Ugh - thinking of driving again, but want to fly!

[JenSop]

So we drove down last year for our trip and I thought I would die. We live about an hour north of Philly and drove straight through. But it did save us money.

We're heading down again this summer and were planning on flying. It's just a two and a half hour direct flight from Philly to Orlando. But for both of us, it's around $560 total after taxes and fees.

DH brought up the idea of driving again.

We both drive Honda Fits and they get amazing gas mileage. We averaged about 40mpg for our entire trip. Spent just a little over $200 total in gas.

So yes, driving is cheaper. But it's torture.

I don't know what to do to be honest.....

THoughts?

 

[It'sWDW4me]

So we drove down last year for our trip and I thought I would die. We live about an hour north of Philly and drove straight through. But it did save us money.

We're heading down again this summer and were planning on flying. It's just a two and a half hour direct flight from Philly to Orlando. But for both of us, it's around $560 total after taxes and fees.

DH brought up the idea of driving again.

We both drive Honda Fits and they get amazing gas mileage. We averaged about 40mpg for our entire trip. Spent just a little over $200 total in gas.

So yes, driving is cheaper. But it's torture.

I don't know what to do to be honest.....

THoughts?

Have you priced AirTran? We used them in 2006 out of Philly and we're using them to come home (LVIA) this year. It will come out to $480 total (including tax and 1 checked bag each) for me & my son this year - LVIA-MCO on Allegiant and MCO-LVIA on AirTran.

I just can't stand the thought of spending an extra 30+ hours (15 each way) of my precious vacation time in the car when I could be in a park instead!!!!

 

[kelleyrn2000]

DH wanted to drive too this year, but with three kids including a toddler, I begged him to fly. We were able to fly Air Trans for 5 tickets it came out to be $800. Our car rental was $235. I think we calculated our gas and hotel stays (we wouldn't drive straight through) plus cost of fast food and we would have saved $300 dollars to drive, but we would have wasted 3 vacation days. So for me it was worth the $300 to have the extra vacation time at our resort. Good luck with you airfare search!

 

[Funwith4kids]

We did the drive every year for almost 10 years. 18 hrs split across 2 days down and 1 long day back. Kids grew up with this approach and had no issues with driving. Last year, the week prior to leaving we caught some airfares that were no brainers to take at the last minute. It was actually cheaper to fly. No turning back now - Drive for 18 hrs over 2 days fighting (spring break) traffic or fly for 2+ hrs.

There are 6 of us and it is still only $350 extra to fly this year (actually, $310 since we recently found a car rental coupon to apply). Since we are staying offsite with a washer/dryer we could save some more by not taking as much clothes and just use carry ons if we wanted to. With a little more planning, we could also have landed some cheaper fares on the flights we are on, but didn't pull the trigger in time.

With the kids older (13,11,9,7) we don't need to pack everything, including the kitchen sink. The other cost savings we haven't included is we don't need to buy "surprises" (books, DS games, movies, etc..) for the kids to pass the time during the drive. That was a revelation wife had last year when I sprung it on her last year a week before a trip we were flying.

If you are in the ballpark for price and flight itinerary works for you, the convenience factor has a price as well that you should consider. If you are like us, you will be exhausted from vacationing at WDW. Why also add the driving exhaustion to it.

 

[JenSop]

Since our frequent flyer miles are with USAir, that's what I've always used. I didn't even think to check others...hmmmm...

What do you all do? Go to each company's website and price out flights, or go to a site like expedia?

 

[SurfinTX]

There are several sites you can use. Bing.com has a flight comparison site. You can check Priceline, Expedia and Orbits as well.

For only two people I would seriously try to find a good sale and fly down. Saving a couple of hundred bucks is nice but not worth all that travel time...unless you just really like to drive, which it sounds like you don't.

For us, a family of 5, it costs nearly $1000 to fly at best so that is a no go. We always drive and find a cheap hotel along the way to ease into our destination. We still come out $500 cheaper.

