Wednesday, July 21, 2010

A Vermont Wedding

I was recently contacted by a pair of friends who have been invited to a wedding in northern Vermont. The couple lives in San Jose, CA and need to arrive in Vermont by the morning of Friday, October 1st and depart Sunday October 3rd. While schedule is the most important factor for this trip economics is a close second.

In order to find the best prices several nearby airports should considered in both the arriving and departing locations. In addition to San Jose airport, San Francisco and Oakland airports will also be considered. On the arriving side, Burlington, VT is the  closest airport to the wedding but since the travelers will be renting a car anyway, airports within a few hours drive are considered. These include Albany, NY, Manchester, NH and even Montreal, Quebec across the boarder.

It is evident by the arrival time requirement of Friday morning that departure will need to be sometime on Thursday. Given these parameters some immediate options jump out. United from San Francisco to Burlington via Washington-Dulles has acceptable timing (departing SFO at 12:48pm and arriving BTV at 11:13pm) and a reasonable price of $460. Additionally the Sunday return flights allow a relaxed morning with a mid afternoon departure.

A more expensive alternative at $100 more is a set of jetBlue flights from Oakland. jetBlue flies from all three Bay Area airports but the timing at Oakland is best. This set of flights features a 9:40pm red-eye to JFK with a morning arrival into Burlington. Additionally is utilizes a 5:00pm flight on Sunday night (also via JFK) which would allow them to spend more time on Sunday in Vermont and still arrive home around midnight.

Delta offers a great price to one of the alternative airports. Departing Oakland on a red-eye, this options arrives in Albany, NY via Atlanta Friday morning and departs Sunday a little before 1pm. While the price tag of $384 is great, layovers over 3 hours in both directions tarnish this option. Also the travelers will have to make the 3 hours drive from Albany to northern Vermont after a long red-eye and leave relatively early on Sunday to make the same 3 hour drive back.

If price is the greatest concern obviously the Delta flights to Albany would be the best option but as this is a trip for a wedding, schedule must take some precedence. Assuming the travelers have the flexibility to leave mid-day on Thursday I think the United flights offer a good compromise on price while still meeting the timing requirements and avoiding an overnight red-eye on a short trip.

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