Santa Fe or ABQ flights?
 

Hi...I'm looking for Santa Fe, NM flyers for expert advice, please! I will be flying from PHL to Santa Fe (SAF) in a few weeks. Really awful flight times on AA between these two cities (5:30 a.m. or 6 p.m. only-- through DFW).

Trying to decide if it is best to fly directly to SAF or to fly into ABQ (which offers better flight options, but they are more expensive & take I will need to take the shuttle (about $30 each way).
Any advice? Thoughts are appreciated!

Santa Fe or ABQ flights?
 

ABQ car rentals tend to be quite cheap. I wouldn't take a super inconvenient flight to SAF just to save the drive.

there are some very nice routes for driving ABQ-SAF other than the straight shot up I-25 ... for instance NM 14 on the east side of the mountains, and NM 47/313 thru Bernalillo and Algodones

Thanks for your advice...very helpful! I'm not an early riser so a 5:30 a.m. flight sounds awful to me...

I am yet to fly into SAF because of the prices and flight times. Usually fly WN OAK-ABQ nonstop for convenience.

I spent a year working in SF and flew into ABQ every week. It's a quick easy commute and there are many more options if something goes sideways.

SAF is teeny tiny, it only regained commercial service a few years ago. I think there are less than six flights a day, total (all on the smallest RJs in the fleet). ABQ is hardly a major hub itself, but it has way more options (8x a day to/from DFW, mostly on MD80s). Are you not renting a car? The drive is a straight shot up I25, shouldn't take more than an hour. There's also the train between Albuquerque and Santa Fe which I think is only $8 each way (you'll have to get from the airport to the train station downtown. I think there's a bus, but you'll want to check the timetable.)

SAF is a cool experience for airport buffs. It looks pretty much straight out of 1936. The retro architecture inside and out is great. You can imagine Ford TriMotors parked out on the ramp.

I've only been through there once. Scored a weirdly attractive AA fare on one of their two or three daily RJs to DFW.

But the only carriers at SAF are American Eagle (DFW) and United Express (DEN), and the latter is notoriously unreliable and prone to cancellation, and when that happens your rebook options are very very limited. ABQ is just a richer target with more options in case of trouble, and as others have said the drive is beautiful.

We spent our honeymoon inSanta Fe, and one of the highlights was the flight up from ABQ on what my husband called "rubber band airways" also known as Mesa Airlines!

The airfield ( you couldn't really call it an airport!) was teeny tiny, and as we disembarked the tiny plane, we were told to hang on and grab our bags as they were unloaded from the hold. The taxi driver told us that they only had a few flights a day, and a couple of cabs went up there to meet each one as not many folk actually wanted a taxi!

Glad to hear it hasn't changed that much after nearly 25 years!

Santa Fe is a nice and small airport. I have flown out of ABQ and SAF using miles and will be doing so again in September on AA. Santa Fe has a restaurant outside but do note that restrooms are outside security. The size of the SAF airport is smaller than most hotels and homes.

ABQ has a nice observation deck and good restaurants

If the flight is cancelled then they put us up at what hotel?

How do I know? There appeared to be plenty of motels within four or five miles of the airfield.

Fly into ABQ, drive, take the shuttle or ride the NM Railrunner.

http://riometro.org/

For your planning. I plan to ride it soon myself.

Thanks for you advice, friends! Much appreciated!