Flying For Dummies

[Goofy4TheWorld]

My wife has given me an opening to convince her to do a quick Christmas trip to WDW in early/mid December 2010. I have never flown, and have never tried to learn anything about flying, but my wife wants to fly instead of driving 10+ hours, so I thought I would try to get an idea of what to expect.

I live near Chattanooga, TN which has direct flights to Sanford via Allegiant Air, but we would have to pay for airport-to-Disney transportation and they have limited flight days. We could also fly out of Nashville, Atlanta, or Knoxville, all of which would have daily direct flights to Orlando International, and thus save us taxi/car service fees.

We are two adults and a 3 year old, and I have NO IDEA what is a reasonable price to expect to pay for round trip tickets, transportation to Disney, parking at the airport, and all of the baggage fees, etc...

Can someone provide me an idea of what I should expect to pay.

Is anyone out there near CHA/ATL that has found the best airport/airline to use for the least amount of hassle and money.

Any tidbit of advise would be greatly appreciated.

[Strmchsr]

Well, first off, I would suggest you check the links I have in the "travel" section of my weather forecast (thread stickied at the top of this forum).

You should also look at Birmingham. Southwest is the best airline in this area going to Orlando and it flies out of both Birmingham and Nashville (though not Knoxville or Atlanta). Generally with SWA you can get round trip fares of $250 or less per person. With other airlines you're probably looking at considerably more. SWA also flies into MCO so you could used Magical Express and save the cab/transfer fee. One way to get deals is go to sign up for SWA's Ding program. They constantly put out deals, but their normal fares are usually excellent.

As for other things about flying, check out the full site I have linked in the weather forecast and it'll give a lot of helpful information for a first time flier.

[bouncer]

In my opinion, Atlanta is way too huge for a first time flyer. The size of the airport, going through security for the first time... I wouldn't start there.

Airtran from Knoxville could be an option, though their pricing is not up yet for December (I've been watching for our own trip). I plan to check back at Airtran on April 1 - I think that is when they will start December bookings. Southwest out of Nashville could work too. They are only booking through August so you'll have to wait a little longer to see their prices. Watch the prices on Tues/Wednesday. You'll typically see specials on those days.

I think direct to Orlando (MCO) would be your best bet and use Magical Express to transfer from airport to resort for free. The cost of a towncar transfer would be around $100 plus tip. You can go on websites for towncars to see the price list for transfer from Sanford and weigh the difference in flight cost vs MCO and Magical Express. Quicksilver is the ICOT sponsor for transportation. I have experience with a different service - Tiffany Towncar and have not had a problem although I have not made a final decision on what we will do this year.

Another website to look at is TSA. org They will tell you exactly how to pack and what the current rules are. It sounds like they will be changing again before we fly.

Now for you child: Pack snacks & colored pencils (less breakage) and a portable DVD player if you have one or could borrow one. According to Southwest it could be about a 2 hour flight. You may not need the DVD player if you child doesn't get antsy easily. Take an empty sippy cup & buy water/juice once you are beyond security and fill it while waiting to board the plane. Have the child drink from it during take off & landing to make sure he/she doesn't get clogged ears-it will help them pop. Another thing along that line is to fly direct if you can-avoid stops-more take offs & landings to deal with sore ears. Feel free to PM me if you like-my DS7 has been flying to WDW since he was 2 1/2.

Good luck-December is awesome to be in the World!

[BigRedDad]

What to expect while flying:

1. Allegiant may seem like a good deal. However, the baggage fees and transportation from Sanford may kill the deal.

2. Check SW and AirTran as well. These two airlines usually have the same ticket prices. However, SW has no baggage fees.

3. Flying into MCO has less hassles unless you get a great deal to go to Sanford. DME is great, efficient, and free.

[Ed]

You might want to re-check Allegiant if they are your preferred airline; they have several flights into MCO now, and also still have service to/from Sanford (SFB) ~~

1. Knoxville, Tenn. — flights began Feb. 1, 2010
2. Lexington, Ky. — flights began Feb. 1, 2010
3. Allentown, Penn. — flights began Feb. 8, 2010
4. Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C. — flights began Feb. 8, 2010
5. Grand Rapids, Mich. — flights began Feb. 12, 2010
6. Springfield, Mo. — flights began Feb. 15, 2010
7. Tri-Cities, Tenn. — flights began Feb. 15, 2010
8. Huntington, W.V. — flights began Feb. 16, 2010
9. Youngstown, Ohio — flights began March 4, 2010
10. Des Moines, Iowa — flights began March 5, 2010

[faline]

Also check the travel information sites on the airline's web sites. They provide lots of good information on what's required to check in etc.

[#1donaldfan]

.....Allegiant now flys into MCO from Huntington WV, and if you pay for any checked bags online, it's about 1/2 the price....we got 5 round trips for our June trip and it was not much more than driving the 12 hours.....

[javamama]

Hartsfield is a huge airport one of the busiest in the world, it's overwhelming to me and I've worked there, and been thru there tons of times. If you allow yourself enough time you'll manage just fine. Between Delta and Air Tran they have flights constantly to Orlando, at great prices as long as you book early. I know in may the fares were around 120 round trip with taxes included not the bag fees though. Check expedia and see what times, and airports work best for you and the family.

[Goofy4TheWorld]

First, a big thanks for everyone's help.

