Welcome to Flyertalk Epoxilips, and welcome to the BA forum. It's good to see you here and I hope very much we will see more of you. I'm also a huge fan of SAN, and I've often recommended it to Brits who are often unaware of its potential, being somewhat drowned by the lure of LAX and SFO, yet it has most of the advantages of California with few of the disadvantages.

I use ITA Matrix - and other tools - a fair bit, pretty much every day, and yes now I know how it works it is a very powerful way of getting a good price. But it's quite complex, and there is an element of rubbish in, rubbish out. So though I find Google Flights too stunted for my purposes, it's a lot more user friendly. These are actually different front-ends to the same database, but I would start with Google Flights to begin with, it's good for those new to this area.

Check also the many threads on third country itineraries, or "exEU" to use the shorthand here. So you start your trip from somewhere like AMS, SVG or CPH to leverage a cheaper fare. This works best if you are a single traveller, or have an obligiing partner, and are travelling with hand baggage only, but once you've done some homework on this area you can use checked luggage too.

I have a personal rule to say that I will stop searching for fares after a certain time, usually 1 hour, and make a decision within 15 minutes, since one danger of this area is being sucked into a vortex of ever declining value and ever more spurious savings, and as the great Icelandic philosopher Björk would say, there is more to life than this.

But having done your homework, got your dates lined up, don't be shy about sharing your best result in this forum: someone will perhaps come up with an improved fare.