GTA-ers flying out of BUF...

[Pirate Dad]

For all those in the GTA flying out of Buffalo, how many hours before your flight do you leave home?

 

[tone.def]

About 4 hours.

 

[Questforthemouse]

For all those in the GTA flying out of Buffalo, how many hours before your flight do you leave home?

Depends on...

1) Where in the GTA you leave from (east of TO, west of TO, North of TO)
2) Time of day crossing border (early morning...not busy; early afternoon...fairly busy)
3) How far ahead of your flight you like to arrive at the airport (60mins, 90mins, 120 mins etc...)

We live in Burlington (20 mins west of the GTA) and are flying down to WDW this Wednesday at 12:25pm on Southwest. My wife needs to be at the airport 2.5 hours before flight or she gets stressed. 90 minutes is usually more than enough at Buffalo. Nonetheless, "happy wife, happy life" so the saying goes . We will walk through the airport doors by 10am. We will leave home at 8:15am. 45 mins to the border (Queenston/Lewiston), 15 mins to cross border, 45 mins to drive to airport/park/shuttle to airport doors. For our yearly Christmas trips to WDW we stay at the Airport Holiday Inn Express the night before our flight and leave our car there during the trip.

 

[shaycamp21]

Just to be on the safe side we usually stay overnight (park and fly). We go regulary to Buffalo (to shop) on day trips and sometimes the border can be underpredictable (we once waited over 2 1/2 hrs to cross --during what was not supposed to be a busy time). Only one time we did not stay overnight-- we left around 10 am (arrving around noon) for a 6 pm flight-- we hit the outlet malls until around 3:30 ish and headed to the airport.
We missed a return flight once in Orlando and it was NOT fun flying standby spending over 18hrs in the airport over 2 days. Better to be safe than sorry. IMHO

 

[Disney5Mom]

About the same time frame as Quest for the mouse! I like to be there early also and we always have been. I like to allow 4 hours. We are just west of Toronto and I allow one hour to cross the border and one more for anything unexpected. So far we have always had lots of time. Have a great trip.

 

[Hockeychic]

Except for 1 trip we stay over night as we get the first AM flight out in the morning but last year to Tampa we took the 4ish flight and we left Toronto around 11AM but we always have to stop for a meal at the Dennys near the airport....DD's favorite restaurant.

Leave lots of extra time just in case boarder line ups.

Kim

 

[dsneygirl]

With enough time to shop before hand

If it's the 7am flight we usually stay over. Last trip we stayed at my ILs in Port Colborne which is only 30min away. Unless you are at work or something I would leave as early as you can. Have a nice meal or cruise around the mall if you are really early. I would much rather be there early than dashing at the last minute.

Our May flight was held waiting for at least half a dozen passengers who were stuck in a security line up.

 

[Gladguy]

22 days and counting for my family! We're flying out on the 7:55 a.m. flight, so rather than get everyone up at 4 a.m., we're driving in the night before and staying at the Ramada Limited by the airport. For $99, we can get a good night's rest (though we'll all probably be too excited to sleep much!), a "free" "breakfast" and a shuttle ride to the airport. We're leaving our van at the hotel for the duration, and picking it up when we return.

For me, the hundred bucks is well worth the peace of mind of not having to stress out over crossing the border and missing our flight. I've been stuck in some massive unexpected backups at the border: our last Buffalo grocery run we spent nearly 3 hours stuck crossing the bridge at Lewiston!