Strmchsr, I must be loosing it because I can't find the "travel section" you spoke about, can you link it for me? I had never thought about Birmingham, so thanks for that.

My preference for Alligent is limited to the fact that they fly from Chattanooga, TN to Sanford, and I could drive to the Chattanooga Airport in 45 minutes, plus CHA is much smaller and easy for flying dummies like me (the last time I was in an airport, we parked at the front curb and walked into the terminal without ever going though any security, at all!) The other slight "pro" for CHA is that I would not have to stay in a hotel the night before, like I would likely have to do at Knoxville, Nashviille, or Birmingham. I think I have just about ruled out ATL.

If I can't do Chattanooga Airport for cheap, I think I am going to try really hard to do Southwest since everyone on this board speaks so highly of them.

Bouncer, thanks for all the details, and especially thanks for the ideas for my son who will be 2½. To be honest, I hadn't even though about the "what-ifs" of him being terrified or sick.

If it were me, I would drive. I am so scared of airlines loosing my luggage or weather screwing around with my schedule that it is just not worth it for me (and I usually do ALL of the driving), but the wife seems set on flying, so I guess I may be taking my first flight! (well, second, I rode on a small personal airplane when I was about 7 and got )

[Strmchsr]

Strmchsr, I must be loosing it because I can't find the "travel section" you spoke about, can you link it for me? I had never thought about Birmingham, so thanks for that.

Check the weather forecast here. At the bottom of the forecast (post #1) is the travel impact section and the links I mentioned.

[Goofy4TheWorld]

My wife just pointed out something I had not even considered.

How many of these flights are on "puddle jumpers" versus full-sized jets? I don't really know a Cessna from a B-52 Bomber, but since I get motion sick anytime I ride as a passenger in a car driving across a mountain (or riding Dinosaur at AK), sickness when flying is a concern for me. I suspect Allegiant is a small plane, but don't really know. What about Airtran or SWA?

[bouncer]

Airtran & Southwest both would be larger airplanes seating at minimum 120 passengers. I looked up Knoxville to Orlando on Southwest and saw a one way ticket for $58 on Airtran for two weeks from now! I about fell off my chair-never seen a price so low. Then I looked at Allegiant...There was a one way flight at the end of April for $9.99 a person. I also found out that Allegiant flies from WI also from the Appleton/Green Bay area- something I didn't know. They seem to be very reasonable.

Back to the actual planes. Allegiant operates MD 80 series planes which are nice planes. If I were to compare it to a vehicle I'd put it like this:
puddle jumper = Chevy Aveo --these would be propeller engines not jets
MD80 jet = Chevy Impala (Allegiant) a little older - mid size but nice
717 & 737 jet = Chevy Malibu (Airtran & Southwest) newer-full size

{The MD80 is a jet that many airlines had but was less fuel efficient than the 717 that Airtran flies. Airtran purchased their fleet within the last 10 years or so. Many airlines phased MD80s out for larger capacity & fuel efficiency}

When you are booking and it shows a change of planes that is when you need to watch out. Usually they run the prop plane from a small airport and have you change to a bigger plane with more passengers to the final destination. Until you can finally see what the December bookings look like it will be hard to tell. Allegiant is only booking through Sept 30th so you will have a while to wait till you get an idea. But since Chatanooga is your preference and from what I could see of Allegiant's prices, they could be worth the wait. It seems like with Allegiant that if your dates are flexible you could get some really sweet deals.

So...this may have complicated things further. Allegiant could be worth it price wise to fly into Sanford and transfer via towncar (according to Quicksilver $220 round trip plus tip) because if you flew out of a different location you'd be adding a hotel stay before take off. Overall, the price could end up being equivalent no matter which location you choose by flying direct and using DME.

If I were in your place I'd set my dates according to what works best for your wife's schedule & wait for the airfare to show up. Please keep us posted I would like to know your final decision.

[wdw_bound]

If you decide to fly out of Atlanta, I would recommend one of the off-site parking services - they will shuttle you to the airport, making it far less overwhelming. The cheaper fares and larger planes will be for flights out of ATL.

I flew with DS in January to WDW for his 5th birthday (his first flight). Allegiant was an option out of our local airport into Sanford. However, they have only one flight a day, and it is not offered every day. Flights do get delayed/cancelled, and since I was on a tight schedule with a child, I did not want to risk that. Additionally, the return flight would have had us leaving WDW at 4 am. By the time I added in seat assignment fees, baggage fees (and I seem to remember some other type of charge), plus transportation to/from Sanford, my bargain fare ($59 one way) was no longer anywhere close to a bargain. I'm not bashing Allegiant - I have heard great reviews from friends and family, but it was not a good idea for our travel situation.

We got a great fare on out of a larger city, direct flight, didn't check any bags, free Magical Express. It was an early flight (7 am), but we were having lunch at WDW. On the way home, we enjoyed a morning at DTD, had lunch, then took DME back to the airport and were home just after supper.

I kept track of fares with BingTravel - part of the Bing search engine. They have a neat fare predictor widget that was pretty accurate in my case.

Don't let the thought of flying overwhelm you. Just go into it with an attitude of this is part of a new adventure. Understand that there are hassels sometimes and treat them with patience and humor.

I am very glad DS and I flew - I wouldn't have done the 9+ hour drive with him solo. It gave him a new experience, and us some wonderful memories.

Have a great trip!