SouthWest Buffalo vs. Northwest Detroit

[Intrepid]

Just wondering everyone's opinion on this.

My wife and I are going to WDW for our anniversary in Sept.
Like most others I was going to wait for a Ding fare with Southwest out of Buffalo.

But then I got poking around Northwest's site. To fly out of Detroit return for the 2 of us would cost $600 Canadian all taxes
and fees included. This seems like a fairly good deal and have flown Northwest out of Detroit on business and really liked the service and the terminal. The flight time are also good - 9:00 am departure out of Detroit which gets us to Orlando before lunch and we don't have to be up at dawn. The return from Orlando is 5:30 pm so again we don't have to get up at dawn and still have some time to spend our last day relaxing a bit.

I guess my question is can I really expect to save that much more waiting for a Ding rate over the next few months?

Any advice would be greatly apprecitated...........

 

[Daddio]

You might want to check SpiritAit.com out of Detroit as well. We can usually fly Non Stop return for $350.00 US or less. You really have to watch rates as they fluctuate daily and often the best time to book is approx. 90 days out.

Watch for the rates to be between $54 and $79 and you have a pretty good deal.

 

[Daddio]

Just an addition to the above message, AirTran.com also flies DTW to MCO and a check of their rates for September shows $89.00 pp each way. I haven't flown them yet as we always get a better deal at either Spirit or NWA (yes, we have gotten the occaisional deal from NWA).

 

[NikP]

I have not flown South West, but I would love to save the money by booking a ding. I also don't know if I want to take the risk to fly with South West. They seem to have a lot of problems. (Have you seen the TV show on A&E called "Airlines", it is all about the trouble people have with South West airline and the passangers problems they have to deal with. eg. overbooking etc.)

 

[dsneygirl]

I have not flown South West, but I would love to save the money by booking a ding. I also don't know if I want to take the risk to fly with South West. They seem to have a lot of problems. (Have you seen the TV show on A&E called "Airlines", it is all about the trouble people have with South West airline and the passangers problems they have to deal with. eg. overbooking etc.)

I find a lot of people on this board say that based on watching Airline. We have flown SW easily 20 times in the last few years and never had them even ask passengers to bump themselves, let alone deny people boarding. Their customer service is top notch and they have the friendliest flight crews ever. Do not let that discourage you. If you check out the transportation board you will find loads of people singing SW's praises.

 

[cabmom]

Airline, wouldn't be the show that it is without showing all the strife people have with flying! It's called entertainment.

We've never had any problems flying with Southwest. We are flying on the 7th of March with 6 of us.

Marilynn

 

[sammi]

We also love Southwest and have NEVER had any problems or seen any others have problems with this airline. We just returned from a trip to Florida that only cost us $112.00 CND each for my Dh and myself so the price can't be beat!And the service is top notch!

 

[bakeman]

You should also check Airtran out of Flint, MI, it's a nice small airport and about an hour from the Sarnia - Port Huron border. I just booked SWA from Detroit to Orland for $33 each way via DING.

 

[DisneyPhD]

That seems hight to me. We fligh out of DTW to MCO a few times a year and often get the airfare for under $200 per person. Sometimes less. We have flown Spirit in the past, most of the time with good results. We have flown NW too, good results also.

We are trying to get airfare from DTW to MCO in May. SW had ding flights from DTW to MCO for 39 each way (1 stop) While we don't normally do SW for that price we were willing. It took DH too long to agree to it, and now I fear the ding is not coming back.


Edited to add, unless you find a great flight (under $100 each eay, I think good is 69 each way.) I would wait to book and keep an eye out. They run specails, but it doesn't apear to bennfit you to book Spirit too far in advance. 2 months is normally a good range. By then the SW ding might come up.


Last flight with spirit was bad, 5 hour delay coming home and the staff did not handle it well. The plane was late coming out of Porto Rico. If you can don't get a fligth that comes out of there, get one that goes between MCO and DTW. That has a better record. If we do Spirit again will will try to do that. (they did finally issue us $50 off vouchers for each ticket to be used in the next year, after an email.) They would of done nothing if I had not made a formal complaint.

Spirit is around 114 each way. That actually seems hight to me. Around 89 each way is more like it.

Best of luck.

 

[DisneyPhD]

You should also check Airtran out of Flint, MI, it's a nice small airport and about an hour from the Sarnia - Port Huron border. I just booked SWA from Detroit to Orland for $33 each way via DING.

When did you get that ding can I ask? I have been looking like crazy and havne't seen one for 2 weeks. I am normally close to my computer. I can't belive I missed one!