Long haul to Cayman - when to book?

sal-ad_daze

Hi
We're planning on visiting my daughter and her family in Cayman and I'm looking at travelling in February.
It will be me, my son and his 6yr old daughter so I'm looking very carefully at travel times, they range from 30+ hours to just over 9 hours! Obviously the 9 hour flight (semi direct with a lay over in nassau to take on passengers) is the most expensive with BA but I am aware that 3+ lay overs and travel time of 18 - 30+ hours won't be easy for the little one.
I believe BA have a 'sale' in December, is it worth holding out until then to see if the price comes down (there's over 1K difference)?
Any advice welcome.

becominganobsessivesaver

When in February are you looking to fly. BA have a sale on at the minute, and it looks like the flights would be between £2400 and £2500 for the three of you. The flights may end up cheaper in the December sale, but if it's half term they may simply sell out.
I would definitely avoid flying via Miami. The 6 year old will love the flight, she can just spend 10 hours watching films!

Alan_Bowen

Agreed, if you want to travel in half term, there will be few seats left by the time the next sale starts, which is usually around 23rd December so I would buy now. If you are not travelling during school holidays, you may still get good fares in the later BA sale. At the moment flying via Miami, usually a dreadful airport to enter the US, with American Airlines, is around £80 less that the direct BA flights but surprisingly all the other routes involving 4 or more hours extra flying are even more expensive than BA, so may not be a bad idea to buy before the sale ends on 23rd September

sal-ad_daze

Thanks,
We're not flying in UK half term, we have an authorised absence for the week after.
My daughter has warned me about Miami! I am looking at AA flights operated by US into Philadelphia but there's 3 lay overs and I was looking to avoid that if I could.
Thanks for the advice, further research is needed I think!!
x

sal-ad_daze

OK, so now am wondering if too much research is a bad thing!
I have seen an ideal flight on Expedia, flying into JFK first then Cayman via Miami - well 2nd best ideal (direct is always best but at over a grand more just not possible). The flights are with BA but that route doesn't show up on BA's site. Is it ok to ring BA and ask if they can price match the route?
This is so stressful, just as well my daughter is worth it! lol

richardw

They are probably AA or US airways flights with BA flight numbers between NYC and Grand Cayman.

sal-ad_daze

richardw wrote: »

They are probably AA or US airways flights with BA flight numbers between NYC and Grand Cayman.

They had the BA logo and said 'operated by BA'. I have seen similar flights sold by AA and operated by BA or US but these were solely BA flights.

It does annoy me that the exact same flight can be sold at totally different prices because it's through a different airline!!!

Alan_Bowen

The only flight on that routing that will be BA is the flight to New York, the rest will be codeshares, BA has no right to operate internal flights in the US. Although you won't have the pleasure of immigration at Miami on the outbound, you will still have to change planes there and on the way back, if that is also through Miami you will have customs and immigration to go through and I wouldn't put myself through that again if I could help it.

sal-ad_daze

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

The only flight on that routing that will be BA is the flight to New York, the rest will be codeshares, BA has no right to operate internal flights in the US. Although you won't have the pleasure of immigration at Miami on the outbound, you will still have to change planes there and on the way back, if that is also through Miami you will have customs and immigration to go through and I wouldn't put myself through that again if I could help it.

Doesn't seem to be a choice on the return journey Alan, can't find any flights from Cayman to anywhere else - within our budget and not involving an overnight stay!! As I said earlier, the BA flight from Heathrow via Nassau (stop to pick up) is the ideal but can't afford the extra 1.5k it would cost for the 3 of us!!
Would it pay to phone the airlines direct?

Alan_Bowen

Have a look at the BA website, are they only offering the direct flight as they often sell AA flights in connection with their own? If you phone to book, they charge a booking fee!

sal-ad_daze

BA direct flights don't operate every day. The non direct they offer goes Manchester Heathrow Miami Cayman. The lay over in Heathrow is a long one, I'd rather fly from Manchester to the U.S which others offer but say it's operated by BA.
I guess I'll just take the best price as it seems I'll end up on a BA plane anyway, just thought it may be safer to book through the airline direct!