Boston flight advice

bagand96

MikeJO wrote: »

Regional airports hadn't even entered my thinking before I came on here; isn't the internet a wonderful place?

Worth looking at. For me the main reason for using London is a direct flight. If you're not getting that anyway its worth checking regional airports. Birmingham has a station onsite too (change at New Street I guess from your neck of the woods, but very easy none the less).

callum9999

Doshwaster wrote: »

Ha! Flying to Boston via Istanbul has to be one of the craziest thing I have heard. Boston is such a short flight that there would have to be a significant cost saving to make it worth the extra time and hassle of a connecting flight. I wouldn't want to add 12 hours each way onto the flight time just to save £100.

Aer Lingus would be a decent option although their Dublin to Boston service is always busy due to high demand so booking well in advance is recommended. There will be much more capacity on the London routes so more competition on fares.

If you can book in the next few days, BA have a sale that is about to end: http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/offers/sale and other airlines have New Year sales on at the moment too.

Just because you wouldn't want to, doesn't mean no-one else would! Last Summer I flew to New York from Luxembourg by taking the coach out there, then flying Luxembourg - Heathrow - Montreal - New York - Chicago - Heathrow.

Not only would you save £100 (or whatever the difference is) you can see Istanbul and you'll get extra frequent flier miles.

Though why they see Turkish as being one of the cheapest options I don't know. United, along with several others, looks cheaper. 23rd June - 22nd July (and a couple more around those dates) is £523.

I also find all the comments about it being so difficult for him because it's his first time rather bizarre. Does he have the mental competency to make a bus connection? If so, he could do a flight connection with ease.

Murphy_The_Cat

MikeJO wrote: »

Having said that I've just realised that there's an option from Bristol, which is much closer to us, with Aer Lingus starting from £729 (with very short stopover times also, two and a half hours max for the dates I looked at). As to the BA/Virgin/flying direct options the prices are much higher come that time of year; shame he can't go earlier but he has exams mid-June.

As you said roonaldo his mum and me would be much happier if he went direct because although he's eighteen he's still our "little boy" and we'll be nervy until we know he's arrived safely, but the finances won't stretch to it.

Thanks again for all your suggestions.

If you do take the Dublin option, I'd very strongly recommend that you take the 2.5 hour connection. He'll be clearing US customs and immigration at Dublin and allowing a bit longer takes away all the pre s sure.

Then once he arrives in Boston, he can simply collect his bags and leave the airport.

Voyager2002

A couple of points...

There is a web site called "sleeping in airports" that gives basic information and reviews about spending the night in different airports, along with advice about which are OK and which ones to avoid.

Istanbul is a fabulous city and if I could arrange a routing that allowed me to spend a day there on the way (and on the way back) for no additional charge then I would certainly do so. However, perhaps you are not confident that your son could look after himself there and make the most of such an opportunity.

US Immigration is brutal and the long queue to get in after a trans-Atlantic flight is best avoided. The opportunity to clear Immigration in Dublin before leaving Europe would be a real bonus: however check whether this is still the case (I think I read somewhere that it has been removed to save money).

Birmingham airport is convenient and efficient, unlike Heathrow, and you can get there easily by train from Devon.

Murphy_The_Cat

Voyager2002 wrote: »

A couple of points...


US Immigration is brutal and the long queue to get in after a trans-Atlantic flight is best avoided. The opportunity to clear Immigration in Dublin before leaving Europe would be a real bonus: however check whether this is still the case (I think I read somewhere that it has been removed to save money).

.

Lifted from Aer Lingus this morning :beer:

Doshwaster

Voyager2002 wrote: »

US Immigration is brutal and the long queue to get in after a trans-Atlantic flight is best avoided. The opportunity to clear Immigration in Dublin before leaving Europe would be a real bonus: however check whether this is still the case (I think I read somewhere that it has been removed to save money).

Actually, in my experience Boston is one of the better US airports for immigration - certainly compared to the likes of JFK, LAX and Miami.

John259

It might be worth checking out the option of flying from Bristol via Amsterdam (Schiphol) with KLM. For us in Norwich that's extremely convenient, and saves all the time, hassle and expense of messing about getting to and from Heathrow or Gatwick.

franklally

Doshwaster wrote: »

Actually, in my experience Boston is one of the better US airports for immigration - certainly compared to the likes of JFK, LAX and Miami.

This has certainly not been the case in my experience - we were last there in August and brutal is the perfect description for immigration - we were standing in line for over 1.5 hours before undergoing the interrogation as to why we were visiting - when we got out the crew from our plane hadn't even made it through yet - we were on the first plane through - a virgin atlAntic one had arrived after us:(

John259

FWIW this site has the official immigration delay times at US airports:
http://awt.cbp.gov

Murphy_The_Cat

Voyager2002 wrote: »

A couple of points...

US Immigration is brutal ............

I must have a 'lucky' face. In 20 years of travelling to the US, I've never found them to be less than polite, efficient and proffessional and more often than not amicalble and friendly.