Buffalo airport questions

[mollyseven]

O.k so I am ALMOST convinced to fly outta buffalo airport for our next trip.
I figure if I do room only and air from Buffalo and only get maybe 5/6 day passes we can probably go for 2 weeks instead of 1 this time.
So....when driving to Buffalo airport from east of Toronto....do you go through Niagara falls or Fort Erie...?
I mapquested it and it showed through Niagara and that it was 3 hours from our house to the airport...that's not too bad for the savings..
Any suggestions?
Also...how ofter does Airtran ( i assume you all use them) offer deals. I see right now they have 89.00 one way offered. Is that the best it ever gets ...it is good. I am just covering my bases.
Once I get all my facts...I then have the conversation with my husband about dates and number of nights....
Thanks

 

[cdnmickeylover]

You can cross at Niagara Falls or Fort Erie -- we've done both. I usually go online and see which crossing is faster and that's the one that we use.

There are actually a few airlines that fly out of Buffalo. We've always flown Southwest which at the moment has 3 nonstop flights to Orlando a day. I've heard good things about Airtran and Jet Blue as well though. On Southwest we've paid a variety of fares from $29 each one way to $125 each one way but mostly in the $49-$59 range.

Hope this helps.

Fiona

 

[hockey mom]

I also cross at Fort Erie.

I tend to pay $42- $79/ one way for my flights and have now earned a free flight with SW's reward program. (Using this for Vegas )

 

[OntFamily]

Fort Erie is the shortest crossing to Buffalo airport, when driving from the Toronto/Ha,ilton area.

 

[mollyseven]

O.k so driving from east of Toronto how would you get to Fort Erie crossing?
anyone done this?

 

[Claud26]

we Flew out of Buffalo in 12/05 and crossed at Fort Erie... we live in down town Toronto and left here on a Friday afternoon, planed on leaving before rush hr ... BUT ended up leaving her at 4pm ... So by the time we got on the Queensway it was packed ... Anyway... it only took us 2hrs to Fort Erie. So it's a fairly quick drive (doing the speed limite I might add). Our Kids where 2 1/2 and 5 1/2 when we went last year and it was so not an issue. So worth the money we saved ... just in case you're wondering we flew out on Saturday morning at 6:45am on Airtran and had a 45min Stop over in Atlanta ... piece of Cake. Our Tickets where $79.00 each way.
LOVE AIR TRAN ... service is great, flight was great... and we are doing it again this december (12/08) already booked my tickets and paid $89.00 each way on a dirrect Flight. Hoping that there will be a deal, that way I can call in and get them to adjust the fligth. They did have some deals in April & May but I can't remember the exact $$.

 

[hockey mom]

O.k so driving from east of Toronto how would you get to Fort Erie crossing?
anyone done this?

The same way you would get to Niagra Falls but stay on the QEW and follow the signs for Fort Erie. You will drive right into the border crossing. Very easy.

 

[polyhm83]

Anyone know why mapquest gives the quickest route as Queenston/lewiston and if there is a reason not to go this route?TIA

 

[nosnobunny2006]

I most always cross at Lewiston but it really depends on the time of day and traffic. We're also flying Air Tran next month but since this is our first flight with them, I can't tell you much about them. I think we paid $89 one way but we're returning out of Ft Lauderdale so that would impact the price. Either way, the price was incredible.

Beth

 

[connorsmom911]

We always cross at Fort Erie, seems to be the quicker border crossing, less traffic, but not always the case I guess. Just take the QEW all the way, follow the signs to Fort Erie/US border. From there you head to the right, get on the I190 East to the I90 East and then it's only a few exits to the Galleria Mall, and then one (?) more exit to the airport. It seems like it's only about 20 minutes or so once you get over the border.

We've always flown SW, since they have a lot of direct N/S flights. Dh has flown Jetblue to NYC and enjoys it too, but they don't fly N/S to Orlando. We've always gotten great deals on flights, usually $59 each way pp. I've never actually flown Airtran, but lots of people have with good reviews. I would just be careful of the reviews I seem to be reading a lot lately of them changing the flight times with very little notice. I've never had SW do that...their schedule pretty much stays the same all the time. If you download "ding" program from the SW website onto your desktop, it will let you know when extra deals come in. I've always done the "cancel/rebook" to get the cheapest price. SW does not charge you any fees to do this, and any savings you get are in the form of a credit that can be used anytime within a year of the original purchase. The credit is not tied to your name either, so I just sell it to family or co-workers who are flying before us to make sure it gets used up. Then I just return the favor when they have credits they need to use up. Seems like someone always has a flight coming up, so it's really easy.

Good luck! Oh, and remember, once you fly out of Buffalo, you'll probably never fly Pearson again!!!

 

[deltachi8]

It is probably about equal - time wise - between crossing at Q-L or the Peace Bridge. I generally prefer the peace bridge as I have rarely been caught in delays there.

That said, i usually check the border wait times before leaving and see what is best. EIther way, you will enjoy flying out of Buffalo.

 

[BitsnBearsMom]

We did air tran for the first time last month - out of Rochester though as that's where we got the best deals - $150 return taxes in booked only 1 month out.

Loved Air tran - flight coming home was supposed to have 1 stop over but they had seats available on the direct flight which they offered me - travelling on my own with my 2 boys (7yo and 13yo) I could have jumped across that counter and kissed that woman - and even better she put me in an exit row and the 2 kids 2 rows in front of me with a nice old lady - I had the best flight I have ever ever had wonder if that's just b/c my kids were 2 rows in front of me and I had all that extra leg room!!

We are flying air tran again in August - this time out of Buffalo and I'm sure it will be a great flight also! This time we do have stop overs for both flights but no big deal as dh will be with me this time!! I like that you can pre-select your seats with air tran now for an extra $5 - dh doesn't like the idea of the seat scramble with Southwest so we've never tried them!