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One of the advantages of RI that people have cited over the years is the convenience and cost savings of having TF Green airport nearby, vs having to deal with Logan if you live in the Boston area. I wonder how true that still is?
I know 10 or 15 years ago, I often did find good deals out of PVD -- I was living closer to Boston then and a couple of times the savings made it worth coming down here to catch a plane. Even five years ago, when I moved here, Green usually matched or beat Logan, so it was a no brainer to use the nearby airport
Airline consolidation and the relocation of Southwest's hub to Boston have really not helped RI travellers. I was prompted to post this when I started shopping around for some July travel. Sure, not a cheap time of year, but look at the cost difference to a West Coast city:
Boston, nonstop: $500 r/t
Providence, 2 stop, usually one leg a red-eye: $650 r/t
Providence, one stop: $850 r/t
With my wife and I travelling, it's definitely worth $700 to take the train to Boston!
I find that kind of fare difference is not uncommon these days. My employer has negotiated discount fares with the airlines, and there too, I now see that Boston to say Chicago or Washington is usually half the cost of PVD. Fortunately they aren't making us drive to Logan for business trips -- yet -- but it certainly doesn't help make the case to locate in RI if you're a business that generates much employee travel.
Even on access, with the Silver Line and the Ted Williams Tunnel, Logan isn't as bad to get to, though getting there during weekday morning rush would still be miserable.
Are fares to Florida still better out of RI than Boston? When I'm in the airport it seems like just about all the traffic still left at Green are families and snowbirds going up and down the coast.
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I haven't flown in something like 4 years, but I was flying to the NW regularly before that and I found it cheaper and faster to take the train to Boston and fly out of Logan. For flights to the NW, Alaska air had nonstops to Portland and Seattle and the fares were great. JetBlue and SW at Logan don't help.
Like you, 10 or 15 years ago I did fly out of TF Green, coming down from Somerville! I even made the drive to pick up family members from TF Green. Back then the cost savings were there.
My experience mirrors your's. I can't remember the last time I found a better fare from Grreen and it used to be fairly common.
If I'm not mistaken, you can at least get a comparable price for Florida if you're going to Orlando or Fort Lauderdale but if you're looking at the Gulf coast, Boston is cheaper.
I am actually about to book a flight this morning for my friend to come stay with us for a week. Boston's advantage is they have Spirit and Alaskan (as mentioned above). We always found PVD to be cheaper for SouthWest in the past, but now Boston is lower. I book a lot of flights for people to come out, and am always comparing. If it is within $50 r/t, I normally go with PVD, simply for convenience.
In my experience flights from green are often delayed or depart much later than scheduled. Check the average departure time before booking especially if you have a layover / connecting flight. Even if the airline says its a legal layover time if you're leaving from green you better not risk it. A lot of their flights leave on average an hour after scheduled time
One of the advantages of RI that people have cited over the years is the convenience and cost savings of having TF Green airport nearby, vs having to deal with Logan if you live in the Boston area. I wonder how true that still is?
I know 10 or 15 years ago, I often did find good deals out of PVD -- I was living closer to Boston then and a couple of times the savings made it worth coming down here to catch a plane. Even five years ago, when I moved here, Green usually matched or beat Logan, so it was a no brainer to use the nearby airport
Airline consolidation and the relocation of Southwest's hub to Boston have really not helped RI travellers. I was prompted to post this when I started shopping around for some July travel. Sure, not a cheap time of year, but look at the cost difference to a West Coast city:
Boston, nonstop: $500 r/t
Providence, 2 stop, usually one leg a red-eye: $650 r/t
Providence, one stop: $850 r/t
With my wife and I travelling, it's definitely worth $700 to take the train to Boston!
I find that kind of fare difference is not uncommon these days. My employer has negotiated discount fares with the airlines, and there too, I now see that Boston to say Chicago or Washington is usually half the cost of PVD. Fortunately they aren't making us drive to Logan for business trips -- yet -- but it certainly doesn't help make the case to locate in RI if you're a business that generates much employee travel.
Even on access, with the Silver Line and the Ted Williams Tunnel, Logan isn't as bad to get to, though getting there during weekday morning rush would still be miserable.
Are fares to Florida still better out of RI than Boston? When I'm in the airport it seems like just about all the traffic still left at Green are families and snowbirds going up and down the coast.
I am curious how negotiating works? Who is your employer or if you can't answer that, how many employees? Can't they have some influence on the airline(s) for better service from PVD?
As much as I'll say about employer is very large nationally, not so large in RI.
But, such deals do happen. I know Nike had some kind of long running deal with Delta about non-stop service from Portland OR to NYC. The overall market didn't quite justify it but such service mattered a lot to Nike. I'm not sure of the details. Nike and Intel both also have a deal with Delta guarranteeing them traffic in exchange for doing a non-stop from Portland to Asia.
^ Uh, yes, that's been noted by like every poster -- but thanks for sharing your insight.
Not exactly. Haven't you got anything better to do with your time than starting endless confrontations? I hear Snow St. is lovely this time of year...
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