Drove to SNA airport and parked at main street parking. It is $14/day and is perfect for very short trips. They also have free level 1 car charging, which gets about 60-70 miles per 24 hours. You have to provide your own charger.

Took the Frontier flight to LAS, it was on time and was a smooth experience. I had Diamond status from a status match in 2023 and I gained Diamond organically for 2024 from 100 segments. The elite membership gives incredible value. I netted around 1600 miles from this flight.

I actually bought flight tickets for effectively $13 round trip from the vegas.com $100 promo. They offered a $100 promo code for any purchase, and it was possible to make a purchase for as low as $13. You can add your frequent flier number after booking to get most elite benefits.

After landing, I went to the lounge for a quick bite and took the shuttle from terminal 3 to the car rental center. I had Hertz Presidential status from the Venture X card and I grabbed a car from the Gold lot since I booked class B (class C or above would allow a choice from the Prez Circle lot). In the gold lot there were mostly sedans, a Mini, a mustang, and some SUVs.

Drove to downtown Las Vegas and grabbed some freeplay and dinner. I did a mobile check-in and headed to Excalibur/Luxor to get some more freeplay (through myVegas) and gambled a little. Overall I had $225 in freeplay but did poorly and only made $165 from it from video poker.

Returned the car around 6:00AM and was in the Amex lounge in about 30 minutes. Had breakfast and the mostly empty flight left at 7:50AM.

Total Cost:

1. Airport Parking: $14
2. Flight: $13
3. Car Rental: $35
4. Hotel: $22
5. “Gambling” (gain): +$165

Total Cost: $-81