You mentioned that there is a large airport two hours away. When we lived in Pennsylvania we used to go to Vegas in March for a convention for my job and stay on for our anniversary. Now there are cheap flights from Pittsburgh to Vegas but back then it was far cheaper for us to drive the extra hour, making it a two hour drive, to Cleveland. We would drive in after work the night before if it was an early morning flight and stay at a hotel that provided transportation to and from the airport. We were able to leave our car there for the time were were gone. Because we were staying at least a week and usually longer, paying for a night at a hotel was actually cheaper than paying for the parking even at the best rate. When we had an afternoon flight and didn't need to stay overnight we were still able to pay for a night at the hotel to get free parking and transport to and from the airport.
Our rule of thumb has been if it costs around $35 more a piece to fly out of the airport closest to us then we will usually spend the extra money not to have to drive the extra distance. If it costs in the range of $40-$60 more each, then we take a good look at the time of year (wintertime up North with potentially bad driving conditions), how long the flight is and if we will be getting back late and have to go to work the next morning before deciding. When the savings get above $70 each we've always driven the extra distance to save that much money. We'd rather drive the extra hour or even 90 minutes to an airport that is further away and have that money we saved to spend while we are on our vacation.
Tuesdays are usually when most airlines have the best prices. You don't have to fly on Tuesdays, that is just the day to book the flights to get the best price. Some airline websites have calendars that you are actually able to select the month to see the prices for each day.
Spirit Airlines - Pay for your bags when you purchase your flights to get the best price. Checked bags are cheaper than carry-ons. If you pay the $59 a year for one of you to join their Spirit Club you will get the best prices on flights and bags. But if you won't be flying them at least once more in that next year then I wouldn't think you would save enough to offset the $59 fee to join. Only one person needs to join and can book for everyone in their party to get them the cheapest rate too. There are no complimentary drinks or snacks so bring a sandwich or snacks and an empty water bottle from home and fill it up after you get through security. Or purchase something before you get on the plane. I also don't pay extra to pick our seats as we don't care. We fly Spirit A LOT and have no complaints. Usually the people who complain about Spirit are the ones who wait until they get to the airport to pay for their bags because those fees are expensive.
**Two weeks ago on Spirit I booked three round trip non-stop flights (Spirit Club prices) from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Cleveland, Ohio leaving in mid February and returning in early March with one shared checked bag for $217.49 TOTAL. $42 ($21 each way) of that was for the checked bag and the remaining $175.49 was the total for all three flights, not each flight.
Frontier and Allegiant - You pay for checked and carry-on bags. Like Spirit only the personal item that fits under the seat is free. As for drinks and snacks, a glass of water might be free but I don't think anything else is. Like Spirit these two airlines also have some great deals on flights.
Jet Blue and American - Carry-on bags are still free as far as I know. I believe Jet Blue still gives you free drinks and snacks. Not sure about American.
Southwest - Still has 2 free bags and free snacks and drinks.
I have a lot of airlines to choose from with flying out of Fort Lauderdale and Miami so might have way more options that other people have. Plus we fly often enough that I can't justify paying higher price just to get free snacks and drinks.
