Flying from Alberta??

[CDNTech]

We are going 'home' for the first time in February. I'm starting to think about flights and how to get there.

I've noticed a lot of people saying they fly out of the states... well, we live in *Alberta* and there aren't really any major US airports close to us.

Using Expedia, we can fly out of Spokane for $3400 (9 of us) OR we can fly out of Calgary (home) for $6900. Is the 8 hr drive really worth it? Or what do people in the Calgary area do for deals on flights?

 

[bjensen25]

I live in edmonton but originally from lethbridge area. We are planning a trip to Disney in the late summer early fall and we are driving to greatfalls montana. the drive for us is about 8 hours give or take but the difference in cost is alot like others have said. Flights for 3 of us would cost around $800 dollars per person making it $2400 flying from calgary. We booked flights for the same time from great falls international airport and the cost for 3 is $990 total for a savings of a little over $1400. Now gas to travel that 8 hours is probably $400 so even then we are saving $1000. The drive from calgary to Great falls would be about 5 hours. I would take a look at going from great falls and see what prices are for you there. What are the dates you plan on going?

 

[CDNTech]

We checked Great Falls ($6350 + gas to drive there and back for two vehicles ~ $700 = $7000) and it is about the same as flying from Calgary. That is for flights we'd like... they are the second lowest price. If we went with the cheapest fair it would only save us $600 and we wouldn't get in to AKL until 1am and then we'd have a 7:30am flight out (been there, done that and won't do it again).

Helena is even more expensive. Spokane was the only one that seemed close enough and cheaper.

We're going Jan 31 - Feb 15 (family of 4) and our friends are coming Jan 31 - Feb 8 (family of 5).

Who are you flying with from Great Falls?

 

[calgarygary]

We (family of 6) have flown out of Spokane in the past and financially, it was well worth it. Yes we lost a day but at the time we were going we saved close to $400/person. However, I think if you are going in Jan. you really need to be comfortable with both winter and mountain driving.

 

[albertagirl]

We live in Edmonton and are going "home" in January. We booked 7 tickets for $3500.00 return on United. I called the reservation number and got a better price than what was listed on-line. In January I am not comfortable driving into the US to save money.

 

[nmccrea]

Wow,I really must have gotten a great deal.We live in Edmonton and are going to Disney in Oct.When I bought my tickets in Jan they were only $380. return per person.

 

[CDNTech]

I grew up in SK and all our family is in BC... so we did nothing but mountain driving every Christmas for as long as I can remember. I think I'm more worried about flight delay's/cancellations due to weather than the driving.

Albertagirl... are you flying direct or do you have stopovers?

Are there better days to fly than others?

 

[CrazyDisneyMommy1]

Just keep checking.
2005 we bought our tickets in Jan for late April for $565/pp with NWA from Edmonton

2007 we bought tickets in Nov for late April $495/pp with Delta/United from Edmonton

2007 we bought tickets in Nov for late Dec (30 days out) $520/pp with continental from Calgary

2008 we bought tickets in April for late June $365/pp United from Edmonton

Just keep checking, you have time

 

[vickiea]

I would keep checking local flights, we are flying out of Edmonton on Jan 31st for $360 per person (10 people going), that includes all the taxes, etc. This is through United and I booked about a month ago, it is not a direct flight, one switch over, but I almost prefer that since we have 4 kids that will be 7 and under so a chance to stretch the legs for an hour is nice.

We also went to WDW in Oct 07 and paid $347 per person then.

I would sign up for farewatcher on Travelocity or something like that and let it email you when flights go below a certain price.

The Great Falls idea may be good in summer or fall, but I would hate to be dependent on a drive like that in Jan or Feb - those roads could be nasty.

HTH
Vickie

 

[CDNTech]

We won't be booking until Nov/Dec... unless an amazing deal comes along.

We watched them (AC & WJ) all last year and AC and WJ both had seat sales about 2 months out where it went down to $189 + taxes. That was the best price we saw. I think that made our total around $2400 for all 9 of us... I really want to see that again!

 

[albertagirl]

I grew up in SK and all our family is in BC... so we did nothing but mountain driving every Christmas for as long as I can remember. I think I'm more worried about flight delay's/cancellations due to weather than the driving.

Albertagirl... are you flying direct or do you have stopovers?

Are there better days to fly than others?

We have a stop over in Chicago. I have yet to find a direct flight from Edmonton but if anyone knows where to get one please point me in the right direction. We are planning another trip in October, 2009 with 11 people!!

 

[CDNTech]

WestJet has direct from Calgary if you want to drive the 2.5 hours south... at decent times too... 12:25 arriving 19:14 and coming home 19:55 arriving 23:31.

They're expensive now at $509 plus tax (regular) but we watched them all last year and they have sales all the time for about 2 months out where they were going down to $200 plus tax.

I'm hoping for one of those again come November/December. Especially since they have *good* TV (satellite) for the boys. Fingers crossed!

 

[drag n' fly]

We booked our December flights in February. We are flying Calgary to Denver and Denver to Tampa. We found the prices 50% cheaper to fly into Tampa.

 

[CDNTech]

We booked our December flights in February. We are flying Calgary to Denver and Denver to Tampa. We found the prices 50% cheaper to fly into Tampa.

Thanks! Do you rent a car then or how do you get to Disney?

Off to check more flights...

 

[drag n' fly]

Thanks! Do you rent a car then or how do you get to Disney?

Off to check more flights...

We are renting a minivan for our family of five. We are going to stay in Tampa for four days and do Busch Gardens and some other stuff and then drive up to Disney for 2 days and then we are dropping our rental at Port Canaveral. Tampa is not that far from Disney about the same drive from Calgary to Red Deer.

 

[ronandannette]

Wow,I really must have gotten a great deal.We live in Edmonton and are going to Disney in Oct.When I bought my tickets in Jan they were only $380. return per person.

You got an UNBELIEVABLE deal! It's +/- $750.00 to fly for (Canadian) Thanksgiving week right now.

Annette

 

[CDNTech]

Well... Calgary to Tampa is just as expensive (slightly more) than flying Calgary to Orlando.

Looks like Spokane is still the cheapest by far... I'll keep checking though. WJ and AC always have sales 2 months out, so maybe I can get a cheaper flight from home and not have to drive.

 

[drag n' fly]

WJ will have seat sale. Sign up for Get Set. I actually found our deal through travelocity.ca. It was 2360.00cad return inc tax for flights for the five of us on United.

 

[ktdaiwik]

We got our tickets for beginning of December with one stop over in Denver for $400 return leaving from Edmonton,I cannot believe how quickly the prices can change!We looked at trying to get on an earlier arriving flight and the price jumped by $300 more each.I guess we will stick with the 9 pm arrival.

 

[CDNTech]

Well... I went on AC's website and calculated what a $224 flight would cost (assuming that AC/WJ had a seat sale around this price like last year) and for the 9 of us it came to $6100 including all fees/taxes.

Expedia has sales right now for $5100 for the 9 of us. We went ahead and booked with NWA through Expedia. The flight times are really great compared to the others we found, too and they have us flying out of Calgary. (8am - 5:17pm on the way there and 5:35pm - 11:18pm on the way home).

Now to avoid the temptation to continually check to see if we could have gotten a better deal.