Help with air travel from B.C.

[crazymama]

Hi everyone! I have a question re: air travel. For those of you who live in B.C., do you usually drive to Seattle for the seemingly better air fares? We live in the Interior so flying from Kelowna is ridiculously expensive! Plus, it seems that with AC and Westjet, you get into Orlando very late. Some of the American airlines get you in a little earlier in the evening. If you do drive down to Seattle, do you have any good airport hotel suggestions that would comfortably accomodate a family of 5? Thanks!!!!!!

 

[calgarygary]

Back in 2002, we drove from Calgary to Spokane and flew out from there. At that time, we saved over $200 per person for our family of six after paying for gas and the hotel in Spokane. Now with Westjet flying, the costs of flying from Calgary have come down dramatically.

 

[tinkerbell6]

Living in Vancouver (well, a 'burb of Vancouver), we've flown out of Seattle each time we've gone to WDW. In 2004, we would have paid $2300 for the 3 of us to fly out of Vancouver...it was only $1300 out of Seattle. Last month, we paid only $1200 from Seattle, and it would have been about $2400 from Vancouver. Those amounts are in Canadian dollars, and were also direct flights that went at decent times of day.

So for us, it's definitely worth saving over $1000 for a 2-hour drive down the road. If the difference was less, we wouldn't bother, but $1000!?! That's lots of souveniers!

We flew with Alaska last month, and thought they were great!

As for hotels for 5, can't help much there as we're only 3! For our last trip we stayed at the Courtyard Marriott (they have park&fly rates) near Southcenter/Westfield mall. We paid $99 US for a 1-night stay, and 10 days parking. The hotel had a nice pool, and was recently renovated.

So, yes, I'd say it's defintely worth it to fly from Seattle!

 

[crazymama]

Thanks! That's a lot of money to save. I think we will do the drive south. Thanks for the Alaska Air tip. I have looked at other airlines but not yet them!

 

[deany]

Our family of 5 has driven from Kamloops to Seattle twice. The first time we saved about $1400 and the second time about $500. We stayed at a hotel that was close to the airport and had a free shuttle both ways. We were also able to leave our car there for up to 14 days if we stayed one night. It worked out cheaper than just paying for parking at the airport plus I felt our car was more secure. I can't remember the name of it - big help here - it started with either a R or a W and had a big R or W on the sign. Our travel agent knew about it so perhaps you can get some ideas from your travel agent also.
In October, I am planning on going back to WDW with my daughter and her boyfriend and we will fly out of Seattle again. I am a little uneasy about driving the Coq by myself though at that time of year.