Multi-city travel (including

Tunster2 · 20 February 2013 at 11:36AM

Hi All!

Just need some advice on when the time will be to book tickets to the USA. Basically, I've got a place to run the Chicago Marathon in October. The plan is to go out there 2 days before (Thurs 10th October - 1 day to travel and 2 full rest days before the marathon on the Sunday) and then fly back to the UK from New York as I'll be driving to New York after the marathon and spending a few days there.

Currently, the flights are approximately £500 wherever I go...

Virgin - Cannot give me the Thursday flight out, but Friday morning.
American Airlines - Can give me quite flexible flying times.
Skyscanner - Gives me Irish Airways (Aer Lingus) as a 2 part flight. Again no cheaper.

EDIT: British Airways are the same, £508 direct both ways inclusive.

Is there any advice on who I should go with? And will there be an opportunity to get the flight tickets cheap if I wait? One of my friends who goes flying all over the world said that wait until 3 months before the trip to book them as generally they fall in price then. Also, I'm looking to hire a car to travel across using one of my full days to get to New York (stopping at Cleveland as a half-way).

Really excited and this will be my first trip to the states!

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jpsartre · 20 February 2013 at 12:03PM

You don't say where you're travelling from so I'll assume London. Personally I'd go with BA. Several flights a day both Chicago and NYC and you'd make enough Avios points on the flight for a one-way reward flight saver to many European destinations. That said, there isn't much difference between the various airlines in economy so if price is very important you might want to just go for the cheapest option that suits you. I'd definitely avoid a flight with connections though.

Edit: Oh, and around the £500 mark is what I'd expect to pay these days.

Tunster2 · 20 February 2013 at 12:57PM

jpsartre wrote: »

You don't say where you're travelling from so I'll assume London. Personally I'd go with BA. Several flights a day both Chicago and NYC and you'd make enough Avios points on the flight for a one-way reward flight saver to many European destinations. That said, there isn't much difference between the various airlines in economy so if price is very important you might want to just go for the cheapest option that suits you. I'd definitely avoid a flight with connections though.

Edit: Oh, and around the £500 mark is what I'd expect to pay these days.

It is London that I'd be flying from. I'd pay slightly more if I got something better, but having found out that all the major airlines are providing it for the same cost, I may go British Airways. Is there no time frame to bag a slightly cheaper deal with all the major airlines? I'm happy to wait if that's the case. If not, then I'd be happy to book now and then not have to worry about it.

Any advice on car hire once out in the states? I'll be going from city to city over a day, so need a company who can take the car back upon arrival.

Doshwaster · 20 February 2013 at 5:20PM

The problem you have is that your dates are fixed - the Marathon isn't going to move and there will be a lot of people flying in. I'd also get hotel rooms booked ASAP as there is sure to be a big demand. £508 with BA sounds reasonable so I'd book now rather than gamble on the prices going down. You may be able to save £50 or so by waiting but they could also go up by £200 as well.

I must say my jaw hit the desk when I read this:

"as I'll be driving to New York after the marathon"

Tunster2 · 20 February 2013 at 6:06PM

Doshwaster wrote: »

The problem you have is that your dates are fixed - the Marathon isn't going to move and there will be a lot of people flying in. I'd also get hotel rooms booked ASAP as there is sure to be a big demand. £508 with BA sounds reasonable so I'd book now rather than gamble on the prices going down. You may be able to save £50 or so by waiting but they could also go up by £200 as well.

I must say my jaw hit the desk when I read this:

I'll probably book up tonight as I've got enough in savings to do this.

The drive across to New York is more a dream to do some long-distance driving across the states and going across long, wide roads. Now I'm London-based, doing some cityless driving would be nice and taking an automatic across will be nice to do. I love driving!

Mands · 20 February 2013 at 7:23PM

Tunster2 wrote: »

Also, I'm looking to hire a car to travel across using one of my full days to get to New York (stopping at Cleveland as a half-way).

Really excited and this will be my first trip to the states!

That's quite a drive. Best estimates from others are 12 hours straight driving, plus time to get out of Chicago, plus time to get into NY, plus rest stops, plus Cleveland.

