Which airport do you tend to use? (Tampa, Clearwater: coupon, vouchers) - Sarasota - Bradenton - Venice area - Florida (FL) -Manatee and Sarasota Counties - Page 2 - City-Data Forum

Suncoast Guy · 08-02-2009, 09:24 PM

My family generally uses SRQ (Sarasota/Bradenton International) for incoming and outgoing flights. Yes, the airport may not be as big as Tampa's TIA, but it's nearby, it has the airline that my family generally flies which is Delta, and it's just generally convenient. Having to drive to Tampa or St. Pete (unless you had to) would be asinine when you have an airport 20 minutes away. That's my 2 cents on it.

jvelte · 08-03-2009, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrcoolmrcool28

We had always gone with either TPA or Ft. Meyers, whichever was cheaper, until we found out about DirectAir flying into Punta Gorda from the Jeveltes. They can catch it right out of Grand Rapids I think it is, and we found out it flies direct into PG from Rockford, Illinois, which is about an hour to an hour and a half from our house, pretty much the same distance as the Milwaukee airport for us. And parking there is free. It's $11./day at MKE. We bought two round trips when they were running a special a while back, and we now have 2 tickets for $140. each round trip right into PG. They're just waiting for us to use them. Probably in November.
Thanks Jerrid, for the tip!!

Glad to help Cools! I tell everyone about Direct Air in the hopes that we don't lose the service or the flight between West Michigan and Punta Gorda. We love the Punta Gorda (Charlotte County) airport. Very easy access, rental cars, close to town. They offer two discount airlines that I know of for sure: Direct Air and Allegiant. Both have limited flights, but usually under $130 each way (often times on sale for under $75 each way). For the convenience and price, I'll be flexible on flight days!!

livinginnokomis · 08-03-2009, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suncoast Guy

My family generally uses SRQ (Sarasota/Bradenton International) for incoming and outgoing flights. Yes, the airport may not be as big as Tampa's TIA, but it's nearby, it has the airline that my family generally flies which is Delta, and it's just generally convenient. Having to drive to Tampa or St. Pete (unless you had to) would be asinine when you have an airport 20 minutes away. That's my 2 cents on it.

I would fly out of Sarasota more often if it weren't so darn expensive. It can be $100-300 more just to fly out of Sarasota.

SoFLGal · 08-03-2009, 02:49 PM

I usually use Tampa or Ft Myers depending on who's cheaper and it the drive time makes sense for the money. I have also found Sarasota to be a bit more expensive than other airport, usually.

grandmallie · 08-03-2009, 04:22 PM

as you saw in my post we are using Direct Air too,my DH wants to know about the flights, he is curious how busy the flights are , and how many people on the planes? how big are they? are they puddle jumpers?
thanks in advance

jvelte · 08-03-2009, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grandmallie

as you saw in my post we are using Direct Air too,my DH wants to know about the flights, he is curious how busy the flights are , and how many people on the planes? how big are they? are they puddle jumpers?
thanks in advance

I've flown Direct Air about a dozen times. Each plane I've been on is an Airbus A320 twin engine jet, which is single aisle, three seats on each side, maybe 25 or 30 rows. Regarding busy, most flights are pretty full. No company likes to fly a half-empty plane. It's not economical. The flights that don't fill up eventually lose their plane (numerous cities have lost their direct air service). For the price, you're getting from point A to B in just a couple of hours for cheap, so who cares about a full plane? In the winter months, our flight from Kalamazoo to Punta Gorda is non-stop on a new Virgin Atlantic plane. But in the slower summer months, they combine the Punta Gorda and Orlando/Sanford flight to fill the plane and they charter an older plane that is not very nice, but again, the price is unbeatable so I'll suffer for 3 hrs to save a few hundred dollars.

mrcoolmrcool28 · 08-03-2009, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grandmallie

we usually use Delta and usually into Tampa because its cheaper, BUT we have bought tix on Direct Air also, out of worchester,ma. its about an hour and15 from us and we got round trip for both of us flying to Punta gorda the 19th of december for 300.00, now your not gonna beat that anywhere.!!!!!that is for both of us, amazing, and we will have someone from the park pick us up and drop us off.
I will be flying into tampa on Delta in september, DH will pick me up , he is going down a week earlier on Direct Air
hope some of you will be around, would love to see you!!!!!

We're probably coming down with our already paid for tickets around Thanksgiving. Depends on if there are any restrictions on when we can use our tickets around the holiday. Haven't called them to find out yet, gonna do that soon.

mrcoolmrcool28 · 08-03-2009, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jvelte

Glad to help Cools! I tell everyone about Direct Air in the hopes that we don't lose the service or the flight between West Michigan and Punta Gorda. We love the Punta Gorda (Charlotte County) airport. Very easy access, rental cars, close to town. They offer two discount airlines that I know of for sure: Direct Air and Allegiant. Both have limited flights, but usually under $130 each way (often times on sale for under $75 each way). For the convenience and price, I'll be flexible on flight days!!

We got $140 round trip during that sale you told us about. Now I've got to call them and find out if there are any restrictions due to holidays, and get 'em booked!! Haven't heard from you in awhile, how's things going? Did you get a lot done on your house when you were there a couple of weeks ago? Or did you spend all your time on the water??

pdm_ad · 08-03-2009, 08:02 PM

Since Air Tran started flying to SRQ I fly in and out of there and the prices are great. I don't get a nonstop like when flying to TPA but I love how easy SRQ is and the security lines are always small.

On a side note, anyone else remember the viewing deck that you had at the old SRQ airport? From what I remember it was basically on the roof of the terminal or baggage pickup. They had these attached binoculars in front of the seats and you could sit there and watch your flight arrive.

jvelte · 08-04-2009, 06:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrcoolmrcool28

We got $140 round trip during that sale you told us about. Now I've got to call them and find out if there are any restrictions due to holidays, and get 'em booked!! Haven't heard from you in awhile, how's things going? Did you get a lot done on your house when you were there a couple of weeks ago? Or did you spend all your time on the water??

I only got in the water ONCE during the week, and that was on my last day when I went out to Boca. I did do a little harbor hopping on the boat and bridge measuring one day, but I consider that getting work done :-). Also got quotes for seawall, dock & lift install. I have a new septic & drainfield going in next week. I'll be back down in about two weeks.
Yeah, you need to call and reserve your seats pretty quick, as they only have a pre-set number of seats on each flight reserved for that special. I've had no problem using my vouchers as of yet, but I usually call at least 3 weeks in advance.