Flights

[JCornell]

My point was that if I am only saving $400 on flights out of Toronto versus Buffalo, and I spend $150+ of that on a hotel the night before my departure, that means my savings is now down to $250. Minus gas and tolls from that as well. I wouldn't need to pay for parking at the airport in Buffalo as family or friends could drop us off. I suppose one could drive back after their return flight instead of booking another hotel, but after taking a red eye 10+ hour flight home, about the last thing I'd want to do is drive 90 minutes on the QEW and deal with bridge and border crossing traffic. To me, if I'm spending that kind of money on a trip to Hawaii, a savings of $250 isn't worth all that hassle.

Now, if you have a larger family and the savings is in excess of $500+, then I can understand why someone would want to do that.

Right, you have to make sure to factor in total cost. For us, we're actually closer to Rochester but the Toronto flights are looking to be so much better than ROC or BUF ($250-300 each way vs $450-$500), that we'll likely make the drive.
But that means not booking something too early in the morning etc. since I don't want to make the drive at 3am.
Bridge and borders don't bother me since you can easily check wait times now ahead of time.
The return drive after a long flight is a good point though. We just did a red eye back from LA to Buffalo and then had a 1 hour drive home so I know what you mean.

 

[LookOutBelow]

If you are within driving distance to Toronto-Pearson airport. Small airport. Small lines. Cheap! Not a direct flight, but short layover in Chicago.

 

[pangyal]

If you are within driving distance to Toronto-Pearson airport. Small airport. Small lines. Cheap! Not a direct flight, but short layover in Chicago.

I'm not sure I would call Pearson small...or cheap! Perhaps you are thinking of another airport in the GTA? There are a few smaller airports that handle the overflow, about an hour and a half away.

We live in Toronto and flight costs are really high to Hawaii. We ended up booking for February with a three hour stop in LAX and that was the best we could do.

I'm only posting this next part because I'd hate for anyone to book through Pearson thinking it would be a small, lazy airport and end up missing flights because the lines and everything else are insane:

Pearson Airport is the largest and busiest airport in Canada.[7] In 2015, it handled 41,036,847 passengers and 443,154 aircraft movements.[4] It is the world's 33rd-busiest airport by total passenger traffic, 22nd-busiest airport by international passenger traffic, and 15th-busiest airport by flights. Pearson handles more international passengers than any airport in North America other than John F. Kennedy International Airport.[8]

 

[nkereina]

Agree with pangyal. Are you maybe thinking of the Hamilton airport? We live in Buffalo but Hamilton comes up as an option for us sometimes when researching flights, and that would be smaller and more manageable than the Toronto airport in Mississauga.