I flew to Spokane in 2012 (September) because the cost was significantly less than FCA.llholmes1948 wrote:The only reason I suggested looking at Seattle and the train from there to Whitefish is that it is sometimes dramatically cheaper to fly to Seattle than to Kalispell or Spokane.
You just have to look at the various costs and conveniences or inconveniences and see what works out.
Lyman
And right again about the roads and driving here in the Winter. NW Montana isn't the Yukon Territory.dpratt wrote:I've always found that the flight to Spokane was about $200 less than Kalispell from Chicago's O'Hare. $200 is a lot of money, but to me not nearly worth the 4 hour one-way drive and additional rental car costs. Whether it is worth it or not is a very personal decision that only the specific traveler can make.
Exactly right Doug. People "fixate" on just the airline fare. I, like you, feel my time is worth "something".
And there is also the "marginal cost" issue. I suspect that anyone flying here for Christmas/New Years will be spending several thousand dollars when it's all said and done. So "net net" the $200.00 airfare savings minus any additional expenses, may actually mean saving less than $200. So is the reduced savings dollar amount, a small fraction compared to a couple thousand dollars overall really worth flying to Spokane or Calgary?
You're right though, it is a personal decision.
I personally think that road conditions here in the winter are pretty good. Even during a snow storm, we don't have the traffic that large metro areas do, so you can take it slow and steady and not worry about everyone sliding into you. My commute here on 8 inches of fresh snow on an unplowed road is much less stressful than it was on a nice day in July in the Chicago area. Granted once you hit the Flathead Valley, traffic congestion increases.
It also depends if you are traveling alone or if that $200 savings is x 2 or more people, it adds up.dpratt wrote:I've always found that the flight to Spokane was about $200 less than Kalispell from Chicago's O'Hare. $200 is a lot of money, but to me not nearly worth the 4 hour one-way drive and additional rental car costs. Whether it is worth it or not is a very personal decision that only the specific traveler can make.
Good point about multiple people. I tend to forget that being singlehere-we-go wrote:It also depends if you are traveling alone or if that $200 savings is x 2 or more people, it adds up.dpratt wrote:I've always found that the flight to Spokane was about $200 less than Kalispell from Chicago's O'Hare. $200 is a lot of money, but to me not nearly worth the 4 hour one-way drive and additional rental car costs. Whether it is worth it or not is a very personal decision that only the specific traveler can make.
We are flying to Spokane for our trip in 2½ weeks. It was something like $384 per person on SW to Spokane or well over $600 to Kalispell. Added to that is that the itineraries were terrible time-wise. If we choose the flight itinerary that got us to Apgar at the time we wanted, it was over $700 per ticket. Even adding in 1 add'l night, we came out about $600 ahead and we'll be in Glacier exactly when we'd hoped.
Whew -- I had to go back and double check my car reservation out of Spokane! I booked Hertz and it is unlimited free miles. I honestly can't recall the last time I booked a rental car w/o unlimited, but since I've never rented out of Spokane, I wanted to double check.daveparker wrote:but just remember you are going to have to rent a car in Spokane and I have not seen many unlimited miles deals in this area for a couple of years now.