Shawn Fagan and his wife Michelle in Rio de Janeiro.
If international air travel is on your horizon, RST could be the ideal starting point for your journey. Three seasoned globetrotters who live in Rochester – Shawn Fagan, Steve Spohn, and Amy Franqueira – share the six biggest perks of taking off from RST.
1. Solid Bang for Your Buck
International airfares can sometimes be relatively inexpensive if you depart from RST instead of other airports, especially if you’re willing to add an extra layover. And even if you want to limit layovers — which could boost your fare costs — remember to factor in all your travel-related expenses.
“By the time you pay for parking or shuttles or overnight stays in the Cities, you’ll find more times than not that flying out of RST is beneficial for a lengthier trip,” says Shawn Fagan, a Rochester small business owner.
2. Ideal Flight Routes
RST’s three daily flights to Minneapolis on Delta and four flights to Chicago on American Airlines effectively position travelers to hop on nonstop flights to Europe. Steve Spohn, a Rochester attorney, is a frequent flyer on the Chicago route. “You can connect in Chicago to almost anywhere in Europe,” Steve says. “I always check RST first when planning a trip.”
3. Proximity from Home to Airport
Shawn is a huge fan of RST because it’s just minutes from his home. International travel is stressful, so kicking it off positively is critical, he says. “It feels so good not to have to stress about that drive to the Cities. I’ve white-knuckled it so many times on Highway 52 to get up to MSP in the wintertime. It’s so much nicer to drive 15 minutes from my house to RST, pull up a few feet from the door and head right in.”
4. Inexpensive Parking / Creative Parking Solutions
If you park onsite at RST, it is not only close to the entrance, but relatively inexpensive, averaging $20 a day less than at MSP. And it’s easy to have your friends and family drop you off and pick you up. Steve and his wife sometimes have their kids drop them off; alternatively, they leave their car at RST, and their kids come to get it with their spare keys.
5. Easy-Breezy Check-In and Security Process
Short security lines and friendly staff make for a pleasant start to your international trip. “You walk in and there’s hardly a line for checking your bags or going through TSA. You can sit down and be ready to roll in moments,” Shawn says. The small-town, friendly atmosphere at RST is a bonus. “We come across friends working there. Our neighbor across the street is a TSA agent and greeted us by name. And when we checked in at our counter once, they recognized us and had our baggage claims printed while we were walking in. The friendliness of the people at RST is so appreciated.”
Amy Franqueira and her husband on a flight to Mexico.
6. Simple and Efficient Return from Abroad
Your international trip has ended – now what? An underrated perk of international travel via RST is the simplicity when you reach home.
Amy Franqueira, a Digital Banking Specialist in Rochester who visits family in Europe regularly, says: “At RST, it doesn’t take nearly as long to get your luggage. This is huge. It can be an arduous task at the end of a long-haul international flight to walk through a large airport and wait 30 to 40 minutes for luggage to arrive. Last time we flew into Rochester, it was around 15 minutes and far less crowded and hectic.”
Amy also appreciates not having to drive “another jetlagged hour-plus” in order to get home to Rochester. “At RST, our car is just a short walk away, followed by a mere 10-minute drive home. It’s heavenly!”
