Feedback Buffalo Flight options

[BOTL76]

Hello Disney Fans,

We are starting our planning for May 2014. We have flown out of Buffalo a few times, last time in 2011.

in need of a "refresher" course for our planning.

Previous years we have flown Southwest and Airtran, and I have also flown with Jetblue but not to Orlando. We understand that Airtran is now owned by Southwest but still offering the Airtran "brand". DW and I are feeling that we should narrow it down between Southwest and Jetblue.

1) Budget for Flights
In terms of our budget, we are estimating that anything $250 round trip or below per person we should jump all over for a direct flight out of Buffalo,is this a good figure to work with? Or are most RT flights now creeping over the $250 mark?

2) how far in advance?
Just curious if anyone would know when May 2014 flights might become available with the respective airlines mentioned above?

3) Airtran
has anyone flown with airtran recently and anything different from a few years back? We last flew with them in 2009. Should we still put JetBlue and Southwest options ahead of Airtran?

Thanks everyone!

 

[darwinsrule]

Hello Disney Fans,

We are starting our planning for May 2014. We have flown out of Buffalo a few times, last time in 2011.

in need of a "refresher" course for our planning.

Previous years we have flown Southwest and Airtran, and I have also flown with Jetblue but not to Orlando. We understand that Airtran is now owned by Southwest but still offering the Airtran "brand". DW and I are feeling that we should narrow it down between Southwest and Jetblue.

1) Budget for Flights
In terms of our budget, we are estimating that anything $250 round trip or below per person we should jump all over for a direct flight out of Buffalo,is this a good figure to work with? Or are most RT flights now creeping over the $250 mark?

2) how far in advance?
Just curious if anyone would know when May 2014 flights might become available with the respective airlines mentioned above?

3) Airtran
has anyone flown with airtran recently and anything different from a few years back? We last flew with them in 2009. Should we still put JetBlue and Southwest options ahead of Airtran?

Thanks everyone!

Price can really be dependent upon when you are travelling. March Break and the price gets high really quick. We do a lot of cruising so we plan out 12-18 months in advance. That means we are grabbing air immediately when it is released. Sadly more people have caught on to Buffalo since we first started flying from there post 9/11 so I would suggest grabbing it ASAP.

We are actually flying AT in a few days for a trip to WDW. Paid $800 RT for the four of us (not including baggage fees of course which SW and JB don't nail you for). Generally we are happy with anything under 1200 for the four of us. Did SW back in March. Did JB last August. Things are really dependent upon who has the best price and flight times.

 

[MrMarv]

$230-$250 R/T nonstop on JetBlue, which is a fantastic airfare.

Have a great trip!

 

[Disneylover99]

3) Airtran
has anyone flown with airtran recently and anything different from a few years back? We last flew with them in 2009. Should we still put JetBlue and Southwest options ahead of Airtran?

Thanks everyone!

We flew AirTran yesterday from Buffalo to Orlando. Great flight!!! We bought our tickets in early February For August $199 each return, direct flight.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We flew AirTran for the first time in December 2012, and we were underwhelmed. The plane was old.....from inside the terminal, we could see big spots of paint peeled off the nose . We missed the TV's on each seat that we have come to enjoy (and look forward to) on our JetBlue flights. We upgraded to business class at the 24 hour mark, and were relieved that we did, as the regular seating seemed pretty squashed. And while the FA's were "okay", they certainly didn't knock our socks off with their friendliness.

We got there safely and on time, which ultimately is the goal, but we would be in no hurry to book AT in the future. We picked them for our Christmas trip solely on price.....both JetBlue and SW were both ridiculously out of reach (price wise) for our flight to MCO on Dec. 23rd, so it was AT or bust.

 

[BOTL76]

Thanks everyone for the feedback!

 

[Diana905]

We usually fly Southwest and have always been satisfied. SW lists release dates of flights under the Travel Tools part of their website and currently has this info on the next release dates.

"We are currently accepting air reservations through April 6, 2014. On October 14, 2013, we will open our schedule for sale through June 6, 2014. This date is subject to change! Please check back frequently."

I usually find booking when flights are first released offer the lowest fares, especially for Orlando flights which tend to fill up.

 

[Disneylover99]

We flew AirTran yesterday from Buffalo to Orlando. Great flight!!! We bought our tickets in early February For August $199 each return, direct flight.

We just flew back to Buffalo on AT. The pilot and other flight crew were great. Interior of the plane was very clean. It was a smooth flight. We are flying with them again in October.

 

[goofyintoronto]

We flew AirTran yesterday from Buffalo to Orlando. Great flight!!! We bought our tickets in early February For August $199 each return, direct flight.

I dont know how on earth you people get such cheap flights. I flew out of Buffalo twice, both times in august, both times the price was $300 r/t!

This time I flew AirTran thou. And it was great! Loved the staff. Had no problems.

