Birmingham Airport relocation?

[steveklein]

My wait time at the Atlanta airport is usually about the same as it is as BHM. The only time I arrived for a flight 90 minutes beforehand and still almost missed the flight was on a flight leaving at about 6am from BHM.

And it isn't just the connecting flight. Although being able to fly nonstop is super useful because you don't have to worry about bag transfers, your first leg being delayed throwing off your entire trip, etc.

And I have frequently run into situations where flying out of another airport is much cheaper than flying from Birmingham. This Christmas my sister is flying into Nashville because it is $700 cheaper than flying into Birmingham. A couple of years ago when I flew to Las Vegas, again, it was close to $1000 cheaper flying out of Nashville. I was looking at booking a flight to Orlando in a couple weeks and it was $400/person out of Atlanta and $700/person out of Birmingham.

[bosshawk]

Originally Posted by steveklein

My wait time at the Atlanta airport is usually about the same as it is as BHM. The only time I arrived for a flight 90 minutes beforehand and still almost missed the flight was on a flight leaving at about 6am from BHM.

And it isn't just the connecting flight. Although being able to fly nonstop is super useful because you don't have to worry about bag transfers, your first leg being delayed throwing off your entire trip, etc.

And I have frequently run into situations where flying out of another airport is much cheaper than flying from Birmingham. This Christmas my sister is flying into Nashville because it is $700 cheaper than flying into Birmingham. A couple of years ago when I flew to Las Vegas, again, it was close to $1000 cheaper flying out of Nashville. I was looking at booking a flight to Orlando in a couple weeks and it was $400/person out of Atlanta and $700/person out of Birmingham.

HUH? Are you flying business class? I flew to Orlando last week for $210. I just looked at random dates around Christmas when prices are highest and there are flights for $270. 4.5 hours total flight time. Southwest has a 1.5 hour non-stop at those same rates. A month ago, I booked a flight from Bogota, Colombia to BHM less than a week in advance and paid $650. BHM did get quite expensive for a year or so, but prices have dropped dramatically.

You can get to BHM 60 minutes before and often 45 minutes before and be totally fine. Some large airports won't even let you check in unless it is at least 60 minutes before. I would never even dream of wasting time getting to BHM 90, let alone 120, minutes before a flight. At ATL you HAVE to arrive 90 minutes before.

[Tourian]

Wow, 700+ differences...

None of my fares cost that much...let alone the differences in savings between going to ATL. But I was only going to Charlotte, Houston, Dallas, Orlando etc... not taking the Virgin Galactic into orbit.

[steveklein]

Originally Posted by bosshawk

HUH? Are you flying business class? I flew to Orlando last week for $210. I just looked at random dates around Christmas when prices are highest and there are flights for $270. 4.5 hours total flight time. Southwest has a 1.5 hour non-stop at those same rates. A month ago, I booked a flight from Bogota, Colombia to BHM less than a week in advance and paid $650. BHM did get quite expensive for a year or so, but prices have dropped dramatically.

You can get to BHM 60 minutes before and often 45 minutes before and be totally fine. Some large airports won't even let you check in unless it is at least 60 minutes before. I would never even dream of wasting time getting to BHM 90, let alone 120, minutes before a flight. At ATL you HAVE to arrive 90 minutes before.

No, coach.

For the weekend I was looking to fly to Orlando (12/11 to 12/13) I just checked again and prices have come down, from both cities.

Cheapest roundtrip out of Atlanta is $118
Cheapest roundtrip out of Birmingham is $494, and none are direct flights.

If you really can't figure out why someone, particularly if you aren't traveling alone, would be willing to drive to Atlanta for that price difference, then I'm not sure what to tell you.

FWIW, I just checked through Travelocity. I didn't check Southwest. I do know that they sometimes fly direct to Orlando for relatively cheap.

[Tourian]

I just went on orbitz.

To go from here to CLT round trip on the 4th and back on the 8th, the cheapest flight was 485.70

From ATL it was 580.

From BNA it was 451.69.

Am I doing it wrong?

No way i am driving to Nashville to save 34. I wouldn't do it for 136 if i flew my whole family. Obviously non stop costs more and i would weigh that out. But it definitely helps to book in advance. WHICH I ALWAYS DO.

[steveklein]

If I needed to go to Charlotte on those dates, then fine. But I'm just letting you know that there are times where you are looking at well over $1000 of savings for a family of 4 to drive to a nearby airport. I just gave you an example of a flight I recently looked at... trying to go to Orlando on 12/11 and returning 12/13. Flying out of Atlanta is less than a quarter of the price and it is a direct flight. It's an absolute no brainer.

I routinely used to drive to Huntsville to fly to Burlington, VT because it always seemed to route through DC and Huntsville to DC was cheaper and had more options because of all the government business going back and forth between those places.

[Tourian]

Fair enough. But it bares repeating that there are times when BHM is competitive and ZOMG! or even cheaper (than the ATL in the example i showed) which was just happenstance the very first date and destination I picked. So for SOME of us BHM tends to be a much more economical choice due to the fact that time=money and spending time in a car vs. a terminal has to be weighed out. I guess I have just been lucky as I have never faced huge disparities in fares, even when going to Orlando.

[Beaching]

Originally Posted by Tourian

Wow, 700+ differences...

None of my fares cost that much...let alone the differences in savings between going to ATL. But I was only going to Charlotte, Houston, Dallas, Orlando etc... not taking the Virgin Galactic into orbit.

I just paid right at $500 RT on non stop Southwest flights for my UA kid to fly out of BHM to Dallas over Thanksgiving. That was the lowest fare offered, "Wanna Get Away" fare and in advance. Even flew back on Friday vs Saturday or Sunday to save a couple 100.
I see what several UA parents pay from BHM and ATL to travel to various places across the country. Some are not cheap at all. Some do save several hundred dollars by flying in/out of Atlanta. I've been lucky and in 3 years be it for the kid, myself or the entire family, we can do non stop on SW to BHM for a decet fare, typically around $350-400 RT on SW with advance purchase.

[Dick Ellington]

Originally Posted by steveklein

But let's not overdo it with "one of the nicest airports in the country." It is fine for what it is, and it serves Birmingham okay. But nicest airports in the country? Come on. It's almost like some of you have never left Birmingham.

LOL. I could not agree more. Of the airports i've been thru, I like Denver and Maui best.

I do like flying out of BHM and BNA because the cost savings are usually significant compared to HSV.

[TimCity2000]

yeah, pretty sure both HSV and BHM routinely make it near the top of "most expensive airports to fly out of" lists.


however, as others have said, it's only occasionally worth it for me to drive to ATL.