Heading to Europe in a few months. We could save $450 total ($225 each ticket) on two tickets flying out of Jax. That includes charges for parking and gas. Downside is 2.5 hour drive each way. The return trip would mean that 2.5 hour drive is at the end of an 18- hour day. I'm going with the costlier flight but curious how others approach this decision. For what it's worth, flying out of ORL is the same savings but a 4.5 hour drive.
Flying out of Tally or Jax?
- Thread starter tolkien1
- Start date
Is the number of segments and total flight / layover time the same? If it adds a segment to the trip to fly TLH then hell no. If it is the same then you could also factor a hotel room in JAX on the way back and it would still be cheaper
I always fly out of Tampa or Orlando and never Tallahassee excluding flights to Miami or Ft Lauderdale. If it's shorter than that I drive. If it's longer I fly out or Otown, Big Guava or "St Pete" aka Clearwater depending on where I'm going.
Both TLH and JAX are comparable in terms of the actual travel. Out of Tally we leave an hour later and get there an hour later connecting through Charlotte. Out of Jax we leave an hour earlier and get there an hour earlier connecting through DC. Going to London initially. The only advantage of Jax is the $450 total savings w the con of the hassle of driving 2.5 hours. Not a big deal on the flight out. Coming back, I can see wanting to drive only 30 minutes to reach home vs. that 2.5 hour drive on I-10.
Yeah...this a tough one. Nothing worse than having a drive like that after a long vacation and then flight.
I would pay not to drive if I had the cashola. Not sure how helpful that was, but there you go.
What about a park n fly hotel? You can leave your car at the hotel when you leave (free parking), then stay the night there after you get back. There's usually a 14 night limit, so if you'll be gone longer, that probably wouldn't work.
www.parksleepfly.com/
www.parksleepfly.com/
$450 is at least a couple of nights at whatever hotel you will be staying at when you are over there. For me it would be out of JAX. Then again I have family over there and tend to fly out of JAX even if it only saves be $50 or so. The free kid watching by my inlaws is a plus
I've never had good luck on cheaper flights (or cheap enough) out of PC, but have had good luck in Valdosta. Parking is also free in Valdosta. When I booked our trip to visit my parents this summer, I saved $150 a ticket.
It just depends on the money saved and layover time. I live in tally and have flown out of jax several times to save on cash. If its a nonstop flight its almost a no brainer. Ive made the trek to ATL and ORL as well to fly and it sucks.
My last trip to Vegas was $375 cheaper than Tally and $250 cheaper than Jax. It is really easy to get to and closer than Jax.
Is there some specific discount airline like Allegiant for Clearwater that you use? I just ran a random flight in MidJune to Vegas and back on Travelocity and Tally was only $70 more expensive which isn't worth the hassle.
Just for S&Gs, I ran on Travelocity a round trip flight on June 18-25 and got $532 for Tally, $482 for Jax, $463 for Panama City and $418 for Otown. That's a decent sized price difference especially for 2 but probably not worth the hassle for Vegas.
Allegiant out of Sanford/"Orlando" and Clearwater/"St Pete" is really worth the difference. I've bought flights from Clearwater to Spartanburg SC (near enough to my property in Shelby) for $70 round trip prior to taxes and baggage fees. That's right $70. And I'm going to Maine for $235 round trip and that's only because one leg cost $135 prior to taxes rather than the $70 it normally is. If you didn't care when you left, you could go from Clearwater to Bangor for $140 pre tax.
I hate flying into DC, so I would lean toward Tally, however, 2 1/2 is not that long of a drive. Think of it this way, you will be paying yourself $90/hour to drive.
