Flying from Rochester or Albany

[grd]

We live in the ottawa area and are considering flying from Rochester, Albany or Maybe Toronto.

We can get a flight from Southwest or Airtran for rabout $700 for the 3 of us or from Westjet in Toronto for $876.

Any advice on flying for Rochester or Albany. How much is parking? were should we stay if we need to stay overnight, etc...

I think Rochester is closer but I am not sure.

Thank,

 

[MouseGirl]

Hi there,

We live just outside Ottawa and have flown out of Syracuse on a number of occasions. It's actually closer than both Rochester and Albany - if you can get a better price from one of those two cities I would say go for it though. Rochester is about 4 1/2 hours from Ottawa, and Albany is about 5 1/2.

Syracuse takes us about 3 hours. There are decent hotels close to the airport if you have a very early morning flight, cheap parking if you're leaving your car on airport property and not leaving it at a hotel while you're on your trip, and we have consistently been able to get very reasonable fares from Syracuse. Our family of four paid $876.00 last year, if I recall correctly, flying JetBlue. Lots of other airlines fly from there as well and it's a small, easy airport to navigate (reminds me of Ottawa International Airport before the renovations).

Best of luck with your trip planning,
MouseGirl

 

[Eng-girl]

We live south of Ottawa and flew out of Rochester in November. It was a great airport, new, clean and empty. We stayed at the Quality Inn Rochester which is close to the airport and convenient to the highway. The rate was great ($88.23 including taxes) and included a very good continental breakfast (cereal, toast, fruit, waffles, yoghurt and more). The shuttle to the airport was free and operated 24 hours a day. The long term parking of my car was free (10 days). They picked me up from the airport in about 10-15 minutes and had my car parked out in front of the hotel and warmed up for me.

Rochester and Air Tran worked better for us than Syracuse and JetBlue due to the dates that we wanted to travel.

 

[SandraC]

My sister lives in Cornwall and flew JetBlue from Syracuse. They had a great trip! S

 

[imtheonlyone]

We always fly out of syracuse to florida, it saves 100 dollars worth of transborder taxes right up front. There is some competition on the routes so you can get a good deal from about five different airlines although jet blue tends to be the lowest overall.

we got a february airfare this time on united, which gives air canada points as well, for 179 taxes in each. I-81 is a good highway except for snowsqualls that come off the lake between Pulaski and Central Square, so you need to check forecasts around the time you leave. i always book a hotel in syracuse for the night before just in case.

 

[grd]

JetBlue out of Syracuse is about $1000. This is about $200 more that other airlines out of Syracuse. This is the only direct flight so it still may be worth it.

Or we can save $300 by going to Rochester.

 

[FayeW]

What are your travel dates? JetBlue has seat sales all the time, unless you are planning to travel over March Break or Easter. My experience with JetBlue is that they almost always reduce their fares about 7-8 weeks out. They will give you a credit for future travel if you book at a higher price and then call them when their is a sale.

We are in Ottawa also, and always fly JetBlue from Syracuse. I am frugal, but I think travelling to Rochester would be too much even for me (and I am willing to be inconvenienced to save a buck!)

 

[grd]

We are traveling on Feb 28. That is about 5 weeks away so we may have missed the seat sale.

 

[the2princessesmom]

Hi
Last year we took Jetblue from Syracuse and paid $69.00 on way plus taxes (this was in Feb). We live just south of Ottawa.

Looking for flights this year we are going back in December and hoping to get a great deal again.

Good Luck