Flying out of Seattle

[bbangel]

Anyone have any experience flying out of Seattle? The price difference is really tempting but is it worth it?
I'm thinking about going in October to take advantage of the PIN code I got, but the flight cost from here is prohibitive. I can save nearly half by flying out of Seattle. I don't have a car so would have to get a ride down.

 

[rolla01]

Yeah, I'm going to do that in March, and save nearly 1/2 in air cost. It'll be a pain to drive down there, park and fly ... etc. But saving more than $1000 and I think it's well worth it.

 

[jakoky]

hi there, i am from vancouver island and in dec 04 we flew to orlando out of seattle...it saved us probably close to 2000 dollars, i actually think it was more like 2500...it cost us 1755 canadian for 5 of us, and it was close to 4500 to fly out of vancouver...it was a no brainer for us, my husband didnt like having to drive the freeway to seattle, but the savings was so worth it...seatac is huge, but we had absolutely no problems flying out or back in.....have fun
sharon

 

[calgarygary]

Back in Nov. of 2002, it was going to cost us over $700 cdn to fly out of Calgary but the flight out of Spokane (9 hr. drive away) was around $225 U.S. Even with the high exchange rate of the time, it was well worth driving down to save almost $400 Cdn each for our 6 flights. This year, with more competition out of Calgary, we have our flights for apx. $330 Cdn. each!

 

[i12go2wdw]

Hi,
We live in North Van and have flown out of Seattle many times, the price difference is amazing and too hard to pass up. It is nice to deal with customs at the border instead of the airport too. One time we took the train to Seattle and just loved it. It took about 4 hours but was very fun and easy, not to mention cheap. I can see no draw backs so I say go for it, have fun,
Christine

 

[c&m]

We flew out to WDW from Seattle in March 2005. It cost us $250 return with Alaska Air. We didn't want to drive our car to SEATAC and leave it in the park 'n fly lot, so we rented a minivan thru Budget (about $50 for the day) and dropped the car off at the Budget at SEATAC. It worked out really well for us, and we saved so much $$$. I think flights from YVR to MCO were 3x the cost.

To answer your question of whether it's worth it...YES!!!

 

[bbangel]

Thanks everyone. I think I'm definately going to go through Seattle. Now I just have to convince myself that it is okay to go back so soon!

 

[rolla01]

We flew out to WDW from Seattle in March 2005. It cost us $250 return with Alaska Air. We didn't want to drive our car to SEATAC and leave it in the park 'n fly lot, so we rented a minivan thru Budget (about $50 for the day) and dropped the car off at the Budget at SEATAC.

I was thinking about this option too but the rental car companies said they need to charge extra for "one-way" rental, like $350 extra for that.

 

[Fellowship9798]

Anyone have any experience flying out of Seattle? The price difference is really tempting but is it worth it?
I'm thinking about going in October to take advantage of the PIN code I got, but the flight cost from here is prohibitive. I can save nearly half by flying out of Seattle. I don't have a car so would have to get a ride down.

Another option that some people look at is flying out of Bellingham, WA. There is a small airport there that has a lot of flights to Seattle, where you can continue on. Sometimes you can get this extra hop added onto a ticket from Seattle at not much extra cost and it makes it more feasible to have friends or family from the Lower Mainland drop you off since it's only about 1/2 hour over the border. This may be an option if you don't have a car.

I did this a few times with my parents many years ago but haven't tried it myself since I've been a "grown up" with my own wife and kids.

 

[c&m]

I was thinking about this option too but the rental car companies said they need to charge extra for "one-way" rental, like $350 extra for that.

rolla01: The rental car company we contacted was the Budget at the airport. Apparently, a lot of people rent 1-way to Seattle to catch flights or hop on cruises. The only complication is returning from Seattle to Vancouver. You have to make sure that a car is available to drive yourself home across the border. There is a limited no. of cars that can cross the border.

 

[barkley]

just a suggestion-try checking out what a ticket from vancouver to seattle runs, then a second ticket from seattle to orlando. when we visited vancouver a couple of years ago from california we found that we saved a tremendous amount by booking this way (given we only did carry on luggage so we could move it ourselves from one flight to the next).

another option is to check out the shuttle service that allot of folks use from seattle to vancouver and back when they are doing cruises that depart in vancouver. these depart from sea-tac and arrive in vancouver.
the other option (if you don't want to drive) is to take amtrak-but you'de have to arrange transportation from the train station to sea-tac.

 

[Rachael Q]

We fly out of Seattle about twice a year.

We get Quick Shuttle down - it goes right to Seatac airport. We get the shuttle back as well.

 

[rolla01]

rolla01: The rental car company we contacted was the Budget at the airport. Apparently, a lot of people rent 1-way to Seattle to catch flights or hop on cruises. The only complication is returning from Seattle to Vancouver. You have to make sure that a car is available to drive yourself home across the border. There is a limited no. of cars that can cross the border.

Thanks c&m, I've checked with Budget, a compact/mid size car don't usually have any add on "one-way fee", only a minivan (that's what we need, we're a party of 6) or SUV has that special fee. I guess park-n-fly is the only way.

Anyone has any experience with park-n-fly in Sea-Tac? Thanks in advance.