Flight routing help needed

Andypandyboy

Just starting to plan a Florida trip for July 2017. We want to fly into either Miami, Tampa, or Fort Lauderdale.

We would prefer direct flights so that means a London departure when really a Northern departure would suit us best!

Obviously, cost is a factor and although flights are not yet released for our return dates I have been playing around with earlier dates and it seems Tampa with BA is coming up cheapest.

My questions are would you fly BA over Virgin for the price difference?

Have I read somewhere that flights to the US via Dublin clear US immigration there so saving time on arrival? If so, that would be something to consider.

Any help anyone could give with their experiences on these routes would be great.

Westin

Where abouts in the UK are you? During the summer flying season there are normally a large number of direct flight options into Orlando (MCO or SFB) from various northern airports which mean travelling via London is not necessary.

For Tampa it will mean a flight from LGW for the direct BA service, or a non-direct.

As you have discovered, airlines will not necessarily have flights on sale for next July and when first released they are often quite high in price. You can get around this by looking for a fly-drive deal via operators like Virgin Holidays, Thomson or Thomas Cook who already have Summer 2017 on sale. You can often find good fly drive deals which at times can be cheaper than just buying the flight on its own.

EI is an option as you point out but again it might be too early to find July 2017 on sale. When ever I have priced up EI they actually haven't been any cheaper than flying direct.

Good luck with the travel planning.

richardw

Which northern airports do you prefer?

Andypandyboy

Westin wrote: »

Where abouts in the UK are you? During the summer flying season there are normally a large number of direct flight options into Orlando (MCO or SFB) from various northern airports which mean travelling via London is not necessary.

For Tampa it will mean a flight from LGW for the direct BA service, or a non-direct.

As you have discovered, airlines will not necessarily have flights on sale for next July and when first released they are often quite high in price. You can get around this by looking for a fly-drive deal via operators like Virgin Holidays, Thomson or Thomas Cook who already have Summer 2017 on sale. You can often find good fly drive deals which at times can be cheaper than just buying the flight on its own.

EI is an option as you point out but again it might be too early to find July 2017 on sale. When ever I have priced up EI they actually haven't been any cheaper than flying direct.

Good luck with the travel planning.

We are near Manchester or Liverpool, Leeds, but would be prepared to drive to London if necessary.

We have flown to Orlando direct from Manchester several times, but this time we aren't intending going up north and so I thought it easier to fly into a southern airport. We will be cruising out of FLL and staying on Marco Island, and doing a couple of nights on the Keys.

I will look at Thomas Cook, but I would rather book all the component parts separately if possible, so we tailor it to exactly what we want.

I looked at the fly drive, but as we will be crusing for 8 days of the trip we will probably turn the car in at the port (or fly straight there ) depending on which way round we organsie the cruise/stay or stay/cruise.

At first glance the Fly drive seemed about £200 pp dearer.

So do you not advise booking on release? I was told that it was cheaper to do it that way.

richardw wrote: »

Which northern airports do you prefer?

See above. We don't mind where we fly from really we are flexible.

Is the info re Dublin correct?

Westin

Given that you are looking at cruising ex Fort Lauderdale and also staying on Marco Island you might wish to look at Norweigan service from Gatwick to Fort Lauderdale. Seats won't be on sale yet and likely to be only a weekly service which may or may not fit your cruise plans, but this might be a good central arrival and departure point. It is a fairly easy run over the Everglades on the interstate to Naples/Marco Island from Fort Lauderdale.

Another option would be to look at a MAN departure on VS/DL via ATL and onwards to Fort Lauderdale. On the return you could also fly back for Fort Lauderdale or Southwest Regional airport in north Naples (RSW). ATL is however a very large and busy airport. If routing via here I would suggest connecting flights with plenty of time between them.

Try to allow at least a full clear day to arrive in the USA before your cruise. Two days even better. This particularly applies if you decide to take a non direct flight option as short connections and in direct flights can lead to problems with misplaced bags, something you don't want to worry about if immediately joining a cruise.

Given your holiday itinerary I would wait until September and price up options then. Perhaps also register on the Norwegian website so that you can be informed of when their FLL flights go on sale. Norweigan seats will likely be cheapest as soon as they are released. Other scheduled carriers apply slightly different fare rules as may immediately on release not have lower category fare classes loaded.

As to EI, that was just my experience. I often look at that option but have never found a benefit. I am however always looking ex LGW so might be better for you from the Northern airports. I often fly to MCO on business and EI is normally £30-£150 more expensive than BA or VS who fly direct from LGW.

Andypandyboy

Thanks, yes, we will fly in two days before if we are cruising first, but it is looking more likely that we will do stay/cruise as the itinerary for that date suits us better.

Tentatively, it would be fly out on 5th July 2017, do two nights on the Keys, then up to Marco for a week, then over to FLL or Miami overnight turn in the rental car, before cruising from the 16th for either 7 or 8 days depending on which cruiseline we choose, then fly home immediately after the cruise.

I was looking at Dublin from a time saving perspective re US immigration.

I saw the Manchester/Atlanta/FLL route and that is a possibility too.

Our other option is to do what we have done before and fly into Orlando stay a couple of nights there and then drive south. Driving is not a problem in the US.

Do you think the flight prices for the southern airports will be cheaper or more expensive than Orlando?

So many options!

Westin

Nice planned trip!

You should just miss the tail end of the busy 4th July holiday period in the Keys if only driving down there on 5th. Key West can be very busy during weekends and US holidays.

Really hard to make a call on airline pricing at the moment. Orlando typically has plenty of carrier options and I think prices are keenly priced a lot of the time. I'll often find better fares into MCO over MIA. BA have however been known to offer TPA or MIA at reasonable fares especially when they have a World Sale.

Just looked at Norweigan and they are only on sale until 3rd week of March 2017 at the moment.

See what fares come out in September with all carriers.

Shimrod

Andypandyboy wrote: »

Tentatively, it would be fly out on 5th July 2017, do two nights on the Keys, then up to Marco for a week, then over to FLL or Miami overnight turn in the rental car, before cruising from the 16th for either 7 or 8 days depending on which cruiseline we choose, then fly home immediately after the cruise.

If you can make the flight times work, Thomas Cook airlines fly direct to Miami from Manchester, but you only seem to be able to book 7, 14 or 21 nights even though the flights themselves are more frequent. https://www.thomascookairlines.com/tca/tcauk/en/offers/longhaul?destination=MIA&departure=1608

Andypandyboy

Through looking at this I have revisited the cruises departing from Port Canaveral and have found one which suits, so we can add that into the mix. Which would make MCO a viable option.

Thanks for suggestions re Norwegian and Thomas Cook. I will look at both of those.