{
  "response": {
    "Key": "PDX-CR",
    "orig": {
      "code": "PDX",
      "type": "airport",
      "city": "Portland",
      "fullCity": "Portland, Oregon",
      "airport": "Portland Intl Airport"
    },
    "dest": {
      "code": "CR",
      "type": "country",
      "country": "Costa Rica"
    },
    "faq": {
      "q0": {
        "question": "Which cities in Costa Rica can I fly to from Portland?",
        "answer": "From Portland you usually fly into San José (SJO) or Liberia (LIR). San José is the main hub for domestic connections to the Caribbean coast and the Osa Peninsula. Liberia is closer to Pacific beach resorts and the Guanacaste region. Non‑stop flights are rare; most itineraries connect through Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles or Miami. Choose San José for central access and rainforest adventures, Liberia for direct beach access and shorter drives to the Nicoya Peninsula."
      },
      "q1": {
        "question": "How long is the flight from Portland to Costa Rica?",
        "answer": "There are no non-stop flights from Portland to Costa Rica. One-stop itineraries to San José typically take 7½ to 9 hours heading south and roughly 8 to 10 hours on the return. Flying into Liberia is similar in duration, often within 30 minutes of San José times."
      },
      "q2": {
        "question": "Are there direct flights from Portland to Costa Rica?",
        "answer": "There are no year-round non-stop flights from Portland to Costa Rica. Most itineraries involve one stop, often in Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles or Atlanta. Total travel time typically ranges from about 8 to 11 hours depending on the connection."
      },
      "q3": {
        "question": "Which airlines fly from Portland to Costa Rica?",
        "answer": "From Portland to Costa Rica you can fly Alaska, Delta, American, United, and Southwest, typically with one stop at their hubs."
      },
      "q4": {
        "question": "When is the cheapest time to fly from Portland to Costa Rica?",
        "answer": "The cheapest months to fly from Portland to Costa Rica are May, April, and February, with the lowest fares typically found when booking 6–9 weeks ahead. Midweek departures — especially Wednesday — and early morning or evening flights tend to offer the best prices, while peak summer and the December holiday season are significantly more expensive.",
        "methodology": "This 'good deal' estimate shows a representative best price for each departure date across roughly a 12-month window (about 3 months back and 9 months forward). It is built from real flight prices found by Priceline users searching this route, accumulated into a price history for each departure date. Rather than weighting all of that history equally, we apply exponential time decay so recent prices dominate — a price seen yesterday counts almost in full, one from about a month ago roughly a third, and prices from a few months back very little — giving a figure that tracks today's market instead of a stale long-run average. Clear price outliers are removed before any calculation, departure dates with no observations are filled in from nearby dates, and the resulting curve is lightly smoothed so it reads as a clean seasonal trend rather than day-to-day noise. This booking-window guidance is built from the same real flight prices found by Priceline users searching this route, re-grouped by how many days before departure each price was seen (from the departure day out to about 180 days ahead) across the route's price history. At each booking lead time we report the 25th-percentile price — the cheaper end of what travelers were quoted, rather than the rock-bottom minimum (which can be a fluke) or the average (which is pulled up by expensive last-minute fares). The buy-or-wait advice then applies a risk premium that grows as departure approaches, since seat availability shrinks and prices become less predictable; using that adjusted curve we flag windows where waiting is likely to save a meaningful amount (at least $20 or 5%) versus windows where booking now is the better call. Isolated single-day recommendations are filtered out, so the advice only reflects a window that holds for several days in a row. The cheapest day of the week and time of day to depart are drawn from the same large sample of real fares Priceline users found on this route in the last 72 hours, grouped by the day of the week and by the time-of-day window of the outbound departure, with the lowest and average price reported for each."
