How is flying out of Buffalo in January

[explorer1977]

So we have a trip all planned for January 2007, well mostley planned, we are still waiting to book our DVC stay and we are going on a 7 day western DCL cruise which we booked on board last year. I have been checking on flights for a while and we would like to try buffalo this time but I'm a little worried about the weather in January. AC has a better flight schedule that fits are plans (fly out late tuesday instead of wednesday morning to get a full day in) but we could possible make the last flight on SW but would have to leave work ealry where as pearson is 5 min away from my wifes office. We would love to save the money so the only real question is how much time do we need to get to buffalo from say the 401/427 and how much is weather a factor in January. If anyone has any experience on this your knowledge would be very much appreciated

 

[talicskai]

So we have a trip all planned for January 2007, well mostley planned, we are still waiting to book our DVC stay and we are going on a 7 day western DCL cruise which we booked on board last year. I have been checking on flights for a while and we would like to try buffalo this time but I'm a little worried about the weather in January. AC has a better flight schedule that fits are plans (fly out late tuesday instead of wednesday morning to get a full day in) but we could possible make the last flight on SW but would have to leave work ealry where as pearson is 5 min away from my wifes office. We would love to save the money so the only real question is how much time do we need to get to buffalo from say the 401/427 and how much is weather a factor in January. If anyone has any experience on this your knowledge would be very much appreciated

I have always flown from Buffalo the last few trips and we also plan to go over the night before so we are not panicked about traffic/weather or border wait times. All 3 times I have not been more than 10 minutes late arriving in Orlando. The amount of time and stress you save by going from BUF over YYZ is worth the drive! Trust me ~ once you go from BUF you will never go back to YYZ!!!
Enjoy ~ hotels near BUF that I have stayed at are Comfort Suites, HI Express, Quality Inn and this Friday I am trying the Sleep Inn. Parking, breakfast and shuttle included.

 

[cdnmickeylover]

We've flown out of Buffalo in both January and February. Weather was not a factor either time and interestingly enough the weather was worse in Toronto than in Buffalo. We live 404/401 and it took us approximately 2 hours door to door.

 

[jmtf2004]

We live right near the Peace Bridge, so it takes us about 15 minutes to get to BUF from our house. In January there can be lots of snow or no snow at all - cannot really make any kind of definite prediction. BUF knows how to clear snow though, so you don't have much to worry about. Unless you have an extremely early flight and don't want to drive the 2 hours at that time, I don't think it's worth staying overnight prior to flying out. BUF is a very small airport with very convenient parking and shuttle service onsite. We have had extremely good luck flying with SWA from BUF, especially taking advantage of the DING fares (flew in May for $49 each way to MCO). SWA, Air Tran and US Air all offer non-stop flights to MCO (although Air Tran and US Air only offer these certain days). Non-stop is definitely the way to go (especially at that time of year) - you won't have to waste time at another airport - you'll spend more of your time at WDW!

 

[MJGirl]

I flew from Buffalo to NYC last January and had no problems. If your flight is in the morning, I recommend staying overnight, as you never know what the weather will bring! My flight left at 10 am and it was a 3 hour drive to Buffalo, not counting potential boarder crossing time. I didn't want to risk it.

 

[explorer1977]

Thanks for the responses, another question, when do January/ begining of Feb (flying home on the 3rd) come out for sale. Hopefully around the end of the summer or sooner cause I would like to have the flights figured out.

Thank you all,

 

[rigs32]

1) Do NOT fly the same day as the cruise leaves. You absolutely need that time cushion, just in case.
2) In fact, we fly out the morning of the day before a cruise. The first flights of the day have the highest likelihood of being able to take off on a poor weather day, as they've got more connections to get through. That way you also have a 24 hour window if necessary to make sure you get to your destination.

 

[explorer1977]

We are actually leaving 5 days before the cruise and are going to fly home the day the cruise ends in the afternoon. We will always go down for some time before the cruise to get to WDW.

 

[maryliz]

We flew out of Buffalo Jan 2005 in the middle of an ice storm ... but boy do they know how to de-ice a plane! We were less than 15 minutes late leaving the gate. We booked our early Jan flights in August ... I think we paid about $79 each way, and of course there were special fares that came out after the fact, but we didn't know about the whole "cancel and replace" thing to get credits. But it was still a great price for 4 of us, so we were fine with it.

Gotta love Buffalo airport! We're from London with a DSis that lives in St. Catharines so Buffalo makes total sense for us.

MaryLiz

 

[explorer1977]

Thanks maryliz. So I guess we should just wait to see what comes out with sw hopefully by the end of the summer. AC will probably lower its rates by then as well or there will be a seat sale or something as a back up. The snow is not a huge concern for me, or driving in bad weather (I snow plow in the winter) and we will always allow enough time to get to the airport by leaving early if it came down to that. It is nice to know that the they can haddle the weather with relative ease, but I guess they have learned with lots of experince.

 

[wee-haggis]

Thanks maryliz. So I guess we should just wait to see what comes out with sw hopefully by the end of the summer. AC will probably lower its rates by then as well or there will be a seat sale or something as a back up. The snow is not a huge concern for me, or driving in bad weather (I snow plow in the winter) and we will always allow enough time to get to the airport by leaving early if it came down to that. It is nice to know that the they can haddle the weather with relative ease, but I guess they have learned with lots of experince.

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for AC to lower their fares