Any Canadians flown out of Buffalo recently? WWYD?

[alohamom]

I am looking at a flight out of Buffalo to MCO in January because the price is $97 Canadian roundtrip
A similar time/flight from Toronto is almost $300 CND
Two people flying so the savings are approx $400 CND

I am worried about a couple of things with the Buffalo option-
A) The weather. Sometimes it will be a clear sunny winter day here and there will be a raging lake effect snow storm in Buffalo.
B) Crossing the border with the new Omicron variant wreaking havoc everywhere which could possible cause rule changes for future travel. I don't want to be stuck not being able to cross over by land therefore not being able to fly out of there.

The cons for Toronto are
A) I have been to Pearson recently and it was jammed. The sheer amount of international travellers scared me, never mind the wait times and processing through customs.
B) The cost (but honestly that is kind of secondary)

I have to pay for parking in both scenarios and it is much cheaper at the Buffalo airport so the cost of gas to get there equals it out.

WWYD? Any thoughts?

 

[wdwmom3]

I am looking at a flight out of Buffalo to MCO in January because the price is $97 Canadian roundtrip
A similar time/flight from Toronto is almost $300 CND
Two people flying so the savings are approx $400 CND

I am worried about a couple of things with the Buffalo option-
A) The weather. Sometimes it will be a clear sunny winter day here and there will be a raging lake effect snow storm in Buffalo.
B) Crossing the border with the new Omicron variant wreaking havoc everywhere which could possible cause rule changes for future travel. I don't want to be stuck not being able to cross over by land therefore not being able to fly out of there.

The cons for Toronto are
A) I have been to Pearson recently and it was jammed. The sheer amount of international travellers scared me, never mind the wait times and processing through customs.
B) The cost (but honestly that is kind of secondary)

I have to pay for parking in both scenarios and it is much cheaper at the Buffalo airport so the cost of gas to get there equals it out.

WWYD? Any thoughts?

As far as weather goes. It is a bit riskier flying out of Buffalo. But not that much more then Toronto. I would watch the weather as your trip approaches and you could always drive down the day before.

I don’t think are going to face any more restrictions crossing into the US at the land border in January. But nobody really knows.

Really just make sure you can cancel your flights and not lose all your money.

 

[hcortesis]

Not worth it to me. However, I don't think you have to test before boarding a plane if you fly in the U.S. (I think) so if you did happen to pick up Covid, you aren't forced to drive back to Ontario from MCO by being denied boarding.

 

[Madame]

I'd fly from Buffalo, but then again our only option (other than driving 4+ hrs to Toronto) is a US airport, so to us the risk seems worth it.

 

[hdrolfe]

For that price, I'd go from Buffalo as well. Also seems easier if you do test positive when you get to Buffalo, you can still drive home.

 

[alohamom]

Also seems easier if you do test positive when you get to Buffalo, you can still drive home.

Good point

 

[Eeyore's the Best]

I would def go with Buffalo. The Buffalo airport is very well equipped to handle the snow and it needs to be pretty bad to affect the flights.

 

[TammyLynn33]

I would def go with Buffalo. The Buffalo airport is very well equipped to handle the snow and it needs to be pretty bad to affect the flights.

Yes ! We went for hockey a few years ago and I honestly thought we were going so slow we would get stuck on the highway. Finally got to hotel and ordered pizza thinking of would take forever and it was at our room in 20 mins . They are used to snow

 

[C&B Young]

We're 90 minutes from Toronto and 2 hours from Buffalo. Have flown to Florida 2-3 times a year for the past decade out of Buffalo. We've had 1 flight cancelled due to weather in all that time (Southwest, every other airline still flew out of BUF that day) and had to stay in Buffalo an extra day before flying down. The cheapest flights out of Pearson have never come close to touching the prices out of Buffalo whenever we've checked over the years.

 

[migel]

I'm an hour from Buffalo and slightly less to Toronto.
I'd go with Buffalo. If the weather looks iffy, and you're able, I'd cross the border the evening before and stay at a hotel near the airport. Several offer free parking for your vehicle and a shuttle to the airport. I paid well over $100 for a week's parking alone at Park & Fly (Pearson) last month.
Also, by driving across the border, you avoid potential random screening at Pearson upon your return, (or whatever other absurd requirement they'll be implementing by that time). Good luck!

 

[alohamom]

If the weather looks iffy, and you're able, I'd cross the border the evening before and stay at a hotel near the airport. Several offer free parking for your vehicle and a shuttle to the airport. I paid well over $100 for a week's parking alone at Park & Fly (Pearson) last month.

Right, this is a good point-thank you!

 

[alohamom]

Ok, I pulled the trigger and booked out of Buffalo.
Now I just have to hope the rules for crossing the land border do not change back to how they were!

 

[Eeyore's the Best]

I'm booked out of Buffalo on Christmas Day for our first flight since Feb 2020. I think it's highly unlikely that border rules driving to the US will change. I think worse case scenario they might start to require a test to cross but I would be fine with that, they accept antigen so it's just a quick one at Shoppers if it comes to that.

 

[Jrb1979]

I'm booked out of Buffalo on Christmas Day for our first flight since Feb 2020. I think it's highly unlikely that border rules driving to the US will change. I think worse case scenario they might start to require a test to cross but I would be fine with that, they accept antigen so it's just a quick one at Shoppers if it comes to that.

Today they are going to announce tougher travel restrictions as well as bring back the non essential travel advisory.

 

[Eeyore's the Best]

No changes to the US border rules that I have heard so far. I'm going to choose not to take their "advice" against non essential travel. I can quarantine in Florida if necessary I can even drive back if I had to. I get the feeling that this advisory is more towards truly international trips, overseas etc foreign countries, other than the US. They are not even changing the rule as of yet about not having to test for short trips to the US.

 

[wdwmom3]

No changes to the US border rules that I have heard so far. I'm going to choose not to take their "advice" against non essential travel. I can quarantine in Florida if necessary I can even drive back if I had to. I get the feeling that this advisory is more towards truly international trips, overseas etc foreign countries, other than the US. They are not even changing the rule as of yet about not having to test for short trips to the US.

If that’s all that changed I’m with you. And yeah I think they are mainly targeting travel to places other then the US.

 

[Eeyore's the Best]

It's a very valid point that someone made, restricting travel isn't going to do much to stop this Omicron spread. Everyone is getting tested before they come back, and likely again on arrival. They are doing this to try to protect Canadians to travelling to foreign countries and ending up in a situation where COVID is much worse and the government cannot do much to help them abroad.

 

[wdwmom3]

It's a very valid point that someone made, restricting travel isn't going to do much to stop this Omicron spread. Everyone is getting tested before they come back, and likely again on arrival. They are doing this to try to protect Canadians to travelling to foreign countries and ending up in a situation where COVID is much worse and the government cannot do much to help them abroad.

Exactly. And with the US it’s not hard for us to get back.

 

[Eeyore's the Best]

Now I have a cruise booked for February....I will have to make a decision about that one before January 14, 2021. I feel like it's a similar scenario, we are leaving from the US, the ship has all kinds of assurances in place if you get COVID. I'm leaning towards even still going on this as well. But will see what happens over the next few weeks. Unfortunately my final payment date is one day before this current advisory could possible change, but we usually get a media heads up on what is likely to change before all of these official announcements.

 

[jba2]

I'd rather fly from Toronto. I wouldn't want to fly on a US carrier where the passengers don't need to be vaccinated.