Flying Out of Buffalo - some ??

[KerriMc]

Hello

I have been quite adament in the past that I was not interested in flying out of Buffalo. Mostly due to the fact we travel in March, and I am a "weather worry wart". I worry about getting to Buffalo if we have a bad storm (we are a 3.5 hr drive from there and live in the snowbelt). I then worry about getting home AFTER the holiday and not making it to work the next day (I teach).

BUT!!!! ... West Jet flights were released and I hummed and hawed as our school calendar wasn't out yet. Well my humming and hawing has resulted in the WJ flights jumping over $200 for the flight down and over $100 for the flight back!! That would mean we would pay $437 going down and $315 heading back (grand total of $752 PLUS taxes, etc) ... so a REALLY big amount for six of us to fly!!! WTH??? (This past year we paid $1600 for four of us to fly ... my parents paid $800 ... all with WJ - and we love them )

ANYWAYS ... after talking with friends who flew out of Buffalo in May (with Air Tran) and raved about it, we are now considering it as we just can't afford to do the WJ thing ... I am going to be brave and take my chances to get to Buffalo !!!!

So a few questions ...

1. When do they release dates for March?? I am a pre-planner and this is stressing me out having to wait!!! I don't want to book our location (Windsor Hills), until I have a flight. I am afraid I won't get what I want if I sit on it for too long)

2. Do you usually book on-line or by telephone or through a travel agent?

3. How do I get travel insurance to cover our flight? Usually we book a package through our TA to cover flight, medical, etc.

4. I am assuming that direct is best?? I don't think I want to stop.

5. Which airline do you usually use? SW, Air Tran, United, Jet Blue???

6. ANYTHING else you can tell me would be great

Thanks for your help ... I may just become a convert!!!

Kerri

 

[siobhan1997]

Coming from the Ottawa Valley area, we always do the 4 1/2 trek to Syracuse every March break. I like you hate winter driving, but we used to drive, so now I only have to worry about some lake effect snow as opposed to possible treacherous conditions through out the New York state and Poconos areas. We have been flying with Jetblue for 4 years now, and only last year that started a non stop syracuse to orlando. Weather has been not so bad so of course we have never had delays. I have never booked with anyone except Jetblue directly online. I have a Mosaik M/C and carry their travel and health protection and actually had to use it 2 years ago when Transmeridian in the US went belly up. Got my cheque about 4 weeks after I filed my claim. As far as flight date release, I expect somewhere in middle of July or early August for my dates in March to be released. I especially like the fact that we do the customs clearance by vehicle when we cross. We always have passports have done for the past 10 years, but because we also travel to the UK. We leave our vehicle with one of the Syracuse hotels, and take the shuttle bus to the airport.

Hope this helps.

 

[polyhm83]

We are flying out of Buffalo in September. We paid 424.00 for two people including insurance and all taxes. I booked online and it was very easy. We are flying non-stop on the way home but the flight there was too early so we are making one stop. Good luck with your plans.

 

[connorsmom911]

We've always had really good luck out of Buffalo, flown that way for the last 5 years. Always booked with Southwest online, but they don't release their flights that early, only a few months in advance, but I've never had a problem booking our accomodations way ahead and then booking the flights when the dates are released. With SW I downloaded DING and I faithfully watch it everyday for specials. There is no charge to cancel and rebook at a cheaper rate, and you get this wonderful credit burning a hole in your pocket for the next trip!! (Be sure to book each way seperately, that way if they drop the prices one way you can just cancel/rebook that portion). I've saved a ton of money this way, and the credits are not in any particular name, so I've swapped with friends and family who are travelling before us if we can't use the credit within the year. I've never bought travel insurance for the flight, because if something happened, we would still have the credit, but I've heard RBC or CAA have good insurance rates. Direct flights are best, hence why we've always flown SW. Jet Blue is good (my sister and dh have flown them to NY) but they don't have non-stop to MCO. I've heard AirTran has really good reviews too, but since we've been so happy with SW, we're sticking with them. SW doesn't have pre-assigned seating though, and that rubs some people the wrong way, but we've always checked-in online 24 hrs ahead and gotten "A" boarding passes (or had kids 4 and under for pre-boarding) and always have sat together, every flight.

If you are really paranoid about the weather, you can always book a hotel near the airport and drive down the day before, do some shopping at Galleria Mall, have a nice dinner and a good nights sleep before your flight. We've done this a few times, especially when flying out early am flights. You never know what will be happening at the border, weather, etc. Good hotels we have stayed at...Sleep Inn right next to the airport (lots of airline employees stay there...awesome make your own waffles at breakfast!!), Hampton Inn by the Galleria Mall (a bit more expensive but we get HHonours points and the pool is nice), and the Days Inn gets good reviews.

