Would you drive 3 hrs for a REALLY good airfare?

[mouseclick1]

We live about 45 minutes from the Detroit airport, where our February airfare is currently over $300. I found a rate fantastic rate online of $176 for the same dates from usa3000 (which I have never heard of), but it leaves out of Cleveland, which is about a 3 hr drive for us.

I'm not sure if I want to drive that far to get to the airport. Plus, I am completely unfamiliar with that airline. We usually fly Northwest; sometimes Spirit. I can't decide if I should book now, or wait to see what happens to the rates out of Detroit.

Would you drive that far for that rate?

 

[kaytieeldr]

It would depend - it'd have to be a rate so much lower than my local airport that even including gas and parking, I'd still be saving money. AND - it would depend on the flight times.

 

[mouseclick1]

That's true, I hadn't really taken in the cost of gas. How could I forget that with today's prices??

 

[mainewmn]

We are.. We live about 20 minutes from Augusta airport but are driving up to Boston to save over $200 per ticket for our family of four. The times are ideal, the price is great and even with the gas, parking, etc we still save tons of $$.

 

[madge]

Initially, our plans had us driving to Indianapolis (not quite 3 hours) for a really great Ding fare. We estimated our total cost would be roughly $500, including gas & parking. We couldn't touch that fare with any of the closer airports.

Until today.

Now we are driving 2 hours, with better flight times....for roughly the same money.

I believe we have gotten the best deal we will get for this trip

 

[Pinnie]

I wouldn't drive to CLE to get a cheap fair. The price of gas and tolls will eat up any savings you would get. Keep in mind that AirTran is going to start flying out of DTW's Smith terminal in the fall. There may be some deals from them!

Best wishes!

pinnie

 

[PlutoPony]

Wouldn't consider doing it in February when you'd be driving thru (and flying out of) the lake effect snow area of Cleveland and Detroit. Plus I think USA3000's technically a charter, so if you don't get there on time it's not like you can jump on one of their later flights that day. Also how do they handle it if they cancel the flight because of weather (which is certainly possible at Hopkins in Feb.) - do they add charter flights or are you SOL? Sorry, just too many variables outside my control to do this....

 

[fac]

We will drive about 2 hrs to Philly to get the SW rate.

We live about 30 minutes from EWR and had never looked at anything else, but after reading this board, we used LGA this past April for about an hour drive and it wasn't as bad as we thought.

Then I found out the $49 from Philly, and talked my DH into going in return I offered to stay in Atlantic City for 1 day, (he is never interested in any theme parks, but like to go to Atlantic City), who knows, I may be spending more money or have Trump paid for my vacation

 

[CleveRocks]

For me, the biggest factor would be how many people are flying. With 2 people, would I drive 3 hours each way to save $248? Maybe. With 6 people, would I drive 3 hours each way to save $744? Absolutely.

Let's say it's just 2 of you. With a savings of $124 per person (not including gasoline cost, etc.), and an extra 6 hours on the road, you're saving a little over $20 per hour per person. If your individual time is worth more than $20 per hour to you, stay with Detroit. If not, HELLO CLEVELAND!

Price of gasoline needs to be a factor, of course, but if memory serves you shouldn't have any tolls -- can't you just take I-90 pretty much the whole way? And due to geography, I always thought there was little to no lake effect snow west of downtown Cleveland. I remember in the FALL (not even winter!) of 1996 we in Cleveland's eastern suburbs had between 50 - 70 inches of snow (the farther east you were, the more you got) but downtown Cleveland just a few miles to the west had maybe a dusting, and in the western suburbs they were riding bikes and raking leaves.

-- Eric

 

[siobhan1997]

We always drive across the Canada/US border to Syracuse to get cheap airfare. Drive usually takes 3 1/2 hours plus border wait time but we save a heck of alot of money for 3 of us.

 

[manning]

That's true, I hadn't really taken in the cost of gas. How could I forget that with today's prices??

Gas prices, wear and tear on the car. It all should be factored in. I once saw it written somewhere it cost around 45 cents a mile, all things considered, to operate a car. It could be more today.

 

[Brian Noble]

mouseclick1: I just bought our flights down. I agree with others that you don't want to have to do a lot of driving in the upper midwest in February to make your flights. About half the time, we're headed through a snowstorm to make our winter break trip.

Instead, consider flying from DTW, but into TPA rather than MCO; prices there are often a bit more reasonable, and it's only an extra 45 minutes each way (provided I-4 moves well---which doesn't always happen, thanks to construction). It won't be $175, but I got $250 pp on NW (where I prefer to accumulate miles), which for a Saturday to Saturday trip in late Feb/early March with direct flights, without having to fly first thing in the AM or late evening---that's not bad. The same weekend to MCO for anything approaching reasonable flight times was $330pp and up.

