Buffalo Airport

K George is right on the money. As we were getting our things out of our car for our flight the Parking Shuttle guy patiently waited for us and helped more than most do. We flew out on Southwest and in on US Airways. Buffalo works well for SW as there is very little time wasted for taxiing so planes can get in and get out quickly. The airport is bright and easy to use. Be advised that the Jetway does not get lowered for regional jets so if its a rainy day and you are on a CRJ or ERJ to BUF have a newspaper handy to hold over your head!

BUF is a great smallish airport to fly into and out of. Security moves quickly the lines are short and it's very convenient for pick-up/drop-off and rentals. Upon arrival you can literally be in your car with baggage within 20 mins. Parking is expansive and cheap and there are always friendly drivers ready to pick you up at your car or drive you to it after arrival. The airport itself is bright and inviting- very well designed. It is also large enough to have a pretty good selection of flights- there are about 30 or so gates and probably a dozen or so airlines. You can't always get a direct flight but the options are not bad at all. My only gripe is there are only a few restaurant choices but since BUF is rarely a changeover it's not somewhere you'll usually spend a lot of time anyway.

Buf appears to be a nice little airport with friendly staff who are very efficient and treat customers with respect. The downside being airside shops and restaurants facilities are rather poor compared to other airports. The airport waiting areas are not too bad and gates quite near to each other. Quite a pleasant airport to fly into and out of.

I live in the Niagara Region on the Ontario Canada side and grew up in the Buffalo area. At one time it was common for Americans to trek to Toronto in order to obtain the best selection of flights at reasonable prices. Buffalo used to have three ancient small terminal buildings very limited parking and a small cartel of airlines operating out of it. Since the new airport in Buffalo has been built the range of airline choice and scheduling has grown and prices have fallen. Toronto on the other hand with its growth and congestion has become increasingly more expensive and although the drive from here is barely more than an hour that's hypothetical because traffic is always so bad in TO then if that's not enough parking is a nightmare you have to walk great distances to get to and inside of the terminals and now regardless of where you want to fly to it's much more expensive even after taking exchanges into consideration. We can leave our home be at Buffalo- Niagara in less than 45 minutes parking is plentiful and cheap but because it's such a hassle-free trip it's never any problem to get someone to do a drop off. You can just get in and out of there fast. I do agree the security barriers were placed in the most awkward part of the airport severely limiting the access to more shops and restaurant choices. The baggage carrousel area is also a bit tight when a few flights arrive at once but again these are small problems compared to the ease and reasonable prices. And for domestic flights within the US when you live in Canada you can entirely avoid customs when arriving and just drive from the airport and do your declarations at whatever bridge and it's so much easier. It's nice to be in this area and have the choice of airports - to include Hamilton which is making travel within Canada easier for us in this region.

Like some of the other reviewers here I'm a Canadian that uses BUF as an alternative to Toronto Pearson International. The reason is simple - - for flights within the United States it's vastly cheaper to fly from Buffalo -- On one occasion recently I was able to make a flight out of Buffalo for literally half what it would have cost from Toronto (all taxes included). Two significant reasons why Buffalo is cheaper -- Firstly Pearson charges possibly the highest landing fees in the world and second the United States TSA charges higher security fees for trans-border versus U.S. domestic flights. One review of Buffalo Airport complained about it being hard to fly anywhere direct from Buffalo but I suspect that most airports are like that these days. With one connection you can get to most places from Buffalo. My one issue with the airport is that it was designed in the pre-9/11 era and nearly all the airport facilities (stores restaurants etc.) are in the secure area so there isn't much to do for people waiting for arriving flights.

Southwest and Jet Blue offer a cheap alternative to us Canadians but airport fees at YYZ adding 80% to a fare is somewhat of an exaggeration. This airport is not a travel friendly place one of the coldest and most impersonal airports I have ever been in. The parking system is quite expensive and very disorganized the shuttle buses wander aimlessly and don't pick up on a first come first served basis. The day we left there were noisy sirens and alarms going off all the time and all the staff just ignored them and my eardrums just hummed and I couldn't hear anything that was going on. While the food sold was good there was very little selection (apart from Burger King before security every outlet had the same menu) and the prices were exorbitant.

BUF is an excellent airport as a second choice for Toronto people flying to Chicago Northeastern USA and Florida especially you are travelling with a whole family. Southwest fare from BUF to Florida is so low CAD150 include tax round trip for family of four flying from BUF to Florida can save you a lots of money! BUF itself is small user- friendly and just 1.5 hours from Toronto. I did that before - park my car check in security boarding all in 35 mins!

Have been using this airport as an alternative to Pearson Intl (YYZ- Toronto) because of Pearson’s outrageous airport fees. I have routinely bought an airline ticket thinking that it was a great price only to find out that the airport fees add another 80% to the ticket. Buffalo Intl is an ok airport its quite small but it gets the job done. One problem with this airport is the paltry number of flights that leave the airport. Unless you live in the Northeast it is almost impossible to fly without connecting somewhere. The only other gripe that I have is that the food selection at the airport is rather poor.