Our flight is gone for good

[tomm4004]

A staple of our trips to WDW has been taking the early morning flight to Detroit from London, ON, then continuing on to MCO, getting in around Noon. But Delta bought Northwest and now they are discontinuing those flights. We just got back two weeks ago, and my family was booked Jan. 4th for the marathon. But they now have to find an alternative. It was so convenient and reasonably priced.

Westjet only goes Saturdays. We can fly United through Chicago, but it's way out of the way. It's the end of an year. We've been doing this for 20 years probably.

 

[Goofycanuck]

If you live in London the easiest solution would be to drive the 2 hours to Metro airport in Detroit. Spirit, Airtran and Delta offer lots of direct flights to MCO, departing at various times including early morning. There are also plenty of reasonably priced hotels nearby with shuttle service to the airport and park'n fly rates.

 

[tomm4004]

If you live in London the easiest solution would be to drive the 2 hours to Metro airport in Detroit. Spirit, Airtran and Delta offer lots of direct flights to MCO, departing at various times including early morning. There are also plenty of reasonably priced hotels nearby with shuttle service to the airport and park'n fly rates.

Thanks for the tips. But for us, "drive to Detroit," "hotel" "shuttle service" and park'n fly" are four letter words. The whole point was to drive 10 minutes to the airport, hop on the plane (with 15 others) and be in Orlando by Noon. We've done the other way and it's horrid, especially in the winter.

Actually, the United flights look more promising than I thought.

 

[Mammymouse]

Would you consider flying from England to Boston or Providence? Southwest has direct 2 hr and 45 minute flights from Boston or Providence on to Orlando all the time, and their prices are very good, too. You would have to book on the Southwest.com website, which is real easy. We aren't good travelers so Southwest direct is the only way for us. Some flights are $79 or $89 one way right now.

 

[Victoria]

I hate the whole disappearing flight act. I've been religiously flying the same flights on Continental from Newark, NJ to MCO for at least the last 3 years. As soon as Continental bought United the whole schedule got screwy. My favorite flights are gone and the prices for the next best flights doubled. This is why I will be flying JetBlue the first weekend in December for $185 round trip. I'm sad to say I may be giving up on Continental. I've got a nice chunk of miles racked up too.

 

[HoneyMnShawnee]

Living in Windsor, I am quite lucky to be so close to Metro Airport and all the direct flights. I was going to suggest the drive down as well. You could get to Metro within three hours, barring poor traffic or border backups. I don't know what the cost of the London to Detroit flights were but could it be possible that the drive down would be cheaper and maybe worth the extra work? I totally understand the convenience factor however. Sorry to hear about your flight.

 

[tomm4004]

Actually, it's London, Ontario not England!!

Tacking on the London/Detroit leg didn't cost much extra if any. That was the part of the beauty (and possibly part of the reason it was axed). It was like a loss leader to get you to one of their hubs.

I've looked into it further - the United flight (London/Chicago/Orlando) leaves and arrives about the same time and the price is comparable. So maybe it's a new tradition. Looking at the map Chicago isn't as far out of the way as I thought, despite it being in another time zone.

Detroit was a pretty easy airport to navigate. Hope O'Hare is the same.

 

[googilycub]

Detroit was a pretty easy airport to navigate. Hope O'Hare is the same.

O'Hare is very easy to navigate.

 

[CP_alum08]

Is there a flight from the Sarnia airport to Detroit? I don't know if there is but you could drive the hour to Sarnia. Or even a commuter from one of the small airports near Port Huron?

O'Hare is pretty nice. MUCH better than Detroit until they revamped it.

 

[RonAnnArbor]

Actually, now that Detroit is all new, it's consistently one of the highest rated airports in the country, especially for international flyers since it is so fast and easy to clear customs in Detroit -- make sure you have at least 2 1/2 hours in between flights if you are clearing customs at O'hare -- they are really really slow most of the day.

But I understand the change in flights. All my favorite NW flights from Detroit are also messed up. Delta now has only a few non-stops from DTW to MCO, and the times are really messed up. Also, all the Delta flights are fully booked a good month before your departure date, so there is almost no such thing as a last-minute getaway to WDW.

