I am going to Martinsburg WV to visit my sister so I have a choice of airports to fly to. Now flying out of, Ontario is the closet and the best to get in and out of but LAX is about 1:30 hours away and can be hundreds cheaper. My sister is the one that told me about Freerepublic about 10 years ago. She joined in 1998.
Here's an idea, and note I'm not saying it's a good idea:
Ride commuter rail from BWI to Martinsburg.
You can check the maps and schedules to see if it fits your needs.
It could be the adventure of a lifetime. In more ways than one.
BWI probably means you'll be on Continental. A lower-middle-price airline with some of the best service in North America. I wish they were still partners with my preferred carrier -- whoops! I forgot they're being merged into United; probably crummy service and at best indifferent personnel.
BWI is generally less expensive than the others, AND you don't have to deal with D.C. Beltway traffic which can be pretty bad. And maybe you can arrange a dinner with NicknamedBob at the Timbuktu -- a quite good restaurant with extremely good (moderate to low) prices. I wish they had Timbuktus everywhere I go.
A test run on http://TravelZoo.com shows ONT-BWI, 7/12-19) prices in vicinity of $350-400, depending on the wholesaler site the best price is either United/Continental (Kayak & Continental) or Delta (Travelocity).
WATCH THOSE CONNECTION TIMES: I've seen sites offer connection times down to 35 minutes or less -- from experience I never accept anything under an hour (no more O.J. dashes for me, and believe me I've made them), and big airports such as Houston, O'Hare, and Dallas-Fort Worth I add 15 - 30 minutes more. (Atlanta is marginal at an hour, Minneapolis has improved a bit over marginal at an hour.)
You can also save a bit of money ($15, $25 or more) by packing light and carrying aboard -- for a week for me a "standard" rollaboard (I have two sizes plus a hardshell suiter for international trips) and a backpack that's not stuffed to the gills.
To the last: these days many airlines are operating smaller regional jets whose bins won't even accommodate rollaboards; you can "gate-check" your rollaboard (at the gate you get a tag and a claim check, and leave the bag somewhere along the jetway or the walk to the plane, on arrival you'll pick it up on deplaning, along the jetway or at the gate).
Some of those small regional jet bins will NOT accommodate overstuffed backpacks. Once even mine was on the margin (but once I took my book out it fit).