Nothing about booking airfare is straightforward. The way airlines figure out how much to charge to get you from city A to city B drives me crazy. Idiosyncrasies in the pricing system have led to passengers booking hidden-city tickets with the help of websites like Skiplagged. While that method to save money on airfare doesn’t match our travel style, there’s another way to save I’ve looked into, and current technology makes it easier than ever to find these fares.
You can save hundreds of dollars on airfare if you’re willing to drive a bit further to a different airport.
Why Should You Look At Alternate Airports?
Of course, the first airport you’re going to look for is the one nearest your home. If you’ve enabled location services on your device, it may even fill that part in for you.
Since we live in Central Florida, the most convenient airport for us is Orlando International (MCO). It would make sense that, given the level of competition, flights from MCO would be the cheapest… but are they? There are several airports, such as the other Central Florida area airports (Sanford and Melbourne), as well as Daytona and Tampa, that are all within a 100-mile drive:
If you expand that search to 150 miles, there are even more, including Sarasota, Palm Beach, and Jacksonville.
There are at least two reasons you might find a cheaper airfare from a different airport:
- If you live near a smaller airport with little competition, a larger airport with more airlines will often have less expensive airfares.
- However, a smaller airport may have less costly fares for direct flights serviced by low-cost carriers who don’t fly to the main airport.
How To Find Airfares From Nearby Airports
Most online search engines make it easy to check alternative airports, but not all of them are equally user-friendly.
Say you want to fly from Providence, RI, to Las Vegas for a weekend. What would be the best and cheapest way to get there?
The easiest option is Google Flights, which features a user-friendly interface and allows you to quickly add or remove nearby airports with a single click.
For advanced users, the ITA Matrix tool also makes it possible to select alternate airports. Once you have chosen your home airport, you can click “nearby” to view expanded options.
While flying from Providence may seem like the best option, there aren’t many good flight choices. One-stop trips on the major carriers start at $500 for a round-trip ticket.
You can expand the search a bit to include Boston Logan and Hartford, CT (Bradley) and get different results:
Then there are non-stop options with JetBlue and Delta:
Besides being a non-stop flight, the prices are also half of the fares from Providence.
What To Consider When Booking At An Alternate Airport
If only it were as easy as just looking for a cheaper flight when deciding to drive to a different airport. There are several other things to consider besides price.
If you’re driving a long distance to an airport, you need to factor that time into your travel. Is the flight early in the morning? If so, you’ll have to leave in the middle of the night or the day before and pay for a hotel. Would that expense eat into your savings? You also have to consider the cost of airport parking, gas, and tolls.
Finally, there’s the time of the return flight. If you arrive late in the evening from a long day of travel, you’ll still have a long car ride home. That doesn’t take into consideration the chance of flight delays.
Final Thoughts
Driving a little further to an alternative airport can save you a significant amount of money on flights. Even if the price isn’t much different, choosing a different city to fly from may provide better airline options and direct flights.
However, it’s important to consider the additional costs and time spent when traveling to a further airport. Everyone values their time, comfort, and ease of travel differently, so when deciding if this makes sense for you, Your Mileage May Vary.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
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