Noon flight flying out from Buffalo - what time to leave?

[micstand]

Will be flying out on a noon flight from Buffalo and driving from the Mississauga area. What would be a good time to leave? How bad is the traffic in the morning? How much time to leave to cross the border etc.?

 

[hodgieha]

Lots depend on the day you cross. You could start looking at the boarder crossing webpages and see what the delay is to cross to give you a feel for how long it will take. Have you thought of getting a hotel room across from the airport. Many let you leave your car for free and will shuttle you to the airport. Then you don't have to worry about traffic.

 

[TommyJK]

What day of the week are you leaving. Traffic much different on week days in the morning vs. on weekends.

Either way, a "safe" time to leave IMO would be 7:00 am. Without traffic/boarder delays it takes about an hour and 45 min. Say at a worst case scenario it takes you 3 hours (traffic, boarder delays). That's means you're at the airport at 10:00, then you still have a 2 hr buffer ahead of the flight.

 

[Micharlotte]

I always stay a night at a hotel. The stress of delays at the border or traffic is too much for me. I’d rather be across the street and in the us the day before so I know I’ll make our flight. My husband has a very common name and we’ve been held up at the border several times for more than an hour while we wait to have him fingerprinted to prove he’s not a murderer. I’ve also been stuck in a line for more than an hour at the border.

 

[Disneylover99]

I always stay a night at a hotel. The stress of delays at the border or traffic is too much for me. I’d rather be across the street and in the us the day before so I know I’ll make our flight. My husband has a very common name and we’ve been held up at the border several times for more than an hour while we wait to have him fingerprinted to prove he’s not a murderer. I’ve also been stuck in a line for more than an hour at the border.

Totally agree. I always go the night before, no matter what time my flight is. You never know what kind of border delay there will be.

 

[darwinsrule]

And since we don't know 'when' you are going, keep in mind any big events going on. A Sunday departure with a Bills home game, well in that case go the day before.

 

[stfxkid]

Get a nexus card and cross at the whirlpool bridge if there is traffic at the other two.

 

[Pinkgurlshubby]

Also agree a hotel across the street is a good bet if you are going to be paying for parking anyways. you could be paying 45 to 70 dollars a week. We just got a park sleep fly at the Sleep Inn for 113 for August. This is our hotel to stay anyways as there are restaurants nearby plus in the morning breakfast and shuttle are included. 7 am should be a good time to leave Mississauga. Personally I'd leave by 6 but that's just me, I know what my daily commute going from Cambridge to Mississauga is. You never know what lies between Mississauga and Buffalo. Construction, accidents, there's a couple of bottleneck slowdowns as well. We come up by 403 from Brantford area and where Red Hill meets up with QEW all the way to St. Catherine's you may as well pack a lunch LOL.