When I’m searching for domestic flights from our hometown airport, Orlando International (MCO), I’ll usually find at least two airlines that fly non-stop between the cities. Occasionally it’s just one, but more often than not, I’ll have a choice.
If we’re flying to New York or Atlanta, I might find three or maybe four options mixed between legacy and low-cost (or ultra-low-cost) carriers.
But now I’m looking for flights between Orlando and Las Vegas for this fall and here are the options I have for non-stop flights:
- Allegiant (from Sanford Airport) 2 days/week
- Frontier
- Southwest
- Spirit
On the day we want to fly to Las Vegas, Allegiant will not offer flights based on their current schedule and Southwest doesn’t even offer non-stop, only one-stop flights without changing planes. So if we’d want to fly non-stop, our choices are the morning flight on Spirit or the evening departures on Frontier or Spirit.
Is it really a choice if there’s not really a choice? By then there might not be a choice if the airlines merge.
I don’t want to sit for 5+ hours on any of those planes.
Image courtesy Great Circle Mapper
I hate to think it, but it looks like we’re either going to book a one-stop Southwest flight or a connecting flight with one of the legacy carriers. I did fly New York to Seattle with one stop on Southwest, and while it wasn’t optimal, I survived. The stop just needs to be around the middle of the trip.
At this point, I’m going to be shopping for prices (which are sky-high) and schedules. It’s up for grabs whichever airline has the best combination of the two. I’ll also be considering which airline has the most alternatives to get me home if flights get canceled.
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7 comments
How about Virgin Atlantic, connecting in LHR?
Spirit Big Front Seat, that would be my solution.
Suck it up Buttercup, Fly Allegiant. Sanford is a great a place to fly out of and Las Vegas is there home base. BTW, I’m not affiliated at all with them.
Spirit big front seat is the choice you want on this.
I vote for Spirit Big Front Seat.
Southwest. Their turnarounds are pretty fast and they don’t nickel and dime you for carry-ons, printing a boarding pass, etc. Also, their seat pitch is vastly superior to any of those ULCC other choices you have there. Unless you’re 5’1″, the fact that WN offers 31-32″ pitch vs 28″-29″ for the others should be more than enough to give this one to Southwest.
I would consider a network carrier over all your choices. I live in Central IL. There are very few non-stops from the local airports. But Allegiant (to Vegas) does fly from here and they suck! We will never fly them again. If they cancel a flight, you are stuck buying another ticket on another airline.