Good Deals with Air Canada or Air Transit this October??????

[TimNDansMom]

What do you all think? Will there be good deals here or go with Southwest Airlines from Buffalo? Currently AT is $448. Toronto to Orlando and AC is $518.

My problem is finding an economical way to get from Woodstock to Buffalo Airport! Not sure if Dh will be available to drive me.

 

[Scratch42]

I've also been wondering and crunching numbers.

Is it really worth the extra 2 hour drive to Buffalo, get a hotel room? And I'm worried about what everybody says about SW "Cattle Call" type boarding. What happens if you don't make it on the plane?

ARGH!

Julie - I would wait for AC, they should have a fall special. Sign up for e-mail notification. Good Luck! So I guess the Canoe is out?

Scratch

 

[hockey mom]

Scratch, for us the drive to Buffalo was far more relaxing than the 2 hours of lining up again and again that we did when we flew out of To. The boarding method is actually very civilized. You recieve a pass number based on the time you get there(we were there one hour early and we were in the second group to board) and are then called up in groups. The price is the major kicker for us though because there are 5 of us. I just paid $1072 CDN. for all of us.

 

[abbyndrewmom]

It is so worth the drive especially if you have kids. The Bufallo airport has a nice Fisher Price play room for the kids to play in while you wait. Southwest boarding isn't bad just get there early plus if you are travelling with someone under 4 you can pre board. though do check other airlines because lately I have found that some of the "regular" airline have better prices then the discount ones. Make sure to check US Airways they have had some great prices lately.

Allison

 

[TimNDansMom]

Dh thinks I should just go ahead and book SW and maybe he will be able to drive me to the airport "if worse comes to worse". I wanted to show him the flights but we just got back from having breakfast out and now he's gone off in a rush, golfing!!

 

[Timon]

You are going early October right? We are flying in October 15th and have been looking for months for some deals. Air Canada just had a sale on 2-3 weeks ago but you had to return by the 15th of October It was SUCH A GREAT DEAL I was so sad/mad that it wasn't for our dates...so close! It came out to $343 WITH TAXES and that's from Calgary!!! I have NEVER seen it for less than $615 from here and right now I can't find it for less than $800

Hopefully they will come out with another sale soon cus we are now only 5 months away and don't have plane tickets

Keep checking your paper...they always advertise their seat sales!

I am crossing my fingers!

 

[TimNDansMom]

Cass, doesn't it seem that these things never come out when you want them??? I didn't even know about a seat sale with AC but then, a couple of weeks ago, I didn't know about the @ Par deal!!!

 

[Timon]

WOW, 2000 posts!!! I just had to say something...wow...I've been here from the start and only have 600 posts LOL

Yeah, the seat sales are always for when you DON'T want to travel

 

[PoohBWV]

Timon: I'm sure your post count should be higher - I know mine should be but we all lost a lot of posts a while back when they were working on the boards.

 

[TimNDansMom]

Wow, I didn't even realize I had finally reached 2000 posts! I lost a few hundred posts a while back too.

 

[kdmoore]

Hi there!

I can see that flights out of Buffalo are a good option for you folks living near Toronto.

Are there any decent alternatives for cheap flights for people living in Ottawa? Buffalo is about a six hour drive from Ottawa.

Thanks for any input.

Kevin

 

[MikeJ]

I would think that either Syracuse, NY or Burlington, VT would be suitable choices. I'm not sure, but I'd guess they would both be about a 3hr drive from Ottawa.

- Mike

 

[disney funseeker]

welcome kdmoore

We fly out of Syracuse. It's much cheaper and worth the drive if economics is the biggest factor in your trip planning and especially when there are several fares to pay for.

Some other factors to consider when flying from Syracuse:

1. There are no direct flights. They all involve a stopover. It could be in New York, Atlanta, chicago, Washington. So the total flight time is longer. Is that worth the drive to you?

2. You'll have to pay for airport parking for the week. Would you have to anyway, even if you flew out of Ottawa or would someone have driven you or perhaps a cab ride would be cheaper from your home to Ottawa airport?

3. If you have an early flight from Syracuse would you stay in a hotel for the night? Extra cost there.

Basically is it worth the extra hassle for the savings? and how much of a savings would it be in the end?

When our family considered these questions, we found that it was definitely still worth it. We stayed at the Best Western right at the airport and got a park n'fly rate. Even with the overnight hotel stay, we saved a lot. Got an early flight, and with the connection, we managed to get to Orlando by noon. We have two young kids and everyone was still happy by the time we arrived.

 

[kdmoore]

Thanks guys. Good points.

Looks like Syracuse is the closest (3 hr drive). Too bad about no direct flights from Syracuse.

Direct flights out of Ottawa to Orlando are rare too (just once per week, on Saturdays, and then for only part of the year; looks like November to April, Air Canada only). Rarely a decent fare on them either.

So our choices appear to be:

(a) expensive flights with connections from Ottawa
(b) rare and even more expensive direct flights from Ottawa
(c) a three-hour drive to Syracuse, considerably cheaper flights, but no direct flights
(d) a five or six hour drive to Buffalo, cheap flights, and the direct nonstop flights.

Yikes. I guess you choose your poison. We went to DisneyWorld in February 2002 flying from Ottawa and connecting in Atlanta; making the connecting flights caused a terrific amount of stress, what with bad weather causing flights to be late, and two small children spending most of the day in airports and on planes. Really hoping to avoid that again.

 

[HARP]

If you are going to fly out of Syracuse you should look at JET Blue. We are going in Oct. for $1500.00 Canadian for 5 of us. You just go to www.jetblue.com and book online. I then got a room for $65 and get to park the van for our stay for free.

 

[tmli]

I checked our dates with Southwest, Sept.30-Oct.7....$302USD for both of us. Even if I use my airmiles for 1 ticket out of TO, SW is cheaper. The rate I got from AC was $873CAD for both of us.

The taxes and surcharges flying out of TO are ridicolous(sp). I figure I have about a 2hr drive to the Buf airport and even with hotel its worth it.

 

[TimNDansMom]

Tracy, I am flying SWA on Oct. 1. My Dh is going to drop me off, the night before, at the Quality Inn Airport. He'll pick me up when I get back. I got an Internet rate of $44.99 US$ for Sept. 30. I don't know about parking but there is a free "on demand" shuttle.

 

[tmli]

That's a good rate Julie, it's too bad we didn't co-ordinate that better. We could have kept each other company on the flight.

That's definitely the way I'm going--flying out of T.O just isn't amking much sense with current prices.

 

[TimNDansMom]

Yes, isn't that funny that we are only a day's difference from departing.