Cheapest airport to fly into?

[An Einnseanair]

Another big issue is that (as of right now) Southwest doesn't fly to Atlanta or Chattanooga but does fly into Nashville and Knoxville. This really sucked for me when I first moved here because Southwest is by far my favorite airline.

But if the proposed Southwest-AirTran merger goes through (voting next month, I think), then eventually Southwest WILL gain a foothold in Delta's strongest fortress.

[An Einnseanair]

I completely missed the second half of the original post... I wouldn't call it flat, but the vast majority of Hamilton County is NOT mountainous. I remember flying into LAX for the first time and realizing that we were still WAY up in the air, but were below the tops of the surrounding mountains which are as much as 2 miles up. There's nothing like that around here. The top of Lookout Mountain to the TN River is a max of about 1600ft change in elevation, and the "mountains" have flat tops. The only twisty mountain roads with steep drop-offs are the few roads that go up and down Lookout and Signal Mountains and Walden Ridge. It's easy to avoid those unless you live up on top.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by jwkilgore

Another big issue is that (as of right now) Southwest doesn't fly to Atlanta or Chattanooga but does fly into Nashville and Knoxville. This really sucked for me when I first moved here because Southwest is by far my favorite airline.

But if the proposed Southwest-AirTran merger goes through (voting next month, I think), then eventually Southwest WILL gain a foothold in Delta's strongest fortress.

Southwest does not fly into Knoxville. AirTran does, but only to Orlando. Southwest has a hub in Nashville with nonstop flights to over 20 cities across the country and is one reason air fares are so much cheaper out of Nashville than any other airport in Tennessee.

[nashvols]

Originally Posted by JMT

Southwest does not fly into Knoxville. AirTran does, but only to Orlando. Southwest has a hub in Nashville with nonstop flights to over 20 cities across the country and is one reason air fares are so much cheaper out of Nashville than any other airport in Tennessee.

I love having Southwest here...occasionally you get those ridiculous $39 each way flights. It is by far the best airline I've dealt with.

[Dariengap]

They charge less for connecting flights because they cancel your ticket if you miss the first flight and resell your seat.

[JuliaTN1]

I'll concur with what most have said about the airports. I've been flying from Nashville more often lately because Southwest usually has a better deal than most and are often direct flights.

As far as mountainous terrain, you can always get where you are going across town without going over anything scarier than the Ridge Cut (which isn't scary). Stay away from the W Rd (Signal Mtn) and Ochs Hwy (Lookout Mtn) and you'll be fine. There are other routes up those mountains that might freak out a flatlander but nothing too bad.

[kota45]

We went ahead and treated ourselves to tickets all the way to Chattanooga. We considered the four hours of driving (two hours each way), the traffic of the bigger cities that we might encounter, and having to deal with the larger airports when we leave. Ultimately, we paid about $90 per ticket more to fly all the way to Chattanooga and we're happy with that. We have not been able to afford to include the word vacation in our vocabulary for awhile because of this economy, and although we are visiting Chattanooga to scope it out for a possible place to live, we're going to treat it as a vacation as well. Therefore, a two hour drive after a 5-6 hour flight just doesn't fit in. Definitely going to take a much closer look at Southwest into Nashville if I have to fly out later for interviews though.

[nashvols]

Originally Posted by kota45

Definitely going to take a much closer look at Southwest into Nashville if I have to fly out later for interviews though.

Nashville to Chattanooga is typically a 2 hour drive. Figure 4+ hours round trip and $35-50 worth of gas to see if that is worth it to you when you fly.

[RiverView]

Originally Posted by nashvols

Nashville to Chattanooga is typically a 2 hour drive. Figure 4+ hours round trip and $35-50 worth of gas to see if that is worth it to you when you fly.

Plus the cost of a rental car.