Flying out of DTW or Chicago

[nkkilala]

What do you normally find is the better deal? Flying out of DTW or Chicago (either ohare or midway). I am looking for the cheepest deal! Please let me know what you normally fly and what it costs! Thank you!

 

[atigeg]

you didn't say when you were flying.

the best fares are Southwest out of Midway, but you have to install the DING! program and watch for them

I've gotten $104, $115 and $126 for round trip per person MDW <==> MCO for flights in June, July, Aug, Sept and Oct.

all were bought when the first DING! was offerred after the date blocks opened.

 

[Brian Noble]

DTW is a northwest hub. Because NWA owns so many gates, they make the market, for the most part. Spirit also competes on those routes, but few other airlines do. Notably, southwest is rarely competitive on DTW-MCO/TPA routes---even ding fares have been well over $100 each way.

I would bet that you'll find better fares out of the chicago airports.

If someone is conisdering DTW, they should also consider TOL and FNT. LAN is rarely a good deal to florida destinations. If ORD/MDW and DTW are both options, perhaps IND would be too---there are often good fares there, as several airlines are trying to fill the void left by ATA.

 

[Tiger926]

We always get good fares out of DTW! For instance, this week if you booked on Tues., Wed., or Thursday, you could have purchased our exact flight (leaves Wed. returns Tuesday) for $186.00. That's pretty darn good for a direct flight on NWA from DTW to MCO!

I know everyone on here swears by SWA and DING!, but we find SWA prices outrageous (as Brian Noble mentioned above) compared to NWA's prices seeing as how Detroit is a major NWA hub.

Good luck, Tiger

 

[carrie_106]

I am also from Portage, and believe it or not, the cheapest fares I found for our December trip was from Kalamazoo, found it on Expedia. Just keep watching, Grand Rapids is cheap sometimes too, we found it for 150 r/t. The parking is much less than Chicago or Detroit, plus the gas savings.

 

[manning]

What would the final cost be after you add in the cost of getting to these points?

 

[Brian Noble]

For me, TOL and FNT are both maybe an extra 20-30 miles farther than DTW, but the parking is cheaper and they are easier to get in/out of, so it's a wash. I'm willing to fly to TPA rather than MCO if I'm saving more than $150 total---I figure that covers the extra hour each way, and rental cars are priced about the same in each place. I'm willing to fly to SFB rather than MCO whenver it is $50 less or lower--it has a slighlty more expensive rental car market, and is a bit farther from WDW than is MCO, but SFB is easier to get into and out of.

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

If one is willing to fly out of Detroit and Chicago, I'd also check the following Michigan airports:
AZO - Kalamazoo
GRR - Grand Rapids
FNT - Flint
LAN - Lansing
MBS - Midland/Bay City/Saginaw
and TOL - Toledo (ok, not a Michigan airport, but pretty close)

I've flown out of DTW, GRR, and FNT, all are reasonably nice facilities.

 

[4formickey]

sign up for the fare sale alert for the airlines that you my be willing to fly on.check back often and just run your dates and travel time. I'm in chicago and I refuse to fly swa. So we are booked on american for $185r/t. This is about the cheapest price that we have found for a direct flight. It all depends on what you are looking for and what you need.