Anyone know best airports, other than Panama City, to fly into? I was thinking of flying into Fort Walton Beach, looks like just over an hour drive from there to Panama City? Any experienced folks out there that can lend an idea? I want to fly American and use miles, they fly into Pensacola and Fort Walton Beach, those appearing to be the closest.
cheers
-andy
fort walton would be second closest (PCB obviously the closest), about 50 min away. talahasse is little over an hour away. dothan, alabama similar distance. pensacola is a little over two hours away. can’t help you with which ones american fly into, i use continental mainly.
i prefer Fort Walton … larger planes (?) and easier, to get bikes in and out of that airport … easy drive to PCB
Ft. Walton Beach/VPS is about 50-70 minutes to Panama City Beach depending on traffic. It’s a small airport with a spankin’ brand new terminal, and generally it’s quick to pick up your baggage after you get in. It’s my home airport, and I’m pretty/very happy with it, though more flight options would always be nice. If you can get a flight that works, it ends up being a much easier drive to PCB than Pensacola would be. Pensacola is a bigger airport with possibly slightly more flight options, but you’re talking an extra hour of driving either through suburban sprawl hell (US 98) or possible bad bottlenecks on I-10 because of ongoing post-Ivan reconstruction on the Escambia Bay Bridge.
And if you’re a military aviation buff, it’s a cool airport to go into because civilian air uses the Eglin AFB runways, and you usually get to see a bunch of interesting stuff out on the flight line while you’re taxiing.
If you can’t get the AA frequent flyer miles to work, try for a Northwest or Continental flight. There are reasons why Delta and ASA don’t have very good reputations in these parts.
interested to know as well.
usually fly to New Orleans and drive to PCB but I definitely have to rethink this, this year.