HSV is #1! (Huntsville: house, costs, versus)

[DanInHSV]

.. in the most expensive cities to fly from list:

Huntsville Int'l retains status as costliest airport - WAFF-TV: News, Weather and Sports for Huntsville, AL


A dubious distinction- which I know was mentioned in another thread, but deserved it's own, IMHO.

Reaffirms why I rarely consider HSV before looking at ATL, BNA, or BHM.

[promitiusx]

I only fly about once a year but it is always out of Huntsville, they have a direct flight for me and it doesn't seem pricey to me.

[Wandering_Missourian]

From a business perspective, it is nearly always cheaper than BHM, BNA or ATL (which is too far of a drive anyways) once you account for mileage costs for driving ($0.50+/mile). Usually, the painful prices are on the domestic side. If I am flying to Asia or Europe, it is hardly cheaper going out anywhere else. Flying out of HSV is stress-free as well, which is always a nice start to a long trip.

[BMW Dave]

Originally Posted by Wandering_Missourian

From a business perspective, it is nearly always cheaper than BHM, BNA or ATL (which is too far of a drive anyways) once you account for mileage costs for driving ($0.50+/mile). Usually, the painful prices are on the domestic side. If I am flying to Asia or Europe, it is hardly cheaper going out anywhere else. Flying out of HSV is stress-free as well, which is always a nice start to a long trip.

Agreed. The bottom dollar price is never my concern, although I would travel more if the flights were cheaper!

But I would always rather fly out of HSV than DRIVE to an airport and fly from there.

[RatSnake]

Those billboards are showing some pretty reasonable prices now though.
I would rather fly out of HSV than drive out.
Unfortunately - when traveling with kids, we need a direct flight.
There are no direct flights to where we go as a family.

[zenjenn]

Huntsville is almost always more expensive, but for domestic flights never (in my experience) enough to warrant the driving, inconvenience, gas cost, parking costs, etc, of going to another airport.

However we are considering a family trip to Europe next year and on international flights, the savings is in the hundreds (per ticket!) to fly out of Atlanta instead. For $800-1200 savings - yeah, I'll drive to Atlanta and park there, as annoying as it might be.

[Jimmy Chong]

Originally Posted by hairless chickpea

I totally agree. I have never flown out of HSV and the price was comparable to other locations.

I agree also. I like flying out of Nashville when going out west. I get MUCH more non-stop options at a lower fare.

[FatTails]

Originally Posted by RatSnake

Those billboards are showing some pretty reasonable prices now though.
I would rather fly out of HSV than drive out.
Unfortunately - when traveling with kids, we need a direct flight.
There are no direct flights to where we go as a family.

Ok, so I have a question on this. Hypothetically, let's say you are going to city XYZ. You can drive to Atlanta and hitch a direct flight. Or you can fly out of HSV with one layover in Atlanta. Tickets are the same price. Ignore the cost of gas, but do include time and energy spent driving to Atlanta (or flying out of HSV). Which option would you choose? This is my dilemma, although I've already decided to fly out of HSV. And the tickets were literally within $20 of each other.

[Tourian]

20 bucks versus dealing with Atlanta traffic and the hassle of Hartsfield?

That's easy.

Even if it's 20 bucks times 4 people. I'd spend the extra money.

[DanInHSV]

Originally Posted by Tourian

20 bucks versus dealing with Atlanta traffic and the hassle of Hartsfield?

That's easy.

Even if it's 20 bucks times 4 people. I'd spend the extra money.

I wish it was a $20 difference, but it always seem considerably more. For my trip to the west coast over Christmas, it was $80 per person cheaper to go to ATL. Plus, we could take MARTA from my parents house and save another $80 in parking costs at HSV. I understand the cost of convenience, but at some dollar amount, I'll drive a couple hours to save $$.