Although, maybe one problem. Flight was delayed, so we literally had 5 min to catch our connecting flight. In the Atlanta Airport. That airport is huuuuge. I had to run miles across the airport to catch a TRAIN to the other terminal. Then more running. Plus it was crowded. If you can avoid Atlanta, please do! But luckily the flight waited for us. There was about 10 of us that were on the same flight running. They waited. That was so nice of them! cause we arrived to the gate huffing and puffing about 5-10 min after their scheduled departure time.

In summary, I doubt I will ever fly out of buffalo again. Sooooo not worth the hassle. I'd rather pay a bit extra and fly out of toronto. Im literally 15min from the airport.

 

[darwinsrule]

I dont know how on earth you people get such cheap flights. I flew out of Buffalo twice, both times in august, both times the price was $300 r/t!

We have mostly done cruising the last few years so are planning and booking 12-18 months out. The day the air goes up for sale we book it which pretty much always is going to be the lowest price (much like cruising). As seats get booked the price goes up. At this point we have a cruise booked for next August and are now waiting for the air. We also have tentative plans for March and August 2015 and are waiting for things to be released to see if we can make the numbers work.

The other advantage of booking the first day is that you can grab the direct flights and avoid the potential issues with making connections. All the more important if travelling with children.

 

[Skjhjb]

I dont know how on earth you people get such cheap flights. I flew out of Buffalo twice, both times in august, both times the price was $300 r/t!

Me too! I was scouting for our trip in May 2014, and nothing under $400 came back, so we are driving!

 

[Disneylover99]

I dont know how on earth you people get such cheap flights. I flew out of Buffalo twice, both times in august, both times the price was $300 r/t!

This time I flew AirTran thou. And it was great! Loved the staff. Had no problems.

Although, maybe one problem. Flight was delayed, so we literally had 5 min to catch our connecting flight. In the Atlanta Airport. That airport is huuuuge. I had to run miles across the airport to catch a TRAIN to the other terminal. Then more running. Plus it was crowded. If you can avoid Atlanta, please do! But luckily the flight waited for us. There was about 10 of us that were on the same flight running. They waited. That was so nice of them! cause we arrived to the gate huffing and puffing about 5-10 min after their scheduled departure time.

In summary, I doubt I will ever fly out of buffalo again. Sooooo not worth the hassle. I'd rather pay a bit extra and fly out of toronto. Im literally 15min from the airport.

You have to book with AT within a day or two of flights being released for the best deals.

Buffalo has had amazing prices for our family of four. But I will only book a direct flight. If I have to book a connecting flight, then that's not a good deal for me, no matter what the price is.

 

[Disneylover99]

Me too! I was scouting for our trip in May 2014, and nothing under $400 came back, so we are driving!

I tried to find a cheap flight out of Buffalo over the March break. Sometimes the deals just aren't there. I guess we'll be going to the Toronto Zoo instead of Animal Kingdom that week.

 

[karen1o3o]

I flew from Buffalo to Orlando with AirTran May 8th 2013 and our RT airfare came to around 360 per person. We started looking into the prices around early April and just kept checking different airlines everyday. Eventually, we just booked our flight through WDW reservations and the most inexpensive flight option was through AirTran.

AirTran also has a 25$ baggage fee for your first checked bag. I didn't know this and found out after i checked the receipt so the actual flight itself was around 330$.

Hope that helps!!

 

[mamabear0222]

Totally depends on when you can fly. If you can go midweek you can likely snag the lower airfares.

Sent from my Samsung S3 using DISBoards

 

[KNovacovschi]

I dont know how on earth you people get such cheap flights. I flew out of Buffalo twice, both times in august, both times the price was $300 r/t!

We paid $272 round trip from Buffalo. The total was $816 for the 3 of us. Going down we are flying SW and it was $112 and coming home we are flying JB and it was $159. The SW flight is direct but JB has a stopover at JFK. I thought this was a great price. Our flight prices have gone up significantly since. When I checked today the return flight was up to $271. I love flying out of Buffalo, especially since the parking is so much cheaper. It's double the price to fly out of Toronto, not including the parking.

 

[pigletto]

I've always paid 200-250 a person for non stop flights out of Buffalo. And we don't travel midweek. I generally book on the day it opens or shortly after though. And if it's too high, I wait for the inevitable sale. It takes checking every day until I see the price I want. The first time I went higher was for this upcoming trip, and it was around 300 a person, but we're flying back on December 23rd which is a very busy travel day, so I expected it. It dropped by $250 total a few months later one day, so I got a credit (with Southwest).
OP , find out when Jetblue, Airtran and Southwest opens for your dates and watch every single day. Generally it will be cheapest on opening day. If not, every month or two there are sale days of some sort. Though, it's a toss up whether those will include your ideal flight times.