Philadelphia Flights

[Vandercapellen]

For those of you in te Philadelphia area:

We are traveling down to WDW either 5/30,31 or 6/1.
Returning 6/6 or 6/7
Staying either 6 or 7 days depending on flight costs.

Does anyone ave any recomendations on the airline, or place to get the cheapest airfare?

Keeping in mind there are 3 of us and we will each have a bag to check. I don't mind paying for the luggage if the tickets are cheap enough.

Just wondering if any of you may have any recomendations.

Thanks!

 

[Tara]

Right now it looks like the best you can do is Southwest for $200 per person (with taxes) or USAir for $186 per person. However, that bag you'll each check will be free on Southwest and will cost you $25 each on USAir. I'd pick Southwest.

 

[Vandercapellen]

Thanks Tara. Do you think I should just book with WDW for now to get the free dining, then book the flights later to see if any better rates come out? Or is that to risky?

 

[bookwormde]

If you have a little flexibility then SW often has the best fares between 2 and 3 months out

bookwormde

 

[Chuck-PA]

Definitely, book your trip separate from airfare.
This way you can book your dinner reservations in advance and still wait for cheaper airfare.
Once you get your airfare booked you can call Disney and add the flight info to your reservation so you can get your magical express vouchers and tags for your luggage mailed to you.

 

[Brocktoon]

I find myself usually choosing between SW and US Air as well. US Air does have the baggage fee, but they allow you to select your seat in advance which I like a lot more to the SW boarding style.

 

[PAcpl]

We always fly Airtran out of Philly and have never had a problem.

 

[PSUGuy]

You might consider AirTran out of Allentown (ABE), direct flights. We've flown them out of PHL the last 3 times but ABE has much lower rates for our March dates and from our neck of the woods it's a shorter drive with cheaper parking.

Bill From PA

 

[DopeyDame]

Depending on exactly where you live, AirTran out of BWI is also an option, although Allentown is usually cheaper than PHL or BWI.

 

[PAcpl]

You might consider AirTran out of Allentown (ABE), direct flights. We've flown them out of PHL the last 3 times but ABE has much lower rates for our March dates and from our neck of the woods it's a shorter drive with cheaper parking.

Bill From PA

Bill - Have you (or anyone here) flown out of Allentown yet? Was it easier or harder to deal with then Philly? I know the Philly airport fairly well and it makes me nervous dealing with a new airport that we have never been to before, but I have considered it a number of times.

 

[PSUGuy]

Bill - Have you (or anyone here) flown out of Allentown yet? Was it easier or harder to deal with then Philly? I know the Philly airport fairly well and it makes me nervous dealing with a new airport that we have never been to before, but I have considered it a number of times.

We flew USAir out of there years ago when they had directs, it's a breeze, and I was chatting on another board with someone who flew AT from there 2 weeks ago, same deal. I was told that one only has to get there 45 mins in advance but I'm paranoid about getting to the gate on time so we won't cut it that close.

Bill From PA

 

[Luv4Disney]

We're in NJ but have flown out of Philly when the price has been right. We've only flown on SW and had great experiences. We each got 2 checked bags for free too.

 

[njmom47]

I get emails from different websites, and Booking Buddy has at least 8 different sites that show for 5/30 to 6/06 around 185 nonstop. They give you the option to be emailed when fares drop if you are looking for a specific timeframe and airports. Cheap flights sent me an email showing "Cyber Monday Specials."
Someday I am going back to WDW...that is why I get these emails.

HTH

Don't know where you live, but have you ever thought about flying out of Atlantic City? Spirit and AirTran fly out of there according to their website. I have only flown Spirit from there.

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

I booked Southwest for our Jan trip in Sept. Tix were about $200 round trip for each of us. Since then, I was able to rebook the same flight to get a credit with SW...good for a year, and then, I changed the flight home to the next day, and received more credit. If we time it right, we can use our credits to fly next winter.

Otherwise, the credit doesn't do me any good, but the ability to change the flight without incurring a fee was fantastic. Also, if I had to cancel our trip, I could have a credit with SW for the flight to use up to one year.

BTW - I've never flown Southwest, but others told me of good experiences.

 

[DonnaL]

To PAcpl.........just flew AT from MCO to Allentown a month ago. It's wonderful.......this trip we didn't have any checked bags so we were out of the airport and on our way within about 10 minutes of landing. It really is a very convenient airport. For this particular trip we had SWA credits which needed to be used so flew from PHL on SWA and back into ABE on AT. It will be great once the SWA purchase of AT goes through.......hopefully they will continue to fly from ABE.

 

[beccasmom]

We've flown both USAirways and SWA a number of times to MCO. My preference would be SWA because I really dislike paying luggage fees and I think SWA has better customer service. Their fares are often - but not always - competitive, so I always check both before booking. USAirways has more flights, but many entail connections. It is nice to have your seating preference confirmed ahead of time (USAirways), but that's not an important difference to me. The rest of my clan prefers USAirways for that reason.

On a recent USAirways flight back home from MCO, boarding took over 45 minutes, many of us cooling our heels waiting in the jetway. It was not nearly as cumbersome on our August SWA flight and I attributed it to many folks bringing on board bags they normally might have checked if not for the fee. Even without pre-assigned seating, SWA seemed to have its act together in this regard, IMHO. But SWA did not have the best fare when we booked, unfortunately....