Found a good deal on flights but can I do this?

hartleyed

Hi All,

I need a bit of help please. I am due to fly out to New York at the end of the month for business for 5 nights and have been looking around for good deals on flights and hotels. I own my own business so am looking to minimise the costs for obvious reasons and it is short notice because the need to arrange appointments with clients. (I know booking it much earlier would have reduced the cost)

I have booked a good hotel through booking.com to stay in for about £460, which I use often and know well.

The help I need is with the flights. I have found return flights for between £800 and £1000, but I have looked through certain travel sites and found hotel packages and flights on the same dates for about £600.

I know this is a very cheap hostel on the outskirts of NY, but even combined this is cheaper than any of the flights I have found. I was wandering if I pay for the cheap package, do I actually need to checkin/go to the hostel i.e. only use the flight part of the package or if travel site/company will cancel my return flight/booking.

I have been looking through the terms of conditions and can't see anything stating that I have to stay in the hostel, especially if I have pre paid and the hostel receives money. It seems to me a good way to get cheaper flights.

Has anyone done this before and had any problems? Any advice would be great.

I have also looked at a package for my pre booked hotel and flight which works out about £200 more than if I pre book the hotel and take the cheaper package.

Thanks for your help,

Hartleyed

withabix

The flights are probably available cheaper for a start.

I doubt you will have a problem with not turning up at the accommodation.

What are your dates and airports?

hartleyed

Hey thanks for quick reply,

Dates are 29th Aug till 3rd Sept flying from London ( willing to risk Heathrow and potential strikes). The cheap package included flights with Continental ( building one world/BA points up) flying via washington in morning on 29th and flying direct in evening on 3rd.

I know American Airlines are slightly cheaper but heard bad reviews and travelled on Continental before.

Cheapest seperate flights were about £1197 on website.

Hartley Ed

dzug1

Your other issue is is that cheap package actually available? Or when you come to book it will you be told sorry there's no flights available - or yes they are available but not at that price.

Caz3121

hartleyed wrote: »

The cheap package included flights with Continental ( building one world/BA points up)

Continental are part of Star Alliance so no One World/BA points

Caz3121

Many of the US flights require a Saturday night stay for the best deal
If you were able to travel out on the evening of the 28th you could get a much better deal
eg BA direct dep 28th 18:05 ret 3rd dep 22:40 for £535

withabix

If you can fly out on 28th you can get £442 or £453 direct to LGA or JFK respectively.


www.kayak.co.uk is a very good flight search engine.

Caz3121

withabix wrote: »

If you can fly out on 28th you can get £442 or £453 direct to LGA or JFK respectively.


www.kayak.co.uk is a very good flight search engine.

these are good prices however they have a 9 hour layover in Boston on the way out...

hartleyed

Thanks for the help guys.

Caz3121 - Sorry I meant Star Alliance - have got cards for both groups but want to make sure I am getting miles for each trip.

Traveling on Sat 28th is a possibility but its also puts an extra £100 on the hotel cost and with a days extra food etc on top of £545 flight would make it more than the cheap package.

Will keep looking but it seems the best thing to do is book the cheap package and not use the hotel section as this works out cheaper than hotel. I suppose the fact that the package is so cheap shows the mark up Airlines put on last minute/school holiday/convinient flight.

Next worry is hoping airport staff don't hold the strike!

Caz3121

hartleyed wrote: »

Thanks for the help guys.

Caz3121 - Sorry I meant Star Alliance - have got cards for both groups but want to make sure I am getting miles for each trip.

Traveling on Sat 28th is a possibility but its also puts an extra £100 on the hotel cost and with a days extra food etc on top of £545 flight would make it more than the cheap package.

Will keep looking but it seems the best thing to do is book the cheap package and not use the hotel section as this works out cheaper than hotel. I suppose the fact that the package is so cheap shows the mark up Airlines put on last minute/school holiday/convinient flight.

Next worry is hoping airport staff don't hold the strike!

If you manage to get the flight/hostel for this price it may be worth checking what fare class the flight books into so you can check it if is miles earning (obviously depends how important the miles are to you)
It is quite unusual to get a cheap flight to US without the saturday night stay so well done