nonstop flight or one stop????

[missmun52]

We were originally planning to go to Disney for 2 weeks but the Sat after presidents week has crazy pricing of about 350 one way to go home on a nonstop flight.

I looked and delta has some deals for about 130 per person for a one stop flight stopping in Atlanta or we could fly home two days earlier and do a direct flight for the same price.

We are 2 adults, and one 7 year old

What would you do? We have never done a layover.

 

[1tufgt]

It really depends on how much you want to pay and also how long you want to travel. You will notice that with layovers sometimes your travel times can double. It's all what your comfortable with.

 

[DebbieB]

We were originally planning to go to Disney for 2 weeks but the Sat after presidents week has crazy pricing of about 350 one way to go home on a nonstop flight.

I looked and delta has some deals for about 130 per person for a one stop flight stopping in Atlanta or we could fly home two days earlier and do a direct flight for the same price.

We are 2 adults, and one 7 year old

What would you do? We have never done a layover.

What city are you from? How long of a layover?

 

[MikeSF]

Most airlines are going to give you cheaper tickets with 1 stop, however its worth noting that airline taxes & fees apply to each stop you make, although it still usually is worth it, as long as the stop isn't somewhere out of the way! And for your situation 350 vs 130 should be a no brainer, that's 220 difference per person!

For me West Coast to East coast, I actually prefer a stop/plane change because then I get out of a plane, get to walk around, do my business, decompress, then another 2-3 hours and its over, I dislike long flights a lot. Although Atlanta is hardly a break, but it is Delta's hub.


I say do it, if anything use the justification of that money being added to the piggy bank for the next trip!

 

[missmun52]

from ny with a 1hr 40 min lay over. Adds about 3 hours to overall flight time

 

[Brer Chump]

You asked what what I do.

Layover in ATL without a doubt. The $660 in savings would pay for most of the two extra days.

 

[DebbieB]

from ny with a 1hr 40 min lay over. Adds about 3 hours to overall flight time

I would take it and stay 2 extra days. I do layovers in Atlanta frequently and it's not a big deal, 1 hour 40 minutes is plenty of time.

 

[Alesia]

Honestly, a 1 stop flight isn't a big deal. I would take it without thinking twice.

 

[MikeSF]

Also have you already paid for the rooms you're staying at?

I might opt for leaving 2 days early if the flights are comparable and the place you're staying is expensive. The price of tickets is nothing for 2 days, and 12 days should be more than enough time for Disney, but if you're shelling out $500/night to stay there, that's a huge hunk of change to come home 2 days early, even if you're only paying $40/night, that's still $80. However, you know your own schedule, how much you enjoy it, or if those extra days are in fact worth the added expense. IMO this isn't a travel question with flights, but more is the extra days going to be worth it.

For me, 12 days would be too much even for Disney, but everyone is different

 

[LadyBeBop]

Since your layover is Atlanta, you should be OK.

However, if it was much farther north, I may say go with the non-stop. Your layover might run into bad winter weather.

 

[bumbershoot]

For that amount of money, I'd do the layover. It's a decent amount of time (not too short, not too long) and saves a lot of money.

 

[Detailor]

A $220/person savings would get my attention.

Even though non-stops are a lot more convenient and you only have to deal with the possibility for delays once, that's a lot of money and I'd take the one-stop flight every time for the savings.

Since this will be the first time that you're making a lay-over, I'd suggest that you go to the layover airport's website and look at the layout so you'll know where gates, restaurants and shops are located. Concourse (gate areas) maps for Atlanta are at http://www.atlanta-airport.com/Passenger/terminal/.

And, as long as your connecting flight is on time, you won't really be sitting around for an hour and forty minutes - there's deplaning time from the first flight and Delta will start boarding around thirty minutes before the flight time of the second flight. Plan to have something for your 7-year old to do and you'll be surprised how fast the lay-over time goes.

Dick Taylor

 

[robinb]

I live in a small city without non-stop flights to places other than airline hubs. It's not really a big deal to change planes. Your savings (between the $600 in airline tickets and 2 days of hotel/food) is probably about $1000. The difference between 12 days and 14 days is not huge either as you are sure to get to see everything you want in that time. I would come home earlier and save the money.

 

[Alesia]

I live in a small city without non-stop flights to places other than airline hubs. It's not really a big deal to change planes. Your savings (between the $600 in airline tickets and 2 days of hotel/food) is probably about $1000. The difference between 12 days and 14 days is not huge either as you are sure to get to see everything you want in that time. I would come home earlier and save the money.

The direct flight is the one that would require them to come home 2 days earlier.

 

[Mickeyluver37]

We have never flown anything but Southwest direct flights for all of our Disney trips.

This year, we are going down on Southwest for Thanksgiving week, and all flights are $160+ coming back any time around the weekend, unless we wait all the way until Wednesday, when they drop to the $65 with the fare sale. Unfortunately, we can't wait that long to come back. I was able to get return flights on Delta for $84 pp, so literally half the price. The layover in Atlanta isn't very long. I don't mind switching planes, but I'm more concerned about figuring out how much we can actually carry on vs. check since Delta charges.

Since there are 5 of us, this is a savings of approximately $400, so it's worth it this time.

 

[Cherinva]

A layover in Atlanta is not bad, just be sure to check out where the connecting gate is. The one time we had a layover there, the connecting gate was on the other side of the airport, and it took us almost 30 minutes to get there. There are plenty of signs to help you get where you need to go. I personally don't like layovers (and fly nothing but Southwest now for a non-stop), but if it saves you money it's worth it.