Travel to Bandon Dunes flying into North Bend (OTH) -- more delays in AM or PM?

potomacgolfer · February 6, 2013

Folks who've been to Bandon Dunes flying into North Bend (OTH) -- any sense of which routing is safer:

-flying in from San Francisco in the early evening (5:30 PM flight to OTH)

or

-flying in from Portland in the early morning (6:30 AM flight to OTH)

Am planning a July trip and prefer Portland, but wanted to get a sense of delay experiences IN THE SUMMER.

Thanks!

Skaffa77 · February 6, 2013

Very curious to hear the responses on this as I've been thinking through a potential trip next Spring. Was thinking Eugene, OR might be another option as there were more flights into that airport...

Steel Ninja · February 6, 2013

I would consider flying to Eugene or Portland before Bend. Bend is on the other side of the Cascade Mtns. and a considerably longer drive to Bandon.

I think Bandon is about 2.5 hrs from Eugene and a little over 4 hrs from Portland. I think it is 5+ hrs from Bend.

Honestly though if you can fit in a couple rounds in the Bend area coupled with Bandon then that would be a spectacular golf trip and worth the longer drive.

potomacgolfer · February 6, 2013

[quote name='Fight Club' timestamp='1360168620' post='6373183']
I would consider flying to Eugene or Portland before Bend. Bend is on the other side of the Cascade Mtns. and a considerably longer drive to Bandon.

I think Bandon is about 2.5 hrs from Eugene and a little over 4 hrs from Portland. I think it is 5+ hrs from Bend.

Honestly though if you can fit in a couple rounds in the Bend area coupled with Bandon then that would be a spectacular golf trip and worth the longer drive.
[/quote]

[size=5]OTH airport is in [u]North[/u] Bend/Coos Bay (a/k/a Southwest Oregon Regional Airport), and is 25 mins from the resort. You are right that Bend, Oregon is far away, but OTH airport is not. So the question is whether it's better/safer to fly from SFO to OTH in the evening, or PDX to OTH in the early morning -- in terms of summertime delays. Cheers,[/size]

Chris_NH · February 6, 2013

Not really an answer to your question, but we wrestled with this as well...and decided to drive from Portland to Bandon. It's not necessarily easier (although it creates a bit more flexibility) but it's more reliable. In our case, it means we could get a nonstop flight from the East coast, which eliminated our concerns about bags, clubs, etc (not to mention ourselves) making the connection.

Our schedule is to arrive around 8pm local time, spend the night in a hotel in Portland, then get up early and drive down. We play an afternoon round, two days of 36, and then a morning round...then reverse the trip back up, stay overnight in Portland again, and fly out first thing in the morning.

Just a thought.

sharkiesj · February 6, 2013

North Bend is the easiest. 30 min drive and the airport is a hell of a lot nicer than how it used to be. BUT, I've heard coming in from SFO that there are basically 2 flights in daily and the later flight uses the smaller plane and with the amount of baggage and such, clubs and baggage get routinely left off the flight so they can make the weight max for the flight, esp in the summer when traffic is peak.. The earlier flight uses the bigger plane so it's not an issue so much with people having to wait for their baggage/clubs the next day. This was my personal experience.

Portland is one h of a long drive. I know I wouldn't want to drive that far after landing and coming in off a long flight.

lowndes · February 6, 2013

I've heard the same as above on flying into North Bend about baggage, etc. My buddy and I are going in early April and landing in the middle of the day. We plan to just ship our clubs ahead (along with most of our clothes, etc.) and just have a small carry on. Much prefer travelling that way anyways. Hate lugging stuff around.