What U.S. city do Maritimers fly out of?

[Applemomma]

We are going to WDW in September (DH has a conference and we're going to take the opportunity to go to Disney) and originally we were going to drive since airfare out of Halifax is rediculous. Now, however, my father has put a new spin on my travel plans by offering to give us $1000 towards flying because he thinks we're nuts.

But did I mention air travel out of Halifax is rediculous!! $1000 less still doesn't put it at an affordable rate for a family of four. At least not for us.

So I'm wondering if anyone can give me first hand advice on which city you drove down to to fly to Orlando. Happy with it? Any regrets?

Thanks in advance!

 

[starrzone]

We're from NB, and in the past we've driven down to Bangor, ME, and Manchester, NH. Fares from Manchester (on Southwest, anyway) are SUPER cheap- we got $69 one way (about $200 pp round-trip). I think (and someone correct me if I'm wrong) the fares out of Bangor are about $400-$450 US round-trip pp.

The tradeoff, of course, is the longer drive to Manchester. From Saint John, we give ourselves 6 hours (this includes 1 stop). My father (who is an accountant and LOVES to save money!) was extremely pleased with our last trip. We drove down and paid for a hotel room the night before we flew out and the night we flew back (which included park-and-fly). For 4 people, airfare was about $800 CDN. All in all, a great trip at a great price!

So, to answer your question, we had no regrets about driving down to Manchester. Of course, if you have young ones or are driving from farther away, you might want to break the trip up a bit more and maybe stop for the night before you get to Manchester. It is a long drive, but saving the $$$ was well worth it! If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask!

starrzone

 

[mbb]

We just flew with JetBlue through Portland (PWM)
Excellent carrier and flight times!
We particularly enjoyed the datellite tv's in the back of every seat, on every plane.
For the 4 of us, we paid $900 and change.

The $99 o/w fare seems pretty standard - if you can catch it lower, grab it

Folks have also reported great deals flying the legacy carriers out of Bangor(BGR)

Generally, the prices seem to hover around $300 return pp.

You can search www.kayak.com and click on surrounding airports. All sorts of flights out of little places throughout Maine.

HTH!!

 

[pooksma]

We're from NB, and in the past we've driven down to Bangor, ME, and Manchester, NH. Fares from Manchester (on Southwest, anyway) are SUPER cheap- we got $69 one way (about $200 pp round-trip). I think (and someone correct me if I'm wrong) the fares out of Bangor are about $400-$450 US round-trip pp.

The tradeoff, of course, is the longer drive to Manchester. From Saint John, we give ourselves 6 hours (this includes 1 stop). My father (who is an accountant and LOVES to save money!) was extremely pleased with our last trip. We drove down and paid for a hotel room the night before we flew out and the night we flew back (which included park-and-fly). For 4 people, airfare was about $800 CDN. All in all, a great trip at a great price!

So, to answer your question, we had no regrets about driving down to Manchester. Of course, if you have young ones or are driving from farther away, you might want to break the trip up a bit more and maybe stop for the night before you get to Manchester. It is a long drive, but saving the $$$ was well worth it! If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask!

starrzone

We also flew from BGR in 2005 and will do so again in August. Compared the cost to flying AC from Fredericton~ 3 people from BGR 800CDN. Same dates from Freddy Beach on AC~$2300. 'Nuff said.

 

[Dawnywog]

We live in Yarmouth so we went on The CAT as foot passengers then flew out of Portland. You can get good deals if you keep your eyes out. Even taking into account The CAT's fares we still saved over $300 per person than the lowest price out of Halifax.

 

[Applemomma]

You've already been really helpful! DH and I were checking out flights through Bangor and I think we'll keep an eye on continental. Not a hard decision to make! 8 hours versus 34hours in the car.....$1200 (currently...hoping for sales as we get closer) versus $3500 out of Halifax....pretty much Bangor wins hands down in that senario!

I checked out the Cat (took it to Portland this summer and really enjoyed it) since DH's work would cover that cost but it doesn't fit in with out travel dates for going into Boston.

Now I need to totally redo my packing lists! What am I going to do with all those coloring sheets and fun facts from 13 states I was going to have dd#1 do on the way down! My only real worry between flying and driving (besides airport stress) is I can't pack my coffee maker and may have to wait until the day after we get there to buy one...that or be submitted to the value resort drink station coffee....hey maybe i'll pack my kettle and Maxwell House singles problem solved!

 

[MouseGirl]

I'm so happy for you - have a great trip! We live near Ottawa and always fly out of Syracuse, New York, which is a three hour drive away. It's well worth the drive to save about $1500

 

[RainbowsMist]

We would have preferred to fly out of Bangor or NH however at the time of booking their fares were quite high so we opted out of Boston. Round trip, direct per peson in CAD funds we paid $280. It's still a HUGE savings and have definitely spread the word to friends!

 

[tribus121]

we payed about 350 cdn to fly out of bangor in september one tip is to drive the day before stay at a hotel that will let you park your car for the lenth of your trip ( Cheeper than paying to park at the airport ) we got a early am flight on usair and where in our room at pop around 130

 

[tley]

I'm not sure what city you're flying out of, but Air Canada sometimes turns on a direct Halifax -> Orlando flight. I know that it comes up around February, but not sure about anytime beyond that!

We're going down in October (Disneymoon!) and the cheapest flight we can find is also with Continental. I'm waiting to check-out Westjet, but they don't have flights in November yet. Did you check out westjetvacations.com? They might have something a little cheaper (not sure though).

Hope this helps!

 

[Applemomma]

I'm not sure what city you're flying out of, but Air Canada sometimes turns on a direct Halifax -> Orlando flight. I know that it comes up around February, but not sure about anytime beyond that!

We're going down in October (Disneymoon!) and the cheapest flight we can find is also with Continental. I'm waiting to check-out Westjet, but they don't have flights in November yet. Did you check out westjetvacations.com? They might have something a little cheaper (not sure though).

Hope this helps!

When I checked WestJet out of Halifax it was $771.78 after fees and taxes perperson! My parents are flying down with Continental in Feb from Halifax and back with West Jet (but they can afford it) and I think you're right that at the end of February they are flying down and back direct (right now I think it's only back direct) BUT I think that is only seasonally though.

Since airfare out of Halifax (1 hour 20 mins from us) is still going to be over $3000 it's still cheaper for us to make the 8 hour drive to Bangor to get a flight for $1200..... and I'm still hoping for sales to go even lower then that. We're going to hold off booking as long as we can.

 

[dolphinmom]

Hi there,

We recently booked a direct flight from halifax to orlando on canjet and westjet and the real cost return was $535.00 per person cad.

Now on another thread on the canadian board people were just talking about flights from halifax in feb for $99 and $79 each way. I forget the details but for 3 people they were paying $924.00 return total.

anyway, good luck.

dolphinmom