I suppose I could look at other flights with other airlines, but all my miles are with NW/Delta, and that's pretty much who I am sticking with. It just takes more advance planning, and changes the routine once you arrive at a different time than the one you have routinized...

 

[Mikester71]

Is there a flight from the Sarnia airport to Detroit? I don't know if there is but you could drive the hour to Sarnia. Or even a commuter from one of the small airports near Port Huron?

O'Hare is pretty nice. MUCH better than Detroit until they revamped it.

I live in Sarnia and can't remember what flies out of here, but it would probably be quicker and cheaper just to drive the extra hour from here to Detroit. :shrug:

 

[tcwickings]

Drive over to Flint Mi. and fly air trans from there non stop.

 

[erstwo]

The key to flying through Ohare in the winter is to be sure your flight arrives/ departs before noon CST. (And it sounds like you'll have that covered!)

Except on the worst days, Ohare will usually always get all flights scheduled to arrive or depart before noon taken care of that same day. After noon though - if the weather is bad- things can get iffy. We take about 4 trips a year to Chicago, and we always make sure we get the earliest flight possible. That way we know we'll be home that same day.

Have fun exploring a new airport! Glad you found a way "home!"

 

[googilycub]

Drive over to Flint Mi. and fly air trans from there non stop.

Don't count on this flight lasting long after the Southwest merger is complete.

 

[tcwickings]

Don't count on this flight lasting long after the Southwest merger is complete.

I called on this myself and they told me that it will be at least 2 years before anything like that will happen.

 

[RonAnnArbor]

I'm not sure there will be any differences in route from Flint after the Merger. SW is not a major carrier in this area -- except for the name change, I don't expect many (if any) of the flights from Bishop to change, other than having a different name painted on the planes.

 

[tecowdw]

Actually, now that Detroit is all new, it's consistently one of the highest rated airports in the country, especially for international flyers since it is so fast and easy to clear customs in Detroit -- make sure you have at least 2 1/2 hours in between flights if you are clearing customs at O'hare -- they are really really slow most of the day.

But I understand the change in flights. All my favorite NW flights from Detroit are also messed up. Delta now has only a few non-stops from DTW to MCO, and the times are really messed up. Also, all the Delta flights are fully booked a good month before your departure date, so there is almost no such thing as a last-minute getaway to WDW.

I suppose I could look at other flights with other airlines, but all my miles are with NW/Delta, and that's pretty much who I am sticking with. It just takes more advance planning, and changes the routine once you arrive at a different time than the one you have routinized...

The Delta/Northwest merger impacted my normal MCO flights also. I use to connect south through Cincinnati or Atlanta. Now most of the flights go north to Detroit first (adding an additional hour to my MCO leg). It's not the ideal schedule anymore for sure. Honestly, now if I have to fly a major airline, I won't be so dedicated to Delta as I can connect through O'Hare just as easy without that added hour.

Fortunately, I usually take Allegiant Air which is non-stop from my airport. It's another one of those that only flies certain days and only one time on that day but I like non-stop. If I have to compromise on schedule, I might as well take the non-stop option!

They days of flying being easy are long gone.

 

[tomm4004]

Drive over to Flint Mi. and fly air trans from there non stop.

Just priced it. For the four of them it's $620 total with tax on Delta and $880 total with tax on Air Trans. Both are cheap, but Delta is dirt. United out of London would have been $450 each - or $1800 total.

So begrudgingly, they've decided to drive and overnight it in Detroit. But that's not for me anymore. I'll fork over the extra cash.

 

[tecowdw]

Just priced it. For the four of them it's $620 total with tax on Delta and $880 total with tax on Air Trans. Both are cheap, but Delta is dirt. United out of London would have been $450 each - or $1800 total.

So begrudgingly, they've decided to drive and overnight it in Detroit. But that's not for me anymore. I'll fork over the extra cash.

Yep, sometimes it's worth paying for convenience. I hate any drive more than 1.5 hours.

 

[BrerKev]

Not sure if you have an option of connecting in Milwaukee, WI. Our Mitchell International Airport (MKE) is great, and many people actually drive up from Chicago to fly out of MKE rather than Ohare.