I flew from Boston and was banded on 2/14. I would strongly advise you to take the most comfortable flight available to you. ( In other words, I opted to take an earlier connection flight from Boston, arrival San Diego at 330pm, instead of a non-stop flight getting into San Diego at 740pm.) It is very simple to do the pre-testing and surgery on the same day. I wish I hadn't killed myself on two horrible flights afterall. Having one whole day back at the hotel after surgery was great, I rested the whole day. The next day, I was picked up at the hotel at 6am for a 9am nonstop flight back to Boston. It was a tiny bit painful to sit that long on the plane so I got up to walk around as much as I could.
Now, day 4 - my cuts are healing quickly and nicely. Besides getting tired of chicken soup stock - all is going great !