Flight questions

[heathernfrankie]

I have no clue what to do. I'm soooo confused. We live about 10 minutes from an airport (ABE...Allentown, PA). BUT, Philly is about an hour and 15 minutes from us. In September, 5 of us are going to Disney (my mom is going along with us).
I am almost positive we're going to fly out of Philly b/c it's a MUCH earlier flight and we won't loose the day. Philly's flight is 10:40am and arrives at 1:16pm, compared to ABE's flight of 5:41pm and arriving at 8:01pm. We would basically get to the hotel and have to turn around and go to bed, or at least settle down. I would like to hit up Downtown Disney the first day and get dinner there and stuff. Only because who knows if we will get back there during the week b/c of spending time at the parks.
BUT, I'm also not sure if we have someone take us and drive our SUV home (and be squished with the luggage and all), then come back to get us or if we just drive down there and pay the $11 a day to keep it there so it will be there when we come home, and not have to worry about someone finding us waiting at the airport.
What do you suggest? Flights have gone up in price already (only $5 each way from ABE and $5 coming home from Philly, but still). Out of ABE, we would spend about $947 and out of Philly, the flight would be $1022.
I hope this makes sense.

Oh...and the airline we were going to do was AirTran because they are by far the cheapest.
Thanks in advance for your advise.

 

[homedad]

I would not ask someone to drive me to the airport and hour each way. I will do it for my grandmother because shes 90 but I don't want to impose that on someone. We park at the airport, also if something does happen your not stranded or scrambling to make changes to pick up times.

 

[sam_gordon]

i would not ask someone to drive me to the airport and hour each way. I will do it for my grandmother because shes 90 but i don't want to impose that on someone. We park at the airport, also if something does happen your not stranded or scrambling to make changes to pick up times.

ita!

 

[bcbmommy]

Sometimes hotels in the area will offer Park & Ride, where you can park your car there (for the price of the room) at no extra charge. Call for the cheapest price on the room, then do the math and see what makes more sense.

 

[crazik]

Fly from Philly - get the early flight and go to Downtown Disney when you get there. Leave your car at the airport and pay 11 bucks a day - that's really not "that much"...

 

[TaraPA]

Hello fellow Lehigh Valley-er!

We use AT out of ABE as well. During the week their flights are only in the evening to MCO as you've found out. Is there any way you can leave the night before? We started doing that last year. Yes you have to pay an extra night in a hotel in FL but to me it's worth it to not have the stress of getting to/from Philly airport. That airport is a nightmare compared to ABE. If you haven't been there before, the $11 parking is the economy lot - which is FAR from the terminal. I think it's actually offsite. They have a shuttle to that lot but it's sporadic, and traveling with kids that could be tired & cranky & then having to wait for a shuttle, then schlep through that economy lot, just isn't worth it to me. We read online that the shuttle to economy parking was continuous 24 hours a day, but we waited almsot 30 min. for it. It was after 11pm, pouring rain & the kids were DONE (so was I) and the shuttle dropped us off nowhere near our vehicle. We vowed never to park in economy again at PHL!

We started going the night before on AT, getting in, checking out the resort, maybe going for a quick swim, and then bed. It's so nice to wake up & be refreshed & ready to go after a day of travel.

If you can get a ride to/from ABE then you've just saved the parking fees, which will help pay for the extra night in the hotel.

Just a suggestion!

 

[heathernfrankie]

Hello fellow Lehigh Valley-er!

We use AT out of ABE as well. During the week their flights are only in the evening to MCO as you've found out. Is there any way you can leave the night before? We started doing that last year. Yes you have to pay an extra night in a hotel in FL but to me it's worth it to not have the stress of getting to/from Philly airport. That airport is a nightmare compared to ABE. If you haven't been there before, the $11 parking is the economy lot - which is FAR from the terminal. I think it's actually offsite. They have a shuttle to that lot but it's sporadic, and traveling with kids that could be tired & cranky & then having to wait for a shuttle, then schlep through that economy lot, just isn't worth it to me. We read online that the shuttle to economy parking was continuous 24 hours a day, but we waited almsot 30 min. for it. It was after 11pm, pouring rain & the kids were DONE (so was I) and the shuttle dropped us off nowhere near our vehicle. We vowed never to park in economy again at PHL!

We started going the night before on AT, getting in, checking out the resort, maybe going for a quick swim, and then bed. It's so nice to wake up & be refreshed & ready to go after a day of travel.

If you can get a ride to/from ABE then you've just saved the parking fees, which will help pay for the extra night in the hotel.

Just a suggestion!

Thanks for that suggestion. I have flown out of Philly before, BUT, never parked the car in economy. My father-in-law drove our car home and my husband picked us up (my mom and I took our boys to Texas in 09). I'm going to look into this option too.

 

[love2teach5th]

Did you check Harrisburg? That's where we fly out of b/c of the 10:30 flight, arrival 1:18. The only problem is the return to Harrisburg leaves Orlando at 8:00 a.m. We catch a later flight into Baltimore.

 

[TaraPA]

Good idea - fly out of Harrisburg on the morning Airtran flight but come home into ABE on the 2:45pm flight. When I go on the girls trip some are from reading - they fly from Harrisburg. I didn't even think of that. Much nicer drive to H-burg on 78 from the Lehigh Valley than down to PHL on the turnpike/Blue Route/95!

 

[winthropf]

There are many "offsite" parking lots that are much less than the airport lot. Many are in the $8.50 per day range and they will pick you up and drop off right at your car.

 

[heathernfrankie]

Did you check Harrisburg? That's where we fly out of b/c of the 10:30 flight, arrival 1:18. The only problem is the return to Harrisburg leaves Orlando at 8:00 a.m. We catch a later flight into Baltimore.

I didn't think of Harrisburg, but then I would still need someone to make the drive home alone. I figure if I'm going to inconvenience someone to take us to the airport, I would rather have just take us to ABE, since it's practically in our back yard.

 

[heathernfrankie]

It's basically the same price if we go a day early vs. driving to Philly and paying to park the car. PLUS, flights out of Philly are more expensive. SO, ABE a day early it is!!

 

[TaraPA]

I think for the less hassle of having to rely on someone to take you to & from Philly you made a good choice! AND you get a few more hours in WDW! Are you staying onsite?

It used to kill me to pay for an extra night there just to go to sleep. But we've found it's actually a lot better for the kids to get a good night's sleep on the travel day, then wake up refreshed & ready to go. We used to only make it til about 7pm on travel day - we'd all be cranky. This way we can go til 11pm or later that 1st full day.

 

[heathernfrankie]

We're staying at Pop. I think it will be good too for the boys. I highly doubt they will sleep on the plane, so I'm sure they will be exhausted!

 

[suemom2kay]

AirTran changed the times of their weekday afternoon flight and added an early morning flight out of ABE. I called today and was able to change to the morning flight. No night before hotel needed. Thought you might like to know!