Stephen loves Starwood

I've flown out of Plattsburgh many times in the past (especially a few years back when Continental Air had those 5x miles promos ) and it is very convenient.

By the way, parking was always and they say will continue to be free.

Bottlenecks at St-Bernard-de-Lacolle border crossing occur only during holiday weekends, Saturday mornings, or when American customs is in a bad mood.

There are however alternate crossings which 98% of those crossing the border don't even know about. Anyway, it's only the frequent border crossers who go through the trouble of researching alternate crossing points.

If a family of four is heading off on a leisure trip, and they've priced their tickets at 100$ off per person just for flying out of Plattsburgh and they don't have to pay for parking, and they could do a little shopping too boot, I'm sure they would take the opportunity.

As for the cost of fuel, it takes approx. 15 litres to get from Montreal to Burlington VT (in a full-size car) and from Montreal to Plattsburgh it's under 10 litres. So the costs are not too prohibitive.

In the end though, the average one person business flyer will definitely not become a Plattsburgh trekkie. Unless, of course, they introduced an express bus service from Montreal to Plattsburgh's airport on a daily basis with meal service, WIFI, and frequent bus points

ALW

We have friends who spend probably every other weekend in VT (at least for the day). They take all kinds of smaller crossings to avoid the lines, but I suspect once they get their Nexus cards (they've filled out the apps) they'll do I-87.

=aw

ALW

I think the possibility of a bus service to PLB would be largely a function of demand (my keen business sense tells me ). As it is, Greyhound is U$18 one-way and drops you on Cornelia St (exit 37). You'd have to add a cab at both ends. Greyhound does have a "RoadRewards" program, in the US at least. Probably no wi-fi.

Amtrak (less frequent, 1 a day) is U$17 one-way.

=aw

jrlevine

Now and then the RFID reader can't read my Nexus card, and I can assure you they want to see a passport at that point.

FlyerGoldII

Being from YOW, I have contemplated going from one of the NY state airports, to a US destination (for the reasons of economics, esp when my family was accompanying me) - but I have never done so. The advantage of price is maximal if one flies from Syracuse, NY or Burlington VT. One has less of a price savings with flights originating from Watertown, NY or Ogdensburg NY or Massena NY. I wonder if the prices of most flights from Plattsburgh would be equivatent to those leaving from Syracuse. The problem with Syracuse is that it is 5 hrs away? I would guess that Plattsburgh is 2.5 to 3 hrs away?

ALW

Plattsburgh is about an hour from Montreal.

=aw

ALW

Actually not (I don't think), since they don't require a passport for land crossings yet.

But it's a good point, if they (both US and Canadian governments) continue to promote the Nexus card as an acceptable secure document for WHTI instead of a passport, how will they handle that situation? I'm sure many people will sign up for Nexus instead of getting a passport (the same people who never had a passport for entering the US before).

They did tell us that if the iris scanner doesn't work, we can go to the crew/diplomatic line with our card, but that was the Canadian agent since the US machines weren't set up in YUL at the time.

=aw

ALW

Is SYR cheap like BUF? Or expensive like ROC? I'm sure PLB will be cheap, especially to start. Surely their business model will be to attract Jet Blue and Southwest, and only time will tell if it can be sustained. As was posted earlier, it's pretty much entirely a QC market they're after.

=aw

StuMcIlwain

5 hours to drive from YOW to SYR??? It takes 3 hours on most days, including the border crossing. But parking at SYR is expensive, although there are several hotels that let you park for free if you spend a night with them, should you wish to explore that option. Some international fares are a lot cheaper out of SYR than YOW, but I've yet to see enough of a difference for US domestic fares to make the drive worthwhile.

CZBB

I can certainly see Allegiant Air doing it, given the success they're having with Vancouverites flying out of Bellingham

YOWkid

But like I said, YVR/SEA is a lot different than PBG -- the poulation base Bellingham can pull from is significantly more than the surrounding PBG area.

YOWkid

Actually, it'll be interesting to see whether PBG can pull it off -- attracting new carriers will mean less aeronautical and aeronautical-related revenue for them. Free parking also equates to no revenue. But at the same time; they have capital costs to pay down; they have their maintenance costs, etc. I wonder how much they will charge at their concession stands...

I guess the other question is how much are they being subsidized by? How long can they keep such a model up? No one in their right mind in YUL will drive down to PBG if cost savings are not significant enough. That means that someone will have to cover the shortfall.

Super Larry

I, for one, will definitely keep my options open when PBG have it's first official list of airlines. When I was travelling quite often in the US, I did used BTV several times both for business, personal and MR's purposes. But it's a 90 minutes drive from YUL. PBG is 45 minutes. If the savings are right, I'll use PBG in a heartbeat for my occasional trips to the US...

billybob123

SYR is sort of in-between - most fares are BUF-like, but there's no Southwest in SYR (Jetblue is the only LCC with a presence in SYR), so the fares aren't as low on some domestic fares.

Agree with StuMcIlwain about the drive and cost in SYR; 3.5 hours on a bad day at the border is reasonable.

I earned Prestige two consecutive years flying USAir out of Ogdensburg and Watertown -- no longer the case (it's now Delta) and if you catch the right fares, on the right day, it was well over $200 cheaper for domestic and $4-500 cheaper for international. The best part of OGS/ART: free no-length-limit parking and a security process that STARTED 5 minutes before the plane arrived; so showing up 20 minutes before my travel to Estonia was fine. OGS was 1 hour south of YOW on a bad day; ART is 2.

I still recommend OGS or ART for Ottawa people; the trip is a nice short drive and you can't beat the free parking. Last trip, in January, I barely used a quarter tank of gas there and back, and that included the 20 minutes it took me to clear the 10" of snow off my car.

I hope PLB can have better fares; the concern is without traffic it will stay as an EAS market - so fares won't be as low as at BTV or SYR.

Super Larry

Just gathered that Southwest is likely to fly to PLB...A friend of mine always drive to ALB in order to fly Southwest and he was told by some SW people there that they'll start flying to PLB in Aug...