Flight question

[25thcruise]

Hello fellow cruisers. We will be sailing on the Magic in January out of Miami. Looking to book flights from Detroit and man are they expensive. The cheapest flight has a stop in laguardia Airport. We have never flown with any stops(Always been nonstop).we were wondering what it is like changing planes at laGuardia. There is a $200 price difference in this flight. Nervous about trying this. We are flying in the day before cruise. Looking for thoughts and or advice. Thanks in advance.

AL and Julie 

[shof515]

have you taken a look at flights out of Fort Lauderdale

[staceyglow]

How long is the layover?  What time of day do you land in Laguardia?

 

In January(with an increased chance of weather-related delays), you are better off with a longish layover.  Also, the earlier in the day you arrive in New York, the more chances you will have to catch another flight to Miami if you miss your connection.

 

[25thcruise]

We would get to NY at 8:55am and is a 2hr20min layover. Flights to Fll are actually more expensive which is unusual. Over a grand for nonstop.. this flight is under $800. We are concerned about the weather issues on the east coast that time of year. That's why we have always done nonstop. But now the prices are pushing close to the same cost of the cruise.

[Thenagers]

31 minutes ago, shof515 said:

have you taken a look at flights out of Fort Lauderdale

[Thenagers]

We always fly to Fort Lauderdale when we cruise out of Miami. Hotels are cheaper there and the Uber ride isn’t that bad? Definitely worth looking at? We usually fly Southwest or Jet Blue direct. Worth looking? I’m sure some airlines fly there direct from Detroit?

[Elaine5715]

16 minutes ago, Thenagers said:

We always fly to Fort Lauderdale when we cruise out of Miami. Hotels are cheaper there and the Uber ride isn’t that bad? Definitely worth looking at? We usually fly Southwest or Jet Blue direct. Worth looking? I’m sure some airlines fly there direct from Detroit?

 

56 minutes ago, 25thcruise said:

Hello fellow cruisers. We will be sailing on the Magic in January out of Miami. Looking to book flights from Detroit and man are they expensive. The cheapest flight has a stop in laguardia Airport. We have never flown with any stops(Always been nonstop).we were wondering what it is like changing planes at laGuardia. There is a $200 price difference in this flight. Nervous about trying this. We are flying in the day before cruise. Looking for thoughts and or advice. Thanks in advance.

AL and Julie 

I also fly via Detroit to Fort Lauderdale, stay there and Uber to Miami.  Just keep watching flights.  For my flights out of MBS to FLL in February 2023, prices started close to $2000 but finally dropped to $700.  I would only select a direct flight from Detroit to FLL/MIA.  You are doubling your weather delay risk by going through LaGuardia.  

[TeresaJ]

Like others have said, look into Ft Lauderdale airport. We have flown into FLL many times for cruises out of Miami. It is only about 45 minutes from the cruise port. Sometimes a lot less expensive.

[Illbcruzn4life]

33 minutes ago, Thenagers said:

We always fly to Fort Lauderdale when we cruise out of Miami. Hotels are cheaper there and the Uber ride isn’t that bad? Definitely worth looking at? We usually fly Southwest or Jet Blue direct. Worth looking? I’m sure some airlines fly there direct from Detroit?

We used to always fly southwest but after the Airtan acquisition they have very few direct flights to fll. We cruised out of Miami last Sunday. We got lucky and found the one direct flight on southwest for $86. It was great,had 45 empty seats on the plane.

 

unfortunately going home this Sunday we had to use American out of Fll.

 

hopefully all goes well as i hear there is a race this Sunday.

[lauti]

I’d wait to book until Southwest and other low cost carriers open their schedules. Right now, there’s no LCC competition so the mains are trying to see at what price people will bite. 
 

Southwest’s next schedule release is 6/8

[Saint Greg]

As others have said open up your search to FLL. But then figure in a transportation cost. My Uber to Miami was $62. But I took the Carnival transfer back which was cheaper. 

 

Also as others have said, I wouldn't even try to book a flight right now. My airline of choice is Spirit. They aren't scheduled past November yet. I would wait a couple more months to start looking when all airlines are scheduled. 

 

As for LaGuardia I flew in and out of there in September. I can't speak for other Airlines. I was only in the Spirit terminal. It didn't feel like a big city airport. Super small. Super easy. One building for arrivals. One luggage carousel. The building next door was departures. One building. Maybe a dozen gates. Probably the easiest airport I've ever been in...other the the two gater in San Angelo.

[pe4all]

While LGA is an easy airport to navigate - we have a saying here in NY - "if someone spits on a runway they close the airports!"  While we had a very mild winter with literally no snow, there were times they closed the airports or had major delays for fog, rain storms, etc. Have never taken a connecting flight anywhere, as we avoid them like the plague.  However, if flights get cancelled or delayed there are numerous airline options down to FLL or MIA .  And since Jetblue and American are now sister airlines, that has opened up even more flights to either airport.  As others have said - maybe wait a bit to book airfare.  You then may be able to pick up a direct flight from Detroit for a more reasonable price.

[shof515]

5 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

As for LaGuardia I flew in and out of there in September. I can't speak for other Airlines. I was only in the Spirit terminal. It didn't feel like a big city airport. Super small. Super easy. One building for arrivals. One luggage carousel. The building next door was departures. One building. Maybe a dozen gates. Probably the easiest airport I've ever been in...other the the two gater in San Angelo.

Spirit uses the older original Marine Air terminal at LGA. All other carriers like Jetblue and Delta use the recently renovated Terminal B and C/D
 

Terminal B and C/D is like your big city airport with over 30 gates or more

[25thcruise]

Thanks for all the replies. We have always (except for 2 times out of 13 trips) flown to Ft Lauderdale due to better prices and cheaper hotels. We also love staying on the beach there.  We have always booked this early as the prices have been lower. Not this year so far. We are going to wait it out to see what happens when other airlines open up. Happy cruising to all..

[EngIceDave]

I was "Aw, no sweat" until you said LGA

 

LOL

 

But still, with over 2 hours, yeah, no sweat.

Go online and find a map of the airport. Find out what gates your flights usually use....if you want to be super nerdy, find out what gates your EXACT flights use daily on something like flightaware .com, you just type in your flight number for yesterday and it'll tell you which gate was used. Do that for a few days and you'll see the pattern. Do your in bound and out bound. Then you can have a very good idea of where, how and how far you'll need to move in 2 hours.

 

You can do it.

I have faith in you

[grillinchillin]

8 hours ago, lauti said:

I’d wait to book until Southwest and other low cost carriers open their schedules. Right now, there’s no LCC competition so the mains are trying to see at what price people will bite. 
 

Southwest’s next schedule release is 6/8

@lauti This comment is spot on!

 

Right now the ""Big Three" can charge whatever the market will pay as the low cost carriers have flights published to early November, 2023.

 

Thanks again!

[staceyglow]

January is still a long long way away.  I wouldn't worry about booking your flights this early unless they are refundable.

 

We fly Southwest almost exclusively for domestic travel.  Not only are they usually the least expensive (or at least in the ballpark), we can always cancel a flight and receive credit towards future travel.  DH has cancelled and rebooked flights multiple times for the same trip when the price dropped. 

[zdcatc12]

On 5/6/2023 at 7:39 PM, staceyglow said:

Not only are they usually the least expensive (or at least in the ballpark), we can always cancel a flight and receive credit towards future travel.  DH has cancelled and rebooked flights multiple times for the same trip when the price dropped. 

Which you can also do now on any of the major US airlines.