Driving to US for cheaper flights?

[Disney Brat]

Just noticed my 300th post. Yeah Me!!

Congrats on the 300th post!!

It looks like we will be driving to Minneapolis for our flight for sure...the drive is about 8 hours but the savings far out weigh that. We were just waiting for the flights to open up to see how much of a savings it would be, but they opened today, and it is a great savings!!

 

[Lollipop's Mom]

We fly from Seattle (we live 45 mins outside of Vancouver, right on the border). Actually what we do is fly from Bellingham, which is a small airport about 30 mins from the border. Parking is $30/week and we can fly from Bellingham to Seattle for about $100-$120 each, and then continue on from Seattle to whereever. I got SEA-MCO from southwest for about $220 each in january, which is a really awesome deal.
I justify the extra $200 ish to fly from Bellingham as this..
$40 gas
$150 hotel day before/after
$50/week to park

It works out the same cost as flying from 30 mins from my house! So it works really well for us and we don't have that big airport parking hassle when we arrive. We literally park about 100 ft from the entrace of the airport and walk in! Love doing it this way! Also its nice to cross the border in a car and not have to do all the border stuff at the airport too!

 

[Nora03]

Disney Brat and any others who drive from Winnipeg to Minneapolis - great idea! Why didn't I think of that?

We've already booked our flights from Winnipeg to Orlando ($470 Canadian - which we thought was pretty good). However, on checking the same flights from Minneapolis to Orlando, it is half that - good deal. Some of our group have not yet booked their flights.

Where do you park your car in Minneapolis and how much is it? Or, do you stay overnight in Minneapolis at a hotel and "park and fly"? Do you know how much this is? Have you got a favourite hotel? I've checked out both online and it's about the same price for either (depending on which hotel you choose), but maybe there are some better ideas out there???

Nora

 

[SaskDisNut]

Disney Brat and any others who drive from Winnipeg to Minneapolis - great idea! Why didn't I think of that?

We've already booked our flights from Winnipeg to Orlando ($470 Canadian - which we thought was pretty good). However, on checking the same flights from Minneapolis to Orlando, it is half that - good deal. Some of our group have not yet booked their flights.

Where do you park your car in Minneapolis and how much is it? Or, do you stay overnight in Minneapolis at a hotel and "park and fly"? Do you know how much this is? Have you got a favourite hotel? I've checked out both online and it's about the same price for either (depending on which hotel you choose), but maybe there are some better ideas out there???

Nora

Nora, I was going to ask the exact same thing! Regina is a 12-14 hour drive to Minneapolis but if it means saving at least half or more in airfare then it might be worth it. But I'd need to consider the hotel, gas, meal, & parking costs before deciding what to do. Flying out of YQR to anywhere is a challenge at times so this could be a great way to get to Disney!

 

[Nora03]

SaskDisNut - The price isn't exactly half - a little less. Our flights are $470 and the lowest price I found on the days we're flying are $262 total. That's pretty darn good I think. Check it out.

Minneapolis is an eight hour drive from Winnipeg so that's not too bad. I'd love to hear what other people do regarding hotel/parking. Our group doesn't have to stay in a hotel and could just leave their vehicle in long term parking, but I see that parking is $12 - 14 a day. If any hotels offered long term parking along with a one night stay it might be less.

I see that you've travelled to Disney around the same dates as us. We went in January 1980, February 1987, February 1996 and we're going in May 2008. All our trips to Disney have been to WDW, but my husband has been to Disneyland numerous time while attending conferences in that area.

Nora

 

[cdotla]

Why don't we all just start lobbying the Cdn government to drop all of these ridiculous airport taxes so that our air carriers can compete with their US counterparts???

That would solve all our problems - and no crazy drives required.

 

[angel_bright05]

SaskDisNut - The price isn't exactly half - a little less. Our flights are $470 and the lowest price I found on the days we're flying are $262 total. That's pretty darn good I think. Check it out.

Minneapolis is an eight hour drive from Winnipeg so that's not too bad. I'd love to hear what other people do regarding hotel/parking. Our group doesn't have to stay in a hotel and could just leave their vehicle in long term parking, but I see that parking is $12 - 14 a day. If any hotels offered long term parking along with a one night stay it might be less.

I see that you've travelled to Disney around the same dates as us. We went in January 1980, February 1987, February 1996 and we're going in May 2008. All our trips to Disney have been to WDW, but my husband has been to Disneyland numerous time while attending conferences in that area.

Nora

We stayed at the Days Inn right beside Mall of America and only stayed one night (the night before we left for WDW). We were able to leave the car there for the week with only staying the one night (Park n' Fly) then drive home the day we got back. They've got complimentary airport shuttle (I think it takes about 10 min. to get to the airport depending on traffic) on a first come-first serve basis which is nice.

It's a good hotel for just staying the night. It's right across from MOA so it's an easy walk, or they've got a shuttle going over as well. I believe it was fairly cheap as well.

 

[Waiting]

Driving from Sydney NS to Bangor ME. 1250.00 for 5 people. Halifax to Orlando was adveraging close to 3000.00.

 

[Disney Brat]

Disney Brat and any others who drive from Winnipeg to Minneapolis - great idea! Why didn't I think of that?

We've already booked our flights from Winnipeg to Orlando ($470 Canadian - which we thought was pretty good). However, on checking the same flights from Minneapolis to Orlando, it is half that - good deal. Some of our group have not yet booked their flights.

Where do you park your car in Minneapolis and how much is it? Or, do you stay overnight in Minneapolis at a hotel and "park and fly"? Do you know how much this is? Have you got a favourite hotel? I've checked out both online and it's about the same price for either (depending on which hotel you choose), but maybe there are some better ideas out there???

