Flying Back East

[PinkBudgie]

I'm posting this here because I'm assuming that many people here live on the west coast like me. And I know many of you DLR vets have been to WDW also. On the WDW boards most people are flying in from mid country or north and don't seem to have the same problems I'm running in to.

I'm wondering about flights from San Francisco to Orlando. What is your favorite airline to use for this? I look at Jet Blue and their flights seem to go mainly to Boston, then down. There are no direct flights. Similar for Southwest. Some of those flights and transfers take 10 to 11 hours total! You'd think I was flying half way around the world! I don't want to leave early and get to WDW late. Is taking a red eye the night before a good idea? We'd arrive in FL around 9am. Although our room probably wouldn't be ready and we sure would be tired. Are there airlines you like that fly direct? SFO is so big you'd think there would be more direct flights. Any guidance would be helpful. I haven't flown anywhere this century.

 

[CaptainEIEIO]

Just looking real quick on Expedia I see that US Airways has a non-stop flight from San Francisco to Orlando but thats about it from SF. And that won't get you into Orlando until almost midnight. Now if you want to take the short drive to San Jose they have all kinds of direct flights out of there. But remember getting there early from the West coast is hard because you gain no time zones going East like you do flying West, in fact you loose 3 hours along the way, so when you leave SF at lets say 10am its already 1 pm in Orlando.

 

[Meriweather]

Until we got old We always did a red eye......with the time difference it was fine. We just did things until about 8 pm and then crashed and were on the right time after that.

I did do one in March with DD (adult). She prefers it. No wasted time and giving up a day flying............but it did me in this time (just getting too old and can't sleep on the plane)

 

[lcasa]

I flew back 2x this year but from LA - Southwest was so much cheaper when you added in 2 free checked bags( need the empty one to bring stuff back in that we did take a bit longer flight.

The thing that always annoyed me in the past was that the ticket days assumed you'd get in and could go to the parks after you checked in - not so when flying from CA! (now my in-laws have a condo nearby so no more worry about that - and knowing I'd go 2x I got the Premier pass.)

I did a redeye once and hit the ground running - arrived at 6am and made it to the parks just after opening.

Jet Blue going way north to go south sounds bad to me. Plus I had them cancel a flight on me once and they offered no alternative except to fly to New York and hope I could get a standby - to go to Chicago. So for vacations I want a carrier that has lots of ways to get where I'm going.

 

[PinkBudgie]

Just looking real quick on Expedia I see that US Airways has a non-stop flight from San Francisco to Orlando but thats about it from SF. And that won't get you into Orlando until almost midnight. Now if you want to take the short drive to San Jose they have all kinds of direct flights out of there. But remember getting there early from the West coast is hard because you gain no time zones going East like you do flying West, in fact you loose 3 hours along the way, so when you leave SF at lets say 10am its already 1 pm in Orlando.

Yes, that right there makes it worse to begin with. Add that to the fact that many flights don't leave first thing in the morning.

Until we got old We always did a red eye......with the time difference it was fine. We just did things until about 8 pm and then crashed and were on the right time after that.

I did do one in March with DD (adult). She prefers it. No wasted time and giving up a day flying............but it did me in this time (just getting too old and can't sleep on the plane)

This is what I'm wondering. Not sure if we fall in to the too old category yet- we are in our 40's. Guess we'll know if we give it a try. But I've never been able to sleep on a plane. However, I do know that I would not be able to sleep the night before a trip leaving for the airport early in the morning either. So maybe we may as well be on our way.

I flew back 2x this year but from LA - Southwest was so much cheaper when you added in 2 free checked bags( need the empty one to bring stuff back in that we did take a bit longer flight.

The thing that always annoyed me in the past was that the ticket days assumed you'd get in and could go to the parks after you checked in - not so when flying from CA! (now my in-laws have a condo nearby so no more worry about that - and knowing I'd go 2x I got the Premier pass.)

I did a redeye once and hit the ground running - arrived at 6am and made it to the parks just after opening.

Jet Blue going way north to go south sounds bad to me. Plus I had them cancel a flight on me once and they offered no alternative except to fly to New York and hope I could get a standby - to go to Chicago. So for vacations I want a carrier that has lots of ways to get where I'm going.

Good to know about the possibility of getting stuck somewhere. Going north sounds odd to me too. We have 10 day park hoppers but are staying 13 nights. So we don't plan to go to the parks on arrival or departure days. Thought about getting Premier pass too but it was cheaper to let our DLR APs expire and then just get the tickets for WDW.

Driving to San Jose or Oakland or Sacramento isn't out of the question. I've looked in to them a little while back and didn't see much different, but I didn't look too hard and it was too soon for some airlines anyway. I'll check again.

 

[Meriweather]

This is what I'm wondering. Not sure if we fall in to the too old category yet- we are in our 40's. Guess we'll know if we give it a try. But I've never been able to sleep on a plane. However, I do know that I would not be able to sleep the night before a trip leaving for the airport early in the morning either. So maybe we may as well be on our way.

When we were in our 40's it was fine......and we lived in WA then, so a long flight.
We liked arriving at 7ish and checking in and going to the parks. We would go back to the resort about 4 to unpack, eat dinner and then crash and then were ready to go the next day with no time difference results to effect us.
That was the preference in the old days, not to waste a park day. Now we like taking it slower and having days off. Our kids still prefer to fly red eyes to get the most out of their time.

 

[PinkBudgie]

Well, our first day isn't a park day so if we got there early, we'd have to find something else to do. Definitely considering it though.

 

[Meriweather]

You could go have a nice breakfast somewhere and then go downtown and wander.
Go to a movie or bowling or something like that.....or just sit and watch people.
One time when we arrived at 7, by the time we got to the resort.........I guess about 8 or 8:30, our room was ready! That was a nice surprise.

 

[PinkBudgie]

You could go have a nice breakfast somewhere and then go downtown and wander.
Go to a movie or bowling or something like that.....or just sit and watch people.
One time when we arrived at 7, by the time we got to the resort.........I guess about 8 or 8:30, our room was ready! That was a nice surprise.

Yes, that's a good idea because we are staying at POFQ and DTD is just a boat ride away.