How far do you drive to catch your flights?

[Lizard Valley]

I am also in Montreal, and was looking at these options just this morning. YUL-Mco is upwards of 560$ whether on Air Canada (direct) or on Delta (with a US connection). Alb-Mco on SW is still ridiculously high (422$) considering we'd have to drive 3.5 hrs and pay for parking. Another 40 mins drive and we could leave from Manchester NH and get the round trip for 317$. Plus parking, plus stress if a snow storm comes through.

Is it worth it? Not sure...it's what I'm trying to decide right now. In the past I've been able to get something out of YUL for under 400$. It just hasn't happened this year, and I've been checking since April! I just might cancel the trip this year. fP+ is making Disney this year even less attractive

Just a quick update: I was able to find airfare from YUL (consistently for the past 2 weeks; something comes up every day) on Air Canada. I finally booked YUL MCO via Pearson/Ottawa Thurs Feb 27 - Mon March 10 for $365 R/T. This is a very good price for Montreal at March break, and the times are good (arrive in MCO at 8pm on 27th; depart MCO at noonish on the 10th. I have never gotten under 400$ before. Last year I was thrilled to get $400 by buying 2 one way tickets (one on Air Canada and the other on Delta), and that came up in August for March travel, and never got any lower.

Otherwise, the cheapest flight I could have gotten was through Manchester for about $330US each, including the early boarding fees. I just wasn't comfortable driving 5 hours in snow storm season. And it was definitely not worth it to save 35$ pp (less when you consider the exchange rate today).

I think I just got lucky. The decision would have been different if I were travelling in August (no snow!).

 

[badiggio]

When you say direct, are you meaning non-stop?

For our dates, we couldn't find any non-stop flights from Ottawa to Orlando . All of them had a layover.....with both WestJet and Air Canada. And even those flights with stops were more expensive than JetBlue from Syracuse, plus there would be (at least in some cases) seat selection fees, baggage charges, and food costs to add in. Those layovers made the air travel portion a lot longer than the journey from SYR, so for us, it would be worth the drive vs. the time spent at an airport.

yes it was non stop.I find the best prices are within 3 to 4 months;mind you I start checking from the moment I decide we're going somewhere.As far as not finding any available,usually it's because it's sold out,OR your search may look for 3 when there may only be 2 available.I personally fly United from Ottawa to either washingtonor Newark,with a 1 hour layover,and am in Orlando by 11 am.

 

[badiggio]

what airline did she go with? that's a decent price but I havn't been able to find it any where in Canada.

WestJet.

 

[mulan1123]

My daughter flew direct from Ottawa to Orlando Friday morning at 9:30 .She paid 420 return.With a stop we usually pay 350 or less.No traffic,hours of driving,weather or hotels to deal with and get there with the day ahead of us.

Which airline is this?!?! Is it WestJet? What time of year?!?

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

yes it was non stop.I find the best prices are within 3 to 4 months;mind you I start checking from the moment I decide we're going somewhere.As far as not finding any available,usually it's because it's sold out,OR your search may look for 3 when there may only be 2 available.I personally fly United from Ottawa to either washingtonor Newark,with a 1 hour layover,and am in Orlando by 11 am.

Perhaps they have discontinued the non-stop flights. Our dates aren't until the end of August 2014, so surely they are not sold out already (if so, that's good news for the airlines!!).

We are not particularly good flyers. All three of us tend to feel a little unwell during the journey. So for us, definitely the less time we have on the plane, the better.

 

[badiggio]

Which airline is this?!?! Is it WestJet? What time of year?!?

This past Friday,December 13 2013

 

[badiggio]

Perhaps they have discontinued the non-stop flights. Our dates aren't until the end of August 2014, so surely they are not sold out already (if so, that's good news for the airlines!!).

We are not particularly good flyers. All three of us tend to feel a little unwell during the journey. So for us, definitely the less time we have on the plane, the better.

August is a long way away and too soon to book unless a fantastic deal appears,imo.Lol,I doubt their august flights are sold out too,but I think they fly direct only a couple of times a week and leave late afternoon,from Ottawa ,anyway and return late evening.
I'm just happy I can fly from Ottawa with an American airline ,decent prices,without any additional expenses and NOT have to do either Montreal or Toronto,whenever I want to do the States and that includes Hawaii.

 

[MamaLema]

30 min to Pearson Airport. Yes, I wait 2-3 hours, but at least we enjoy eating breakfast/lunch as a family, relaxed, catching up on what's been going on instead of the stress of driving in questionable and unpredictable winter roads.