      },
      "q5": {
        "question": "How far in advance should I book flights from Portland to Costa Rica?",
        "answer": "For flights from Portland to Costa Rica, the optimal booking window is 6 to 9 weeks before departure, when average fares are around $540 — waiting until the last minute can push prices above $600.",
        "methodology": "This booking-window guidance is built from the same real flight prices found by Priceline users searching this route, re-grouped by how many days before departure each price was seen (from the departure day out to about 180 days ahead) across the route's price history. At each booking lead time we report the 25th-percentile price — the cheaper end of what travelers were quoted, rather than the rock-bottom minimum (which can be a fluke) or the average (which is pulled up by expensive last-minute fares). The buy-or-wait advice then applies a risk premium that grows as departure approaches, since seat availability shrinks and prices become less predictable; using that adjusted curve we flag windows where waiting is likely to save a meaningful amount (at least $20 or 5%) versus windows where booking now is the better call. Isolated single-day recommendations are filtered out, so the advice only reflects a window that holds for several days in a row. Airlines and weekly frequencies are compiled from our flight-schedule database, which combines published airline timetables, U.S. government schedule data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), and observed flight operations from the EUROCONTROL/OpenSky Open Performance Data Initiative (OPDI). We count each operating carrier's scheduled weekly departures and the days it flies; where there is no nonstop service, connecting carriers are identified by linking scheduled nonstop segments through common hub airports. Where a median fare is shown for a carrier, it reflects the real fares Priceline users found on this route in the last 72 hours. Stop counts, connecting hubs, and per-airline prices are drawn from a large sample of the real fares Priceline users found on this route in the last 72 hours. We group those fares by number of stops, by the hub airport a connection routes through, and by operating airline, and report each group's share of the sample alongside its lowest and median price."
      },
      "q6": {
        "question": "What are the most popular cities to visit in Costa Rica?",
        "answer": "In Costa Rica, travelers often start in the capital San José, then head to the Arenal area for volcano views and hot springs, the Guanacaste coast around Liberia for beaches and resorts, and Monteverde for cloud forests."
      },
      "q8": {
        "question": "Which airports in Costa Rica are best to fly into from Portland?",
        "answer": "From Portland to Costa Rica, Juan Santamaría International Airport in San José is the primary gateway with the most connections from the U.S. and the best hub for domestic flights and road transfers to the Pacific coast, cloud forests, and Caribbean. Daniel Oduber Quirós Airport in Liberia is the top choice if you are heading directly to Guanacaste beaches and resorts, as it is closer to the northwest coast. There are no train services in Costa Rica, so onward travel relies on rental cars, shuttles, or domestic flights."
      },
      "q12": {
        "question": "When is the best time of year to visit Costa Rica?",
        "answer": "For Costa Rica, December to April is dry and sunny, making it the most popular and expensive period. May to July and November offer a good balance with lower prices, greener landscapes and lighter crowds despite occasional rain."
      },
      "q13": {
        "question": "How do I get to Portland Intl Airport from the city center?",
        "answer": "The MAX Red Line light rail provides a direct, 40-minute ride from downtown Portland to PDX and is the most popular and cost-effective option. Ride‑sharing services like Uber and Lyft, as well as taxis, offer door‑to‑door convenience in about 20–30 minutes for a higher fare. Several private shuttle and shared‑ride van companies also serve the airport, while driving and parking on‑site is straightforward with short‑term and long‑term garages, though it is the priciest choice.",
        "toolsUsed": [
          "article_lookup"
        ],
        "references": [
          {
            "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_International_Airport",
            "title": "Portland International Airport",
            "time_published": "2026-07-01T02:03:14Z"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transportation_in_Portland,_Oregon",
            "title": "Transportation in Portland, Oregon",
            "favicon": "https://en.wikipedia.org/static/apple-touch/wikipedia.png",
            "time_published": "2026-07-19T02:42:47Z"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://www.portofportland.com/Newsroom/two-oregon-artists-chosen-to-create-murals-at-portland-international-airport",
            "title": "Port of Portland -",
            "time_published": "2026-01-15T00:00:00Z"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://www.portofportland.com/newsroom/story/port-approves-lease-for-130-million-logistics-center-at-pdx-to-boost-job-creation-and-economic-growth",
            "title": "Port of Portland -",
            "time_published": "2026-06-08T00:00:00Z"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Airport_(Victoria)",
            "title": "Portland Airport (Victoria)",
            "favicon": "https://en.wikipedia.org/static/apple-touch/wikipedia.png",
            "time_published": "2026-07-07T21:34:40Z"
          }
        ],
        "methodology": "Airport details are drawn from the sources listed with this answer, primarily the airport operator's official website along with airline, lounge-operator and transit-authority pages, collected by our research process and refreshed periodically. Only information found in those sources is used; where a source does not cover a topic it is left out rather than guessed."
      }
    }
  }
}