Nova Scotians Flying From US

[FayeW]

Some friends in NS are planning their first WDW trip, and I wanted to give them some options for flights other than from Halifax. I seem to remember that a few Nova Scotians travel to Maine, and possibly Boston to fly out.

Can anyone give me airline/airport information, as well as estimated driving times?

Thanks!

 

[ducklite]

I can help a little, as I'm planning a reverse trip--from Florida to Boston to Nova Scotia taking the CAT Ferry.

Pretty much every airline services Boston. The biggest piece of advice that I have is to leave a ton of extra time if you're taking the ferry. Our plan is to fly into Boston and drive to Portland to spend the night, then take the ferry to Yarmouth the next morning--it runs at 8:00 am. On the return the ferry departs Yarmouth at 4:00 pm, and again we'll spend the night in Portland before driving to Boston and flying home on a flight leaving sometime between noon and mid afternoon. Flights from Boston to Orlando can usually be found in the $200 or less range. They will probably find lower fares from Boston, and it's only about two hours more of a drive.

The ferry crossing from Yarmouth to Portland is about five hours, plus it can be up to an hour to get off the ferry at the other side. They want you checked in at least an hour prior to departure.

The ferry doesn't run from Yarmouth to Portland every day, only certain days depending on the season, so they'll need to be aware of that when making their travel plans. There are CAA discounts, but it's not inexpensive.

Here's the web site: http://www.catferry.com

Hope that helped.

Anne

 

[FayeW]

Thanks Anne. That is helpful, although once they add the fare for the CAT onto the airline fare, they might as well fly from Halifax. Air Canada had their dates for just under $2K, but Westjet is almost $2800. The flight times for both carriers suck as they wouldn't arrive at MCO unitl nearly 11:00pm on arrival night, and departure is at 07:45 AM. They basically lose two days of their holiday. Maybe they should look at some US carriers out of Halifax.

Have a great trip. Nova Scotia is beautiful!

 

[sympatico]

I don't know when they're traveling but we're going on Nov 1st from Halifax on United at 9:45am via Washington and arrive in Orlando at 2:57pm. On the return trip we're flying AC at 12:40pm (noon) via Montreal and arrive in Halifax at 7:40 pm. My husband is leaving a few days earlier from Orlando and taking United back leaving Orlando at 9am via Washington and arriving in Halifax at around 3pm. I used Avion points for most of those going but paid for a couple of tickets and they were about $630 total each return. The connections with West Jet or AC arriving in Halifax late is a bummer.

 

[tinkershae]

When are they flying? We are going from Feb 9-17 and are flying delta for 474.00 each. We arrive in Orlando at 11:12am.

 

[FayeW]

When are they flying? We are going from Feb 9-17 and are flying delta for 474.00 each. We arrive in Orlando at 11:12am.

Most likely dates are Nov 10-Nov 17th.

Thanks for the info on the other carriers. I will check out Delta and United.

 

[webworm]

The other alternative is to drive to Bangor and fly with www.allegiantair.com for $89.00 one way.

 

[sympatico]

I checked those dates with Alegiant Air:
Sat, Nov 10 Depart: 12:00 pm BANGOR (BGR) Flight 760 Nonstop
Arrive: 3:20 pm ORLANDO/SANFORD (SFB)
Sat, Nov 17 Depart: 8:15 am ORLANDO/SANFORD (SFB) Flight 759 Nonstop
Arrive: 11:25 am BANGOR (BGR)
2 Price Information
Trip Price = $318.00
Taxes & Fees = $16.80

Your Package Price = $334.80
There were better prices for mid week travel.
Allegiant only flies into Sanford Airport (north of Orlando) not Orlando. I don't know if that makes any difference to them or not.

 

[Applemomma]

We're making the ten hour drive from the Annapolis Valley to Portland to take a non stop Air Tran flight for almost $2000 less then flying out of Halifax ($247 each INCLUDING taxes, early seat asignment fees, AND trip insurance). It's a no brainer for us.......plus you don't need passports yet for a land crossing which helped us since we don't have then yet.

 

[FayeW]

We're making the ten hour drive from the Annapolis Valley to Portland to take a non stop Air Tran flight for almost $2000 less then flying out of Halifax ($247 each INCLUDING taxes, early seat asignment fees, AND trip insurance). It's a no brainer for us.......plus you don't need passports yet for a land crossing which helped us since we don't have then yet.

I don't know if they have passports or not, so this was definitely one of the reasons I was suggesting flying from the States. I don't know how they are for time ...time may be a bigger consideration than money so I am don't know if they can or are willing to drive to Portland.

