What airlines offer direct flights out of the Bay Area (SF or OAK) to Orlando?
What is your favorite airline to fly to Orlando on?
How far in advance do you book your airline tickets to WDW?
Anything else I should know about flying to Orlando?
We aren't going until next year but I am trying to get as much info ahead of time as I can.
Thanks!
United and Virgin America provide nonstop flights between San Francisco (SFO) and Orlando International (MCO).
Suggestions and comments:
Play "what if" with
http://www.kayak.com/ and
http://www.hipmunk.com/ which are two websites that allow you to look a multiple airlines.
Instead of just categorizing flights into "direct flights" and flights that are not direct, keep in mind that there are really four categories of flights:
- Nonstop - single flight from origin to destination
- Direct - single flight, but the aircraft makes one of more intermediate stops
- Single-airline connecting flight - two or more flights with a change of planes(s), but all on the same airline
- Multiple-airline connecting flight - two or more flights with a change of planes(s), involving two or more airlines
Although a nonstop is always the best choice if you can get one, you can often get lower fares and more convenient times with connections. And for many city paris, it's the only choice.
The airline industry relies on connections at "hub" airports (such as Atlanta, Chicago-O'Hare, and Dallas-Ft. Worth) for connections. The airlines know what they're doing, but that doesn't mean there's never a missed connection.
The legacy airlines (United, American, US Airways, Delta) start selling tickets 11 month ahead, but most other airlines have a shorter window.
The legacy carriers are all about equal in terms of service; they're all perfectly okay, but the age of "frills" when flying economy are long over. Jet Blue and Virgin America offer somwhat superior products. Southwest has a reasonable policy if your plans change or fares go down, as well as providing free checked luggage). Most other airlines have fare rules that can make it quite costly to you if you have to change your plans.
One important thing to know about Orlando is that Orlando International and Orlando Sanford are two entirely different airports. Disney's Magical Express (complimentary transportation and baggage delivery) only serves Orlando International.
