tonrob

The hotels can sometimes be very cheap. While I'll suck it up and rise early for most of my (day) flights ex-BOS, I've got Mrs tonrob and the Sproutlet in tow one saturday morning in January. Friday night at the Hilton Logan Airport was $134, and would have been cheaper had I elected to make a nonrefundable booking. The airport is connected to the terminals, no no buggering about with shuttles at silly o'clock.

When I compare $134 against the overall cost of the end-to-end journey (and when I say cost I mean "cost" ) then the incremental addition for the hotel is marginal but will enhance the overall experience immeasurably.

Incidentally the Hyatt Harborside is even cheaper that night, at $108 (cancelable rate, too). It's a nicer hotel, but requires a shuttle ride so I'll stick with the Hilton. I could have booked either of these hotels using points (thread plug), but the rates were sufficiently low that it made better sense to hold the points for use another day.

robin1234

Yup I've stayed at the Hilton at Logan too, when cheap, I think it was about $90. Very comfortable. And, the incredible luxury of just a short walk from hotel room to checkin desk at the terminal! Every other time I've looked, it was around $200 or more.

kodokan

I did Columbus-Toronto-Heathrow this summer, with the transatlantic leg being a daytime flight leaving at 9am. This cost a couple of hundred more than the usual red-eye, but was immeasurably worth it in order to not have the first few days of my time in the UK trashed by jetlag. Compared to other things I chose to make the trip more tolerable, like paying for hotels/ rental cottages so as not to have to cram in with relatives and sleep on people's floors, it was a negligible uptick.

NatashaB

I did the Detroit to Toronto drive this past spring. I used parksleepfly.com to book a package deal for a week or so of parking and an overnight stay at a hotel for the night I landed. They have a range of hotels on there, the one I used was the Best Western Plus on Dixie Road in Mississauga. I parked the car in their long stay lot and used their shuttle to get to the airport, then stayed overnight there on the night that I landed back. Even factoring in the long stay parking costs and hotel overnight, and paying for extra leg room, it was still less than half the price of flying out of Detroit. Air Canada was basic but fine.


The drive to Toronto was easy - just pointed the car in the right direction, stuck it on cruise control and coasted along for 4 hours.

trirod

I'm pretty sure I'll be doing the same thing. The savings are too good to pass up. And I have to pay for parking at Detroit anyway so that's just a wash. It will be even better in the summer when I can take the Air Canada nonstop to Manchester.

Pulaski

I may have to look at this again next time, but what I was finding was that although the hotel would have been a small part of the additional cost, the problem I had was finding tickets CLT-BOS for a good enough price to make the BOS-LHR flights worthwhile.

robin1234

Yes, parking and/or getting to the airport is another factor. Our "local" international airport is Ottawa, but since it is in a foreign country, there is no bus or other public transport that will get us from home to airport. There is an informal cottage industry in our town of folks who will drive you to or from Ottawa airport for $60.

Also, Ottawa being a fairly small and sleepy airport, parking is quite cheap there, and you can go online and get a voucher to get a really good discount for the off airport parking lot.

Scouse Express

Check Aer Lingus, out of Chicago, via Dublin to Manchester.

Their FB Page is advertising a sale. On the plus side, you won't have a Border Crossing to deal with.

Jim.