That seems like a really big chunk of your trip.

Mands

neilbond007 · 20 February 2013 at 7:51PM

I would fly from Chicago to NY. As mentioned above, it's a 12+ hour drive and there is basically !!!!!! all to see on the route. Cleveland is an OK city At best. There is the rock and roll hall of fame and... well, that's it...

Flight prices won't differ much. For example -
10/10 LHR - ORD
14/10 ORD - EWR
18/10 (or 19th or 20th) EWR - LHR

This comes out at £557. All flights are direct and with United. (Used kayak.co.uk)

Doshwaster · 20 February 2013 at 7:54PM

Tunster2 wrote: »

I'll probably book up tonight as I've got enough in savings to do this.

The drive across to New York is more a dream to do some long-distance driving across the states and going across long, wide roads. Now I'm London-based, doing some cityless driving would be nice and taking an automatic across will be nice to do. I love driving!

My surprise was more to do with the fact that you would be driving that far after running a marathon. If I was ever able to run 26 miles, I'd want to spend the next week resting by a pool drinking cocktails. I certainly wouldn't want to be driving - even in an automatic.

ferf1223 · 20 February 2013 at 9:27PM

you may (probably will) be hit with a one-way fee on the hire car which could increase the price considerably...worth considering looking at various options to see which works out the cheapest for you. We use carhire3000 or whatever they are called now...they will advise you of the one way fee after booking and you can cancel if you are not happy, or they can search for alternatives where the total price including one-way fee will be less.

Murphy_The_Cat also posted about an option with a fixed one-way fee that might be useful -

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4367015

That also seems a looooong drive to me...but I guess if you like driving and if it satsifies a travel-related desire and all that.

Also we have flown both Virgin and AA to Chicago many times...we prefer AA because of the option to depart the UK very early and arrive in Chicago about 10am...flights for our next trip were so ridiculously priced that we resorted to Virgin (£400 less for some reason we have yet to determine) but depart and arrive about 4 hours later which isn't my favourite thing...unless something has changed, AA has a higher carry-on allowance than Virgin too.

Tunster2 · 21 February 2013 at 11:00AM

Doshwaster wrote: »

My surprise was more to do with the fact that you would be driving that far after running a marathon. If I was ever able to run 26 miles, I'd want to spend the next week resting by a pool drinking cocktails. I certainly wouldn't want to be driving - even in an automatic.

It's not cast in stone yet. I may think of getting a train and taking the whole day to rest. I don't want to deal with another flight until I go home from New York. I love cars and trains equally, so probably make a late call on what I decide to do. Actually, if I can't get a nice 4x4 or a nicer car (than the boring cars the big car hire firms have), then I'll probably stick to a train.

ferf1223 wrote: »

you may (probably will) be hit with a one-way fee on the hire car which could increase the price considerably...worth considering looking at various options to see which works out the cheapest for you. We use carhire3000 or whatever they are called now...they will advise you of the one way fee after booking and you can cancel if you are not happy, or they can search for alternatives where the total price including one-way fee will be less.

Murphy_The_Cat also posted about an option with a fixed one-way fee that might be useful -

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4367015

That also seems a looooong drive to me...but I guess if you like driving and if it satsifies a travel-related desire and all that.

Also we have flown both Virgin and AA to Chicago many times...we prefer AA because of the option to depart the UK very early and arrive in Chicago about 10am...flights for our next trip were so ridiculously priced that we resorted to Virgin (£400 less for some reason we have yet to determine) but depart and arrive about 4 hours later which isn't my favourite thing...unless something has changed, AA has a higher carry-on allowance than Virgin too.

Have you flown British Airways? Some of their flights state AA (run by British Airways). I'm not having to take too much with me. They'll probably be more snacks in my case than clothes!

Doshwaster · 21 February 2013 at 1:06PM

Tunster2 wrote: »

Have you flown British Airways? Some of their flights state AA (run by British Airways). I'm not having to take too much with me. They'll probably be more snacks in my case than clothes!

All other things being equal I prefer to fly on a BA operated flight to the US but the truth is that there is very little between the airlines in economy so I would base the decision on price and schedule.

Multi-city travel (including

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