Opinions on driving vs flying.

[sam_gordon]

I did not really take into consideration airport / shuttle time (obviously) into my comparison. You make a good point, that 15 hour drive though is MISERABLE. So that weighs in for me too, but if it was a guarantee against Covid it wouldn't be a question.

Understandable, but it won't be. You'll have to stop for gas, food, and possibly an overnight. Do I think your risk is lower for driving vs flying? Yes. Is the risk difference enough that I would want to make the 15 hour drive (twice) AND lose $1500 in the process? Nope. Mask up, have either hand sanitizer or wipes, and point me to the plane.

 

[leebee]

No way I"d drive. Six people means six "bladder schedules," as well as food stops, gas, driver switch, overnight in hotel rooms. I'd definitely fly. IN the boarding area, stay away from other people. Bring sanitizing wipes for the arm rests, seatbelt buckles, tray tables, etc. on the plane. Skip the water and snacks, so you can keep your masks on all the time. Maybe buy the early bird check in for 4 or all 6 of you, so you can board as close to the beginning as possible. Go all the way to the back of the plane. Pick a row where you can seat all six of you across; 3 on one side of the aisle and 3 on the other. By sitting all the way in the back you won't be being passed by passengers going further to the back of the plane, and won't have to stand "in line" to deplane- you can simply be the last people to get off the plane.

 

[Orion Nebula]

No way I"d drive. Six people means six "bladder schedules," as well as food stops, gas, driver switch, overnight in hotel rooms. I'd definitely fly. IN the boarding area, stay away from other people. Bring sanitizing wipes for the arm rests, seatbelt buckles, tray tables, etc. on the plane. Skip the water and snacks, so you can keep your masks on all the time. Maybe buy the early bird check in for 4 or all 6 of you, so you can board as close to the beginning as possible. Go all the way to the back of the plane. Pick a row where you can seat all six of you across; 3 on one side of the aisle and 3 on the other. By sitting all the way in the back you won't be being passed by passengers going further to the back of the plane, and won't have to stand "in line" to deplane- you can simply be the last people to get off the plane.

We did get the early bird check in for my party so I am hoping everything goes smoothly for us as far as seating. I was thinking that the back might be safer due to the reasons you stated. I am pretty positive we will be flying at this point also as I can't really afford to lose so much money also.

 

[charmed59]

The advantage of driving is you are more in control.

COVID rules are changing as the virus starts mutating and the numbers are going up and up and up. They just changed the flying rules to require a negative test before flying into the country. If this gets worse they may require testing for all flights.

If a member of your party, even without symptoms, tests positive what would your plan be? If you drove you could still drive home. If you flew it becomes more complicated.

 

[sam_gordon]

The advantage of driving is you are more in control.

COVID rules are changing as the virus starts mutating and the numbers are going up and up and up. They just changed the flying rules to require a negative test before flying into the country. If this gets worse they may require testing for all flights.

If a member of your party, even without symptoms, tests positive what would your plan be? If you drove you could still drive home. If you flew it becomes more complicated.

Only slightly more complicated. If that happened to me, I would do the following:
1) Do a one way rental car from Orlando (doesn't have to be MCO) to my home (doesn't have to be my home airport).
2) Either the entire party rides in the car/van or
3) Send as many people as I can via the plane, leaving a couple of people (ideally no more than three) to drive.

That would not concern me enough that I'd be willing to give up $1500 (plus added gas & hotels) if I skipped the flights.

 

[lfracas1]

You need to also factor in the dangers of driving fatigued. We drove 22 hours every year because we couldn’t afford to fly. Had many close calls.

 

[morrik5]

I'm sorry you are going through that with your airline. We booked flights for our daughter and her family for this April and we were taking the rv and meeting them at Fort Wilderness. Because of land border closures and other issues right now we've decided to cancel our 2021 trip. It turns out Delta was only going to give credit to be used by Feb '22 and they can't go until April 2022. West Jet for the flight home had a 2 year credit. After speaking with our travel rep they were able to call Delta who extended their portion for us to Dec '22! Guess next time I book flights I will check their cancellation policies more closely.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

No way I"d drive. Six people means six "bladder schedules," as well as food stops, gas, driver switch, overnight in hotel rooms. I'd definitely fly. IN the boarding area, stay away from other people. Bring sanitizing wipes for the arm rests, seatbelt buckles, tray tables, etc. on the plane. Skip the water and snacks, so you can keep your masks on all the time. Maybe buy the early bird check in for 4 or all 6 of you, so you can board as close to the beginning as possible. Go all the way to the back of the plane. Pick a row where you can seat all six of you across; 3 on one side of the aisle and 3 on the other. By sitting all the way in the back you won't be being passed by passengers going further to the back of the plane, and won't have to stand "in line" to deplane- you can simply be the last people to get off the plane.

