Driving from Boston to JFK for flight?

[disneylizzy]

Is this nuts? We're all set at POP, but I left making an airline reservation way too long. There was a chance this trip wouldn't happen, so I never made any flight plans. We're going during April vacation (4/16 to 4/23) and everything out of Boston and SW out of Manchester, NH and Providence is booked. The only flights I'm finding are over $1,000 for the 3 of us. So, am I crazy for driving to JFK or Laguardia where I can pay about $600 RT. I even considered going to Philadelphia. We have driven down before, but I wasn't the one doing the driving.

 

[cepmom]

is there any chance you can be flexible with your dates? A friend of mine was looking for flights to Orlando during April vacation week and couldn't find any for a good price. She ended up getting a flight out of Boston on Song on Monday evening (4/18) and flying home the following Tuesday first thing in the morning. Maybe you could try that? If not, then I guess going to JFK or Laguardia would be the only option. How long would that take you to drive to? What time would your flight be?

 

[ducklite]

Have you looked at Bradley?

Albany?

Both of those are closer than NYC.

Anne

 

[pumpkinboy]

Actually, knowing that this is school vacation week in many parts of New England (and Upstate NY), you are gonna have to pay a lot to fly from BOS, MHT, PVD, PWM, or BDL. We got our tix as early as they were available (330 days) and still paid almost $600 each to fly direct (fortunately, 2 of the 4 tix were free with FF miles). My parents, who are meeting us there, also reserved at 330 days, and paid $240 for my Dad (FF miles for my Mom) out of Portland ME; now those same flights are over $500 per person.

So tho I would never do it myself, I can certainly understand driving to JFK to get a much cheaper flight. If you can find a way to do it without having to park at the airport ($$$) you will likely be better off. You will want to consider the cost of the Boston to NY segment (including parking) in your calculations, to get a true picture of the difference. The current $400 differential may disappear completely, which would put you back closer to home after all.

Good luck!

 

[Jamesbyr]

Long term parking at both NYC airports is about $10 a day. Be sure to leave enough time for the trip, and for getting from the long term lot to and through security. Good luck.

 

[disneylizzy]

Thanks to all for your advice. I made my reservations yesterday. $770.70 for the three of us on Southwest out of Islip, Long Island. On Map Quest they tell me that is a 4 hour drive, but the kicker is that we will be flying into TAMPA. At least the flight times are decent and the flight is non stop. By the time I booked, the cheapest Manchester NH flight was over $1500 for 3 tickets and Boston was over $2,000. Crazy, but my own fault for waiting too long, but, hey, I"M GOING TO DISNEY!

Anyone have any experience or thoughts to share on Islip NY airport or Tampa?

 

[ducklite]

Mapquest LIES. There's absolutely NO WAY you're going to drive from Boston to West Islip in four hours. You'll be lucky to make it in six. There's MAHJOR construction and HUGE traffic snarls on almost every road you need to take.

I'd plan on driving in the day before and spending the night at a hotel by the airport.

As far as Tampa, I like the airport, not as many travelers with no clue--in other words people have their boarding pas and ID ready, aren't trying to carry on 18 bags of souvies they bought at the Mouse, etc.

Here's the catch--there's major construction going on on I-4, the route you need to take from TPA to WDW, around the Lakeland area. The speed limit drops to 50, or lower, for part of it. A couple months ago my flight to MCO was cancelled, and I flew into TPA, arrived at about 1:30am, no checked bags and DH waiting for me at the curb. It took us in the middle of the night about 90 minutes to get home, about the same distance as to get to Pop from TPA (within 2-3 miles of being the same). That same trip taken on a Saturday afternoon about six months earlier took me about 2 1/2 hours due to traffic and construction. I have to make that trip in late April to be in Tampa around noon time on a Saturday, and I'm planning on leaving 2 1/2 hours for travel.

Anne

 

[Bob P]

Hi DisneyLizzy,

I'm not sure about Mapquest and Islip Airport. We live in Westchester County, NY and have very good friends who live a few miles from Islip Airport. It takes us a good hour to get there if there is no traffic.

Sounds like you are leaving on a Saturday, so that's good. But if it's a beautiful day the Long Island Expressway is known for its horrific traffic (it's also bad on lousy days too!).

I don't know what part of Boston you live in, but unless you're leaving your house in the middle of the night for an early flight, I would leave the house at least six hours before the flight time. The good news is, our friends from LI have flown to Orlando from Islip many times and they love it.

As for Tampa, I haven't flown into there for a while, but I remember it being about an hour's drive from WDW. Maybe someone who has done it more recently can help.

I'll be happy to answer anything else if I can. Good luck!

Bob

 

[Bob P]

Ducklite types faster than I do. Seeing that in print, I again want to emphasize that unless you are leaving in the middle of the night, six hours would be an absolute best case scenario.

 

[disneylizzy]

Oh, man - thank you all for the heads up on Islip. Our flight leaves at 6 pm on Sat, so I will be leaving Boston at 9 am or before. Now I am thinking of staying in Tampa on Sat. 3/24, to catch our 10am flight back to New York. What some people will go thru to get to WDW , but I draw the line at driving all the way.

 

[meuseman]

The only flights I'm finding are over $1,000 for the 3 of us. So, am I crazy for driving to JFK or Laguardia where I can pay about $600 RT.

