Canadians flying out of Buffalo?

[Valjean13]

I am considering driving to Buffalo and flying out on Southwest airlines, it seems much cheaper than any airlines out of Toronto. My husband is wary of leaving our car in Buffalo for the week, does anyone know of any airport car services that go to Buffalo? We live in Kitchener, but wouldn't mind parking out car somewhere else close to home and catching a shuttle from there. Thanks!

 

[RoyalCanadian]

Valjean,

I'm a Lutheran minister living in Cambridge, working at a church in Kitchener, and moving to Doon Mills area in December. We flew Southwest from Buffalo in January and left our car at the Buffalo Airport Holiday Inn Express for a week -- no problem. I would not hesitate to do it again and again and again. The hotel had an on-demand shuttle -- ready to leave whenever we wanted it. The driver dropped us off at the trunk of our car on the return trip home and we were across the border and on our way home to Cambridge in no time.

I did a very quick cost-analysis of that trip and discovered, to my delight, that our travel costs were about 1/3 of the cost of flying from Pearson -- even with staying at the hotel the night before our departure. We had a leisurely drive to Buffalo in daylight hours, checked in to the hotel, enjoyed a supper in the food court of the Walden Galleria, had the complimentary breakfast in the morning and gleefully left our winter coats in the trunk of our car.

I truly believe you will lose all cost advantage with a long distance airport shuttle service from Waterloo Region or anywhere nearby. I had no qualms about leaving our car in the HIEX parking lot in Buffalo - no difference than leaving it in an airport parking lot in Toronto or on my driveway in Cambridge.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[maryliz]

We flew SWA in Jan and left our van in the preferred long-term parking at Buffalo airport ... no problems whatsoever. Of course, it was so covered in ice/snow that it would have taken a lot of work for someone to try and break into it We're flying again in December for a few days and will leave the van there again. I think my daily lot here in downtown London has a worse reputation.

It is definitely worth it to drive to Buffalo. You can't beat the prices, and we really enjoyed flying nonstop with SWA.

MaryLiz

 

[hockey mom]

We have left our car at 3 Holiday Inn's and the airport's parking lot. Never had a problem and we never worry about leaving our car parked there for the week.

 

[dsneygirl]

Have flown from Buffalo at least 10+ times and have never had a problem with the car. Used Sunpark (a gated lot) and the hotel before.

 

[the neighbours]

Hey Maryliz,

Thanks for the info about parking at the Buffalo airport. I think that is what we'll end up using in November as our flight is late flying out.

Dee

 

[Valjean13]

Thanks everyone, your posts have convinced my husband that the airport parking is safe enough to leave our car. One item down, but many more to work out!

 

[pxlbarrel]

well, here's something else to confirm your husband has made the right decision to park at the airport instead of taking alternative transportation to Buffalo. On one trip of horrors from Nashville, I ended up in Buffalo instead of Toronto (long story involving United Airlines...need I say more?) To get from Buffalo to Toronto, the cab fare was a fixed $200 U.S. (we had 3 people so it wasn't too bad...relatively speaking.) That was 2 years ago...I shudder to think what it is now considering how much gas prices have gone up.

 

[Disney Fanatic]

As an ex flight attendant, we just flew SW and I loved it. Great service but the only thing was that my little guy has a peanut allergy and lo and behold, they still serve peanuts on board!!

Anyway, if they don't change that, we can't fly them again.

Anyway, the parking at Sunpark across the road is terrific and you can print off a coupon from their website for $32.00 per week!!

 

[jersey shark]

Why would you be concerned about parking your car at Buffalo Airport -that's what a parking lot is for? (you leave your car there!)

 

[twinz]

I too have left my car in Buffalo airport MANY MANY times and never had a problem...even when my car was brand new when we got back from a short trip to NYC it was still ok. I would just suggest not to leave anything in plain site...hide everything, that way if there was someone looking to break in to your car it wouldn't be worth it (But that goes for here too!)

 

[mom_rules]

You could fly from Waterloo International (not as cheap as SW though-but very convenient if you live in Kitchener)-then you could take a short cab ride there!

By the way, Red Car Service operates out of Guelph and lists Buffalo as one of their airport stops.

 

[BitsnBearsMom]

We used Redcar last October when we flew out of the TO airport.... dh claims he'll never use them again..... Driver was very snippy with us (at 3:45am and he was supposed to have been there at 3am) that we couldn't use our ds' booster seat and he wasn't going to take us b/c we apparently hadn't told them we had a child under 5 going (too bad it was on the recipt they gave me when I pre-paid!!) after showing him that he allowed us to use it (although they were supposed to supply one) and then on the way to the airport AND on the drive home dh said there were quite a few 'close calls'.

I just wasn't impressed.... dh says next Oct when we go again we will probably fly from buffalo and drive our own can and park there! No more airport shuttles for him... mind you he doesn't even like being in the car when I'm driving.... a bit of a driver control freak he is