Buffalo airport is nice and tiny compared to Toronto. It seems so much less hectic to fly out of there, even with weather and the drive. We are in Kitchener, so it takes us the better part of 2 hours or so to get to Buffalo. But when I compare driving right into the airport, parking in the lot and getting a free shuttle right to the terminal with fighting Toronto traffic to the massive and confusing Pearson, lugging my luggage for what seems like miles and walking a million miles to the gate, going through customs etc. I'll take Buffalo anyday!!! You'd be hard pressed to get me to ever fly out of Pearson again!!!

Good luck with all your plans!

 

[bababear_50]

Hi Kerri
Mel here
Well I just went and did the opposite--I found a good flight from Toronto to Orlando March 08--now I'm stressing about not having a place to stay,,lol.I'm the have to have this all planned out type.Special needs facilitator ,Mississauga school.I know how the school board frowns on abs the day after Mar break.
I've traveled often in the March break (CAD) from Buf to MFE (MCAllen airport in Texas, only once a few years ago were the roads bad.
I've usually booked most of my flights via travelocity or expedia,,I will be looking into CAA in the future ,,I'm a little worried that another thread had alot of bad things to say about itravel2000 --because that's who I booked my
Mar 08 trip with ,,,but I'm an optimistic kinda gal so here's hoping you get the perfect flight and I find a place to stay
Hugs Mel

 

[canron]

we do it 3 to 4 times a year..just got back on thursday last week..im in kitchener ..we leave at 3 am never any troublle,,only 2 times we stsyed over night in the winter,,just to be closser to the airport in case of snow..never missed a flight or left airport late with southwest..just give enough time to be safe..7 years and no trouble ever,,just booked for sept 10 t0 17 with southwest again,,1 more flight i get a free one,,,

 

[Drivercan]

We were going to book a Southwest flight for our past trip but I was outnumbered and we drove to Orlando instead. The flight was going to be $650 TOTAL return for the 4 of us (I know, cheaper than driving but what was I to do?). If you go to a CAA office within 48 hours and show your receipt, you can purchase Trip cancellation insurance - for the cost of this flight, insurance was only $160 total ($40 per person). I assume you can purchase medical too but we had a plan for that through work. Call the office nearest you first to get a price based on your ticket price.

I agree that going through customs in your car is easier (there and back) than in the airport. I like smaller airports too. Often, hotels near BUF airport offer deals if you stay one night for $100 max, you can park your car there for up to 14 days. They have free shuttles to the airport that will take you to the airport and pick you up on the way back.

 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

Southwest does offer 3 nontstop flights daily from Buffalo to Orlando while AirTran only has 1 daily nonstop. All other airlines require connections somewhere.

BobK/Orlando

 

[michelle1]

We always book SW because there are no fees to change or cancel and they have non-stop flights. AirTran are known for changing their flight times...the one time we booked with them they switched our non stop flight to have a stop..we ended up cancelling and flying SW. We usually always spend the night in Buff and take the early flight so we don't have the worries of getting stuck at the border etc.

 

[trivial]

A 3.5 hour drive sucks, but other than that, I heartily recommend flying out of Buffalo. I book online (it's very straight-forward), and I use President's Choice Financial to insure my entire trip (you can get a quote or buy it online at pcfinancial.ca). We flew with Southwest on the way down and JetBlue on the way up... they were both great, but I loved the in-flight personal TV with JetBlue. JetBlue does not offer direct flights, however (but the TV makes up for it, for us anyway). We paid the same price with each airline; a total of just over US$300 roundtrip for 2 (we booked last-minute due to the low travel season and airfare discounts).

 

[KerriMc]

Thanks for all the info!!!

I have signed up for DING and I will be checking often to see when flights start getting released. Everyone in our group is willing to try Buffalo, so I am praying for good weather (already!!).

Kerri

 

[wdwmike59]

We are flying out of Buffalo this August for the first time after driving down the last 5 trips. With the cost of gas going up in the U.S., we looked at flying down with SW from Buffalo and got a great rate of $630 for four of us! Hope everything goes as well as everyone says it does.

 

[snowangel72]

We fly out of Buffalo all the time and save a fortune. We are going to Dis on July 4. Our one way tickets were $34 out of Buffalo LMAO. Each return ticket came to $86 return. You can't beat that!!!!!
Melanie

Edited to say this deal ends TODAY if anyone is interested.

 

[ont/ohana]

Always fly from Buffalo, same distance to Toronto, but just can't beat the prices. Always book online with no issues. Have flown SW, Air Tran and US air. Flew SW in March and December no problems. Slight delay in December and late coming in March due to fog but this could happen at any airport. We go two to three times in a year and the savings add up

 

[disneywld2002]

Last year I decided to book a flight flying out of Buffalo instead of Toronto, I flew AirTransat (I went to NYC) it was actually a package deal through expedia.ca and I had no problems whatsoever. We ended up saving quite a bit of money...which I used at the huge Disney Store on 5th Ave. We went during a weekday so traffic was light and it only cost us $40 american to park our car for the week. We picked our flights so that they left in the early afternoon and when we got back it wasn't so late that we didn't want to drive back to Toronto. If you don't mind the drive I highly suggest it.