lfying them again. The "Fijian hospitality" is not a catch phrase, it is genuine. the only things that could be improved is the entertainment. Not a great choice of movies, and the TV shows only have about 5 or so episodes, and often of a random season.

They will look to squeeze every penny they can out of you!! Pick your seat$$...bring luggage$$$$... if they could charge you for the air on the plane they would!!

.very good and as I needed wheelchair assistance all staff excellent.. only suggestion is get rid of those plastic chairs hard to ride in and staff have trouble compared to others. Everything else very good experience. Will use Fiji Air again.

In-flight entertainment options could use a refresh, Consider a tie-up with Spotify for more current music and with IMDB or other service for newer selections/movie ratings.

See previous comments. Didn’t take this flight because my other flight was so delayed. Ending up on two other flights as a result and was more than a day late.

6 hour delay and they didnt try to make up any time during an over 10 hour flight

Very good; seat made ready for bed after meal, a plus since one airline covered the seat at the start.

Entertainment was not good. Seems like liquor should’ve been advertised only beer and wine was even though I saw others getting liquor didn’t realize I could. And the food to me could’ve been a little bit.

Kayak did not propagate my United miles account and I had to manually get credit.

Like: Aircraft was better than others I've flown in. Crew was great, food was very good. Air New Zealand is now my favorite airline. On our long flight from AKL to YVR there was enough room for those of us in Economy to stretch a bit. My sister is disabled and they took very good care of her and me. Best entertainment offering of all the other airlines. Not so much; Flight from AKL to YRV was delayed BUT they recovered really well so no complaints here. Pretty petty point to complain about. Only negative I have. I will recommend to friends.

Nice friendly staff and crew. Love the 787 flight. Get meals and lots of drinks!

Great entertainment options on the screen. uSB A and C chargers. Free WiFi! Crew were excellent.

Service was excellent and they’re very helpful and nice

Check in crew member was very helpful, nice and excellent service👍

Aircon set too high so VERY warm and VERY uncomfortable.

Not a comfortable trip, the seats are not good, and they look old.

Not entirely positive. It’s frustrating that everything is done through the united app. One of our flight attendants on our trip from San Francisco to MSP continually had trouble hearing people so she flipped her hair into people’s faces

I flew United from San Francisco to Auckland. My connecting flight from Auckland to Christchurch was canceled with no explanation. I was finally told the cancellation was due to fog. Even though it was clear when we landed. I am from San Francisco, I know what fog is! And I didn't see any fog. I was told the next available flight was 7 hours later. Unacceptable, they should have had a flight ready to go as soon as it was deemed safe to take off.

After already paying for excess luggage prior to flight, i was advised AT check in that i had to pay $816 or forfeit my flight! The lady at the counter was SO rude and had already started offboarding me when i said i would pay it after asking her three times for the exact amount! Have lodged a formal complaint yet heard nothing. Will not ever travel via Qantas again

Basic airline, aircraft and service. AA gets you from point A to B. My flight was delayed by 2 hours too.

No internet on flight, which makes log travels really hard.

My flight from Dallas to Sydney was cancelled. My entire trip was rerouted to include the following: Hartford to Washington DC Washington DC to JFK JFK to Auckland Auckland to Christchurch I paid for an aisle seat on the flight to Auckland and was asked if I would take a window seat to accommodate a family. The agent at the podium failed to mention that the family had a 3 month old baby and that a bassinet would be used during the 16 hour flight. The only way I could get out of my seat was to crawl under the bassinet of the sleeping baby. I think it is wrong that I was no given the choice to sit in another seat, that the agent knew what she was doing and chose to not properly disclose my seating arrangement. Terrible treatment.

they ran out of fruit for breakfast and so I just had a yogurt instead. other than that the flight was good

by the time they got to our row, they were out of some of the food options. games and movies were great but maybe more game options like tetris or pac man would be great

A few more inches of legroom is all i ask

Poor! This flight was delayed 14 hours. There was no assistance in helping customers find other routes to their destination, nor any other kind of support. It was a chaotic experience. I'm not likely to fly with AA going forward.

We were upgraded and after just a short delay in attending to a safety check we were on our way. Would definately fly Qantas International on their Dreamliner again.

I tried to check in online but was unable to do so. I stood in line for nearly two hours to check in. American Airlines was understaffed. When I finally got to the kiosk to check in, I was still unable to check in. No AA staff was available to help. Finally one of the airport security agents who was helping passengers became of lack of AA Staff told me: “I think the reason you can’t check in is that you are starting your name with an upper case letter when you write it. Just write it with all lower case letters.” That did allow me to check in. HOW COULD ANYONE POSSIBLY KNOW THAT IF THEY USE AN INITIAL UPPER CASE LETTER TO SPELL THEIR OWN NAME, AA WOULD NOT ALLOW THEM TO CHECK IN?????? Then I had to wait in line over half an hour again to drop off my baggage. Although I arrived at the airport 3 hours early, by the time I got to the gate, they had already started boarding.

United needs to step up their game. Delayed flight leaving Seattle, San Francisco. Older aircraft, not very comfortable.

The flight attendants were very rude, beyond comprehension. I took a business class from London to SFO for the first time on United. When I asked for a second piece of bread during dinner, the serving attendant threw a 3rd bread on my plate and said, “here. You can have this one too”! I couldn’t believe the rudeness of the attendant. Most all attendants were very rude, unhelpful, sing the food was absolutely disgusting. Never fly United internationally in business class. My flight back to SFO was a nightmare!!

