Lindsay Lohan Panics, Flies to L.A. for Court ... First Class

Lindsay Lohan and her mom Dina took the last flight out of JFK last night and jetted to L.A. after being warned she'd be a wanted woman if she was a no-show in court this morning.

Lindsay -- who is not just broke but deeply in debt -- waited in her car at the airport (above) until the last minute ... then flew first class on American Airlines and landed at around 12:30 AM.

TMZ broke the story ... Lindsay had no intention of showing up in her lying-to-cops case and got a doctor's note which was filed with the court, saying she couldn't fly because she had an upper respiratory infection. But then we posted pictures of Lindsay shopping and smoking in SoHo the very day she got the doctor's note.

We're told Lindsay went into a panic after we posted our story Tuesday and started calling everyone to find out if we were right ... that the judge would probably issue a warrant for her arrest if she didn't show. Our Lindsay sources say she was pleading with Shawn Holley -- the lawyer she fired -- to come back on the case, saying she didn't like her replacement -- New York lawyer Mark Heller.

Holley made it clear days ago ... she's off the case, so it's now up to Heller, who clearly started off on the wrong foot by submitting the doctor's note, along with a New York Post article saying a lot of people in NYC had the flu.

Heller has another problem -- the lawyer he got to sponsor him to appear in a California court has never met him, and it's possible the judge could deny him the right to represent Lindsay.

So Lindsay could be lawyerless ... and you know what they say about a client who reps herself ...

We'll be livestreaming the action in court beginning at 8:30 AM.