UNITED959: since my friend is right near SNA, leaving from there is not the worst choice in the world. its just that LAX would have been later in the evening and more convenient (since the offered to drive me there) but judging from virtually all replies i got, its def not worth the risk to try to leave from there.

...in terms of meeting a friend again in LAX, i was already thinking about that i was actually traveling on South Shore rail line from Chicago to South Bend (where the rail line ends right a SBN) with the same person and we half-seriously joked about flying back into MDW. this might be a somewhat similar situation

its just a little funny to fly such an itinerary (btw, just today there was an active thread "shortest flight flown" and apparently SNA-LAX is nowdays the shotest big-airline flight!) so for the 3-4 hours lost or thrill of full-throttle SNA takeoff on mainline metal (if i'd have a dif routing for example) i get bonus 500 EQM as well as the arguable record for the shortest mainline flight in the US ... not to mention an EMB-120 which was not flown by me yet.