Flying opinions wanted

msmama

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Jan 21, 2009
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My son has just about convinced me on a Disneyland trip this winter (Feb most likely).

I'm coming from NY. So, I could...

1. Drive 20 minutes to my small local, really nice airport, fly to BWI (about a 45 minute flight), change planes and fly to San Diego (have family in SD that we'd see, too, which is why I was flying there and not LAX or elsewhere). I'd fly SW as it's the only option at this airport.

Or

2. DRIVE to the bigger airport (at least an hour but with NYC traffic would leave at least 2 hours drive time) and fly direct to San Diego. I have a greater variety of airlines to choose from with this option.

My son is 5, almost 6 at the time of the trip. He's a good flyer and I'd take the ipad with plenty of loaded movies. At the moment, option 1 is slightly more expensive but they are within $30 of each other.

Anybody see the benefit of one over the other? Thanks!
 
I would choose option one. With a child that age, I would think a small layover would be helpful..stetch the legs, expend some energy before going east coast to west
 
Are you coming from hpn? If so the parking situation there is what has always held me back from using that airport. We are having a similar debate whether to fly out of Hartford or New York for our Disneyland/aulani trip.
 
I loathe connections, especially when traveling with kids. It might be nice for a quick stretch of the legs but I prefer direct flights.
 

I loathe connections, especially when traveling with kids. It might be nice for a quick stretch of the legs but I prefer direct flights.

I definitely prefer direct flights with my 13 month old, but on what sounds like it will be a 6+ hour long travel day, I'd be concerned that 2 hrs in the car followed by a 5+ hr long direct flight cross country would be a lot for a 5-6 y/o without much of a break.

OTOH there's less parental wrangling..only have to get him in the plane once, no worries about making a connecting flight on time...there are definite pros and cons to both options.
 
In February? I wouldn't risk having one of the flights delayed and then missing my connection.
 
Fly non-stop for sure.

Aside from that avoid SW at BWI at all costs. Drive to San Diego before you fly SW via BWI.
 
Aside from that avoid SW at BWI at all costs. Drive to San Diego before you fly SW via BWI.

Curious as to why for this?

We primarily fly SW out of BWI for pretty much everywhere we fly, and we've never had a problem. :confused3
 
My son has just about convinced me on a Disneyland trip this winter (Feb most likely).

I'm coming from NY. So, I could...

1. Drive 20 minutes to my small local, really nice airport, fly to BWI (about a 45 minute flight), change planes and fly to San Diego (have family in SD that we'd see, too, which is why I was flying there and not LAX or elsewhere). I'd fly SW as it's the only option at this airport.

Or

2. DRIVE to the bigger airport (at least an hour but with NYC traffic would leave at least 2 hours drive time) and fly direct to San Diego. I have a greater variety of airlines to choose from with this option.

My son is 5, almost 6 at the time of the trip. He's a good flyer and I'd take the ipad with plenty of loaded movies. At the moment, option 1 is slightly more expensive but they are within $30 of each other.

Anybody see the benefit of one over the other? Thanks!


In February, I would always choose the direct flight. You take a lot more risk of missing a connection because of weather delays with option 1. And on top of that, you have no baggage fee with Southwest.
 
My son has just about convinced me on a Disneyland trip this winter (Feb most likely).

I'm coming from NY. So, I could...

1. Drive 20 minutes to my small local, really nice airport, fly to BWI (about a 45 minute flight), change planes and fly to San Diego (have family in SD that we'd see, too, which is why I was flying there and not LAX or elsewhere). I'd fly SW as it's the only option at this airport.

Or

2. DRIVE to the bigger airport (at least an hour but with NYC traffic would leave at least 2 hours drive time) and fly direct to San Diego. I have a greater variety of airlines to choose from with this option.

My son is 5, almost 6 at the time of the trip. He's a good flyer and I'd take the ipad with plenty of loaded movies. At the moment, option 1 is slightly more expensive but they are within $30 of each other.

Anybody see the benefit of one over the other? Thanks!


In February, I would always choose the direct flight. You take a lot more risk of missing a connection because of weather delays with option 1. And on top of that, you have no baggage fee with Southwest.
 
Lately, I've missed several connections and had my baggage delayed several times because of tight or missed connections (airline's fault or due to weather). It seems like this is happening more and more often. I would absolutely do option #2.

I envy your February trip to sunny southern California! :cool1:
 
This too. So if you choose to connect try to do it somewhere without bad winter weather.

You also don't want your flight messed up by planes coming in FROM places with winter weather. But that means that just about any flight can be messed up.

I walked into seatac once, a full 2 hours pre-flight, to find utter madness because weather on the EAST coast had messed up nearly everything. We were taking flights from SEA down to Anaheim, and 2 of our 3 flights (we were traveling on miles and took what we could get, LOL) were delayed or canceled.


I would take the direct flight. Maybe see about driving in the day before, staying at a hotel near the airport, start your vacation before the vacation! (we do that for flights out quite often)

Since you're starting in San Diego, don't forget the option of being able to go home from an airport closer to Anaheim! There are tons of choices there (though I prefer LAX and SNA), with those two, then Burbank, Ontario, and Long Beach being viable options for flying. The transportation from/to the last three isn't as simple or cheap, but it's worth looking into depending on if you'll have a rental car, etc etc.

And, getting from San Diego to Anaheim, if family isn't driving you up, consider the train. Amtrak's Surfliner is a very pleasant option, though you do need a cab from the Anaheim station (or there's an Octa bus,I hear).
 
My son has just about convinced me on a Disneyland trip this winter (Feb most likely).

I'm coming from NY. So, I could...

1. Drive 20 minutes to my small local, really nice airport, fly to BWI (about a 45 minute flight), change planes and fly to San Diego (have family in SD that we'd see, too, which is why I was flying there and not LAX or elsewhere). I'd fly SW as it's the only option at this airport.

Or

2. DRIVE to the bigger airport (at least an hour but with NYC traffic would leave at least 2 hours drive time) and fly direct to San Diego. I have a greater variety of airlines to choose from with this option.

My son is 5, almost 6 at the time of the trip. He's a good flyer and I'd take the ipad with plenty of loaded movies. At the moment, option 1 is slightly more expensive but they are within $30 of each other.

Anybody see the benefit of one over the other? Thanks!

I prefer direct flights, especially in winter when flight delays due to storms are pretty common. I would choose option 2 with the direct flight.
 
I prefer direct flights, especially in winter when flight delays due to storms are pretty common. I would choose option 2 with the direct flight.

A direct flight is NOT the same thing as a non-stop flight. A direct flight has one or more stops.

OP, I'd take the flight through BWI. If there is a weather delay there, there will likely be one in the NY area, so you would be delayed on either flight.
 





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