Would you be able to share the approximate dates of your trip? That would make it easier to suggest other options. Perhaps an early morning flight from ORD with a longer connection?
We're looking at mid-June. Obviously we're not buying for a couple months yet when ticket prices drop, and I've already seen a number of flight time changes when just in the last few days.
There are a few problems with ORD:
1. Driving there from the south is a pain. It might be a comparable drive time in theory, but it's so much harder to get to than IND. The way Chicago has their toll system set up means high potential for unexpected tickets since some tool booths are a sign reminding you to pay online and a camera. Plus traffic.
2. Prices are significantly higher to fly from there.
3. The flight times from there are far less favorable for traveling with a family than from IND.
4. Most flights through there would have us transferring from AA to ASA in ORD and I'm not sure if that's a great idea from a luggage perspective. I may have to investigate this option further, as we've done this one before through LAX - I just don't trust it.
Originally Posted by
jrl767
AS has at least four ORD-SEA departures in the summer, and probably twice that many SEA-BOI trips, so perhaps OP could consider trading the first night’s hotel stay in BOI for a hotel near ORD and taking a morning flight with a less stressful connection (and lots of backup flights)
AS also flies ORD-PDX and PDX-BOI
and welcome to FT and the Alaska Airlines board!
My experience with ORD when researching shows an increase of an average of ~100/ticket over other airports. It's not insignificant when considering the size of the family, but I won't hesitate to go through there, as much as I don't want to, if the prices and flight times work.
I'm also considering just renting a hotel near SeaTac. For two of our kids, they've never flown before. Asking them to rush to a flight at their equivalent of 10-11 pm may not be a great idea when the first flight will likely drain their energy either from excitement or terror. I'm leaning toward afternoon/evening for the first flight because that's when they are least likely to be, ah, problematic, but let morning/really afternoon could also work.
All of these airports are 2.5-3 hour drive for us, and we have to get there 2.5-3 hrs early. A 7am flight has us likely leaving our house at 12-1 am. You may not want my youngest on anything that early, especially something she's never done. It's no easy thing for us to just go to an airport - any departure time means leaving our house 6 hours before (7 if IND because time zone change).