The Decision to Fly or Drive (Updated)

For my wife and I, it was a fairly easy decision.  We thought about driving because we had the time, and it would have been nice to see some of the United States as we made our way from the Greater Toronto Area to Orlando.  But we have credit card points that would be worth two to three airline tickets, and so the cost savings for an already expensive vacation made sense.  The real question for us, being from Canada, was whether to fly out of Toronto, or drive to Buffalo or Detroit and fly from there. 

I recognize that the two main reasons for driving over flying are the cost savings and convenience of having your car with you.  But the amount of  savings largely depends on how long it takes to drive there, how quickly you can actually do it, and how well your kids can handle a long drive.  From our area, it is a approximately a twenty four hour drive.  Some families will complete it in less than two days, with just one stop overnight.   Others will take longer, spreading out the driving,  and making more stops, including overnight, along the way.   Some friends and Facebook group members have told me that they loved the drive,  while others have vowed to never do it again (at least with kids)!  

It also used to be nice to be able to park at a Disney Resort for free, but recently Disney decided to charge an additional fee of $13 US per day, including parking at the parks.  If you fly through Orlando International Airport, you can use the Magical Express to transport you back to your resort, and return to OIA for free.  On some airlines, you can even check your bags to and from the resort and your departure airport.  So this is another cost that needs to now be accounted for.

The first thing that we did was look at the flights from Toronto, to see the prices and the times.  There were no bargains, but the largest deterrent to flying from a Canadian airport are all the surcharges and taxes, that add approximately $100 to $150 US per person to the cost.  Credit card points do not cover these, except for using 100 points per dollar, which isn't worth it.  There are also baggage fees for most carriers which add another significant amount to the cost.  In the United States, the taxes are only about 10 to 20 percent of the Canadian amounts, and often the ticket prices are lower as well, including the exchange for a lower Canadian dollar.  Southwest even allows you two checked bags for free, and while there is no seat selection, you can get in line for priority seat selection at the gate for a mere $15 US return per person.  Spirit has very low fares, but charges for everything else including any checked bags.  Another low fare US carrier is Jet Blue.

There is the issue of driving to Buffalo or Detroit, but doing so in the spring, summer  or fall is not the risk that you would have in winter, when a snowstorm could hit.  Also, crossing the border in a car is actually easier than having to go through the long lines at Customs in Pearson International Airport in Toronto.  Parking in Buffalo is very cheap relatively speaking (even with the lower Canadian dollar) and you can always stay at a nearby airport hotel and leave your car there.  That was our plan.  We chose to drive to Buffalo the day before, stay overnight, use the hotel's shuttle, and take an early flight to Orlando.  Another advantage of flying to Walt Disney World, is that if you are staying in a Disney Resort (and we will be this trip), you can take advantage of the Magical Express bus service directly to your resort.  And if you want a rental car, you can just reserve one from any of the various rental car companies located in Orlando International Airport.

The next step for us was to wait for the Southwest fares to be released so that we could decide which airline to take, and book our tickets. Since we ended up on an early morning Southwest flight, we selected a nearby airport hotel to stay in, that had a gated parking lot to keep your vehicle up to 14 days. If we had to fly later in the day, we may just have driven directly to the airport and park there.  No matter whether you are flying from the US,  Canada or elsewhere,  there may be alternative airports to fly out from.  Spirit actually flies from the much smaller Niagara International Airport rather than Buffalo.  Even Orlando has a secondary airport called Sanford.   But be aware that if you fly into it, Disney's Magical Express is not available.  There is lots to think about when deciding to fly or drive,  but it is a decision that is worth pondering all your options for the best one for you and your family.

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