Which airport do you tend to use? (Miami, Tampa: rental car, rental)

[livinginnokomis]

We tend to use Ft. Myers.....the drive time between Ft. Myers and Tampa airports is just about the same, and the Ft. Myers airport is cleaner and not quite as busy. Plus Tampa traffic is usually the pits.

Sarasota is way too expensive.

St. Pete Airport is OK, it's kind of dinky, and the options are somewhat limited.

[justNancy]

Anytime I fly, I check the airlines first for the best flights/rates. Then I think about convenience, cost to park, etc. When I flew to Costa Rica, for example, I lived in Bonita Springs, only 20-30 minutes from Fort Myers (Southwest Regional) but got a great last minute deal out of Miami International which was 2+ hours away. For now, I can only think of one airline, but you can get flights out of Punta Gorda, believe it or not, that are really cheap, although the choice of destinations is limited. Depends where you want to go.

I never heard of Allegient Air until someone on City-Data told me about it. So I thought I'd pass the info along. Wish I'd heard about it when my niece got married in Charlotte. $29 each way to Spartanburg SC instead of $440 would have been worth the hour drive to Charlotte. They have really cheap flights out of St Pete too. "Dinky" doesn't matter to much me, as long as there's a place to sit and a restroom. (and the air traffic controllers aren't sleeping!)

[loves2read]

voting for my SIL who flies every M/F for work--he lives in Venice/Nokomis area and chooses to fly the connection flights out of SRQ vs driving to TPA for more non-stop choices (maybe)
just depends on where he is flying to for his project work but he flies out of SRQ 97% of the time

my daughter usually flies out of SRQ if going to ATL or to MEM to drive to his family in north MS
but will use TPA if flying to us in DFW...

[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!!

[Wiggins]

We moved from Houston last year. There it was the choice of two airports; one a major airport and a smaller airport (from which Southwest flew out of). We could fly direct to many places, including Canada (spouse's family is there to visit). Sarasota is not so convenient. Our last trip to Canada involved the drive to Tampa, two 4 hour plus flights; almost 24 hours door-to-door! Next time, we may drive over to Orlanda and catch the direct WestJet flight to Alberta. But research shows that Tampa-Houston-Calgary is about the same price and same time overall; so may go with that instead. (It's funny that the price through Houston on Continental is about the same as it was just flying from Houston itself; it's like the flight from Tampa to Houston is "free").
Now, for visiting my mom in Indiana, Allegiant goes direct to Ft Wayne from St. Petersburg for very cheap. Can't beat that.
So really, I think the choice of airport (I can think of 6 or 7 I would consider from Sarasota) depends on where you are going. Compare the flight schedule, cost of flight, cost of driving to the airport and long term parking, etc.

[atroxanautin]

I usually fly out of SRQ. For me, after accounting for driving and parking fees at TPA, it usually ends up being cheaper for where i want to go.

[mr&mrssunshine]

coming in from the Uk we only have the choice of orlando or miami (unless using BA into Tampa).
Miami is a hell hole, immigration can take up half your vacation.
Orlando is spot on,they have lots of booths and can clear a whole jumbo in less than 30 mins. Plus the agents have been 're-trained' to be more friendly. last visit our officer hummed classic music whilst processing us and told us we should stay longer !!

If I fly alone I have done a stop over at NY and flown down to SRQ which is great , off the plane and in the car in about 15 mins. (you clear immigration in NY -another joy )

[Big House]

Originally Posted by justNancy

Anytime I fly, I check the airlines first for the best flights/rates. Then I think about convenience, cost to park, etc. When I flew to Costa Rica, for example, I lived in Bonita Springs, only 20-30 minutes from Fort Myers (Southwest Regional) but got a great last minute deal out of Miami International which was 2+ hours away. For now, I can only think of one airline, but you can get flights out of Punta Gorda, believe it or not, that are really cheap, although the choice of destinations is limited. Depends where you want to go.

I never heard of Allegient Air until someone on City-Data told me about it. So I thought I'd pass the info along. Wish I'd heard about it when my niece got married in Charlotte. $29 each way to Spartanburg SC instead of $440 would have been worth the hour drive to Charlotte. They have really cheap flights out of St Pete too. "Dinky" doesn't matter to much me, as long as there's a place to sit and a restroom. (and the air traffic controllers aren't sleeping!)

Hi Nancy!
I fly in and out of Ft. Myers all the time. The two major carriers between Baltimore and Ft. Myers is Southwest Airlines and Air Tran, and they offer some great deals. I think both cities are HUBs for them.
I have to check out the Punta Gorda Airport to see what's available there!
Thanks for bringing them up. I'm going to try to give you a rep point!

Follow-up >>> I tried to give you a rep point, but it wouldn't let me - I gotta spread some more around. So, you haveta settle for one of my ATTA-GIRLS!!! Instead.

[Scots]

Flying in from Edinburgh in Scotland I usually go Continental through Newark and then either fly to Tampa or Ft Myers, whichever is cheaper when I book. So, all the way from UK to Florida with only one stop-- nice . Tampa is a little closer than Ft Myers to Sarasota but not enough to matter. Rental cars are cheaper from Ft Myers than Tampa so I also take that into account when figuring costs. I still haven't found a good way to fly directly to SRQ without two stops so I haven't done that yet.

[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!!!!!