try flying out of Buffalo/Rochester
ricktoronto said:
I did the LGA/JFK thing ONCE. Only one way as well as the way down was via MIA. Never, ever again. The shuttle leaves on it's own schedule, stops 83 times and crawls through traffic. It took nearly two hours to switch terminals. This was a Sunday night as well, and traffic on the Van Wyck was appalling. If you have a 5 hour conenction, you are in luck. You might want to take a taxi to the subway (Jamaica or Flatbush I think) and then take the new JFK SkyTrain right to the door at JFK. It is part of the NYCTA and features a free "round the terminal" route at JFK as well since the terminals are about a mile apart.
we are flying out this Monday with Jet Blue, Buffalo to JFK, JFK to Santiago. it's only 90 minutes drive to Buffalo.
you could also take the new (is it up and running yet?) ferry service from downtown Toronto to Rochester and fly out from there.
we saved alot. of course, there are 4 of us so it adds up quickly. about $625 CDN per person for the trip. tickets are fully changeable for a small fee.
you can get some good charter sell-offs but i agree 100% with your comments about the crappy charter flights. a good question is how long is the trip?
we were quoted $9,000.00 CDN, up from $4200 if we wanted to stay beyond 2 weeks!
a one week trip was $150 CDN
cheaper per person if you bought an all-inclusive package. you could take advantage of the airport transfer and a few nights at the AI and still come out cheaper.
very strange airline industry in Canada.