Q?-How far are you willing to drive for a direct flight?

I should have known that starting this post would get a ton of responses....I think maybe next year we will drive to Memphis, or Atlanta(both same distance, so most likely Mem)..My biggest fear is, that our regional (1hr, 15min) flight is delayed again...and as you all know, the direct intl flights never seem to have an empty seat..so, based on that, how would the airline be able to get us on another MoBay flight if we missed ours? when I think of the cost($$ and time) we would miss, it just sickens me...for the mean time, we're booked to fly through Memphis again (Mar 26)from our local airport

While we live near (8 miles) from CVG a major hub for Delta, they dropped the direct flights after we made our reservations in 2007. We have looked at Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis and Atlanta and it is just not worth it. The savings is not there. NOW I will be driving to Knoxville and staying at a stay/fly hotel near the airport during Spring Break. I get a fantastic price and two extra days on the vacation than if I fly out of Lexington, KY.

Direct flights out of MKE, I believe, are Apple charters. We used to do the park'n'fly out of Milwaukee, but when you factor in the price of a night or two at a hotel on either end of your stay, the cost of flying out of our regional looks pretty good.

In our experience, delays can and do happen. But to be honest, they've all occurred on the last (direct) flight to the island, whether that would be Memphis or Detroit. So for us, it just doesn't make sense to drive.

I would strongly recommend the park'n'fly if you do, though.

We tried to get a direct flight this time out of Charlotte (we live in Raleigh, 2 hours away) and it was more expensive.. then when you add the cost of a hotel and to have the car parked there, it just didn't make sense. Wish it did because I would MUCH rather have a direct flight!!

We've been through Atlanta, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando and by far I pick Atlanta to go through if I have a connecting flight. This time we are going through Charlotte (isn't that funny.... same flight but connecting instead of direct and much cheaper!).

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Originally Posted by LisaPat

My biggest fear is, that our regional (1hr, 15min) flight is delayed again...and as you all know, the direct intl flights never seem to have an empty seat..so, based on that, how would the airline be able to get us on another MoBay flight if we missed ours?

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Yes the direct international flights (or charters as I like to call them) never have any extra seats, sometimes my boyfriend and I have not even sat next to each other but have now learned to get to the airport earlier...lol, Once my flight was changed by 10 hours, which threw our vacation back almost and entire day. I hope you get there safely and on time for what will hopefully be your dream vacation...

We live an hour and a half from Charlotte. If we have an early flight instead of leaving home at 0:dark-thirty, we stay in a Park sleep fly hotel by the airport http://www.parksleepfly.com/
The hotel shuttle takes you to the airport and you leave your car at the hotel. Charlotte parking for a week is $35-$40, which is about half of the cost of the hotel. This way we can have lunch on the beach on our travel day instead of being in a terminal somewhere. It works for us.

What I hate the most is standing out in the freezing cold waiting for the bus to take us to our cold car....that and losing luggage due to connecting (or missed) flights. Now, rather than diving 1 1/2 hours to Albany and wasting time changing planes somewhere, we hire a driver to take us the 4 hours to Kennedy airport and a direct flight. It takes about the same amount of time door to door. We save on not taking the shuttle or parking the car, so really it's only about $100 + tip. No hassles, no buses, and we don't have to take our boots, coats etc. to Jamaica. Lastly, we can sleep on the way if we want. It's a "luxury" that is WELL worth it.

Glad to know that I am not the only one who spent hours trying to make a flight plan that gets me to JA as quickly, early, and cheaply as possible!

This time we are doing a whole new thing. We live in Missouri and any way you slice it flights are not as good as they used to be.

So, we will leave home mid afternoon on Wednesday, drive to St Louis (2 hours), park in long term, fly to Miami, spend the night, then Fly from Miami to JA and arrive on the island at 10:30 am on Thursday!
Whew!
All this because I want to spend all 7 days ON The RESORT, not traveling.

But I would be willing to drive all day the day before to get a direct.

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Originally Posted by MrsRojek

Bilkat- We live on Vandenberg... wow that is close. We met a couple from Grover Beach at CSA a few weeks ago when we were there!

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Mrs Rojek:

We'll be at CN July 11 - 13 and CSS July 13 - 21. Can't wait.

Bilkat

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Originally Posted by Chris

Direct flights out of MKE, I believe, are Apple charters.

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You are right and we always book through our travel agent, not independently. Funjet and Apple do charter out the entire flight which blocks it for independent travelers...

We drive from Springfield mo to either STL or KC to catch a charter. Few years back our travel agent found CHEAPER flights from HERE via NWA Vacations. Now, we catch a cab for a 10 minute ride, then off to either Memphis or ATL via NW or DELTA. Don't know how she got the prices, but the trip was a better price thru NWA/DELTA than on Funjet, Apple, etc. Anyhow, she's ticked at FJ for hosing other clients and worked hard to find an alternative.

We live about 1 hr from BWI (Maryland) We are splitting between CTI and CN in Feb 2010. It would cost $132.00 to park in the long term lot for 12 days. Our TA advised that we can stay at the Sheraton the night prior, with a free shuttle (5 mins) to the airport, and they keep your car for free, on a security lot, for $139.00. Is that a no brainer or what ?????????????????

We live in Montana and it is usually one of those "you can't get there form here" situations, actually you can get there, but it takes a 2 stop red-eye and long layovers usually totalling around 20+ hours of travel time. As a result we drive 7 hours to Seattle. the flight options there aren't the greatest, but far better than here and typically much cheaper. Parking runs around $120 per week and gas for the trip around $150, this is far less than than the difference in airfare, and travel time is less as well (even counting the 7 hour drive).

The Ramada BWI Airport advertises Park/Fly, 2 weeks free parking, etc for $99.95. We've stayed with them for years.