Another flight question

Connie · Post by **Connie** » Sun Mar 15, 2015 11:15 am

We have been looking for days for reasonably priced tickets and times for October 11-18. We have tried everything, even checking other airports.

My question is, even though we are 15 minutes from PHL, we have an option of going out of Lehigh Valley....but....the plane stops in PHL. Can we not go up to Lehigh Valley and just get on in PHL?

The other option is to take a flight out of PHL at 5:45 Am, but then it goes up to Boston, stops in MIA.

We have tried flights from PHL, BOS, Baltimore, Lehigh Valley and Atlantic City. Why do they make it so difficult to get into and out of the Virgin Islands?

Also, basically we would have to take a flight out of STT at 8AM and I read that PIa said it could be hard to make.

I'm out of ideas.

PA Girl · Post by **PA Girl** » Sun Mar 15, 2015 11:41 am

Connie wrote:
My question is, even though we are 15 minutes from PHL, we have an option of going out of Lehigh Valley....but....the plane stops in PHL. Can we not go up to Lehigh Valley and just get on in PHL?

No you can't. If you don't show up at Lehigh Valley, the entire internary would be cancelled.

Is flying out of PHL more expensive? We waffle back and forth between harrisburg and PHL for flights and most of the time, it is cheaper for us to take the commuter flight to PHL and onward from there than to just book the same leg from PHL. Makes no sense.

Off Season flights can present challenges. I am shopping for summer flights.

Would you consider flying through San Juan and then taking cape air or seaborne to STT? I am finding a decent selection of direct PHL-sju flights in July.

Lovermont · Post by **Lovermont** » Sun Mar 15, 2015 1:57 pm

Is JFK an option? Maybe drive up the night before and spend the night in a Park/Sleep/Fly hotel. This fare is for a non-stop flight.

We've been known to drive anywhere from 3 hours to 6 hours to get decent flights. A matter of fact, in our nine trips to STJ, we've never flown out of VT, because it never works out with the cost of the flight and weird connections.

Exit Zero · Post by **Exit Zero** » Sun Mar 15, 2015 2:15 pm

I took that PHL-BOS-MIA-STT flight in Nov. coming back home -- exhausting day of travel and landed at 10pm. I don't recommend it.
If you can fly out of ABE and get herein the afternoon it isn't a bad choice. Off season flights get hard to find - I have also used Spirit out of ACY -FLL- STT and if you can stand that airline it is fine.
I spend 3 months in Cape May Point each summer/autumn and trying to get a flight back here in late Oct or early Nov. is ALWAYS a challenge. But once it starts getting cold there is a great motivator!

psufan · Post by **psufan** » Sun Mar 15, 2015 4:09 pm

Connie,

We have flown out of ABE on several occasions. Of course it is in our backyard. If the fares are reasonable from ABE we love flying from there because it is so easy to get in and out. However, we ran into the same problem booking our September trip. Flights were way too expensive with crappy connecting flights regardless of the hub/ airline. We finally settled on flying out of JFK on Delta's direct flight. We hate flying from there but the fare difference and arrival/departure times couldn't be beat. To make it less of a pain we are using points from our Capital One card to splurge on car transportation to and from the airport.

Connie · Post by **Connie** » Sun Mar 15, 2015 5:27 pm

Thanks everyone. It looks like flying out of JFK is the best option. I looked it up and from house it's about a 2 hour drive and the prices for the flights are reasonably price and direct!

Now we just have to determine whether we want to park and fly or go up the night before, stay at a hotel that has parking.

Does anyone know of a hotel that has park and stay?

psufan · Post by **psufan** » Sun Mar 15, 2015 6:02 pm

Finding a good park sleep fly option around JFK is a challenge. I believe we stayed at a Fairfield Inn the last time. They had an arrangement with the paid parking lot next door. I just remember that the lot attendant was really super because it had snowed while we were away and he took the time to clean the snow off because we were obviously not dressed for staying outside too long

inuny · Post by **inuny** » Mon Mar 16, 2015 8:07 am

We often drive to NYC for flights. Last time, we stayed at the Marriott Fairfield on a park/fly plan. The parking lot is in the back of the hotel. It took 20 minutes for the shuttle driver to get to our terminal (there was no traffic). The bed was a bit uncomfortable, but the room was clean, large.

We also stayed once at the Holiday Inn Express. While checking in, 2 separate guests came to the desk saying they were given keys to occupied rooms. The room was small and a bit dank. The power was out when we woke up (luckily we had set our phone alarms). We dressed by phone flashlight (thank you Apple). They gave us a discount off the room price. There is a nice pay lot right next door. It was less expensive to book a regular room (not park/fly) and leave the car next door.

We are trying the Hampton Inn on our next trip.

watergirl · Post by **watergirl** » Mon Mar 16, 2015 11:44 am

Hi Connie,
I live in Bucks County and have been to STJ many times from every airport in the area. We've found the cheapest and quickest way to get there is through JFK as they have direct flights to STT. AA has a flight that leaves about 8am and gets to STT. around 1pm.The return flight we take leaves STT around 2:30, get in about 6:30, so by the time you get your stuff rush hour is over. We have stayed over at the airport, but the last few times just got up and went straight there. It's a 2 hour drive and at 4am believe it or not no traffic. There are a few cheap(er) parking areas close to the airport. you have to book them ahead of time if you want the cheaper rate.
Lehigh is a cute little airport but lately fare from there have been way too pricey and routes too indirect.

Connie · Post by **Connie** » Mon Mar 16, 2015 12:33 pm

We did it! We booked out of JFK. We were going to stay Oct 11-19, but we checked Oct 12-19 and it was cheaper. 669.00 the 2 of us! This is so worth it. The other flights just work with times or price.

I'm amazed at the price difference.

This this really is my dream to stay at Blue Bitch.

I'm going to have alot of questions. I've read this forum forever and I know I can count on all of you. Time to really start taking notes on places to eat, go, hike, etc. for a 1st timer.

Thanks to all! You've really helped me out.

Exit Zero · Post by **Exit Zero** » Mon Mar 16, 2015 12:57 pm

Since I don't have a car in the States to worry about parking long term while on vacation, sometimes I have just rented a car for the airport ride or even used a towncar service - it might be less expensive than parking for a week or more and it is door to door which is convenient.

Connie · Post by **Connie** » Mon Mar 16, 2015 1:56 pm

Great Idea Exit. Looking at all the options.

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