Plane boarded early a quickly, was mostly full. We left close to on time. And landed early.

7 hours delayed due to operational issues on United’s end. Basically laziness.

Flight from Rome to SFO was excellent compared To our flight to Europe from SFO. The food was much tastier. You can see how UNITED is skimping, though. Instead of getting something mid flight you had to ask for it. It was not automatically served. There was a cookie at the end of the arrival meal, for example that tasted like it just came out of a box. They used to serve a little container of nuts, now … a tiny container of nuts, mixed with pretzels. This was business class that you really have to pay for! But this is minor complaints compared to the overall. My major complaint is the position of the even numbered seats by the windows. You have to turn around to see your window & the positioning as some other controls are harder to get at. This is compared to the odd number seat that are perfectly aligned.

The food quality sucks. One must starve if they do not eat flesh Or wheat based products Some variety would be expected. The trivial amount of snacks and or food is inhumane

Flight was timely, relatively comfortable, with decent entertainment and food served. Only problem encountered was with the free messaging which I highly appreciate, but it did not work from iphone to non-iphones.

The internet service I paid for didn’t work at all and the flight crew was not very friendly.

Subject: Formal Complaint: Discriminatory and Unprofessional Conduct – Request for Immediate Action & Compensation Dear [Airline Customer Relations Team], I am writing to file a formal complaint regarding my recent travel experience with [Airline], which was by far the worst I have ever encountered. What occurred was not only unprofessional, but in several instances discriminatory, unsafe, and unacceptable. On the first leg of my trip, I arrived only four minutes past check-in. Instead of making any attempt to resolve the matter, your representative flatly denied me boarding and made me wait while she attended to passengers who arrived after me. By the time a manager intervened, it was too late to board, costing me time, money, and unnecessary frustration. The second leg of my trip (Chicago–San Francisco) raised even more serious concerns. From the outset, it was apparent that the staff—particularly two attendants—prioritized Caucasian passengers while dismissing African American and minority passengers. • When a Caucasian passenger in the exit row refused to comply with federal safety requirements, I, as a first responder, immediately offered to switch seats and assume the responsibility. My offer was blatantly ignored, and instead, a Caucasian passenger seated further up was chosen. This was discriminatory and deeply insulting, especially as I was actively de-escalating the situation that could have delayed the flight further. • During a lengthy tarmac delay of over 90 minutes, passengers were given conflicting and unreasonable instructions that created unnecessary distress and tension. • Throughout the flight, a visibly intoxicated passenger directly in front of me was disruptive, rude to others, failed to comply with seatbelt and electronic device rules, and yet faced no enforcement from the crew. In stark contrast, I was singled out for repeated compliance checks even though I was following every rule. This unequal treatment was so obvious that multiple passengers around me spoke up in my defense. This pattern of behavior demonstrated a clear lack of professionalism, disregard for passenger safety, and discriminatory treatment. I expect far better from an airline of your stature. As a paying customer subjected to this unacceptable treatment, I am formally requesting: 1. A full investigation into the conduct of the staff on both flights. 2. A written apology acknowledging the discriminatory and unprofessional behavior I endured. 3. Appropriate compensation for the distress, inconvenience, and mishandling of my travel. If this matter is not addressed promptly and thoroughly, I will have no choice but to escalate my complaint further, including filing with the U.S. Department of Transportation and sharing my experience through other channels. I trust [Airline] will take this complaint seriously and provide a timely resolution.

Check in was quick and easy during early hours. Flight was on time, and customer services was a plus.

The staff was great and made the long trip easy peasy!

The free Wi-fi for Aeroplan members was a great touch. The time passed quickly. I found the seats seemed a little closer together than I remember. Not Air Canada's fault, but we were about 20 minutes late landing because the airport was too busy. We had to circle around for a while. The boarding and disembarking went very smoothly.

Great flight. Only complaint is it took over an hour for my luggage to get to the carousel on the return to LAX That was irritating

I knew I was going to fall asleep unsettlingly from exhaustion so I warned the guy next to me in advance. The attendant took to checking on me frequently and even insisted I take my snack because I said no while sleep hazed and then absolutely wanted it about 5 minutes later. He was So caring and kind to my situation!!

The flight was very smooth and good. Boarding was fast, but the staff was just decently friendly.

I liked the behaviour of the crew members.The flight was good.

No food to provide, they forgot that, in some cases, people stay at the airport for hours without food. Now, to provide them with food, they have to ask them to pay, because some don't have money. That way, they can't eat.

Flight was cancelled last minute. Had to scramble and purchase a $2000 flight through a separate airlines. Stuck in Toronto two extra days. Missed my first two days on a new job. Had to rent a car for an additional two days. Scrambled to fins a place to live those extra two days. Spent a ton of extra money and lost a lot of money, as well as made a poor impression at work. Difficult difficult difficult

Terrible, return flight was cancelled a night before the flight was scheduled to depart and I was notified by an email and an automated message on their phone line. I’ll never book Air Canada again

I paid for comfort plus seats but did not get the extra leg room. When I told the stewardess, she just ignored me.

Everything you need to know for your flight to California

Cabin class types available on flights to California

Cabin classes available on flights to California. Prices are the lowest found on KAYAK over the last 7 days. Price and availability is not guaranteed.