I would consider driving 90 min to Buffalo, but haven't found any great fares like you guys talk about

 

[webworm]

Found a good deal again from Pittsburgh for next weekend for family of 5.

 

[Josh Hendy]

We flew once from Philadelphia. Can't remember the price but it was 'way cheaper than anything else within 1 day's driving distance. Broke up the trip with shopping at Carousel Mall in Syracuse, which is always a real highlight for DD's.

I wouldn't book something like that in winter because of the all mountain driving but it worked fine for us in the middle of the summer.

 

[Yahweh]

We drove from Prince Edward Island to Manchester, NH on our last trip. The tickets were 748.00 for the four of us. Left about 6:30 pm the night before and arrived sometime before 5 am in Manchester.

We were hoping the girls would sleep the whole drive, but reality is what reality is. They probably got about 4 hours sleeps or so.

Usually we leave from Halifax which is a 3 1/2 drive anyways. To get there we have to leave in the middle of the night, always. So driving all night wasn't a big difference between driving half the night. Also saved almost 1500 dollars.

 

[yayasue]

Just a quick update: I was able to find airfare from YUL (consistently for the past 2 weeks; something comes up every day) on Air Canada. I finally booked YUL MCO via Pearson/Ottawa Thurs Feb 27 - Mon March 10 for $365 R/T. This is a very good price for Montreal at March break, and the times are good (arrive in MCO at 8pm on 27th; depart MCO at noonish on the 10th. I have never gotten under 400$ before. Last year I was thrilled to get $400 by buying 2 one way tickets (one on Air Canada and the other on Delta), and that came up in August for March travel, and never got any lower.

Otherwise, the cheapest flight I could have gotten was through Manchester for about $330US each, including the early boarding fees. I just wasn't comfortable driving 5 hours in snow storm season. And it was definitely not worth it to save 35$ pp (less when you consider the exchange rate today).

I think I just got lucky. The decision would have been different if I were travelling in August (no snow!).

Wow lucky! We purchased from Boston. I could not find a better deal and I did not want to wait any longer. We will be doing the 5hr drive. It doesn't really bother us. Would of loved from YUL but that will be for another time. See ya on the cruise

 

[caisland]

We drove from Prince Edward Island to Manchester, NH on our last trip. The tickets were 748.00 for the four of us. Left about 6:30 pm the night before and arrived sometime before 5 am in Manchester.

We were hoping the girls would sleep the whole drive, but reality is what reality is. They probably got about 4 hours sleeps or so.

Usually we leave from Halifax which is a 3 1/2 drive anyways. To get there we have to leave in the middle of the night, always. So driving all night wasn't a big difference between driving half the night. Also saved almost 1500 dollars.

Enjoyed your video!

 

[DisneyFreak06]

We drove from Prince Edward Island to Manchester, NH on our last trip. The tickets were 748.00 for the four of us. Left about 6:30 pm the night before and arrived sometime before 5 am in Manchester.

We were hoping the girls would sleep the whole drive, but reality is what reality is. They probably got about 4 hours sleeps or so.

Usually we leave from Halifax which is a 3 1/2 drive anyways. To get there we have to leave in the middle of the night, always. So driving all night wasn't a big difference between driving half the night. Also saved almost 1500 dollars.

I like to drive to the Charlottetown airport (about 5 minutes!) But I have flown twice out of Halifax, as well 3.5 hours. Not sure what will happen on my next trip as I'm possibly travelling with my sister, her hubby and daughter. It's different when it is just me as it must be a MAJOR discount to make it worth it for one person. But right now the flights are terrible, so it might happen.

I think someday I would like to drive down in the winter, to drive from winter weather to palm trees, taking many pictures along the way!

 

[Yahweh]

Enjoyed your video!

Thanks!

 

[DisneyFreak06]

Thanks!

Oh I love that video too! Your little girl brought tears to my eyes!

 

[Kazzy1548]

We went ahead and booked our flight for next August 4 tickets 1100.00.
We are leaving from Burlington.

 

[DisneyFreak06]

We went ahead and booked our flight for next August 4 tickets 1100.00.
We are leaving from Burlington.

oooh! Good price! I'd have to drive 12 hours to get to Burlington though... Google maps driving anyways.

 

[pooksma]

6 hours to Portland ME. The price difference is too good to pass up.

 

[ReluctantDisaholic]

We drove close to 11 hours once to fly out of Buffalo (flights were something like $69 per person, saved us a couple of thousand).

I much prefer flying from home - costs more but if we look we can usually get some kind of deal...not as good as flying from Buffalo, but less driving time (now that we only have a certain number of days I can take off work, the extra driving time doesn't work so well).