I second docdiamond's suggestion of Ontario. Also look into Inyokern (IYK) which is closer yet. IYK costs more, but will also eliminate anywhere from 2 to 4 hours of travel time each way.
Kevin, I've looked into that in the past, but the problem I've found in flying out of Atlanta is that Inyokern is only served by United/Sky West, with Continental and American as partners. Any trip from ATL to IYK always seems to involve 2 layovers, and as much as a 13-hour trip each way. It's definitely more expensive, and then there's the nagging issue of rental car selection and rates once you're there (captive audience syndrome).
The last time I ran this possibility - last summer - I found that flying direct to Vegas (or L.A.), grabbing a cheap rental car, and driving to Lone Pine put me there not only ahead of a best-case Atlanta-to-Inyokern scenario, but several hundred dollars cheaper. As Atlanta-Hartsfield is the biggest, busiest airport in the known universe, it's a great convenience to get to almost any major city on the globe direct -
but if Delta or AirTran (soon to be Southwest - yay!) doesn't serve a particular secondary or tertiary city, you're screwed. In both time and $$$.
Also, I belive John's goal in flying into and out of the L.A. area is to relax with his wife on the California beaches for a couple of days after a successful Whitney summit!
You raise some good points. Inyokern has some limiting factors like only one airline (United and its subsidiary SkyWest) and sometimes requires multiple hops. IIRC, car rental places are Dollar, Thrifty and Avis at the airport, and there's an Enterprise in Ridgecrest.
Depending upon where I'm flying, sometimes it's an excellent option; other times not so good. I factor in things like total travel time (to/from airports plus airline travel time), overall costs (airfare, gas for commute, parking fees, car rental costs, tolls, etc, convenience factors) as others do.
The point I wanted to make in my post above is to look into IYK as an option. I flew to this general area several times before realizing that airport even existed. I'd even stay in Ridgecrest, and drive by it, not realizing it was commercial airport but part of the Navy's airbase.
Personally, if I don't use IYK, then I use either Ontario or Las Vegas, but never LAX, Burbank, Long Beach, etc. Las Vegas is a good location for international flights - everyone goes to Las Vegas from around the world, and you can get some good deals. It typically costs the same to fly to Europe from Las Vegas as it does from Boston or New York.