Nora

Well we will either park at the airport or park and fly. When I did some checking last month it was about $11 a day to park and fly. As for the hotel, we are now thinking about driving through the night, and staying in a hotel on the way home. But we will just look for a reasonable on around that area. Suggestions would be great! This will also be our first time driving to Minneapolis for a flight, we used to go to Grand Forks when I was a kid, but that isn't much cheaper at all now.

 

[b-1]

We used to fly from Grand Forks also (Wayyy back when my parents were taking us) I can remember getting to the car and all we could see was a bit of the windshield and the antenna!!! My poor dad had to blaze a trail through the snow and start the cold car, while we waited inside. Ah memories!

 

[jersey shark]

My goodness, Canadians are a hearty breed - I can't even wrap my brain around driving up to 20 hours round-trip only to get an airport that STARTS your flight to Orlando!

Here in the New York-New Jersey area, we have 5 local airports to choose from when it comes to checking for fares to anywhere (Newark, LaGuardia, JFK, Westchester and Stuart-Newburgh) - drive 2 hours further from home and we're up to a choice of 10 airports (add in Philly, Allentown, Scranton, Albany and Hartford)....a few years ago on a last minute trip to Orlando during Presidents Week the best we do was a fare out of Philly - the 2 hour drive met with some major complaints from the family!

I think too, you are all being very hard on the Canadian govt assuming that they are solely responsible for increased fares to the US - I believe an equally (if not worse) offender is the US govt - Uncle Sam has his hand out too when it comes to taxes related to international flights!

 

[Charleyann]

We drive from Fredericton to Bangor which is about 3 hrs. We got round trip tickets to Orlando for $212.00 ! Out of Fredericton at the time of booking, the cheapest flight was $698.00 plus tax. Big difference and just 3 hrs away.

Flying out of the US makes for more Disney trips!


Charleyann

 

[nosnobunny2006]

My goodness, Canadians are a hearty breed - I can't even wrap my brain around driving up to 20 hours round-trip only to get an airport that STARTS your flight to Orlando!

Here in the New York-New Jersey area, we have 5 local airports to choose from when it comes to checking for fares to anywhere (Newark, LaGuardia, JFK, Westchester and Stuart-Newburgh) - drive 2 hours further from home and we're up to a choice of 10 airports (add in Philly, Allentown, Scranton, Albany and Hartford)....a few years ago on a last minute trip to Orlando during Presidents Week the best we do was a fare out of Philly - the 2 hour drive met with some major complaints from the family!

I think too, you are all being very hard on the Canadian govt assuming that they are solely responsible for increased fares to the US - I believe an equally (if not worse) offender is the US govt - Uncle Sam has his hand out too when it comes to taxes related to international flights!

We also have several local airports but we're talking about international flights. That limits which ones are viable.

I have children who are US citizens so I know what your taxes are like and trust me, you have no idea what a heavy tax burden is. There is no comparison. Toronto has the highest landing fees in the world and it isn't unusual to have taxes that far exceed the cost of the actual flight. Add parking fees that are at least double those for Buffalo and you have the makings for very expensive travel.

Beth

 

[cdotla]

That is exactly right. Toronto International is THE most taxed airport in the world. Two of our major carriers (Air Canada and West Jet) have been lobbying the government hard for the taxes to be revised so they can compete.

Trust us: we would really prefer to be "bragging" about something else, but when it comes to taxes, us Canadians have you beat on the taxes. Yours are peanuts in comparison! (Oh well, at least we have medicare!)

We also have several local airports but we're talking about international flights. That limits which ones are viable.

I have children who are US citizens so I know what your taxes are like and trust me, you have no idea what a heavy tax burden is. There is no comparison. Toronto has the highest landing fees in the world and it isn't unusual to have taxes that far exceed the cost of the actual flight. Add parking fees that are at least double those for Buffalo and you have the makings for very expensive travel.

Beth

 

[Applemomma]

Here's a quick comparison:

Two airports and the exact same dates...one in Halifax and one in Portland (10 hour drive away)...

Halifax (westjet):
airport seat sale (!!) $219 one way
8 hour flight with stopovers (no such thing as non stop at time of booking)
airport taxes and fees = $125
total cost for one person round trip = $688

Portland (airtran):
regular web fare $99 one way
2.5 hour nonstop
airport taxes and fees = $31.40
total cost for one person round trip = $260.80

Family of 4 out of Halifax (assuming they found some place besides airport to park) = $2752

Family of 4 out of Portland (assuming $200 in gas and $250 in hotel up and back) = $1493

A savings of $1258 .... a bit of a no brainer.

I'd love to know just how much revenue Canadian airports have lost to us jumping the border....I bet it would be enough to make them take notice if they ever did a study.

 

[ntsammy5]

Enjoy it while you can. Three years ago we drove from Buffalo to Toronto to fly to Hawaii because it was $200/person cheaper. It's all about the money!

 

[Kurby]

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

who do you fly with and how do you book it? do you use one of the online priceline things?

 

[ntsammy5]

who do you fly with and how do you book it?

Best flights/prices out of Buffalo are usually Southwest at:

http://www.southwest.com/

Download the Ding and you get even better prices. They're easy to use. Look at a few threads on the Transportation Boards. Good luck

 

[CanadianGuy]

An interesting note about the Pearson taxes & surcharges.

One airline recently ran a '9$' fare special .. The taxes and fees on a 9$ flight were 77$.

So for a return flight. The fare was 18$ and the taxes, fees & surcharges were 154$.

Insanity.

Knox

 

[pooksma]

Just booked our flights for August. Flying Delta from BGR (like always) and managed to get 2 round trippies for 388 canadian.

I WILL drive for cheap air! Now I'm looking for a cheapie for March break (air only)