saving on airfare ??

Ok here is delima

fly from our home town of Destin Florida for two or us $1750

Fly from Orlando for the two of us $700 plus a hotel $100 for a night total $800

We save $900 but have to drive to Orlando a day early and stay in a hotel one night, coming home we get to Orlando early enough to drive home, it is about a 7 hour drive.

Do any of you drive that far to catch a flight to save 800 to 1000 dollars and actually we get home a little earlier doing the 7 hour drive because of the layovers

we would be flying Jetblue from Orlando and either Delta or US Air from Home

Thanks Tim

When I went on my first trip in '06, drove nine hours to St. Louis, but it was three of us going nonstop charter round trip for $900 for all three of us round trip. We did stay in a hotel the night before for $99. Then my next trip was from Dallas in July '07, a six hour drive, and that was again another nonstop charter for only about $300. My third trip was from Tulsa, with a connection in Dallas, a three hour drive, in November '07, and that was about the same price, then my last trip was '09, from Ft. Smith and it was about $400, and it was only an hour drive. Since I moved, Tulsa is only an hour away, and will probably go that route, unless I find a good bargain from Dallas, which is still a six hour drive away. It's harder to find charter nonstop flights..

Right now they have flights for about $400..but for when I want to go, the cheapest I have found is about $650. Usually the best site to find the lowest price is either straight through American Airlines or through Bing. I only hope when my time to go draws nearer that the prices drop a bit..but if I could drive a ways to save money again would definitely do it since it is worth it to me.

that is a saving not to take lightly.......that converts to lots a mo fun on the Island...:)

We drive to Orlando from Tallahassee. Save about $500 for the two of us. Maybe only $400 as we use a hotel there each way (my wife doesn't like the drive home that evening even though it's less than 4 hours for us). Not only is Orlando a lot cheaper, but it's a direct flight. Both Jetblue and Airtrain fly direct from MCO, but Jetblue has free baggage.

That's a tough one. The price difference is huge so my gut reaction would be for you to make the drive. BUT...that's a long drive. How far are you from Miami, Ft. Lauderdale or Tampa? Those markets might provide good fares...

I once (and ONLY once) drove to LA to make an Air Jamaica flight, that great one that would leave at 10:00pm and put you in MoBay at 6:00am the following day. The reason for the drive was we were being comped by AJ. Between the drives there and back ( we did not stay in LA overnight) it made for exhausting travel.

Now, I had friends in the SF Bay Area that would take a "commuter" flight such as on Southwest and somewhat successfully do this. Is this a cost efficient option for you?

I have similar issue. I no longer live in NYC but have an airport about 25 minutes from home. Airfares from Stewart are generally much higher and would involve parking costs too ($20/day adds up when you're gone for 10 days or more). So, I usually make the 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive to JFK or LaGuardia to save a few hundred. Sometimes, I can take Metro North & the train or bus to the plane thereby saving the parking fee too. It makes for a long day's travel BUT sometimes that translates into $300+ which I would rather have to spend on the island. It is hard to get rides to the airport these days - especially when the haters get jealous! ;) (Friends & family have accused me of having too much fun! :))

I have driven to Birmingham, AL and Charlotte, NC from Atlanta a few times to save that kind of money. If I were in your situation I would do it to save the money.....but thats just me.

How about out of Pensacola or new orleans? New orleans is about 4 hours away and what I used when I lived in the panhandle.

Slightly off subject, but check rates daily from http://matrix.itasoftware.com, Kayak, etc. I read that airfare rates are lowest on Wednesdays and have literally seen a difference of $800 in two tickets from one day to the next. I also read that the lowest rates for international flights are in the 3-5 month range before departure. Kayak and other search engines allow you to receive fare drop e-mails.

To answer the original question, I would schedule another day off work and enjoy Orlando. It's a great city with plenty to do.

i am beginning to feel lucky, i live near 3 regional airports about 1.5 hrs from my home, i live 3 hrs from st louis, 3.5 from chicago, and i can fly out of my home town to either of those(to stl or chi) for 50$-100$ round trip - but that would also mean having to get a room for the night for good connections, so i always drive the 1.5hrs to MLI or CID or PIA - either of which are within 100$ pp of ohare or STL to mbj, but it is still a wash, cause i end up paying for parking at the regional when i could leave me car at home if i flew out of my home town.. still it would be a little more - so i drive.. lol i have considered it though - and may do it one day..

Thanks for all the ideas. I have had alerts set up on most of the booking sites plus checking daily on my own for about a month. Mark you are correct and most price wars between airlines start around 1 am on monday morning and the cheapest flights can normally be found on tuesday evening and wednesday morning.

At any rate we decided to book the flight make the drive and check out Jetblue. If it works out like I think it will it may allow is to make 2 trips a year to Negril. One of the things that has always been a problem from our are is airfare. So each year we have been making our trip longer and longer. Our first trip in 95 was Saturday to Saturday, soon we figured out we could do friday to monday and the airfare was so much lower it paid for the extra days. Now It seems even coming home on monday does not save you as much as it used to so now we leave on thursday and come home on tuesday for a total of 12 nights and we always go over the Thanksgiving Holiday.

But if the JetBlue from Orlando works out like I think it might maybe we will be able to squeeze a trip the first week of may each year also.

Again thanks for the ideas.

We will be at Tensing Pen November 17 to November 29. If you are in Negril then look forward to seeing you and buying a drink.

Timm

Timm....See you in November....as usual!!

Twice a year is what we have settled into...Nov and May..10 days each time