On SWA, the bathrooms are in the back of the plane, so you may end up with people standing in the aisle waiting to use the facility. I might put myself about 5 or 6 rows from the back. The other option is to be as close to the front as possible so everyone walks past you just once (to be seated).

 

[nkereina]

I thought Southwest would do changes or give you a refund (in travel vouchers). https://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/purchasing-and-refunds/refund-info-pol.html

They do, but you have to fly (either by changing or obtaining a voucher) within one year of your original booking date in order to use the funds. In light of the pandemic, SWA was extending people's travel funds until September 2022, but it was only for flights that were canceled or changed within a certain period (March something - September something 2020, I don't remember the exact dates). It sounds like the funds created for OP were outside of that. My SIL ran into the same issue - her flight was booked in January 2020 and she canceled the first week of March 2020 as the pandemic was ramping up, but before SWA's extension policy was issued. She'll lose her travel funds now because she won't be traveling by the end of January, her original booking date. But, both my SIL and the OP did have the option to cancel their flights prior to September and receive an extension to 2022 OR convert the funds to points which never expire. The points option ended 12/31/20.

OP, flying is always preferable to me both because it allows you more time and you're less worn out from it. There's nothing worse than a long drive home at the end of a vacation. FWIW, we flew SWA in late October and were very comfortable. Extra cleaning precautions are still being taken, but I still wiped down our row with Clorox wipes. Very few people were around me and everyone was compliant with masks. Its really no dangerous than being near people at Walmart or your grocery store. I agree that sitting in the back will lessen the chances of having people in close proximity. If your flight is not full and you're not getting good vibes from strangers nearby, you can feel free to move your seat at any time to another empty one.

 

[cruiseconvert]

Be sure to factor into your cost analysis the wear and tear on your vehicle if you drive. It's not just the cost of gas.

 

[yeheyprincex2]

Be sure to factor into your cost analysis the wear and tear on your vehicle if you drive. It's not just the cost of gas.

This is why we would never road trip with our personal vehicles, for us we always rent a car for road trips.

 

[dancergirlsmom]

I have flown to Florida from Michigan twice since the parks reopened. DD just returned from an additional trip. I flew one time on Delta and once on Spirit. I have to say that my flight on Delta was much more enjoyable with the space left open between us. This was a trip the end of July. In October we flew Spirit which is much more cramped anyway but they were not leaving the middle seat open either. We wear a mask with filter on any flights and don't eat or drink on the short flight. I did rent a car on both trips where normally we would have just used Disney transportation. We are going again the end of March for Spring Break again on Delta. We have not had issues in the airports. Everyone I saw was wearing a mask and keeping their distance. Airports were generally not busy. Busiest area was waiting at the gate to board but we just found an area where there weren't a lot of people.

 

[SL6827]

Fly. Absolutely.

 

[Orion Nebula]

This is why we would never road trip with our personal vehicles, for us we always rent a car for road trips.

We found that gas, food and a hotel ended up costing close to the same as plane tickets. Since then I noped out as I am pretty much done driving that far and there isn't even a point. I am glad so many here "voted" to fly.

 

[scbruno]

Flying all the way. Like others posted wipe everything down. The filtration system in the planes are great and you should have no issues.

 

[happymommy]

I’d fly totally; we drove once (right after 9/11 and we had just bought a new minivan). Kids fell asleep halfway through, so we just kept driving. They were raring to go next morning, but I was a total mess and exhausted. DH and I agreed, never again. It’s a 2 hour flight for us from BWI, so never did it again.

 

[Orion Nebula]

Not that it matters to anyone but we did end up flying. I didn't feel unsafe but my party was able to sit 3 and 3 which I think helped.

 

[NotUrsula]

Right now during the rental car crisis, the cost of renting a car is becoming VERY high; often much higher than airfare if you have a small party. Not to mention that even if you are willing to pay a premium, there may be no cars at all to be had at your destination airport.

The rental car situation right now is completely up-ending the usual calculations of drive vs. fly in terms of travel cost. Right now the key factor is the rental car cost and availability; that cost may make it much less expensive to stay on WDW property than offsite where a rental car is needed unless you drove your own vehicle. If you do feel you need a rental car, then base your travel date on the availability/cost of it, and THEN look at how much airfare will cost for those dates.

Even missing extra days of work may cost less than renting a car in the next couple of months.
(At least Florida is not QUITE as overpriced as Hawaii right now: leisure rental fees in Hawaii have been averaging about $700 just lately. )