Los Angeles Las Vegas
Five airports across the LA basin fly nonstop to Las Vegas, with departures every hour from the three busiest. The flight is barely over an hour.
From the Valley or Hollywood, fly out of Hollywood Burbank. Security takes maybe 15 minutes, parking is a short walk from the terminal, and Southwest has flights all day. From Orange County, John Wayne has Frontier, Spirit, Southwest, and Breeze all competing on price. From the Inland Empire, Ontario has Southwest and Frontier with the shortest flight time of the group. From Long Beach or the South Bay, Southwest flies out of Long Beach throughout the day. LAX works if you are on the Westside or specifically want Delta, American, or United, but between the drive and security, you could spend more time at the airport than on the plane.
For the lowest fare, check Frontier and Spirit from whichever airport is closest to you. Then check southwest.com separately. Southwest does not show up on Google Flights, Kayak, or any third-party booking search, and they run more LA-to-Vegas flights than anyone else. They often match ultra-low-cost pricing on base fares, and the schedule is deeper than any single carrier at most LA airports.
JSX flies semi-private from Burbank, John Wayne, and LAX on small jets with its own terminal. No TSA line, no crowds. Seats are limited and fares run higher, but on a Vegas weekend where the whole point is not wasting time, skipping the terminal circus has real value.
The drive is about four hours when traffic cooperates. On a Friday afternoon out of LA, it will not. Flying wins for weekend trips unless you need the car once you get there.
Have a specific need? Use the decision guide below to filter by your airline, where you live, lounges, or where you're staying in Las Vegas.
Pick What Matters to You
Best pair by where you're coming from
Best pair by where you're staying in Las Vegas
Which pair your airline flies nonstop
| Airline | LAX–LAS | SNA–LAS | BUR–LAS | ONT–LAS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SkyWest Airlines | — | ✓ | — | — |
| Southwest Airlines | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Delta Air Lines | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Advanced Air | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Mexicana | — | ✓ | — | — |
| JSX | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| United Airlines | ✓ | — | — | ✓ |
| Spirit Airlines | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Sun Country Airlines | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Frontier | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| KAI | — | — | — | — |
| PCM | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Allegiant Air | ✓ | — | — | — |
| American Airlines | ✓ | — | — | ✓ |
| British Airways | — | — | — | ✓ |
Ranked by on-time performance
Lounge access by airport and terminal
Ranked by flights per week
Getting to the airport
Red-eye vs daytime departures
Premium cabin options
Connecting through Los Angeles from a domestic flight
Hundreds of nonstops leave the LA metro for Las Vegas every week from five airports. A connecting itinerary adds hours to what is already a one-hour flight. If fares from your closest airport look high, check the next-closest LA airport before routing through a hub like Phoenix or Denver.
Los Angeles & Las Vegas Airport Profiles
Each airport has a personality. Terminal quality, transit access, lounge scene, and crowd levels vary dramatically — sometimes more than the flight itself.
Los Angeles Metro
Nine terminals arranged in a horseshoe around a central loop road that crawls during peak hours and stops entirely during evening pushes. Upper level is departures, lower level is arrivals, and the drive between terminals can take 20 minutes even though the physical distance is trivial. Signage works if you already know where you are going and fails if you do not.
Walking between terminals means exiting security and re-entering, which makes airside connections slow and frustrating. The Tom Bradley International Terminal sits at the bend of the horseshoe and handles most international traffic. Terminal age and condition vary widely: some have been renovated in the last few years, others look and feel decades old. An Automated People Mover is under construction to connect the terminals to a new Metro station and a consolidated car rental facility.
Security lines swing unpredictably by terminal and time of day. The evening red-eye push backs up multiple terminals simultaneously. Budget extra time and do not rely on a short queue. Food and retail inside security have improved recently, particularly in the Bradley terminal and the recently refreshed domestic terminals.
Hollywood Burbank is the smallest of the three Los Angeles-area airports and the fastest to get through. One terminal building with a layout simple enough that you can see your gate from the security line. Some flights still board from the tarmac via stairs, which feels like a regional airport dropped into a metro of 13 million people. The terminal is compact, with limited food options past security and no real shopping.
What Burbank gives up in size it gains in speed. Security lines rarely stack up. Baggage claim is steps from the gate area. The parking lot sits across the street from the terminal entrance. The whole experience, from car to gate, takes less time than navigating the LAX terminal loop road. For anyone on the Valley side of Los Angeles, that speed is the point.
A single-terminal airport where you walk from the curb to your gate in under 10 minutes, and security rarely takes more than 20. John Wayne serves Orange County from Santa Ana and exists because LAX is an hour north on a freeway that almost never flows. The terminal is compact, modern enough, and refreshingly easy to navigate.
The runway is short and the airport operates under strict noise restrictions. Departing aircraft use reduced thrust and climb steeply to comply with noise abatement rules over the Newport Beach neighborhoods south of the field. These restrictions cap daily operations, which is why nonstop service from distant cities remains limited. The steep departure angle is noticeable if you have not experienced it before.
SNA sits 10 minutes from Irvine, 15 from Disneyland in Anaheim, and around 40 miles southeast of downtown LA. For anyone whose destination is Orange County, this airport removes LAX from the equation entirely. No rail connection exists. You need a car or rideshare to get anywhere from here.
Ontario International Airport has two terminals connected by a short outdoor walkway, serving the Inland Empire east of Los Angeles. The airport is uncrowded by LA standards. Security lines rarely stretch past 20 minutes. Walking from the curb to your gate takes five to ten minutes.
The terminals have been modernized with updated check-in areas and expanded food options past security. Ontario handles a fraction of the traffic that LAX sees, which means shorter lines at every step: check-in, TSA, and baggage claim. For travelers in Riverside, San Bernardino, or the eastern suburbs, Ontario cuts over an hour of freeway driving each way compared to LAX.
Long Beach Airport is one of the smallest commercial airports in the LA metro, with an open-air layout that feels more like a regional station than a modern terminal. Outdoor walkways connect check-in to the gates. Walking distances are measured in steps, not minutes. Security lines are short, parking is close, and the whole experience is the opposite of LAX.
The terminal has a handful of food and drink spots past security but nothing extensive. Strict city noise ordinances limit the number of daily flights, which keeps the airport small and quiet but restricts which airlines and routes can operate here. For routes it serves, the convenience is hard to beat.
Las Vegas Metro
Harry Reid International Airport has two terminal buildings, numbered 1 and 3. There is no Terminal 2. Terminal 1 handles the majority of domestic traffic. Terminal 3 covers additional domestic flights and international service. A connecting walkway links the two buildings, but the walk between far gates can take 15 to 20 minutes.
Expect crowds on weekend mornings and Sunday evenings when leisure traffic peaks in both directions. Slot machines line the gate areas. Food and retail options are extensive but priced at airport rates. Security at Terminal 1 can back up during peak departures. The newer sections of the airport feel modern and spacious. Older concourses are tighter but functional.
Which Airlines Fly Which Pairs
Delta Air Lines and Frontier serve both LAX and SNA to LAS — airport flexibility on the Los Angeles side.
Not all planes are the same size. The aircraft type below each checkmark tells you whether you are getting a widebody (777, 787, A350) with wider seats and a quieter ride, or a narrowbody (737, A321) with a single aisle. On flights over five hours, the difference is significant.
A321, 737-800
737-800, 737-900
E175
A321neo
A321neo
A321neo
A321neo, A20N
737-800, 737-900
C25B
A220-300
A320
A320
A320
C208
737, 737-800
737, 737 MAX 8
737, 737 MAX 7
737, 737-800
E135, ER3
E135, E145
E135, E145