Help with flight costs to LA

DarrenCarnall

I was only thinking to fly back out of LA because we could do a big loop. A few days in LA, drive up the coast, day or two in SF, then drive back down but through the national parks away from the coast.

I suppose we could fly back out of somewhere else, it just depends how many days we'd have and where everything lined up time wise.

As for a bit of extra work to save money, I don't think she'd mind. Especially if it means we have extra money to do all the things I know she'd love while we're there. In fact it's probably easier to fly on through to Oslo and get a flight back in to our home city of Liverpool, than to try and get back from London. Bizarrely.

Some of the Dublin ones I was checking out seem frustrating, 'cause I'd have to fly to Dublin, then fly back IN to London, then wait 10 hours for some, and THEN fly out. That might feel too frustrating lol.

But the Thomas Cook ones of £570 each are still tempting, as even though they're not as cheap as the Oslo types, they're direct from Manchester, which we could simply drive to or get a lift/taxi.

Considering extending the dates from the 22nd to the 9 or 10th or something. Extra time to do a few extra things.

God, this is so difficult lol. Also unsure as to how much cheaper these things get as they get closer to the 56 days that are mentioned on this site as the perfect time to book. Like if the Thomas Cook ones would be better (as they're limited time I think) or if it could be cheaper by waiting until closer.

*pulls hair out* lol

jackieblack

DarrenCarnall wrote: »

I was only thinking to fly back out of LA because we could do a big loop. A few days in LA, drive up the coast, day or two in SF, then drive back down but through the national parks away from the coast.

Personally, I'd do it the other way around (anti-clockwise), the drive down the PCH is much better done north to south IMO.

My other thought is, that if you're going to drive in a loop, your start/finish location could be any point in that loop so it might be worth checking out flight prices to, for example, SFO & LAS

DarrenCarnall

ooh I don't even know what LAS is. There's so much I do'nt know about this lol.

As for the coast road, is it really better north to south? I've only done it once south to north and even that was spectacular and lovely. If it's better south to north then maybe I'll consider it. (although obviously it depends if I can fit all the other stuff in and when) - interesting to hear though!

DarrenCarnall

ahhhh I understand. Thank you so much for this by the way, you're all being so helpful!

SW17

DarrenCarnall wrote: »

ooh... other question. You know when you do comparisons on sites like momondo and it says the booking site offering the tickets is FareGeek, Travel2Be etc... is it safe to book through those? I only had a quick look for one of them (faregeek) and saw horror stories about people not having their tickets booked and stuff, and people saying they'd only ever book direct. Although that does seem wayyy more expensive.

Is it like car booking? I've had trouble booking through comparison sites where they tried to shaft us and take hundreds extra, so now we just go through Budget directly. Is it comparable to that?

The challenge sometimes faced with booking fares with certain agents on comparison sites is that they don't always have live availability. That may result in you "booking" a flight at a price you like, then receiving a call that those flights are no longer available at that price, but are available for £xxx more.

Now, this does not happen all the time, and you are well within your rights to refuse the alternative and get a refund. Sometimes that refund does not come immediately, so there are risks for those who are tight for cash flows if they have put a charge on your card, and you then have to start looking again. The other side is that when it works, there are good deals. Also watch out for included baggage being in the price, though that's less of a problem on long haul.

Some will tell you never to book with these companies, others have made substantial savings by doing so. You have to make up your own mind, but just trying to allow you to do that with your eyes open to the possible difficulties with these companies.

As I said above, lots of opportunities to save money, but it depends on whether you (and in this case your good lady) are happy with the trade-offs, which are usually less convenience in terms of travel time and number of connections en-route.

You have to be aware that the connection between your flight to somewhere like Oslo or Dublin and the start of your journey from those cities is not protected in the event of delays, so allow enough time for that (possibly an overnight), especially on the outbound.

DarrenCarnall

yeah I have to admit I'm leaning towards the simplicity of the single flight from Manchester for convenience with Thomas Cook for a bit off the price from the sale. Might be the best balance of both. I appreciate your explanation of everything, it's so helpful.

NiftyDigits

DarrenCarnall wrote: »

I was only thinking to fly back out of LA because we could do a big loop. A few days in LA, drive up the coast, day or two in SF, then drive back down but through the national parks away from the coast.

I suppose we could fly back out of somewhere else, it just depends how many days we'd have and where everything lined up time wise.

As for a bit of extra work to save money, I don't think she'd mind. Especially if it means we have extra money to do all the things I know she'd love while we're there. In fact it's probably easier to fly on through to Oslo and get a flight back in to our home city of Liverpool, than to try and get back from London. Bizarrely.

Some of the Dublin ones I was checking out seem frustrating, 'cause I'd have to fly to Dublin, then fly back IN to London, then wait 10 hours for some, and THEN fly out. That might feel too frustrating lol.

But the Thomas Cook ones of £570 each are still tempting, as even though they're not as cheap as the Oslo types, they're direct from Manchester, which we could simply drive to or get a lift/taxi.

Considering extending the dates from the 22nd to the 9 or 10th or something. Extra time to do a few extra things.

God, this is so difficult lol. Also unsure as to how much cheaper these things get as they get closer to the 56 days that are mentioned on this site as the perfect time to book. Like if the Thomas Cook ones would be better (as they're limited time I think) or if it could be cheaper by waiting until closer.

*pulls hair out* lol

It's not the flying via Oslo, it's the overnighting. It's not the cheapest country that you will visit.For a 6am flight, you'll need to stay at the airport. It won't cost £42. But, as you aren't fazed by the combination, it's perhaps just a matter of itinerary.

NiftyDigits

DarrenCarnall wrote: »

yeah I have to admit I'm leaning towards the simplicity of the single flight from Manchester for convenience with Thomas Cook for a bit off the price from the sale. Might be the best balance of both. I appreciate your explanation of everything, it's so helpful.

£570 only applies for the 5th and the 10th inbound, so you'll likely need to extend anyway.

PeacefulWaters

USA airports to price up:

San Diego
Los Angeles
Palm Springs
Phoenix
Las Vegas
San Francisco

My first trip to the region saw Phoenix save £hundreds in air fares. It was quite an intense driving loop though!

jackieblack

DarrenCarnall wrote: »

ooh I don't even know what LAS is. There's so much I do'nt know about this lol.

As for the coast road, is it really better north to south? I've only done it once south to north and even that was spectacular and lovely. If it's better south to north then maybe I'll consider it. (although obviously it depends if I can fit all the other stuff in and when) - interesting to hear though!

Sorry, LAS is the code for Las Vegas airport

IMO north to south is better because you are on the coast side of the road so your views are not blocked by oncoming traffic, also when you want to pull in to 'Vista Points' you don't have to cross oncoming traffic.

You can still do the loop you planned, just in the opposite direction.
eg if you fly in to LAX, you could do LA first, then through the NPs to San Fran, then down the coast back to LAX