Is that per person or total?

 

[jadejazzkayla]

lizzy. i found this into orlando instead of tampa. $50 more but will save the drive to/from tampa. i wasn't sure if your return date was sat 4/23 or sun 4/24.

Depart Apr 16 Sat N/S ISP-MCO 1635 Depart Islip (ISP) at 4:50 PM
Arrive Orlando (MCO) at 7:30 PM

Return Apr 24 Sun N/S MCO-ISP 481 Depart Orlando (MCO) at 10:50 AM
Arrive in Islip (ISP) at 1:20 PM

Price

Depart ISP-MCO Refundable, One-Way, Non-Stop Flight Only $120.00 $12.20 $5.50 3 $413.10

Return MCO-ISP Refundable, One-Way, Non-Stop Flight Only $120.00 $12.20 $5.50 3 $413.10

Total $826.20

 

[ducklite]

Oh, man - thank you all for the heads up on Islip. Our flight leaves at 6 pm on Sat, so I will be leaving Boston at 9 am or before. Now I am thinking of staying in Tampa on Sat. 3/24, to catch our 10am flight back to New York. What some people will go thru to get to WDW , but I draw the line at driving all the way.

I think you might be wise to drive to Tampa the night before. There's a nice Hilton about a mile from TPA, very clean and comfy, Hilton Westshore I think it was. I got a room there for under $100 for a Saturday night.

Anne

 

[disneylizzy]

Hey all, my $770.71 was for 3 tickets. The extremely high rates from Boston - $2099.00 were also for 3 tickets.

Thanks for checking, Jade, but I'm pretty sure my tix are nonrefundable. I just got so crazed by checking times and prices constantly and seeing them go up and up , that I bought yesterday because I was afraid if I waited any more I would never get there! Now I look back to when I was searching in the beginning of March and I should have bought then. When we went at the end of August, the 4 of us went down for $460.00. Southwest was 69.00 one way! I stupidly thought I might get a similiar fare. Disney even offered a better fare when I made our POP reservations! I turned them down.

I searched on Priceline (or maybe Hotwire) for something near the Tampa Airport and they had a four star for $100.00. I bet that is the Hilton. I'm thinking of taking that and using their shuttle to get to the airport. That would also save me a day on the rental car, too.

 

[Lewisc]

SW will let you change your tickets without any penalty, just pay the fare difference.

Tolls, gas, parking and one or two airport hotel stays will eat away at your savings. There are several places where you could killed with traffic on your way to ISP. I live near ISP and I think I'd cancel my trip before I'd drive up to Boston to catch a flight.

I understand SW RR tickets go for around $300 on E-Bay. $900 for 3 tickets that you can use on any available flight may be a better way to go. Looks like many of the flights are sold out so even that idea might not work.

You normally WON'T SAVE TIME but you'll avoid a lot of possible traffic jams if you take the ferry either from New London or Bridgeport to Long Island.

Consider driving the entire distance. You'll have to allow 6 hours to get to ISP, you'll want to get there 2 hours in advance (really 1 hour), flight will be 3 hours then a 2 hour drive to Tampa. Almost 13 hours or probably more than half the time it'll take to drive the entire distance.

 

[jadejazzkayla]

lizzy. please double check to see if your tickets are refundable or not. i just did the drive from tampa march 8th. the traffic/construction wasn't horrible - but it wasn't fun either. have fun. jade

 

[blitzkrieg048]

IF YOUR ADVENTUROUS YOU SHOULD DRIVE ALL THE WAY TO ORLANDO. I DON'T KNOW HOW OLD YOUR KIDS ARE, BUT IF YOU GO STRAIGHT THRU YOU CAN DO IT IN 24 HOURS. NOT SAYING DO IT ALL THE TIME BUT FOR A ONE SHOT DEAL IT'S NOT THAT BAD. TRAVEL AND RENTAL CAR ALL IN ONE. IT SOUNDS LIKE A LOT OF WORK TO DO WHAT YOU'RE DOING. JUST MY OPINION. GOOD LUCK!

 

[disneylizzy]

I have given alot of thought to driving down. I would have to rent a car because mine is just too old. We drove straight down in 2002 and made it in 22 hours. Driving down wasn't too bad, it was driving back that wasn't much fun. The other thing is that my DEx drove the whole way and this trip is just me. DS's are 12 and 14, so that isn't a problem, but I would have to buy a little TV/vcr or dvd for the car, unless I rented a car with one built in. I could probably get in 6 hours driving after work on Friday and that would leave me about 16/17 on Saturday. On the way back I would split the drive up between Sat and Sun. I just don't know - I'm doing probably 8 hours driving each way as things are now, but driving the whole way by myself .. I just don't know.

 

[Ludwig Von Drake]

Instead of driving all the way to Islip, I would take the ferry New London - Orient Point Ferry. Looks like it is $40 for car and driver, and another $5 per kid. May not save much time but I'm sure it would save you much stress! And trust me, kids love the ferry! See Cross Sound Ferry for the details. Good luck and have a great trip!

 

[disneylizzy]

Thank you, thank you, Ludwig for the link. So - we've got the car, ferry, plane and rental car, I think I've covered all transportation options. I was going to come back on Saturday 4/23, but it turned out to be cheaper to stay until Sunday. Another sacrifice!