That drive in that absolute worst traffic is still faster than that flight alone ever will be (assuming arriving at the airport 30min prior to departure and 1:10 block SNA-LAS, plus 5min to get off the plane). I’ve done that drive many times in 45 minutes (parking lot to parking lot). It’s generally an hour, but could be 90 minutes at rush hour in commute direction.

The earliest departures out of SNA are 7am on weekdays and 8am on weekends, and those flights are often quite full with business travelers. So you can count out same day morning commutes, which will cause you to need to get hotels in Vegas.

Don’t forget about leaving extra time for a backup flight to Vegas.

Don’t forget about having to arrive earlier than desired because there aren’t flights every minute of the day, and having to stay after you arrive at the end of your trip because... there aren’t flights every minute of the day.

Don’t forget about flight delays into Vegas. McCarren is 8th busiest airport on the world for aircraft movements and it’s approaching maximum capacity. McCarren has a fair amount of flow control now on Friday afternoons, around big conferences like CES, fight nights, and when thunderstorms are nearby.

I would definitely stick with driving to work

I’ve done the LA/Vegas commute for a few years, and while as a commute it’s not terrible - I’d take bumper to bumper on the 405 any day.

Drive to work and wouldn't think twice about it.

On the second thought, depending on how far I lived from LAX, I'd consider getting a small plane, fly to HHR, and catch Uber the rest of the way. I know some folks who'd commute from San Diego/Orange Co up to BUR/VNY area like that on a daily basis.

www.trade-a-plane.com

I'm gonna go with the majority here, and recommend driving if you can. Our start and end times typically won't put you in the worst of rush hour traffic, and like others have said, your car won't leave without you.

In the last 34 years, I've lived 10 minutes away from my domicile, a 3-5 hour drive (18 years!), a 30 minute flight with a drive backup (this was great! Until they stopped serving that city pair..), 2+ hour flights (8 of 10 years of that offline), and now have under an hour drive.

In order of best to least desirable, obviously, any drive plus or minus around an hour is ideal. Not only will your QOL be immeasurably more pleasant, you will have the opportunity to earn a lot more money, even in the current environment. The longer commute, the less flexibility you'll have, unless you really don't care about QOL and don't mind spending a lot of time in crash pads or commuter hotels.

Next would be short flight, that you could drive in a pinch.

Then a longer drive.

And in a very distant last place would be an airplane commute that you cannot realistically drive as a backup.

Good luck!