Question for all you Philly Flyers

[iluvepcot]

To Disneyfreak71. I figured it out. thanks so much for posting. Sorry to the op for taking away from your thread.

 

[jtopp]

I compare airtran and southwest for the best rates. Also, with the runway expansion project, a lot of the economy parking places have been deleted. I usually use expresspark in essington. It's two minutes away, you park in a safe lot outside the city, and the shuttle picks you up and drops you of at your car-no lugging bags. They usually have coupons posted. usa3000 is also good, but have limited flights on only a few days. Of course, if price is no object, usair has more flights at more times then any other airline out of PHL

 

[CPT Tripss]

I compare airtran and southwest for the best rates. snip
Of course, if price is no object, usair has more flights at more times then any other airline out of PHL

USAir can be less expensive than either SW or AT . . depending on all the mysteries of airline pricing. But USAir service still stinks and it might not be worth the savings.

 

[puffkin]

We fly Southwest and Airtran out of Philly. I like Airtran better personally, but can't beat SW refund policy. On many trips we fly one down and the other back just depending on the prices and times.

If we go on a winter trip, we usually do a park and fly at either the Holiday Inn or the Comfort Inn. It seems to snow everytime I travel so we like knowing we are right at the airport.

Our last trip we parked in the garage right at the terminal. It was expensive but GREAT!!!!!! No shuttles, we walked right in. So easy. And when we got back we had our bags and were on the road in no time. It came to about $120 for a week trip which is about what we pay for a park and fly so it was worth it in my opinion and how I will park from now on. The convenience and lack of stress (especially travelling with an infant) was worth every cent.

 

[dvcfamily41801]

I was coming over to ask if Ding fares from PHL to MCO are a thing of the past. I have not seen one for quite a few weeks. Glad I am not the only one missing the Dings

 

[pamjb]

Lisa,

I have been wondering the same thing. I still love Southwest, and have been checking their internet rates as well. I booked tickets for beginning of March at $99 each way. But I had ticketless travel vouchers that had to be used anyway. Hoping that an internet special will come thru, but it looks like my flights are pretty well sold out.

 

[Blondiex46]

hopefully thursday they will come out, need them for June!!!

 

[supersuperwendy]

We live in Malvern/Paoli and we drive down to baltimore rather than philly...it's usually cheaper...unless there is a good sale going on from philly.

 

[NJPluto]

I second all those who like Airtran! Their prices are very comparable to SWA. I'm someone who gets very stressed out about the A,B and C lines so it's worth it to me to go Airtran unless SWA is a lot cheaper. (I know it's silly but I stress to get those boarding passes printed exactly 24 hours before!! Those people who stake out the lines hours in advance also stress me out!)

In my experience, SWA and Airtran have been cheaper than US Airways but I still check just to be sure.

Another advantage: security lines for SWA and Airtran are much, much shorter than the ones at the US Airways terminals. The lines at the US Airway terminals are really long. Unless I'm mistaken Philly is a hub for them, which would explain why the lines are so much longer.

 

[tedhowe]

Another option I just recently became aware of for Philly area flyers is to fly Allegiant Air from Lehigh Valley International in Allentown (ABE) to Sanford-Orlando Airport (SFB).

I just recently found out about them, and it looks like a very nice alternative.

ABE airport is about 20 minutes further from Chester Springs than PHL is, but the airport itself is much smaller so total time from door to gate is probably about the same.

Similarly at Sanford, the airport is 20-30 minutes further from Disney, but is much smaller than MCO.

It looks like their typical non-peak fare is $79 each way, and the website offers air/car rental discount packages.

I was able to find round trip for 4 with minivan car rental from Alamo for a week for under $1000 total from their website.

If we weren't going on the Autotrain as part of the vacation travel adventure this time, I would definitely consider canceling that reservation and changing to Allegiant.

The only drawback is that they only have 1 flight per day each direction - and it looks like they are in the evening (6-ish departure, 9-ish arrival each way). That means an extra hotel night in Orlando, but it also means that departure day can be a park day as well!

Ted