Santa Barbara to LAX To MSP
Date: July 5, 2026
LAX 1 World Way
Los Angeles, CA 90045
Phone: (855) 463-5252
www.flylax.com
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Santa Barbara to LAX To MSPDate: July 5, 2026LAX 1 World WayLos Angeles, CA 90045Phone: (855) 463-5252www.flylax.com |
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Santa Barbara to LAX To MSP
When decided we wanted to go to Santa Barbara we had to decide if we wanted to fly into LAX or Santa Barbara’s small airport as we did with Paso Robles a few years ago. Paso was a great airport with great services, as we drove past Santa Barbara airport we are glad we went to LAX.
Santa Barbara is 90 minutes driving south or three hours driving north from LAX. Course driving North at noon is Malibu and the beach, on Highway 1 so we drove slower. And on the way back to LAX it was 6AM with no beach.
Both were done in our Hyundai Elantra which we rented from Fox Rental Car. We would rent from Fox again, chosen from Expedia. We will NEVER again rent without Navigation. We casually asked for it and were more than a bit taken back it did not have it. We bought the kinda bottom of the line non-tiny car. This thing had all the power needed to climb the huge hills of Santa Barbara wine country.
One thing we did NOT do, is watch the You-Tube Elantra Videos before we turned it on. It was two days before we could get the inside lights to work and I still don’t know how once I turned on cruise control. And I do know had I had a wire cutter I would have cut the speaker with the take a break message which raised voice about every five minutes. The space was fine, had a rear camera and was easy to park & drive.
The rental car return was documented on the freeway exit signs and was about a block off the 405, the major LA freeway. We arrived at 7AM on a Sunday morning and there was a guy checking us in faster than we could unload. Both the restrooms and the shuttle bus to the airport check-in terminals were easy to find and close.
We now check-in a day early on our phones, so we walked right to TSA. We have TSA Express but if we don’t reregister the number EVERYTIME on the Delta website with the number we always need to go the normal way.
They had a drug dog, a great looking German Shorthair Pointer, checking us two at a time, slowing down check in a couple of minutes, no big deal. The second step of TSA, with the scanners were uneventful. They made me take off my TSA certified belt but my attitude about security was tested and my answer is: "you look in any part of that case you desire." At which time they move it on through. It might have been five minutes from airport in to the secure concourse.
Just like MSP, LAX has plenty of food and facilities and it was comfortable. No issues and we left on-time. Our flight to MSP was supposed to be 3:03 hours. I started my timer when we rotated, took-off, and we were within 2 minutes of expected time. If you think about it, using your phone timer it’s a great way to time your flight. E turned to me in the middle of the flight and I knew exactly how far out we were from landing to time our visits.
We check no bags on short trips so we went directly across the pickup lane to the parking side to call Uber. We had internet connection issues and probably ten minutes after we got to the Uber pickup area we were on an Uber on the way home from a great working vacation.
Total Cost was:
Marriot: $1997 (For two grand they can’t give us a drink each WITH alcohol?)
Airline: $1015
Fox Car Rent: $698
Food: $390
Uber: $116
Souvenirs: $103
Wineries: $93
Expedia: $442 Anyone know why we got this charge
Total $4857 +- $100 or so
Contact us Dennis@ToDoTC.com