One of my bucket list vacations is to see New England in the fall. There is just something about the foliage and quaint towns that draws me in! My goal was to see all six states in one trip so we considered driving from Ohio. Although it was do-able, it was already a lot of driving just starting in Connecticut and doing a loop.
I started looking at flights over the summer and wasn’t seeing any great deals. Since we’re a family of five, I’m always looking for reasonably-priced trips. Not to mention, this would be our first flight in over two years. Plus with COVID still hitting, I didn’t want to lose a ton of money if we had to cancel.
As I was scrolling through Facebook, I saw an ad for Breeze Airways, which is a newer airline. I did some quick research and they seemed to offer good prices and seemed similar to a cheaper airline (like Frontier or Spirit). We’ve flown Frontier several times and always had good luck with them so I figured Breeze may be a good option.
When I started searching their flights, I found that they fly from Pittsburgh, PA (PIT) to Hartford, CT (BDL). Their flights for my dates were a third of the price of other airlines and there were no change/cancel fees. You can actually cancel your flight 15 minutes beforehand and not get charged! You get airline credit (not your money back), but if we did need to cancel, at least we could re-book with no penalty.
In addition to no change fees, checked bags are only $20/bag and they offer family seating where there are no seat charges for adults or kids as long as you sit in the family section. The only caveat to this is that our oldest son is 13 and considered an adult, so his seat had a charge. However, this is so much more reasonable than having to pay for all five of us!
The total cost of our roundtrip flight for our family of five (INCLUDING two checked bags) was $540. Seriously…that is a steal! To be quite honest, this airline seemed way too good to be true, but I was willing to gamble for that price! With prices that low, we actually decided to book another flight for our Universal Studios trip in January–our roundtrip flight was about the same cost as this trip!
Because Breeze flights are so cheap, you don’t get the in flight snacks and drinks without a fee. However, most of their flights are right around 60-90 minutes. I would much rather have a cheap flight than pay more for a flight with snacks and drinks.
I have a couple collapsible water bottles that I bring and fill with water before we board the plane. We’ve also brought the Crystal Light type drink mixes to add if you need something other than water. Plus, I always have a bag full of snacks for any trip we’re on so we don’t even need those extras.
When we initially booked our flight, we booked a Friday morning flight since that was all that was available. It was a great flight though—not too early and non-stop so it was perfect for us! A couple of weeks before we left, I checked flights again and noticed they added a Thursday evening flight. They allow you to change flights for free, so I went into my account and quickly edited my flight to the Thursday evening flight. There were no charges or added flight costs either—the flight was actually a little cheaper! The savings get added right back into your Breeze account for you to use towards your next flight.
When we arrived at the airport, the baggage line went a little slower than some of the other airlines. However, a girl who was being trained so that’s to be expected. The service was friendly when we were checking our bags and printing our boarding passes.
We did find out that there is typically a charge for printing out boarding passes so I suggest either printing your boarding passes at home or taking a screen shot of them if you plan to use the app, just in case your internet isn’t working when you board the plane. Their app is incredibly user-friendly and keeps you updated on the plane’s status.
Unfortunately, our flight did get delayed by about an hour, but once it was there, they boarded us fast and tried to make up some of that lost time. I always worry that our luggage will get lost, but it was on the carousel before we even got to the baggage claim area in Hartford!
Packing Tip: I typically pack an outfit and swimsuits in my carry-on back pack. My kiddos just want to swim when we get to our destination so I make sure that I have those no matter what. I also pack my checked bags so that I have some of our outfits in each bag. That way if our luggage gets lost or even one bag gets lost, we at least have an outfit or two until our luggage gets to us.
Our flight home was perfect! The airline does a great job of getting people boarded and unloaded quickly. The flight attendants were so friendly and our luggage was, again, on the carousel before we even got to baggage claim.
I would certainly fly this airline again and recommend giving them a try! We’re excited for our next Breeze flight to Tampa in January! I know they are supposed to be adding some larger planes to their fleet allowing for longer flights. I am eager to see what additional destinations will be available from my area! Here is a current list of destinations (directly from the Breeze site).
Have you flown with Breeze? If so, how was your experience?
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