I am heading to IMFL and am wondering what airport the rest of you are flying into (if you are flying).
Should I just fly to PCB through Atlanta (approx $600CDN), of should I fly to Tallahassee or Jacksonville and then drive/bus to PCB?
Thanks for your input.
mp
note: I’m flying from Toronto.
Tallahassee is much closer than Jax.
you can try ft walton beach too…45min drive
.
Jacksonville is about as far from PCB as Atlanta is, so no point in flying into there. Alternate airports within two hour’s drive to PCB are Ft. Walton Beach (airport code VPS if you’re searching for flights since every carrier calls the airport something slightly different) about 45-60 minutes away, and also Tallahassee and Pensacola. Pensy’s worth checking into because it will occasionally turn out to be significantly cheaper than other Panhandle airports.
Bus service isn’t really there in the Panhandle- not enough population density, and the cities that are there are pretty far off of I-10.
The worst thing about air service in the area is that Delta has about half the flights and routes into the region, and about 75% of those flights are actually covered by ASA (Satan’s commuter airline as determined by a major US customer satisfaction survey) I’d only go with Delta if you know your flight is going to be with the Delta mothership, which is generally more tolerable.
Well, to clarify, you could do jax to PCB in 4 hours and Atlanta to PCB in about 6. Neither are good options though. Tallahassee is relatively expensive to fly into, but its about a 90 - 120 min drive.
If you go with Delta don’t sweat it too much. The Delta flight from Atlanta to Tallahassee is almost always on time and usually runs early. Plus, Delta will fly the bike for free now. But once you get to Tally you will need to rent a car. The route from Tally to PCB is 2 roads. Its two 2-lane highways with little to no traffic.
Like Jill said, check Pensacola, its around the same distance and might be cheaper.
**you can try ft walton beach too…45min drive **
After much research, that has turned out to be my choice. We’ll see how it goes!
If you’ve got an interest in military aviation, Ft. Walton Beach/VPS is actually kind of cool to fly into because civilian air uses the Eglin AFB runways and there’s usually all kinds of cool stuff sitting out on the flightline you get to look at while you’re taxiing.
And the civilian commercial air terminal there is still in the shiny and brand new stage, which makes all the people who fly out of the area very happy. The old building had all the ambiance of a moderately successful 1970s African IMF project, and had no bathrooms once you got past the security checkpoint.
Funnily enough, my dad was in the Navy and I was born in Pensacola…I should fly in there, but race week convenience takes precedence…! Certainly good to know FWB is a nice facility. Thanks for that heads up, Jill.