Why so expensive to fly out of Grand Rapids? (Detroit: house, condo)

[Northman]

Searching for decent airfares this morning, I realized that I had never considered flying out of Grand Rapids before, even though it's closer to me than Flint or Detroit. I was pretty suprised to see that the fares were at least $200 more with every carrier I checked. I thought GR was a large enough city now that they'd be able to offer competitive fares, but I guess not.

Just wondering how local residents deal with this when they have to fly. I would think a lot of people are driving to Chicago, Flint and Detroit, but that has to be a pain.

Also, can anyone tell me what Ford airport in GR is like in terms of size, structure, etc.?

[suydam]

I usually fly out of GR and I've never experienced a +$200 fare differential (though I don't doubt the accuracy of your observation).

Last month I flew to Ft. Myers from GRR for $289 round trip per person.
Similar flights out of Detroit were $199. Yeah, that's a premium, but even with a family of 3 we're only talking $270 premium to fly from GRR and to be honest when we compared the following, that seemed like a small price to pay:
1) Parking at DTW is $9/day. Parking at GRR is free (at our house) because we can ask a neighbor to drop us at the airport (and have done the same for several neighbors before). For a weeklong trip,l that's $63 in parking.

2) DTW is 155 miles away from our house. GRR is 10 miles away. That's an extra 290 miles of driving (and gas, and time) round trip that we don't need to spend to fly outta GRR. With our SUV loaded with kids and luggage, that's probably $50 (or more) in gas.

So cost-wise, the real premium to fly out of GRR was closer to $150. We figured our time was worth that. Rather than sit the kids in the car for the 2.5 hour drive to DTW, that 10 minute drive to GRR is very attractive.

What's more, I can show up at GRR 75 minutes before my flight and be through security and waiting at the gate 60 minutes before the thing takes off. You cannot make that same guarantee at DTW (though it's not too bad now that you can check-in on the web).

In the end, the though of leaving the house at 10:30am for a noon flight outta GRR seemed much more attractive than leaving the house at 7am for a noon flight out of DTW.

[marmac]

northman--------although my comment is " apples to oranges"-----airline fares are quite sporadic.

I signed up for travelocity's best fares that alerts me to the lowest fares between 2 cities.

I live in central Minnesota and monitor Atlanta and Chattanooga ( both would work out for me)

Currently Atlanta is $259 and Chattanooga is $578 ( airports are 116 miles apart)

[AngelfaceAZ]

GR is incredibly expensive to fly in or out of especially when I can fly into Chicago for under $200....have to see the in-laws too anyway lol.

[Northman]

That sucks. I'm actually in Grand Rapids now, just drove down here from Petoskey. It's about the same distance as it is to Flint from my place, but I wanted to fly out of GR because the traffic to get down here is much lighter on 131 than it is on I-75 into Flint.

I also just talked to my travel agent, and she said GR is so expensive to fly out of because there aren't any of the smaller discount carriers at Ford airport to create competition for the big boys. Damn.

On another note - I can't believe all the construction going on here downtown! There must be 4 or 5 new buildings up since lastime I was here in 2004. Cranes everywhere...........I don't think I've seen a crane in downtown Detroit for 15 years!

[gillgetter]

Northman, the GR airfare problem has been in the news several times in the last few months. The problem is the fault of Northwest airlines. As explained by the Gerald Ford Airport director: If a small disount airline comes to GR then Northwest (which has a major hub here) will lower the prices long enough to drive the discount airline out, then NWA bumps their prices back up.
This is killing GR airfaires!! Personally I like to drive to Lansing and fly Alegiant Air to Florida. its a non-stop flight! rates are as low as $69 each way.
One major problem I have with GR airport is most flights have connectors.
We are going to the Dominican Republic in 4 weeks and we will drive to Detroit to fly out of direct to Miami to DR but from GR you have to fly to cinnci, (or another airport) and then to Miami. most cases this requires a overnight stay to catch another flight!! Sucks!!

As for the new buildings, yes GR is growing. the 34 story building next to the highway you see is just for condo's! its suppose to be the second tallest condo in Michigan. Other construction projects are mainly related to the Medical field like the new MSU medical building.

[Northman]

gillgetter, I'm actually staying in the building you referred to as I type this. The bottom 7 floors are a Marriott Courtyard, but I do NOT recommend it. They charged me $140 for a single bed room with an old, puny 19 inch TV and a mattress that feels like it was carved from an oak! I wanted to watch the Wings game lastnight, only to find they did NOT HAVE FSN DETROIT on their cable package, which is unbelievable in Michigans 2nd largest city! The walls are paper thin, and I couldn't sleep because of TV noise from the next room. The water pressure in the shower kept cutting out on me - I felt like Steve Martin in "Planes, Trains & Automobiles"!! Booooo Marriott Grand Rapids! Will be staying at the Amway Grand next time.

But back to Ford Airport........GR needs to get on the ball about this fare thing. The city is bigger and much more prosperous than Flint, yet Flints airfares are dramatically lower. They need to realize what an inconvenience this poses to current and potential residents, plus folks like myself, who would gladly drive down from up north if only they could afford to utilize GR's airport. This isn't a little nit picking issue, it's a quality of life factor that is costing the city revenue and positive exposure in a time when Michigan could really use it!

NW and Delta have restarted talks concerning their possible merger, although I don't know what, if any effect that may have on the issue at hand.

[teachbeach]

There are times when I'm trying to get to Lansing, that I check the prices going in/out of Flint, Grand Rapids and Lansing. Believe it or not, some times Grand Rapids beats them, other times Flint beats them, and sometimes, the little bit higher cost of flying directly to Lansing is worth the money. I sign up for the air fare alerts and ocassionally hit a good deal when I need to travel. Of course, it's usually least expensive to fly in/out of Detroit, but then you have to add in the cost of travel, wait time, and figure out what impact the weather may have on your travel plans.

[Northman]

Hmmmmm....maybe I should check Lansing, too.

[mich2fla]

We just booked flights to Orlando from GRR for thius coming February...after taxes and fees it comes to $300 per person flying Midwest. Not too bad. Last year we paid around $335 per ticket on NWA. In the past, it's usually around $250-275 from GRR.

We have flew out of DTW many times. With 4 kids, it's easier for us to fly out of GRR and we live 10 minutes away from the airport.

Just shop around...we look into flights from Muskegon, Lansing, Flint, DTW, and South Bend. All of them were comparable in fares and we liked the times from GRR better. DTW was cheaper but we had to factor in the gas prices both ways and the parking fees.