Driving to US for cheaper flights?

[Disney Brat]

Just wondering if anyone is going to travel to the US for a better priced flight? We are driving to Minneapolis for our flights. It is just over half the price cheaper! So even with gas etc, it is still a whole lot cheaper for us!

 

[CanadianGuy]

I definitely am.

Flight from Fredericton or Moncton to Orlando : well over 500$ Canadian

Flight from Portland, ME to Orlando : 177$ Canadian (taxes and everything) .. adding in gas to Portland and parking at the airport, I'm still well under 280$.

Knox

 

[Disney Brat]

WOW! That is a great deal!! Our flights were $625 (lowest) from Winnipeg, and from Minneapolis they are $313...It is just great that we don't mind the drive!!

 

[CanadianGuy]

I just checked and I exaggerated slightly..

It's $426 (Canadian) from Moncton with A/C (and a seat sale on right now) .. but I still gotta pay for gas & parking.. Just not as much gas. Parking is about the same.

But it's $567 to fly from Fredericton..

Both of which are INSANE compared to 177$ from Portland, ME.

 

[granolacruncher11]

Our family of 8 will make the trek to Minneapolis as well to save a lot of $$ even with the price of gas and the hotel rooms we still save a lot of dough!

 

[ont/ohana]

We only fly from Buffalo now. Most we ever paid from Buffalo was $134 one way to a cheap fare of $49 one way. Toronto or Hamilton would cost $1600 to $2000 for our family to fly to MCO. Decision is easy cheaper flights=more trips

 

[Applemomma]

I
Both of which are INSANE compared to 177$ from Portland, ME.

Canadian Guy, which airline did you use? We got Airtran for $198.

We flew out of Portland this past Sept and even with a ten hour drive,a hotel each way, meals and gas we still figured we saved between $1000 and $1500 for a family of four rather then flying out of Halifax.

The only way I'll fly out of a Canadian airport is if someone else is paying for it!

 

[jtdl]

We have only flown out of Detroit to US destinations. I checked prices out of Toronto and they are crazy compared to Detroit. We've always flown from Toronto to Edmonton, but I think for next year, I'll be checking the US airlines to see what they offer on flights to Alberta. (Plus the drive is shorter for us to Detroit or Flint than Toronto).

 

[Disney_Mama]

We always fly out of the States. Last Nov. it would have cost family of 4 $4000 cdn to fly from Fredericton. Drove 5 hours to Portland ME and it cost us $1400 cdn. We stayed overnight at a hotel, about $80 US and they let us leave our car there with a shuttle to the airport.

 

[fan1080]

I guess it comes down to how much you we are willing to accept as a good savings after you factor in all the driving time, added wear and tear on your vehicle, hotel, meals, etc.

Out last two trips were out of Halifax, direct. Feb 06, we all flew for $420 per person. This past July we flew direct form Halifax again for $460 per person. We are booked again for this Feb, direct from Halifax again, for $616 per person. The cost to fly for our next trip is considerably more than our last two. I suspect more people are taking advantage of the exchange rate, which keeps demand up, and therefore prices.

For me, I'm not sure a 20 hour drive is worth the savings. It adds two full days to your vacation and seems like it would be a very uncomfortable way to end a very busy week.

Direct flights are great and well worth it compared to the inconvenience of a 20 hour drive to from Portland, imo.

 

[MinnieMommy]

This will be our first "drive 'n fly" trip!

I admit I'm not thrilled with driving for so long... but it is definately worth the savings for us!!

We usually have a 1 1/2 hr. drive to the Halifax airport. We always have a 6:00am (or so) flight, so we usually stay at the Hilton Garden Inn the night before and use their park 'n fly. We also usually book a night for the return day as well (just in case the weather is bad), but have only used it once.

So, we're going to see how the long drive to Manchester (or Portland) works out for us. We will likely be saving more than 50% on airfare vs. flying out of Halifax. That's too large a savings to pass up!

 

[nosnobunny2006]

There are a lot of us who no longer fly out of Canada. Other than a flight to Jamaica earlier this year when I wasn't the person making the arrangements, I haven't flown out of Canada for a US destination in years. (I just re-read my post and yes - I do realize that Jamaica isn't in the US. My phrasing wasn't the best was it?)

Interestingly though, I am currently checking for a vacation in Europe and the best deal I found for flights was out of Pearson on Swiss Air. Go figure.

Beth

 

[bubba]

I have been pricing flights out of Toronto for our upcoming trip to DisneyWorld. Out of Toronto (about 1hr drive away) we would pay $2400. Out of Buffalo (about 90 min the other direction) we will pay $870. This is a no brainer for us. For an extra half hour or so in the car we save $1600. We always fly very early too, so we're crossing the border about 3 am. Surprisingly very little border traffic at 3 Thinking back, we have never had a wait longer than a couple minutes at the border when driving to Buffalo for a flight.

 

[Disney Brat]

Here is another question for those of you with longer drives to the airport with the cheaper flights....are you adding a day for driving, or taking a day away from Disney?? We are adding a day for the driving. I am a SAHM and my dh has a fairly flexable job, so we are lucky that way!

 

[CanadianGuy]

My 178$ was with Jet Blue to answer the question about that.

Here is another question for those of you with longer drives to the airport with the cheaper flights....are you adding a day for driving, or taking a day away from Disney?? We are adding a day for the driving. I am a SAHM and my dh has a fairly flexable job, so we are lucky that way! My BIL said that he would have to lose days from Disney, so he wouldn't drive, just pay the extra.

It's only a 4.5 hour drive for me.. So I usually take an evening nap before leaving at 12am (EST). Then I arrive in Portland at 4:00am for a 6am flight. I sleep a little on the plane and take a snooze upon arrival before heading out to a park in the evening.

I don't have kids tho.

Knox

 

[b-1]

We would have to take the days away from Disney so we always fly from Winnipeg. I have found that the price of Northwest Flights from WInnipeg are almost always lower if you leave on a tuesday or wednesday. For example a tuesday flight is $392 including all taxes and a saturday flight is $501. so if you are flexible on your departure dates there are still decent airfares out there.

 

[MainGuy]

We are 5 (2 adults, 3 kids) flying from Burlington. VT to Orlanda for just under $1200 CDN.
Flight from MTL to ORL would be over $3000, It is only 1.5 hrs drive.
Well worth our savings.

 

[jojo14]

We're going from Syracuse next September. We paid almost $900 this past August for the two of us from Ottawa, and it came to $460 from Syracuse. Well worth the 3 hour drive! I was going to wait and get a DING, but that would add another 2 hour drive each way, so thought this was a better way to go.

 

[trish4bruce]

We are driving from Thunder Bay to Duluth Minnesota. It is only 4 hours away. To fly Westjet from Thunder Bay would have cost $2655 for 3 of us. Northwest out of Duluth it cost us $960 for 3. A savings of $1,695!!!! It is ridiculous how exspensive it is to fly out of Canada.

 

[peanutgirl]

My family of three are going this Aug. for 550 canadian in total. To fly out of Saint John NB. our home airport would cost 2200 canadian. A 3 hour drive to Bangor saved us 1650. A no brainer for us.

Just noticed my 300th post. Yeah Me!!