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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