USA Multi-City Flights

watpoae

Hi,

Just after a bit of advice please. I've read through both the Las Vegas and New York threads but I couldn't see the question I need help on, but apologies in advance if it was covered.

Basically I am wanting to go on a multi-city trip to America next June.

I am ideally wanting to fly from Manchester to New York (stops are fine) and return from Los Angeles. In between we are wanting to take the train from New York to Philadelphia then fly from Philly to Vegas. From vegas we are wanting to drive to LA.

Does anyone know the best way to go about booking these flights please? Is it advisable to go with the same airline both ways? Is it best getting single journeys with an airline? Is it OK to go with different airlines there and back?

Also ideally what are the best days to travel money wise (ie not on Mondays or fridays etc) and does any one know the best sites for internal flights in the states? A lad I work with said one airline offers at least one domestic flight if you travel with them to the states but I can't find this offer anywhere!

Many thanks for your help.

123oleary

im not sure about your internal flights but i think your cheapest option is to book your inward flights as soon as and try and use the same airline both ways. you can then book your internal travel seperately using search engines etc. there might be deals to be had occasionaly by adding car hire or hotels were it is conveniant to you.

Jasper27_2

I've done quite a few unusual routings and it can be very hard to book these kind of flights online as there is usually only the facility to book a straight forward return or one way. I'd try ringing a few specialist long haul flight providers (I've always found Trailfinders very good) to get some prices so you have something to compare against. I agree with 123oleary that you might be better to book the long-haul and domestic parts seperately. If you can use the same airline or alliance of airlines for both legs of the long-haul this will keep the price down. Try BMI as they fly from Manchester to several US hubs and provide onward flights with their partner United. Also Continental fly Manchester New York and KLM fly several times a day to Amsterdam with conections on to the US from there. It can sometimes be worth calling the airlines reservation centre directly as they can provide routes you can not book online. Just don't leap into anything, shop around first and as well as prices get the times of the flights and details of the routing to make sure you don't spend hours hanging around waiting to make a connection. It's OK if you don't mind but can make for a long tiring journey. There are loads of domestic providers in the US, Southwestern and Ted are usually pretty cheap. Your best bet is to find the website for the airport you want to depart from and find a list of all the airlines/routes to see who goes where you want and then go the airlines websites and compare prices. it can be quite a lot of work but it's something to do on a winter night! It is worth the effort as you can get exactly what you want for a reasonable price and not be tied to some travel brochures idea of what your trip should be.

flutterbyuk25

Internal flights are pretty cheap and easy to book here or when you're there.

Try Delta, Southwest, Jetblue, American Airlines. either look on thier websites or try expedia.com (US version)

I flew from NYC to LA in Sept for approx $90 inc tax booked just 2weeks in advance (in US). And San Fran to NYC for approx $120.

Only thing you need to really watch out for is the baggage allowance. Some airlines charge you to check all luggage (approx $20/bag), some allow one bag for free then charge for 2nd/3rd etc. And they are clamping down on people taking large hand luggage too.

Is there a particular reason you want to get train to Philly? Trains can be very expensive in the US. You may find that you could fly to Philly cheaper!

Or consider bus? Megabus or Boltbus are really cheap, and clean/tidy/air con etc. I went from Boston to Washington DC for just $16 one way! Took 8 hours but was easy enough.

Have fun

x

richardw

There are rumours that Continental is going to join the Star Alliance which bmi is part of, this may mean that CO flights from MAN may get BD flight codes, which may open up more options for you, perhaps keep your eye on https://www.continental.com

watpoae

Thanks for all the replies everyone, really appreciated.

flutterbyuk25, I haven't really looked into the NY to philly transfer. Just checked the train website and saw that its only just under an hour an a half so thought it would be easier? I think it said about $60 dollars on the amtrak site.

I did an expedia.co.uk search the other day and got BA flights offered for £350 for the outward and inward return trips (with a change each way at Chicago I think). This offer isn't there now though, just lists US airways as the cheapest. Does this seem a good price?

Thanks

Voyager2002

Do a google search for the term "visit USA pass". This will return a number of deals whereby you pay in advance for a certain number of coupons, valid for domestic flights in the USA. Generally you have to buy your long-haul tickets from the same airline.

And why Philadelphia? The good thing about arriving by train is you avoid the bus station, which is in a dreadful part of town, but I don't remember the journey as being specially interesting. Perhaps a better option would be to take a train up the Pacific coast to LA, rather than doing the very long drive all the way from Las Vegas.

celler

The airlines deal with this stuff everyday.

We flew to New York for 1 and half days(used stopover)onto New Orleans(via st louis) for a 5 day stop ,Then jamaica for 1 week (via miami),back to miaimi for a day and a night,then up to Boston for 2 days(used stopover) then home.

We used an agent Thomas Cook am sure its dearer but having someone you can sit down and arrange the lot with was worth it.Need to arrange flights in such a way that you land to maximise time in places though it certainly requried planing.

We used american airlines the planes were empty we were upgraded to 1st class more than once.

Obviously theres no brochure price i told the agent if they could do this with all the hotels of my choice for 3K for me and wife wed go they did it just.2003 i think.

richardw

Also consider doing this trip the other way round by going to LA first.

richardw

https://www.southwest.com fly PHL-LAS and can be very cheap.

watpoae

richardw wrote: »

Also consider doing this trip the other way round by going to LA first.

Thanks all.

Richard, was hoping to do LA at the end as we wanted a few days chilling out on the beach so thought this was a good way to end the holiday after a lot of travelling.

Wanting to go to Philly to see all the Rocky stuff. Sad I know but we're big fans so had to be done whilst we were near that neck of the woods! :cheesy:

Don't mind the drive from vegas to LA, think it would be a great experience driving through the desert, plus we'll need a hire car in LA anyway to do Universal studios, Angels stadium, the malls and hollywood.