 

[Missytara]

Have you also considered flying Airtran out of BWI?

I flew down non-stop both ways, leaving the Saturday after Thanksgiving and returning the following Saturday. I got a fare for $89.00 going down and $59.00 coming back. With my baggage fees, it was only $198.00.

BWI is always infamously cheaper than PHL......

 

[uva185]

So we drove down last year for our trip and I thought I would die. We live about an hour north of Philly and drove straight through. But it did save us money.

We're heading down again this summer and were planning on flying. It's just a two and a half hour direct flight from Philly to Orlando. But for both of us, it's around $560 total after taxes and fees.

DH brought up the idea of driving again.

We both drive Honda Fits and they get amazing gas mileage. We averaged about 40mpg for our entire trip. Spent just a little over $200 total in gas.

So yes, driving is cheaper. But it's torture.

I don't know what to do to be honest.....

THoughts?

If the fare is $280 each and gas is $200 roundtrip that means it would only cost $180 per person extra to fly. Don't forget to factor in tolls and wear and tear on your car for the drive down.

I would also factor in loss of vacation time. The 2 days you waste driving could either be spent enjoying your vacation or working. What is your salary? (You don't have to publicly answer that ) Are the savings greater than what you would earn in 2 days?? If not it then it is actually more economical to fly. You should value your hourly free time at no less than your hourly salary, some people even value their free time at double or triple their salary.

Everyone's budget is different but there is no way I would spend 12 hours each way in a car to save $180 per person when I could easily hop on a plane and be there in 2 hours.

EDIT: Since you are in PHL take a look at the US Airways credit card: http://www.usairways.com/en-US/dividendmiles/creditcards/default.html
These cards give you an annual companion certificate to use on US Airways domestic flights (buy one ticket at $250 or more, and get up to 2 companion tickets at $99 each). There is a $90 annual fee on the Premier card but you also get 25-35k bonus miles. You also get a 5k mile discount when you book award tickets on US Airways. So instead of 25k roundtrip to MCO it would only be 20k!

 

[happymommy]

Southwest has $80 each way from BWI to MCO direct this summer. I'd consider checking out other airports. For about $160 round trip per person, I'd definitely fly!

 

[It'sWDW4me]

Since our frequent flyer miles are with USAir, that's what I've always used. I didn't even think to check others...hmmmm...

What do you all do? Go to each company's website and price out flights, or go to a site like expedia?

There are several sites you can use. Bing.com has a flight comparison site. You can check Priceline, Expedia and Orbits as well.

I've used Expedia and Travelocity to scope out the major airlines prices for my dates. But some of the cheaper (Allegiant is one) airlines don't show up on Expedia so I've gone to their websites to check prices. I make it my personal mission to find the cheapest, best flights (I hate long layovers) that I can. I check different airlines and different airports, within reason, until I'm losing my mind and, just before my sanity is completely compromised, I've narrowed it down to 2-3 airlines that I keep checking back in on to see if the price drops.....

Another thought - Southwest flies direct out of Philly too and people just seem to llloooooove SW!

 

[JenSop]

Thanks everyone. This is all really good info to start.

I just had the thought last night..... what if I use my frequent flyer miles to pay for my flight? I have over 30k miles built up, but I've never actually used frequent flyer miles yet. That way we only have to pay for DH. Perhaps I'll be calling USAir to ask some questions about using miles to book. This is uncharted territory for me.

So does it cost 20k miles for a round trip to MCO? Is that what the PP said?

 

[uva185]

So does it cost 20k miles for a round trip to MCO? Is that what the PP said?

It's 20k miles to MCO if you have the credit card I linked to. Otherwise its 25k.

PHL-MCO is not the best use of miles, but if you don't travel much and want to save the money go for it. You will have to pay a $25 award processing fee and taxes (maybe $20-$30). US Airways has 3 award tiers so make sure the lowest tier is available. Otherwise its even more of a ripoff!