Flights to Miami or Fort Lauderdale?

[tkswening]

I'm on the Magic next August out of Fort Lauderdale.  I'm wondering if flight prices might be cheaper to Fort Lauderdale or Miami.  If they are cheaper to Miami, about how much would it cost to get to the Fort Lauderdale port?  

[Cruiser_1977]

It is about a $35-$45 Uber ride from MIA to port in Fort Lauderdale. That's $70-90 in transportation. If you can find a flight into Miami for more than $90 cheaper it might be worth it. The ride is about 30 minutes without a lot of traffic.

https://www.uber.com/fare-estimate/

Edited October 24, 2018 by JennyB1977

[CruiserBruce]

It will probably depend on where you are flying from.

 

Many airlines have their fares for next August out...you should be able to start comparing prices. 

[BNBR]

Not sure I could say it better than Jenny.  But yes, if the flight is $100 or so cheaper, it could make sense to go to the "further" airport.  As a local, I hardly pay attention to booking FLL or MIA.  I treat them almost identically.  I do the same for the cruise port.  The drive is about 30 minutes difference which is rather trivial.  So keep that in mind and just book whatever makes the most sense, understanding the drive is short and just not that big of a deal.

[JohninDC]

Transport costs between FLL and POM range from shared shuttles (about $15 per person each way) to Uber/Lyft (about $35+ each way for the car) to mini-van/SUV taxis and UberXL for larger groups (about $70+ each way for the vehicle).

 

Transport from MIA to POM coast about $27+ in a taxi and closer to $20 in an UberX or standard Lyft. 

 

If you are flying in the day before (like all smart cruisers do) hotels in the FLL area are generally a bit cheaper than comparable properties in Miami/Miami Beach.

[SandyMIA]

Passenger landing taxes are much higher (4 to 5 times) in MIA than in FLL.

It doesn't mean that you can't find a cheap flight to MIA but the landing tax itself make a $40-50 difference.

That is part of the reason why Spirit, JetBlue and Southwest fly exclusively to FLL and not MIA.

[tkswening]

Thanks so much!  Now just waiting for all the airlines to post all the way to August.  

 

[bigbeergut]

On 10/24/2018 at 3:59 PM, tkswening said:

I'm on the Magic next August out of Fort Lauderdale.  I'm wondering if flight prices might be cheaper to Fort Lauderdale or Miami.  If they are cheaper to Miami, about how much would it cost to get to the Fort Lauderdale port?  

 

It also probably depends on the departure times of the potential flights.  My personal rule is no flights earlier than 11:00 if leaving out of Fort Lauderdale, but for Miami I probably wouldn't schedule a flight before noon if the ship was in Fort Lauderdale.

 

Good Luck

[Cindyscruising]

When I travel to South Florida ( from New England) the airfare is ALWAYS less expensive going into FLL rather than MIA. I like the airport better as well. I have used Larrys Limo/Car service for transportation between FLL and Port of Miami and it was almost equivalent in price to using an Uber but much superior service. I travel on Southwest almost exclusively as I find their prices to be the lowest and the service the most reliable

[CruiserBruce]

35 minutes ago, Cindyscruising said:

When I travel to South Florida ( from New England) the airfare is ALWAYS less expensive going into FLL rather than MIA. I like the airport better as well. I have used Larrys Limo/Car service for transportation between FLL and Port of Miami and it was almost equivalent in price to using an Uber but much superior service. I travel on Southwest almost exclusively as I find their prices to be the lowest and the service the most reliable

 Hold on...wouldn't the airfare depend on the city you depart from? I just did a check of SFO-Fll and SFO-MIA, and the prices were almost the same...on United.

 

And as Southwest only flies to FLL, is that a apples to apples comparison of Southwest flying to the two airports?

 

Sorry...just always wonder about someone that says "always" (or never) for something as variable as airfares.

[Cindyscruising]

Hi Bruce, Great question, I am happy to clarify what I  meant!

 

I am fortunate to be located in an area of New England that I am able to fly out of several airports CT/Boston/NYC depending who is offering the best deal. I do tons of research and price comparison before booking and I definitely compare prices with all the airlines including Southwest and check into flying into both MIA and FLL. For me I have always found flying into FLL cheaper no matter what time of year- perhaps its just coincidental!!

 

After checking with all the major carriers it seems Southwest ends up being the lowest and I book with them