Flight advice from travel warriors

[maflynn]

Thanks, I'm happy JB is there, they're my preference but even so, I'd probably would have used Southwest if they were not there.

I definitely have a peace of mind with this decision. I actually booked the first leg of the trip in JFK Thursday morning and all day, I was just not comfortable with that decision, but I took solace in knowing that I saved a lot of money.

Luckily I saw these posts early in the morning, I had 3 more hours to cancel the flight from JetBlue before my 24 hour window to do so closed.

Now, I feel very comfortable and I'm looking forward to tying up the loose ends of my vacation.

 

[smallcoffee]

I second this. When I lived in northeast Ohio and would go to Orlando, Florida it was about an 18 hour straight through drive. Yeah it's a long drive but it's much much cheaper than flying at those prices.

$3000-$7000 on flights from the east coast to Florida just seems wild. I'd rather tack on a couple extra vacation days, save the money and drive it.

Edited to add: last year my SO and I drove from Austin, TX to northeast Ohio during Christmas break. We didn't rent a car but drove my SUV and I think we maybe spent $300 on gas at the most round trip and that's a 24 hour drive each way. It was much cheaper than I thought it was going to be.

I'll also add that I don't think that this is necessarily a waste of time. I know some have mentioned that paying substantially more to fly is "saving time", but that implies that driving with family is inherently a time-waster.

Growing up, some of the most fun I ever had was on road trips. You are stuck with your family (nobody is really sleeping like on a plane), listening to music, playing games, and if you are savvy, you can find all sorts of places to stop and visit on the way. Plus you get to see a lot of the countryside, which is far more interesting than looking at the ground from 30,000 feet.

 

[samiwas]

Haven't read through the whole thread, but I just checked roundtrip flights from April 18-22 from Boston to Orlando on Delta, and came up less than $2,500 round trip. Still hefty, but it's not going to be cheap at winter break time.

 

[maflynn]

Haven't read through the whole thread, but I just checked roundtrip flights from April 18-22 from Boston to Orlando on Delta, and came up less than $2,500 round trip. Still hefty, but it's not going to be cheap at winter break time.

Yep, you need to read through the entire thread

Indeed there are times of April that is relatively cheap. The week I need to take is not one of them, and Delta is one of the worst offenders in ticket prices (though all the airlines are gouging us).

 

[Roller]

Unfortunately, traveling with kids during peak demand times like spring break can be expensive, although as pointed out elsewhere in this thread you can mitigate the cost somewhat by driving to/from a nearby city and flying to/from there. Doing the entire trip by car is a less expensive alternative, but with caveats: Long distance road trips are trying on parents and children, especially if you want to spend as much time at the destination as possible, and weather can be even more of a factor than with air travel.

 

[samiwas]

Yep, you need to read through the entire thread

Indeed there are times of April that is relatively cheap. The week I need to take is not one of them, and Delta is one of the worst offenders in ticket prices (though all the airlines are gouging us).

I didn't see your dates in the one post, so I had looked up Boston's April break and used those dates. Yeah...you want to fly on the weekend, which automatically adds about 60% to pretty much any fare.