Flights from Upstate/Western NY

[lisareniff]

DH and I are from up a little farther upstream, RIT. DH is in Color or Imaging Science, although he got his PhD from UofR in Vision Science. I used to work in the same department in my previous life.

 

[ladyv]

My husband and I both graduated from RIT

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Still waiting for flights from Buffalo or Rochester to MCO. If I switch my dates to Monday, April 17 --> Friday, April 20, I can get a flight from Buffalo --> MCO on AirTran for $227 rt each. That's the cheapest I've found so far, but I'm still crossing my fingers for Southwest to come through.

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Wow, that $227 flight on AirTran is now gone. I guess I should have taken it when I could. Oh well, I'll keep waiting.

 

[andijean]

Mouseskywalker,

I live in the Rochester area and have played the airfare game that you are right now and it can be down right nerve wrecking. We went during Feb break in 04 and it was tough to get airfare for less than $250/rt. I learned that the airfare for the winter breaks start out at a higher rate than other dates and a lot of times don't go on sale. The more the flight gets booked up(the closer you get to your dates) the higher the rates get. If you know what the rates are at their peak and you do find one that is lower...Book it! It is really a game. I had to check the rates a couple of times a week and checked multiple sites. I heard from someone that Mondays are a good day and I did seem to find that. All of the suggestions here are definitely part of the game and will help. I wish I had a magic answer for you. Good Luck!

This year we decided to not go during breaks to save money and not have to deal with the crowds. We paid 1/2 of what we paid last time for airfare.

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Thanks Andrea: I found the $227 rt flight from Buffalo again, but I think I have to fly Easter Sunday. I think I'm going to hold out for SouthWest, and see what they come up with.

I also saw you stayed at the Sheraton Westgate Villas last February. What did you think of them? We received an offer/invitation in the mail for them.

 

[lisareniff]

That $227 doesn't sound too bad for a school break week. Remember you shouldn't expect to get last years prices this year with the fuel increases.

 

[welovedis]

Wow, cool to see all the Rochester folks here!

I didn't get LK tickets, we just don't have the cash with the upcoming trip, the holidays & my DS b-day is 2 weeks before Xmas. Plus the gas prices are hurting my budget, I'm driving back & forth to Buffalo at least 2xs/week to visit my mom who is fighting cancer. The LK tixs were a nice thought but not in the budget right now!

Well, maybe some of us know each other IRL, that would be funny. MY DH works at Strong/U of R in the toxicology lab and he graduated from NTID/RIT. I run a daycare center and one of my daycare dads works at U of R, one of my moms works at NTID.

Small world indeed!

Anyone thought about doing the Airtran flights with the Wendy's coupons? I've been able to get the drink cups at a few Wendy's locations around here, hoping to get enough for 3 RT tixs next year.

 

[welovedis]

Oh--And the $227 sounds really good for that time of year!

 

[Lucky4me]

I fly out of Rochester as well.
Prices for that week will most likely never go down, but will definitely go up. I've been looking for Hilton Head Island that week and we're talking $400, easily. I think half of Rochester goes to Myrtle beach that week and prices heading anywhere South are always astronomical.

I would check Airtran daily, but most likely your best bet will be Southwest out of Buffalo. I would imagine you'll find their prices higher than normal, but not as high as Rochester. Good luck!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Just wanted to add, when the Soutwest fares come out, grab them right away!

We just went through this for February vacation week and it was I booked the afternoon fares came out, but our friends didn't book until a little later that same day - by the time they did the flight we'd booked home was full and the sale fares we'd gotten for the flight home were gone. (The nice thing about SWA, though, is that they are flexible, so after watching for a few days we were able to move their flight time up and get better fares when they (luckily) became available).

So overall, for us it was worth the wait. Just over $1100 total for a family of 4, RT, non-stop flights school vacation week. I've been checking other airlines and they don't even come close (closest I've found was Air Tran with their current sale, but flights are connecting and price was $1800). Good luck!

 

[lisareniff]

Anyone thought about doing the Airtran flights with the Wendy's coupons? I've been able to get the drink cups at a few Wendy's locations around here, hoping to get enough for 3 RT tixs next year.

I was going to stop at Wendy's (Henrietta) this week when I escaped our village to go shopping and see if they had the cups. I have been trying to cut down on my soda intake but might forget about that for free flights!

Oh and we are going to LK! We got in with a group that got tickets. I would like to go to Peter Pan too but we have been spending too much money.

 

[Lucky4me]

Karen, I'm doing the Wendys cup offer!
I've enlisted the help of every person I know. I told them to not only bring me their cups, but anyone elses they see in the restaurant while they are there. Most of my friends and family are shameless, so I bet I get a lot. I've already got 10 just from asking people to leave their empty cups on the table for me. Rochesterians are a polite bunch and do as asked.
Now hopefully it will be easy to use the tix. I hope the restrictions aren't as bad as some of the other airlines FF miles programs. I'd like to use one ticket in March and another in early December next year.

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Wow, I didn't know about the Wendy's cup offer. I may have to look into that. It would be great to get a free rt ticket. That could cut my price by 1/4 if they didn't too many restrictions on flights.

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Uuugh, I already noticed that Easter (and the days around it) is blacked out. So that rules me out for this trip.

 

[welovedis]

Mouse-yeah unfortunately the black-out dates will be around the major holidays and break times of the year, bummer for you. Are those cheap Bflo-Airtran rates still available? Might be a good option still!

BTW--for those who are in/around Rochester & have kids--don't know if you are aware of a great website for kids acitivities: www.kidsoutandabout.com

Someone mentioned being new(er) to the area, it is a nice resource with lots of great children's activities and other things about our area.

HTH!

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Thanks for the link welovedis. I really enjoy hearing from so many Rochestarians and Western/Upstate NYers on this thread. I'm wondering if we should start our own thread on the DIS? What do you think? I don't want to step on your toes at all because I know you have a forum set up on yahoo too. Would anyone be interested in seeing a Rochester or Western/Upstate NY thread on the DIS? Maybe we could put it in the family section or something. We could talk about transportation issues, Disney things going on in Rochester (like the Lion King), etc.

Any thoughts?

 

[welovedis]

Not stepping on my toes at all! I'm just a member of that group, not the owner.

We could probably keep a running thread on the Community Board, maybe? I don't visit there often as this & the Budget / Families boards are where I usually visit.

Anyone have a better suggestion?

 

[welovedis]

In the meantime, there's a really great book fair at MCC this weekend, great for kids of all ages, even teenagers.

We'll be there either before or after our local Disney meet on Saturday....

 

[misslissa]

Add Niagara to the Mix... and I'll be there