Family of 6 require flights to Orlando - Ideas??

adchesney

Dear Members

After a near-death experiece with my wife due to a medication mix-up, we have decided to have a a family holiday in Florida (Disney Etc...) in October 2006.

There will be six adults - I am am trying to get some "good" prices. My problem is do I leave it till the last minute or book now?

Any ideas and advice would be apprecaited.

ANDREW

Penny-Pincher!!

Hey

Whenever we go to Florida, we always go through Mercury Travel. They fly with Virgin which I think are best, especially as you get the extra baggage allowance. They are very helpful and always go through Toby-he's a great guy and will get you the best deal. They buy up block seats when on sale and get the best priced seats.

We normally book 6-12 months before we go. Last year we did 3 weeks in March, in a 3 bed villa and pool, people carrier and all insurances, virgin flights-premier seating not economy and travel insurance for £2450 which was for 3 adults and 1 child.

You will love it over there-its great!

PP
xx

Rickycowslip

Scarey Andrew, hope things are better now... I spent some time researching flights back in August for a planned trip in May. I got the feeling that it varies throughout the year - rarely good bargains to be had during school holidays, but it seemed to pay off booking later for September/October, I assumed this to be due to this being hurricane season and the chance your resort could be flat on arrival... Jan/Feb and late April were also bargain times.
Regards operators Travel City Direct seemed the best deal if you want a fixed two week period. Downside for them is that they only ofer fixed 1/2 weeks and don't appear to guarantee tellys in the backs of seats (vital with three kids) but otherwise a lot cheaper than Virgin/BA and by all accounts reliable and well respected. I went with Virgin for the flexibilty on seats but paid about £400 each for May. Got tellys though...

Penny-Pincher!!

The base price for the virgin flights in March were £240 but upgraded to premium. All seats have TV's and the cabin crew great! You also get double the baggage allowance to normal flights and you get flown into Orlando International which is very easy to work out and not get lost. Dollar car hire is within the airport and everything is on hand.

Personally would not travel with another carrier now other than Virgin. 1st time we went to Florida 9 years ago we went with a cheaper company and it was awful-like a cattle market. We've been quite a few times since then and always used virgin.

PP
xx

Cardew

IMO and many others Travel City Direct are the least respected of all the charter companies - do a search on the internet.

If you avoid the school half term, flights in October are starting to get cheaper on scheduled airlines - Virgin and BA fly direct to Orlando(MCO) from Gatwick and Virgin from Manchester. There are plenty of other scheduled airlines that fly indirect to Orlando from a number of airports in UK - these flights are normally cheaper.

The charter airlines fly to Sanford about 20 miles north of Orlando also from a number of airports in UK. You can get last minute deals very cheap in October, but it can be a pretty poor experience - as stated above - cramped seats and quite a lot of delays. I would never fly chartered as to start and end a holiday with an unpleasant flight detracts from the holiday. However you can get 'premium' seats on some charters that have better service and more leg room.

Personally I would leave it to the last minute as you might pick up some really cheap charter flights. If not there is never usually a problem with availability on the scheduled airlines - even with 6 of you - but you might have to fly indirect.



Regarding luggage allowance: All anyone seems to wear in Orlando is shorts, sandals and T shirts. I fail to see why you need masses of luggage.

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi

I use the luggage allowance to buy loads of stuff in USA. Go out with empty suitcases and body bags (huge black travel bags bought from Walmart a couple of years back). If you go to Florida-you HAVE to shop, especially at all the premium shopping outlets. Buy all my clothes (designer), bags (designer), trainers (Nike, Sketchers, Reboks), shoes (designer), cutlery over there and tons more

I wish we could afford to go very soon....maybe later in 2006/07 Hoping to move out there in a few years-I love it!!

Doonhamer

From Prestwick you can get "cheap" flights with flyglobespan during certain months but have not heard any feedback. Check their website https://www.flyglobespan.com. I'm going with Virgin myself.

Weymouth_Man

adchesney wrote:

Dear Members

After a near-death experiece with my wife due to a medication mix-up, we have decided to have a a family holiday in Florida (Disney Etc...) in October 2006.

There will be six adults - I am am trying to get some "good" prices. My problem is do I leave it till the last minute or book now?

Any ideas and advice would be apprecaited.

ANDREW

We have stayed many times along International Drive, local for shops & hotels / restaurants etc. good choice of hotels available, you can even use the iRide transport for about 1 Dollar each a day, along international drive only, some hotels will have free buses to Disney.