Airfare prices to/from McGhee/Tyson Airport (Knoxville, Chattanooga: home, construction)

[Ebbie228]

My sister is coming to visit and the airfares to/from our airport (even from Atlanta one way) is just off the charts. Especially the direct flight. The other flights connected in Charlotte, NC and took up to 5 hrs. for the flight when normally it is only a 45 min. flight. How is our airport supposed to keep business when the airlines are charging these outrageous fares??

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Ebbie228

My sister is coming to visit and the airfares to/from our airport (even from Atlanta one way) is just off the charts. Especially the direct flight. The other flights connected in Charlotte, NC and took up to 5 hrs. for the flight when normally it is only a 45 min. flight. How is our airport supposed to keep business when the airlines are charging these outrageous fares??

You are so right. And that's why I keep posting in this forum that if people want to move to Tennessee but need to be near a decent airport, they should stay closer to Nashville. There are occasional deals out of TYS, otherwise we have to pay almost double what they pay out of Nashville.

However, I've noticed that international flights out of TYS aren't any more expensive than they are out of Nashville or Atlanta, and often they're cheaper (don't ask me why). I fly to Paris and Hong Kong a lot and have always found good deals out of TYS.

[Servpro Will]

I fly to Paris and Hong Kong a lot and have always found good deals out of TYS.

Secret agent lifestyle....I like it. I agree with a lot of the Tyson headaches, though, they did just start some great flights for my wife who is from Port Charolette, FL, and they had flights directly to the Punta Gorda airport for $19 one way through Allegiant Air. Hard to beat $38 round trip. Our flight to Jamaica was cheaper out of Knox (connecting in NC) for some reason than Nashville and Atlanta. It's kinda just a check the price and see kinda deal with them for me. It seems most cross country flights are ridiculously more expensive, though Vegas was $89 one way on Allegiant? Needless to say I lost any savings I may have gained the minute I landed .....

[Bones]

Originally Posted by William Sold

Secret agent lifestyle....I like it. I agree with a lot of the Tyson headaches, though, they did just start some great flights for my wife who is from Port Charolette, FL, and they had flights directly to the Punta Gorda airport for $19 one way through Allegiant Air. Hard to beat $38 round trip. Our flight to Jamaica was cheaper out of Knox (connecting in NC) for some reason than Nashville and Atlanta. It's kinda just a check the price and see kinda deal with them for me. It seems most cross country flights are ridiculously more expensive, though Vegas was $89 one way on Allegiant? Needless to say I lost any savings I may have gained the minute I landed .....

Allegiant is not showing any flights to Vegas now from TYS.....

[knoxgarden]

Flights to and from TYS don't get a real high priority from other airports. I've spent many hours waiting at TYS for flights to Newark to get a landing spot during bad weather holiday travel. The flight is so short they can't leave until they're assured they can land.
On the other hand, there are worse airports for waiting than TYS. Rocking chairs, Ruby Tuesday, Scripps HGTV/Fine Living lounge. It's not bad. I've met some nice people there. Coming back from Newark is another matter. I usually fly Continental and those flights are direct. After spending 24 hours at Dulles a couple of years ago I will no longer fly and try to make connections.

[cocobutter758]

Originally Posted by Ebbie228

My sister is coming to visit and the airfares to/from our airport (even from Atlanta one way) is just off the charts. Especially the direct flight. The other flights connected in Charlotte, NC and took up to 5 hrs. for the flight when normally it is only a 45 min. flight. How is our airport supposed to keep business when the airlines are charging these outrageous fares??

I booked a roundtrip ticket today to my home in DC for May 1st to May 10, direct flight to Washington National Airport and it only cost 219.00 tax included. I use bookingbuddy.com and expedia and most of the flights from Knoxville to DC was 198.00 plus tax.

[Tn405]

I am flying to Clw, Fl in May for 29 each way. I love it ! I did hear it was cheaper to fly out of Chattanooga but if I drove there it would cost and to park it all week. Hey I can hardly beat 29.00

[SarahSal]

I visited the Knoxville site to ask a question about a downtown route to the airport and ended up on this *and* the other airport thread! As I noted on the *other* thread, we love TYS and have found excellent deals on Continental. My husband flies a bunch back and forth to Mexico where we live part of the year and our flights vary from a one-way at $269 to round trip for between $550 and $600+. Based on friends who've flown in (to the Pacific coast of Mex) from other places in the country, these are comparably *very* good prices.

Would appreciate help on this! Don't know if anyone will catch this question but we used to drive right through Knoxville on I-40 to get to the airport but thought we had to take the 40 *detour* which can be VERY confusing. We got lost twice - as did my son. Very minimal overhead airport sign directions. So my question is, coming from Johnson City, can you still still drive on 40 through the downtown Knoxville highway or is the road closed off right before the airport exit?? Thanks!

[kamoshika]

Originally Posted by SarahSal

Would appreciate help on this! Don't know if anyone will catch this question but we used to drive right through Knoxville on I-40 to get to the airport but thought we had to take the 40 *detour* which can be VERY confusing. We got lost twice - as did my son. Very minimal overhead airport sign directions. So my question is, coming from Johnson City, can you still still drive on 40 through the downtown Knoxville highway or is the road closed off right before the airport exit?? Thanks!

I-40 is closed between exits 389 (Hall of Fame Dr.) and 388A (James White Pkwy.), and since you need to get to exit 386 (Alcoa Hwy.), you'll have to bypass the construction zone.

Here are two different routes to the airport coming from JC on I-40; I've used the first one a couple of times w/ no problems:

1. Take I-640 (exit 393) on the east side of Knoxville.
2. Continue for 7.0 miles, exit I-275 south (exit 3A).
3. Continue for 2.7 miles, take I-40 west, and follow exit 386B to Alcoa Highway/US 129.
4. Follow US 129 across Tennessee River, continue for approximately 12 miles to the Airport.

OR

1. Take Strawberry Plains Pike (exit 398) on the east side of Knoxville.
2. Turn left on Strawberry Plains Pike and continue to John Sevier Highway (SR 168) and turn left.
3. Follow John Sevier Highway until it intersects with Alcoa Highway (US 129) and turn left.
4. Continue on Alcoa Highway and follow the signs to the Airport (approx. 5 miles).

The second route is about 5 miles shorter than the first one and should take about the same amount of time.

[SarahSal]

Thanks so much, Kamoshika for the directions! We'll try the 2nd set of directions next time. Wonder when they'll be done with the construction so you don't have to circumvent Knoxville?