 

[canmom3]

My family of 5 is driving overnight from Halifax to Bangor(a 7hr trip)in early October. We board at 10am and arrive in Orlando at 1:45. Our total airfare(including all taxes and fees) was $1520. It's just about half the cost of flying out of Halifax. It's well worth the drive.

 

[FayeW]

I priced out their dates on Air Tran, and it came to just under $1200. They can fly from Halifax on Continental for $2007. Now, a 10 hour drive would mean two tanks of gas each way, and at least 1 night in a hotel, and I would wager $50-$100 in food (on the trip down they could pack a cooler but wouldn't have that option coming back from Orlando. Plus there is the issue of meat/fruit crossing the border)

I would think that those costs would add $300-$350 at least to their cost so they might see a savings of $500, but probably less. I know that I would not be willing to drive 20 hours total to save $400-$500. I am willing to be inconvenienced to save a buck, but my time is worth something, too.

 

[DisneyFreak06]

I'm getting a kick out of this because I usually drive to Halifax and fly from there to save money! I was able to fly out for just around $500 the last two years during our March Break, when it was about $1200 from PEI. I guess it's all perspective, isn't it?

 

[sympatico]

It is a matter of what is of more importance to you. There's 11 of us traveling together, including two 2yr olds and two 4yr olds and a drive to Maine just "ain't gonna cut it" .
We're trying to figure out the best schedule for having the least amount of snarling kids. Leaving at 9:45am and arriving at 3pm seemed to be the best fit for us.
We would have liked to go on West Jet but there's no way we're getting kids up at 3:30am to make a 6am flight. That's disaster in the making for us. So sometimes you have to bite the bullet and pay the extra.

 

[myramsy]

we are flying out of Halifax in mid septmber for 10 days we have a 6 am westjet flight that gets us to orlando thru toronto by 1:15pm and we have continental leaving orlando at 1:30pm and back to halifax at 9pm all for $474 per person canadian taxes included

 

[Tinkershelly]

Try the US airlines. We are flying Continental through Newark at the end of September. When we booked the price was about $530 Canadian all taxes in. I've seen it for less after I booked, but I'm satisfied with what I have. Continental has the best selection of flights, but I've flown United, Delta and Northwest from Halifax. If you can fly from Halifax directly to a US city then you can use the US customs preclearance service. This means not having to pick up your checked bags haflway through your trip to clear customs and then go through security again.

 

[coastgirl]

We flew from Manchester NH last Jan/Feb. It's about 3 hrs beyond Bangor, but Southwest flies from there, why we were looking at it in the first place. We ended up flying Continental b/c we could book further ahead, assigned seating, for not much more than a ding! We're looking again and Continental again has great rates, though we're also looking at SW. Manchester airport was great, it's small but has all teh facilities you'd want, clean, we were on time... The drive was great too, we had clear, dry road all the way. Of course you're taking your chances travelling in the winter, but we'd do it again in a heartbeat. (We drove from New Glasgow last year but have since moved to Halifax--virtually the same distance.) Got a good rate on a park and fly at one of the Holiday Inns in Manchester, also a nice, clean, convenient hotel.

Oh, we did look at Bangor, but Matt Molloy of the Cheiftains owns a pub in Manchester, and we're determined to check it out on the way through--if it's anything like his pub in Westport Ireland, it'll be more than worth the detour!

 

[FayeW]

We flew from Manchester NH last Jan/Feb. It's about 3 hrs beyond Bangor, but Southwest flies from there, why we were looking at it in the first place. We ended up flying Continental b/c we could book further ahead, assigned seating, for not much more than a ding! We're looking again and Continental again has great rates, though we're also looking at SW. Manchester airport was great, it's small but has all teh facilities you'd want, clean, we were on time... The drive was great too, we had clear, dry road all the way. Of course you're taking your chances travelling in the winter, but we'd do it again in a heartbeat. (We drove from New Glasgow last year but have since moved to Halifax--virtually the same distance.) Got a good rate on a park and fly at one of the Holiday Inns in Manchester, also a nice, clean, convenient hotel.

Oh, we did look at Bangor, but Matt Molloy of the Cheiftains owns a pub in Manchester, and we're determined to check it out on the way through--if it's anything like his pub in Westport Ireland, it'll be more than worth the detour!

Thanks for the info, I will pass it on. How long was the drive?

 

[coastgirl]

Thanks for the info, I will pass it on. How long was the drive?

About ten hours of driving as I recall, but we stop soooo often with the kids it's always much longer...On the way back we overnighted in Bangor.

 

[kelsue4]

We are driving from NB to Manchester New Hampshire (about 6 hrs). Four of us are flying return for $650.00 total (taxes, exchange, everything). The same dates out of Banger was 629.00 return each. The drive is a little long but worth the savings....leaving in 10 days..woohoo