Vacation, New Haven Edition

The warm weather will soon be upon us, and with that the vacation seWho's up for a short

The warm weather will soon be upon us, and vacation travel with it.

Who's for a short getaway?

And will your budget allow for it?

It might...if you know where to look.

A lot of travel-savvy folks have discovered the joy of flying Avelo Airlines from close-by Tweed-New Haven Regional Airport, saving money in the process.

Oh, sure, I know. Your friends and neighbors have told you that "the airfares out of Tweed are so expensive. Bradley is so much cheaper."

That may have been the case in the past, when one of the "legacy" carriers served Tweed. And, yes, their fares out of Tweed were higher than at big brother Bradley up north. What did they care? At New Haven, they were the only game in town. At Bradley, they faced competition from other carriers, so their fares had to be more competitive. "Ya don't like the fares at Tweed? We serve Bradley, too. Go up there," was pretty much their attitude.

The arrival of Avelo Airlines at Tweed in 2021 changed everything.

Even though they currently have a monopoly on air service at that airport, they're hardly gouging Southern Connecticut travelers for as much as they can get.

No, the Avelo people know full well that for a long time Bradley had been the "go to" airport for air travel, especially as it applies to Florida. It was something of an open secret among the airlines that Southern Connecticut was starved for Florida service. Allegiant Airlines proposed New Haven-Florida service, but in the end couldn't quite bring themselves to pull the trigger.

The other factor that hindered travel from New Haven was that you had to connect at a larger "hub" airport in traveling to your destination. Sometimes delays resulted in missed connections or cancelled flights altogether, further discouraging New Haven-area fliers. Avelo bucked this "hub-and-spoke" trend with direct point-to-point flights.

Yet, despite all this, there are still some who will cling to the mentality---mostly Tweed Airport opponents---that "Bradley is cheaper."

But is it, really?

Let's say you want to travel to Orlando, a very popular travel destination. For purposes of discussion, I am using the travel dates of a May 11th departure and a May 18th return. (It is April 29th as I am writing this.)

Looking at Avelo's website, we see a base fare of $192. Not bad. This does not include the checked bag fee of $40, bringing your fare to $232. Seems a little pricier, doesn't it?

Now let's see what the airlines at Bradley have to offer for the same dates.

JetBlue has a fare of $388. Ouch! A little bit much, even with a free checked bag.

Frontier Airlines has a fare of $164, with a $30 checked bag fee, bringing the total to $194.

Spirit has a fare of $136, and a $36 checked bag fee. Total: $172.

Wow! It looks like Bradley does have cheaper fares than Tweed!

Hold the phone. You still have to travel up to Windsor Locks from New Haven to take advantage of those low fares. What's that going to cost you?

Well, Connecticut Limousine runs between New Haven and Bradley. The cost of a sedan for travel? $184. Uh-oh.

Well, there's always the Hartford Line of Connecticut Commuter Rail. Their one-way fare to Windsor Locks is $10.50 from New Haven's Union Station.

That seems manageable, if you don't mind first stopping at New Haven State Street. And Wallingford. And Meriden. And Berlin. And Hartford. And Windsor. Travel time? Just over an hour.

Or maybe you'd just rather drive yourself up there. Okay, let's look at that.

Using the example of gasoline at $3.50 per gallon (I know it's more than that, but bear with me), let's say for purposes of discussion that your car gets 20 miles to a gallon of gas. At 60 miles away, you would be using three gallons of gas, making your travel cost $10.50, not counting the wear and tear on your vehicle. (And let's hope The 91 is behaving itself so as not to delay your trip.)

So, you drive yourself up there. I think it's a fair bet to say that you're not going to be parking your car on some residential street in Windsor Locks for a week, so let's look at airport parking.

Do you want to be close to the terminal? The airport garage will cost you $28 a day. Maybe you might want to trade off convenience for savings: Lot 1 is $12 a day. Lot 2 is $9 a day. Lot 3 is $8 a day, and lot 4, way over by Route 75, is $7 a day. From there you may be able to get a glimpse of the top of the control tower.

If you're really lucky, you might be able to get a friend or family member to drive you up. That is, depending on what time your flight leaves. If it leaves at 6 a.m., and you have to be there two hours before your flight, that means you have to be at the airport at 4 a.m., so you're leaving at 3 a.m. the latest. Again, all things being equal. (Short of my wife asking me, I'm not taking anybody anywhere at 3 a.m.!)

Or---or---you can spend a night at the airport hotel so you can get some shuteye. The Sheraton on the airport grounds will be happy to accommodate you...for $263 a night.

At the other end of the spectrum is the Days Inn at $88 a night...four miles from the terminal. In all due fairness, there's shuttle service to the airport.

And consider this: What happens if your flight out of Bradley is delayed? Or cancelled? Are you going to one of the hotels (see above)? Are you going to sleep on the terminal floor?

Tell me again how "cheap " are those airfares out of Bradley?

Mind you, you can still fly to more destinations from Bradley than from Tweed. I don't envision non-stops from New Haven to the West Coast. At least not right away.

But Avelo CEO Andrew Levy has a lot of confidence in New Haven, adding destinations from Tweed that only a few short years ago would have been unheard of : Atlanta. Charlotte. Chicago. Houston. Nashville. St. Louis. Even San Juan! This in addition to Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Orlando, Palm Beach and Tampa, among others.

And Avports, which manages Tweed, also has projects in the works to improve the airport, among them, extending the runway and building a new, larger, more efficient passenger terminal and more parking to improve the customer experience.

So, as you start to plan for a little "R and R," ask yourself this question: Do you want to travel 60 miles for that "cheap" flight? Or five miles?