Flying SWA from Detroit vs. BUF

[riu girl]

I have been watching SWA and noticed that they fly out of Detroit. Has anyone ever flown out of Detroit to Florida and if so, how was your experience? Are there stopover hotels near the Detroit airport? Approx. how far a drive is it from the Toronto area to Detroit???

Any info. would be greatly appreciated. We will be flying at a peak time (Sat Dec 17, then home Sat Dec 31) and I am just rying to keep my options open.
Thank you
Suzy V.

 

[RoyalCanadian]

From Yonge St. to the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor is 369km. (the exit number on the 401 is the approximate distance from the Ambassador Bridge to your particular point on the highway) Driving through southwest Ontario at that time of year is not always a fun experience. The stretch of 401 between Kitchener/Cambridge area and London is well known for "eating" cars. I remain convinced that the local radio stations have pre-recorded the announcement that the 401 is closed between Highway 8 and Cedar Creek Rd. due to collisions.

IMHO, despite your earnest desire to keep all options open, the best option for Toronto travellers would be to take advantage of the frequent flights out of BUF. The border crossing is simple (an entire page of "Along I-75" is dedicated to figuring out how to get from the Ambassador Bridge to I-75 south instead of heading north to Sault Ste. Marie) and the airport hotels are plentiful and economical. BUF is a dream to use -- just one terminal, easy access, curbside check-in and quick luggage claim upon your return.

 

[Hockeychic]

I have never flown out of Detriot and I guess it depends which airport you are closer to.

However, I have flown out of Buffalo and it is a very easy airport to find, lots of hotels across the street if you plan on spending the night there before.
Also the airport is very small (in comparision) with Toronto, so you won't get lost and there isn't the masses of people. Everything is easy to find.

Also I am not sure about Detriot but Buffalo has direct flights.

 

[MaMudduck]

RUI girl

Since your in my neck-of-the-woods, check out flights out of Syracuse (SP???) NY. It's closer than driving to Detriot for us. You go thru Kingston, Gananaque, Waterdown, to Syracuse...my guess is 4 hrs. via the 5+ to Detroit.

 

[riu girl]

Sorry to bring up such an old thread...

This is the situation:
We are looking at flying to Mexico and it looks like we would have to use Delta out of BUF (the other legacy airlines that fly out of BUF are $$). I am a little worried about their (Deltas) finanical situation. I want to book this air WAY ahead since I am need to book our Mexico lodging way ahead also. Week one in an RCI gold crown resort and weeks two and three in a villa. Since we are going for three weeks I am unable to book a package (air.hotel) sicne they are for one or two weeks. Plus from my research, it looks like booking the air and hotel seperate will work out much cheaper!!!

Looking at flying out of Detroit, we could fly DTW-Cancun with Spirit (much better financials then Delta, non-stops to Cancun, plus cheaper then Delta out of BUF) but am concerned about driving the dangerous stretch of the 401 to get to there.

my ?s
1. Is there another way to get to DTW other then driving the dangerous part of the 401?

Any other thoughts would be greatly appreciated since I have never flown out of DTW and also have never planned a holiday like this . In the past we have always booked a last minute one weeks AI to Mexico (for just me and DH, not the kids) out of YYZ. Can't even consider flights out of YYZ since they are amost twice as much $$ as BUF or DTW.

 

[CharlesTD]

We have flown DTW to MCO but we flew Northwest not Southwest. DTW is easy to get to easy to navigate much larger than the Buffalo airport but also more eating options etc when you arrive 3 hours prior to the flight. Just so you know I don't think SWA has a direct flight from DTW to MCO unlike the direct flights from Buffalo to MCO.

 

[Daddio]

We fly DTW to MCO several times a year using both NWA and Spirit. Both offer great service. I would use Spirit for Mexico with no hesitation.

We always stay at a hotel the night before as even the drive from London to DTW is 2.25 hours and we always fly in the morning.

Any stretch of the 401 can be bad in the winter, however, the stretch between London and Windsor is usually very good unless the weather is really bad, ie: heavy snow or high winds after a snow storm. It is a very busy stretch of highway so usually kept very clean.

There are quite a few hotels around the airport (within 2kms) and most of them can be found by doing a search for Romulus Michigan. Depending on the financial mood we are in, we stay at the Inter Continental for $142.00 US plus tax or the Baymont Inn for $89.00. Both include a week of parking but the Baymont allows the car to stay on site as opposed to a park and fly lot.

If you have other questions ask away.

 

[marylou]

Northwest flies out of Waterloo Region International Airport now to Mexico if you want to check that out