Baltimore airport instead of Philly

[Snow White 77]

I found cheaper flights with Southwest going from Baltimore to Orlando cheaper than flying out of Philly. Anyone have experience flying from Baltimore? Is it a nice airport? It's about a 2 hour drive but about half the cost of going out of Philly so I'm thinking it's totally worth the drive.

Thank you.

 

[rwdavis2]

A smaller, very nice airport and the Southwest terminals are pretty new. Once you go through security you have access to either of the terminals. Lots of long term parking. I would suggest going to the BWI web site and take a look.

 

[Dacky619]

For us (travel time) BWI is about 10 minutes further away than PHL, but we hardly ever fly out of Philly. BWI is a nice airport that is easy to navigate and we always check there first for our flights. Unless Philly is significantly cheaper, we fly out of Baltimore.

 

[jec6613]

BWI isn't a bad airport to go in/out of. I can't speak to WN's section, but as one of the DC-area airports, it tends to get a good chunk of federal funding whenever there's a problem.

 

[Denise123]

Live in Delaware so distance to both airports about the same. I find the drive to BWI to be less stressful, the airport is smaller so less congestion. The long term parking is very good, never a long wait wait for the bus to the airport. The Southwest prices are usually cheaper than Philly and they have more direct flights (for my trips). Philly is usually better for international flights.

 

[nkereina]

BWI is easy to navigate with some good food options too. I definitely prefer it over Philly.

 

[AlohaNow]

BWI is heaven compared to PHL!

 

[puffkin]

We also usually choose BWI over PHL. It's a little further for us mileage wise, but usually much less traffic so the drive time is about the same. Parking is about 1/2 the cost. There are a ton more flight options between MCO and BWI than at PHL. Unless PHL is significantly cheaper I choose BWI. Security is usually a breeze there and it is smaller, cleaner and just nicer. I also like having access to both terminals for food. It's HEAVEN compared to being stuck in Terminal E in Philly with no real food options.

 

[MomTo3PrincessesInNJ]

We just flew BWI to Montego Bay because SW didn't have a non-stop from PHL. We went down the night before and stayed at the Hyatt (I have tons of points from work travel). Hyatt let us park for free and shuttled us to and from the terminal for free.

The SW terminal is nice and they have a brand new Einstein Bagel -- which is my favorite chain bagel store

The drive from us to the Hyatt was 1.5 hrs, PHL is usually 45 min from our driveway to long term parking.

We'd totally from from BWI for less points/money/time.

The only thing we missed was Chickies

 

[AlleyOop]

We are up in PA and always fly out of BWI. Since its a smaller airport its a lot less busy and less stressful in general.

As others noted, there are a few excellent hotels in the area that will allow you to stay one night and leave your car there for free up to 2 weeks. We typically stay at the Ramada and the free shuttle to and from the airport has been awesome. Believe their site is parksleepfly .com

 

[Good Deeds]

We live in Delaware also and found much cheaper flights out of BWI. 4 of us were flying so the savings really added up. We flew SW and had great trips coming and going. I would not hesitate to fly BWI over Philly. Looking to do it again in January!

 

[maciec]

BWI is heaven compared to PHL!

This! We live 2.5 hours from BWI and 3 from Philly. BWI is a dream compared to Philly. We often spend the night at one of the airport hotels the night before and take the hotel shuttle to the terminal. Parking is usually around $5 a day doing that

 

[Dacky619]

This! We live 2.5 hours from BWI and 3 from Philly. BWI is a dream compared to Philly. We often spend the night at one of the airport hotels the night before and take the hotel shuttle to the terminal. Parking is usually around $5 a day doing that

Do you have a preferred hotel to stay at? We will be doing the park sleep fly thing for the first time this year since we don't want to get our son up too early. I'm currently thinking about the Wingate but DW wants to save the money and just stay at the Comfort Inn. When I travel for work I don't stay at them because they are way too hit or miss on the quality.

 

[Dacky619]

Double post

 

[TwizzleMouse]

I've flown out of both and BWI is my preferred airport of the two. It's a lot nicer (IMHO PHL is trashy looking inside). And BWI has always been more stress free for me. I would def suggest BWI over PHL especially if it's cheaper.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Do you have a preferred hotel to stay at? We will be doing the park sleep fly thing for the first time this year since we don't want to get our son up too early. I'm currently thinking about the Wingate but DW wants to save the money and just stay at the Comfort Inn. When I travel for work I don't stay at them because they are way too hit or miss on the quality.

We stayed at Embassy Suites and enjoyed their made-to-order breakfast the next morning. Nice hotel.

 

[maciec]

Do you have a preferred hotel to stay at? We will be doing the park sleep fly thing for the first time this year since we don't want to get our son up too early. I'm currently thinking about the Wingate but DW wants to save the money and just stay at the Comfort Inn. When I travel for work I don't stay at them because they are way too hit or miss on the quality.

We also like the Embassy Suites! It use to be that you could park there for free, however, they now charge. My parents booked us at the Springhill Suites on their Marriott points and just pay for parking (when I called they told me $6 a day). They never asked me for the tag on my car and I never got a parking pass. I don't know if I was lucky or not, but we didn't end up paying anything. Springhill was nice, but the breakfast at Embassy was a whole lot better!