Last year I snagged $200 RT for good times, Sat-Sat during President's Week on Spirit (into MCO, back from TPA), but at the moment, except for the dead September, Spirit's minimum weekend price to MCO is about $250, and *some* weekends (but not all) into TPA are $200, and many of those are lousy times---as often as not, NW prices out less than Spirit, and since I'd rather fly out of WorldGateway, I'd rather collect my NW miles, and I find Spirit's planes to be less comfortable, it would appear that Spirit is not currently a good bet for me. AirTran's prices, whether out of FNT or DTW, are consistently higher than the other two for the dates/times I've checked.

Granted, there may be a sale on Spirit or AirTran that pushes them to or below $200 for my dates. But, given the steadily increasing fuel costs, the continued recovery of leisure travel, and the success of the Happiest Celebration/MYW package promotion, I decided that trying to hold out for $200pp was not as likely to pay off as it was last year.

So, I figured rather than wait around to see if I could save $100-$200, I'd be better off limiting my upside risk but getting the times I really wanted, especially as the fare buckets on NW were starting to dry up. I got the last tickets at that price on those flights, so I'm pretty happy. When my kids get a bit older, we can start taking the early AM flight down, or the late evening flight back to save a few bucks, but they will be 5 and 7 in Feb, which for the younger one is still touch-and-go when you disrupt his sleep times.

If you want to save a few more bucks, you can fly USA300 from DTW but into PIE (just a bit farther than TPA) but they don't fly every day. Depending on where exactly you live, you can also fly TransMeridian from TOL to SFB. They are also a charter, but that time of year they fly daily.

If you are truly stuck, and are still willing to drive, try driving to DAY or CMH. Delta flies direct from both airports. NW even has a single direct flight CMH-MCO for those February weekend that, when I looked were $200 pp. At least going to those two you are driving south rather than east---and hopefully away from any snow.

 

[Loriannf]

Hey, if you're considering driving - TOLEDO. I flew on TransMeridian, which wasn't that bad, to Sanford (about a 45 minute drive to Disney) in July. Fare was about $200 pp. They consistently have lower fares, you just have to buy them right away - I waited too long. They do leave Toledo at about 7:55 am and return around 10:30 p.m., not great times, but far better than driving to Hopkins, since we don't get all that lake effect.

Lori

 

[mouseclick1]

Thanks to all for bring up some very valid points and bringing me back to reality! I guess I am just getting frustrated with airfare being so high, and got all excited when I found a reasonable rate. Gas, snow, time vs. money, etc. are all good reasons to stay with DTW. I'll just keep doing my daily checks and hopefully something decent will turn up eventually!

 

[grimley1968]

We drive 2.5+ hours to Louisville or Nashville to take advantage of dirt-cheap fares on SW, when we could drive 1.4 hours to Lexington, which SW does not serve. But not only are the fares cheaper on SW flights out of Louisville and Nashville, we also get more direct flights. Direct flights are very hard to come by in Lexington. So, all in all, we usually end up spending the same, or less time, travelling by driving extra to get to Louisville and Nashville and getting that direct flight. Does SW serve any airports within a reasonable drive of you?

 

[caine family of five]

I just saved almost double my airfare. Travelling out of buffalo rather than Toronto. I checked online for a cheap airfare and then went to the travel agent and I told them this is what flight I want. I got five adults for just under $2000 including insurance.
She said I might need a passport for kids I have asked our member of parliament and he said that we don't, does anybody have the right answer? The kids are 14, 14 and 16 they don't have picture id.
Thanks and I would drive for a saving
Christine

 

[Pinnie]

I just saved almost double my airfare. Travelling out of buffalo rather than Toronto. I checked online for a cheap airfare and then went to the travel agent and I told them this is what flight I want. I got five adults for just under $2000 including insurance.
She said I might need a passport for kids I have asked our member of parliament and he said that we don't, does anybody have the right answer? The kids are 14, 14 and 16 they don't have picture id.
Thanks and I would drive for a saving
Christine

I live in the Detroit area and travel to Windsor, CA frequently. Americans will be required to have passports to drive across the border by the end of 2007.

pinnie

 

[caine family of five]

I figured that it would not be right away. I tried to get them online and they are back logged for approx. 6 months. Too far away for us to get them and very expensive.
Christine

 

[mainewmn]

Out of curiosity I checked my flight from the local airport.

1. Cannot get a direct the closest I can get to it is with 2 layovers.
2. Times are NOT even close to what we can get from Boston (not convenient)
3. We paid $661.40 for family of four to fly out of Boston, flying from Augusta Maine a comparable flight would have cost me …..$1996.70

Ya I drive

 

[tarmand]

I just saved almost double my airfare. Travelling out of buffalo rather than Toronto. I checked online for a cheap airfare and then went to the travel agent and I told them this is what flight I want. I got five adults for just under $2000 including insurance.
She said I might need a passport for kids I have asked our member of parliament and he said that we don't, does anybody have the right answer? The kids are 14, 14 and 16 they don't have picture id.
Thanks and I would drive for a saving
Christine

Who are you flying with and when are you going? Soutwest Airlines has direct flights out of Buffalo for $49 each way. With all taxes and fees, you would be looking at $577 total.