SWA anything but cheap!

[JeanfromBNA]

I am in your boat. We have always flown SWA from BNA but the prices now are not very good (except for the occasional ding for off times). In the past my family and I have averaged SWA tickets in the $200 to $225 rt price range per person. Now the average is $300 and (mostly) up. I am afraid that the SWA monopoly from Nashville has really set in hard (and before anyone else points it out, I know Delta flies NS to MCO from BNA, but their prices are no better than SWA). I have driven to WDW only once but I am seriously considering it again next June if prices continue this way. The best price I have found in the region is on Frontier out of Memphis. They have flights for from $49 each way nonstop to MCO. They also have better flight times than NWA - check them out. I have considered them myself but when you add in the four hour drive to Memphis from my house, the time to park, the wait in the airport, etc., I can drive in about the same amount of time as it would take to fly. At least with driving, I would not have to put up with the TSA baggie hastles at the airport (). As for the smilies you wanted, try these (I hope they work):

I understand what you mean about driving. At $300 R/T PP, it would be cheaper for us to drive, but I'd MUCH rather not. It's just my husband and I, but if we were taking more people, we would have to drive.

Love the icons ! How did you get them?

 

[madge]

Jean-

I just talked to someone that booked BNA-MCO for October 7-11. She paid $275 on US Air (which is not a direct flight) and said that SWA was in the $400 range!

 

[pamjb]

A Ding! from Nashville to MCO just come out effective until 4 pm CDT 8/24/07

Orlando to Nashville for $54 One-Way!

- Fare is valid for travel Monday-Saturday, September 1 through October 31, 2007 only

 

[grimley1968]

A Ding! from Nashville to MCO just come out effective until 4 pm CDT 8/24/07

Orlando to Nashville for $54 One-Way!

- Fare is valid for travel Monday-Saturday, September 1 through October 31, 2007 only

Already sold out for my dates. There must not have been many to begin with. Oh well, it's only about 3.5 hours longer (door to door) for us to drive than fly.

 

[madge]

Already sold out for my dates. There must not have been many to begin with. Oh well, it's only about 3.5 hours longer (door to door) for us to drive than fly.

John-

What part of the state are you driving from? admittedly, I'm TERRIBLE at geography ... but I'm wracking my brain to figure out where in Kentucky you are that it would only be 3.5 hours longer to drive than flying from Nashville. LOL.

We're in central KY, and (ideally) it takes us rounghly 7 - 7.5 hours from the time we leave our house to the time we're checking in at WDW (renting a car). 2 hours to BNA, arriving 90 minutes-2 hours before the flight. 1 hour 45 minute flight, then picking up bags, rental car, and heading to the resort.

Our drive time is right at 13 hours, depending on traffic.

 

[grimley1968]

We live on US 27 and close to I-75. I sent you a PM with my town name. It's about a 12 hour drive from here to WDW, less if you can really be efficient with the gas/food stops.

To get a SWA flight, our closest options are Louisville (2.5 hour drive) or Nashville (almost a 3 hour drive). We could fly out of Lexington, which is much closer to us, or Knoxville, a little closer, but neither of those have SWA and both are quite expensive.

Nashville, for whatever reason, usually has cheaper flights on SWA than Louisville, so it's worth an extra 20 minutes driving versus Louisville.

So, to add all the times up:

- 3 hours to BNA
- Need to be there 90 minutes early, just in case problems arise with TSA
- It's about a 2 hour flight from Louisville or Nashville
- Conservatively it would take probably 90 minutes to get from MCO to the resort

3+1.5+2+1.5 = 8 hours door to door versus driving 12 hours. I guess I fudged .5 hour. I'm always doing that when rationalizing something.

Another thing that mitigates against flights for us is school. SWA just doesn't have many flights that offer the cheap fares and also allow us to not take our girls out of school. Those they do offer sell out very quickly these days.

But we're not driving straight through on the trip down. We're staying Tifton, GA, since that's about as far as we could comfortably get after picking our girls up from school at 3 PM on Friday. Then we have a 4 hour drive from Tifton to WDW the next morning. On the trip back on the following Sunday, we'll drive straight through. Minivan DVD players are wonderful tools!

 

[mgilmer]

Love the icons ! How did you get them?

They come from another Disney site that cannot be named here.

 

[mgilmer]

But we're not driving straight through on the trip down. We're staying Tifton, GA, since that's about as far as we could comfortably get after picking our girls up from school at 3 PM on Friday.

Where in Tifton are you staying? I drive for Fedex and have been to Tifton many times rt from Nashville but have never stayed there. I was thinking if we drive down next June I might drive as far as Tifton and go the rest of the way the next day, too.

 

[grimley1968]

Our ressie is with Fairfield Inn & Suites in Tifton. I'm not sure if there's more than one, though. Tifton has grown a ton in the last 20 years, so there could well be more than of these there. I just know the one I'm staying at is about 1 block from an I-75 ramp.

I would have picked something less expensive than Fairfield, but there was nothing that much cheaper and I also am a Marriott Rewards member, so staying a night at Fairfield gives us some points for that (Fairfield being a Marriott chain).

 

[JeanfromBNA]

A Ding! from Nashville to MCO just come out effective until 4 pm CDT 8/24/07

Orlando to Nashville for $54 One-Way!

- Fare is valid for travel Monday-Saturday, September 1 through October 31, 2007 only

Saw that, and jumped right on it to find that all of the $54 fares were already "SOLD OUT!"

I'm thinking, "sold out, my foot."

Thanks for posting, though.