philly/baltimore/washington to orlando

[Luvdancink]

It's hard to price tckets to orlando because there are soo many airports local to me. Either Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Washington DC, or Baltimore. Which way to orlando is typically the cheapest? We've typically used USairways in the past but never to orlando. Any east coast members have any suggestions?

~Kristy

 

[Bill From PA]

In 2001 we were a group of 5 so it paid us to drive to PHL for a USAir direct flight at $165 rt. ABE used to have a USAir direct for $169 but no longer. To me, anything under $180 from PHL is good. Try Travelocity. The search engine can check other airports within a set number of miles and it'll check all airlines.


Bill From PA

 

[MinnieGi]

I usually find BWI the cheapest. However I personally have only flown out of BWI once for a cheap ticket. We live 20 min. from PHL so the convenience is the worth the little extra in ticket price to me.

 

[n2mm]

We always fly out of Dulles. We usually pay around $150 (sometimes lower, sometimes higher). I do believe the best fares are usually at BWI. Dulles is an hour drive for us, BWI is longer. We prefer Dulles, so stick with it because we only fly non-stops (Delta and United out of Dulles). Good luck. We have not booked our May trip yet, so am watching airfares right now.

 

[markey]

We live 18 miles from Harrisburg, so I usually try to fly from there. Last August the tickets were $132 (tax included) from Harrisburg. We paid $124 from BWI in 2001, so the little bit in difference made the convience, and cheaper parking a plus. This year I am looking for August and the two airports are running about the same. Also flew out of Dulles and Lancaster, but only for the best price for the convience. Only thing wrong with Harrisburg is that there are no direct flights, but the flights are still under 4 hours, and it takes us 1 3/4 to drive the BWI. The only way I will drive the BWI is if I can save over $100, local just too convient.

 

[Windjammer]

I like the conveniece of Philadelphia but often get better deals on Southwest out of BWI. If you have a couple of travellers (we have 6) and can save some money on each ticket, the savings add up.

Often airport hotels have a deal where parking is free or at a reduced rate if you stay at the hotel, so if you can't get a ride to the airport you might want to consider staying in a hotel the night before the flight.

Steve

 

[akarts]

We have tried to find flights out of Philly and BWI for the last three years. We have found that taking AIRTRAN out of Philly (nonstop) has been the cheapest. We got $149 last August and $129 for Sept 15, 2001 (booked way before 9-11). I purchased for 6 people both times directly off their site (they give you an extra percent off). You get a free ticket after 6 flights (coach). Have flown 4 times and probably will fly with them this Sept again.

 

[Melrosgirl]

Ironically, I was just checking flights in this area myself. I live in Lancaster, but there are very few flights that go from here to Pittsburgh anymore. (Rumor has it there will be no commercial flights soon though.)

Harrisburg has decent flights $200, but none are nonstop for May. Philadelphia has decent non stop flights for around $215. BWI has ATA for $177. I'm leaning towards BWI since it's non stop. Harrisburg would be most convenient, but I hate the layovers (I always have something go wrong on that second leg of the trip - plane problems, delays, cancellations, lol.)

 

[mom23guys2]

My son is flying at Easter and we've had the same problem. So far we have a refundable reservation on SWA but Philly seems more convenient from the Lancaster area. I check AirTran and UsAir out of Philly daily but so far the flights are outrageous, $420-$700 so BWI for $300 is looking pretty good.

 

[hentob]

ABE (Allentown, PA) now has Southeast Air and they offer flights to Sanford, FL for $59 one way.

Hentob

 

[padisneyfan]

I live 35 minutes from Harrisburg and 60 minutes from BWI, but like the direct flights from BWI to Orlando. Since 9/11 USAir no longer has direct flights from BWI to MCO, so have been using Southwest. Southwest always had the best prices and alot of flights. However, this past week AirTran had their specials which beat out Southwest. So for our May trip we are flying AirTran. Which will be a first for us. I really like Southwest but I couldn't pass up the saving of $200 for the three of us to fly down.

Nancy