Getting to Florida on the cheap.

BRIGHTHOPE

Wanting to pick some brains. I need to get over to Florida in the Spring to attend a wedding. Will be travelling alone and will hire a car when I get there.
I don't care if it's not a direct flight and I'm not at all concerned about travelling across the state when I get there. Just want to get there as cheap as poss.
My initial thought is to get a cheapy Ryanair flight to somewhere in Europe and then get a flight from there, thereby avoiding some of the exhorbitant taxes in this country. I've no idea how practical that is.

jamesbrownontheroad

The hassle of getting to a European hub (and the risk of missing your flight because your lo-co flight is delayed) doesn't really justify the savings if you're going in economy class. It does make some sense if you're going business class, because of the steep business APD, although I don't think that's your plan.

BA have a sale on right now. If you go through Quidco you can get cashback on a combined flight and car hire booking. I would continue to hunt around... there are plenty of direct flights from the UK to the sunshine destinations in Florida, so a cheap deal isn't necessarily going to be impossible. Kayak, Skyscanner, Opodo, Ebookers, Expedia and the airline websites... check BA, Virgin, American, Delta, US Airways etc.

lola34

Virgin are having a sale on some flights at the minute - might be worth a try or as already mentioned Kayak will hunt out the cheapest flights, though as I have found lately- there aren't many cheap flights to Florida anymore - compared to the last couple of years

dzug1

BRIGHTHOPE wrote: »

My initial thought is to get a cheapy Ryanair flight to somewhere in Europe and then get a flight from there, thereby avoiding some of the exhorbitant taxes in this country. I've no idea how practical that is.

Some (not all) European countries also have exhorbitant taxes so you'd need to watch which one you went via.

And as others have said, the risk of missing a 'connection' is high - and an overnight stay to minimise that risk blows any saving.

pompeyrich

BRIGHTHOPE wrote: »

Wanting to pick some brains. I need to get over to Florida in the Spring to attend a wedding. Will be travelling alone and will hire a car when I get there.
I don't care if it's not a direct flight and I'm not at all concerned about travelling across the state when I get there.

I would look at hiring your car from a UK based agent, Airline network have been good for us in the past, it will certainly be cheaper than just turning up at a rental desk in a Florida Airport.

pollypenny

We are in Florida at moment. DS lives there. We usually go BA when they have a sale, but this time we decided to come late and used Trailfinders.

BTW; we are on Alamo's e-mail list and get offers. However, this time car hire was considerably cheaper through Expedia. Beware of staff pushing car upgrades at the airport.

BadgerFace_2

Also a Ryanair flight to Europe would work out quite expensive if you had to take luggage...Also do they fly to ANY hubs? Bar Dublin