Airfare from Cleveland or Pittsburgh to MCO?

[lanicastro]

We are planning our first trip to WDW for Oct 4-10, but I am having trouble finding a good deal on airfare. We want to fly out of Cleveland, but could do Pittsburgh or Akron/Canton if needed. We want a nonstop flight if possible. The cheapest that I have found is around $250/person from Cleveland. There are cheaper flights on USAirways from Pittsburgh, but I'm not ready to take that gamble. What are the fares that others have paid in the past? Is this the best that I will do? DH really wants to get our tickets now- he is ready to go! Also, if you have a child under 2 and buy them a seat, son't most airlines charge less for the seat? I have only found that USAirways will do that. Continental charges the same as an adult fare. There will be 4 of us- two adults, a 4 year old, and a 1 1/2 year old.

Thanks for the advice!

Lynn

 

[corinascot]

I'm constantly looking at airfare from CLE to MCO. Southwest and COntinental usually have the best fares and the nonstops. They usually have some deals for October travel offered in August. We've flown for under $150 pp. A friend went last October on Southwest for $116 pp!! I think you should count on paying full fare for a seat for your under 2 yr old. Aren't any specials going on now that I know of except for Independence Air...and they don't offer too many flight times, and I don't know if there schedule currently runs to Oct.

 

[becky7953]

We flew Continental last Jan (2004). We paid 139.00 per person from CLE. I kept checking rates every day for about 1 month, then jumped on that. My sister in law always flies out of Akron Canton airport, using Airtran. I am starting to do research for our next trip and found the normal rates for Airtran to be around 200.00 per person. She claims to find them cheaper sometimes. We have flown Delta and Continental and have been charged full price for our kids (now 3 and 5). Keep checking fares everyday.

 

[tinan]

You must live somewhat close to me! We were in the same boat of looking at the differences between Akron, Pitt and Cleveland. I decided to go ahead with the flight out of Cleveland on Continental for around $250. Some of our reasons were because we like the parking situation at Cleveland, we wanted a non-stop flight and have a lot more confidence in Continental over other carriers. My husband had to fly out of Pittsburgh on business and was not happy with their parking situation. Just some things to think about while making your decision unless you have someone dropping you off at the airport. We're actually flying out after you in Nov.

 

[toystoryduo]

My in-laws flew out of Akron-Canton last December for under $200 round trip/per person using Airtran. I think they booked their tickets in September. I know that my DH signed up for Airtran's newsletter and frequently gets airfare deals e-mailed to him. Might be worth checking out.

 

[momof2OH]

We flew out of CAK last Oct. on AirTran. We got our tickets for about $180r/t. I'm currently looking for flights from either CLE or CAK to MCO for June. I'm leaning more towards Continental because of the flight times. Airtran has been the opposite of what we want. I just wish Continental would lower theirs.

Good Luck!!

 

[tinan]

I wish Continental would have had lower prices too. I have a picky DH and I couldn't even look at AirTran since they are the old ValuJets. I am quite happy with our flight times so I guess that makes up for the difference in price while making DH happy.

 

[disneymom99]

We're going to WDW in July and checked for flights out of Cleveland and Akron-Canton also. The best price we found was out of Detroit on Spirit for $133 RT per person. It's a non stop flight. My inlaws live in Toledo (and they're dog sitting ), so it won't be a bad drive. It's about 2.5 hours from Cleveland and about 30 minutes from Toledo. For $133 RT, it's worth the drive!

 

[Pembo]

I've gotten great deals out of all 3 airports and Columbus too. At Pit and Columbus we went the night before and stayed in a hotel with airport transportation. Akron is the best for parking and convenience. Good luck to you.

Let's see best deals we've gotten: Continental out of Cleveland $180
Airtran out of Akron $160, US Air out of Pit, $110, and Southwest-Columbus $98. I like nonstop flights so the drive was worth it.

 

[DebbieB]

Southwest is starting 1 daily non-stop from PIT on May 4th. Their base fare for May is $186. They don't have dates past Aug 3rd right now.

I got $135 on Air Tran last December (they have replaced the old Valu Jet planes with new 717's) but they are currently running over $240 for my dates in May (5/7 to 5/13), USAir about the same.

 

[Twende]

We all must live near one another!

We normally fly out of Pitt but the security lines there can get insane! It is nothing to wait over 2 hours on some mornings!

I flew out of Pitt to West Palm in Jan. on Air Tran. Round trip with all taxes and fees was under $140. Planes were new and all was great once you got through the security lines!

This trip we are flying out of Cleveland because SW had such a great fare to MCO. If I had booked earlier we could have had nonstop but the flight down was full. We have one stop in Nashville, very short and then to MCO. Coming back it is non stop. Price was under $148 round trip.

With SW look for Tuesday and Wednesday flights as they are cheaper.

Akron Canton is a great airport to use. Easy access, cheap parking and short security lines but flight rpices are usually just a bit higher. Less headaches might make make it worth your while to try there.

 

[DebbieB]

Update - Air Tran dropped to $201 and I bought it for our May dates! USAir eliminated 2 out of their 3 morning flights for May 7th and 7:30am is now soldout.

I fly out of PIT often and have never hit a long security line. The longest was probably 10 minutes. The long lines are usually around holidays and when there are weather problems, I guess I've been lucky.

 

[Twende]

I have hit horrid lines for security three times now at Pitt. Twice it was over 2 hours and the one time it was over four hours!

The four hour line was the Monday after Thanksgiving two years ago! We should have known better but we didn't even think about it. DD was trying to get back to college in NC. We allowed three hours before her flight but she never made it nor did 3/4 of the people in lines with us. We finally gave up about 20 minutes before her flight was to take off. We were still at least half way down the covered hallway in the parking lot area! Lines were four across and moving like snails. We went to the ticket counter and rescheduled for the next morning. It was a pain but what do you do? Next morning we waited maybe 40 minutes to get her through security!

 

[DebbieB]

I remember hearing about that, can't remember what happened. The lines were out past the moving walkway to the parking lot!

The longest lines I've hit are at 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning when I fly on business. When I flew to St Paul 2 weeks ago it was walkup at about noon.