Cheapest way to get to south Florida- dad collapsed and in hospital !!!!!!!

izzitme

Hi OP. Can't offer any advice, but just wanted to wish your Dad well. Hope everything goes OK for you

jacques_chirac

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Why not give BA and Virgin a call and see if they can offer any special fares. (a few airlines do this in the USA and refer to them as bereavement fares).

American Airlines fly from Gatwick to Orlando (codeshare with BA) and they advertise this service in the US so they may well do the same in the UK.
http://www.aa.com/i18n/utility/bereavementFares.jsp


One other thing to bear in mind is that if you need an ESTA and you don't have one, it might be an idea to apply for this now so if you manage to get a short notice flight you won't have to worry about it.

A good idea, but bereavement fares (you're right, that is what they are known as!) tend to be expensive. This is because they are flexible tickets, which would normally be super expensive.

Obviously_the_best

The cheapest way is going to be a charter flight to Sanford and a drive in a hire car or coach from there. Try these flights (click here) and a hire car from Alamo Brits.

ferf1223

bcl999 wrote: »

You're a cheery soul. Shaun! I'm guessing you are a "glass half empty" person.

AA gave me a compassionate fare when I got the call to come home to the US when my mother was dying...it was far less than we could have booked ourselves and they were wonderful. That was 9 years ago and I'm still grateful to them.

Mine wasn't flexible though - they suggested that I book a return date and steered me toward 2 weeks later which is what we went with.

http://www.aa.com/i18n/agency/Booking_Ticketing/Fares/fares_index.jsp

Archergirl

Good idea about the Esta, just the sort of thing to get overlooked, hope you get something sorted

ERICS_MUM

Is your passport still valid (datewise). ? Fingers crossed for you, a scary situation which I hope works out well for you and your Dad.

scotdebs

Everyone thanks for the links suggestions and good wishes - I remembered about the ESTA thing at 3am this morning and so have done that.

Have found some cheap ish flights flying with monarch to Sanford (£569 depending on dates) and then can get cheap sprint c120USD ( us low cost airline) to Fort Lauderdale . I can use my dads car when I get there although slightly terrified about thought of driving over there - biggest challenge is still I don't know when I will need to go over ( have 2 young children so cant disappear indefinitely ) so will just need to keep checking the links and wait until hospital have some idea when he will get released - he was transferred out of intensive care today so step in the right direction

Thank you again for all the help x

ERICS_MUM

sorry if my posts sound like a "To Do List", I'm a practical sort of gal !

-don't forget your driving licence, you'll need both parts.
-what about car insurance - how easy to add your names to your dad's ?
-You will need some dollars - don't just pick them up at the airport because their rates are dire

good luck, hope all will be well by the time you get there.

niftythrifty33

Hi, I just wanted to wish you all the best and I hope everything goes well with as little stress as possible and that your dad gets well soon.

I was just thinking that in emergency cases like this, wouldn't it be good if people could make a little donation, however small, to help others. So many people visit this site, if just 500 people gave £1, you would nearly have the fare.

I really do hope you manage to get a good deal on flights, good luck

Justicia

niftythrifty33 wrote: »

I was just thinking that in emergency cases like this, wouldn't it be good if people could make a little donation, however small, to help others. So many people visit this site, if just 500 people gave £1, you would nearly have the fare.

MSE would not allow that IME and would shut down the discussion.