Any recent good Alberta (Edmonton) schedules to MCO in the winter?

[chimo2u]

I am tentatively planning a trip back to WDW for January /Feb 2013. I have looked at West Jet and Aircanada schedules, and they are not the greatest, nor the cheapest. I am probably going to keep my eye on West Jet's early Sat AM, direct red eye (departs just after midnight) arrives very early Sat morning....7:30 am.....

Coming home on a Sunday, I am missing seeing the good departure times .....

Last yr. We flew out of Orlando around 1:00 pm and arrived in Edmonton at 8 pm or so.... The times I see Now are horrid....leaving very early (8 am) or arriving very late with long layovers in Toronto.....yuck! Does anyone know of any good flight schedules in the winter, or have a favorite carrier/ route they take to Orlando? Thanks for any tips!
I know I have a while till I can book, but I am always keeping an eye out, lol

 

[Disney Daniel]

Not terribly familiar with YEG as I have only flown into Edmonton once, however as I recall there are a few American carriers that fly out as well. You may wish to check US Airways, Delta, Continental, United and looking northward again, Sunwing. They might have a few additional options, however keep in mind that you will likely have to deal with a connection.

Good luck.

 

[SmilingGrump]

I agree, the Westjet sched is horrible. Last year, they put up a sched that had better times, but they put it up so late in the year that most (including us) had already booked.

We usually take a connector through Minneappolis or use Continental through Houston. Continental used to be great, but now since they've been bought out they've slipped a LOT (still better then most US carriers). Houston's a bit longer of a commute, but it doesn't get hit with storm delays like Minny or Denver.

For pricing, we compare Expedia with the various airline websites. Sometimes the airline comes out cheaper, sometimes Expedia.

We've also seen deals to Las Vegas that can really cheap and you can often get a Southwest connection for dirt cheap (and Southwest doesn't charge for bags).

All that being said, we've also done what so many in the Edmonton area do, drive to Calgary and catch a much cheaper and better timed flight to Orlando. Red Arrow will even drop you off at the Calgary airport, though we've never priced that out.

As a note, avoid Horizon. Their mechanical realibility is questionable and their planes are very uncomfortable. This last winter on a trip to Phoenix, I noticed their plane in Edmonton went mechanical. We landed in Calgary (milkrun flight) and their plane in Calgary also went mechanical. I thought it was an odd coincidence, but flight crew comments were along the lines of "Typical day for Horizon."

 

[dis_guy]

I agree with the comments about AC and WJ schedules especially the hassle of connecting through Pearson and (especially) going through customs there.

For the last few trips we have used United connecting through Denver. With the exception of one delay this connection usually went very smoothly. We used to get very good prices on United through the AC website, but now they are just ridiculous.

This time we are going with Continental connecting in Houston like the pp did. We leave at 6:45 am and arrive around 5:00 pm. A bit longer than through DEN but we get below the snow belt right away so it will provide a little peace of mind there. Prices weren't great, over $700 pp including all fees. This is more than we've ever paid before but it is over Christmas and the fares have done nothing but go up since. Our flights are now over $1200 pp!

 

[katt789]

I definitely agree with one of the previous posters, in going with an American carrier, American Airlines, & Delta I know for sure fly out of Canada. And if you are looking for cheaper, and are willing to drive 3 hours, I know that flying out of Calgary is cheaper, as all our trips, half our travel mates are from Edmonton & the other from Calgary.

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Another vote for the US carriers ... we always fly either Delta or United from Edmonton as they are cheaper than WJ or AC, and find that their flight schedules are more to our liking as well.

With Delta, you'll have one stop over in Minneapolis and with United, it's either Denver, Chicago or Indianapolis.

I wouldn't want to drive to Calgary to catch the flight - especially in the winter - you never know what kind of weather you're going to encounter or fly home to. Especially when you have flight options from YEG.

 

[chimo2u]

Thanks for the replies so far! I'll have to keep looking, I suppose.....I love West Jet's Direct flight....it leaves a little after midnight and I arrive in Orlando at 7:30 am....giving us the whole day to enjoy still...usually we are too excited to be tired and head off to do something after check-in

On home day, I would love to find a nice later-hour departure flight....but usually the flights back to Edmonton leave around 8:00 am.... that's early, and yucky timings! I did see an AC flight that leaves around 11 am'ish and arrives in Edmonton around 9:00 pm....that would be ok, I suppose, but doesn't really give much time to recouperate for school/work the next day! I would prefer to arrive home around 5 pm......I will be keeping an eye out for the flights you mentioned through Delta.....I flew United once through Chicago, and really didn't like that flight...no inseat entertainment, and Chicago in the winter is iffy!
I prefer Canadian Carriers for their comfort and service, but if I could find something compareable, I would be interested....guess there is still lots of time to look, I would probably be booking around January/Feb 2012 for FEB 2013......If anyone else has a favourite route or schedule, please feel free to share
Thanks again!

 

[SmilingGrump]

We booked our 2010 Christmas flights in January last year and WestJet announced direct flights to Orlando around October which is ridiculously late for holiday travel, but they've gone through so many changes in personnel and philosophies in the last couple of years it didn't really surprise us. We wound up using Continental going through Houston, which, as I mentioned, is nice because it avoids the northern airports that seem to get snowed in every Christmas.

As a note, we just booked to Phoenix for next month and Travelocity was $90 cheaper per person then Expedia