Flight only to USA

patgc

My husband and myself, 70 & 66 are hoping to fly to Portland Oregon next May stopping for about a month. Neither of us are experienced travellers, having only done the odd package holiday over the years. Have been looking up flights etc but am now getting confused.
Should I get travel insurance in place before booking flights ?
Do I book flights now or wait till nearer the time ?
Looked at Virgin flights that stop at Seattle with 1hour between landing and takeoff. Is this enough time to do immigration etc ?
Looking for the shortest flights with only 1 stop flying from London.
Which comparison site would people recommend for best deals ?
Help and advice would be much appreciated.

malkie76

patgc wrote: »

My husband and myself, 70 & 66 are hoping to fly to Portland Oregon next May stopping for about a month. Neither of us are experienced travellers, having only done the odd package holiday over the years. Have been looking up flights etc but am now getting confused.
Should I get travel insurance in place before booking flights ?
Do I book flights now or wait till nearer the time ?
Looked at Virgin flights that stop at Seattle with 1hour between landing and takeoff. Is this enough time to do immigration etc ?
Looking for the shortest flights with only 1 stop flying from London.
Which comparison site would people recommend for best deals ?
Help and advice would be much appreciated.

I'd recommend getting insurance around the same time as booking flights. As you are older (sorry) perhaps look at getting it before booking your flights in case you are an insurance risk (ie pre-existing conditions), which may limited your ability to get insurance. Don't travel to the US without insurance!

When to book is difficult - typically speaking sooner is better after the flights are released, but many carriers offer sales throughout the year (but difficult to predict when, and not all routes / services will be part of the sale). Have a look a prices then book when you are happy and don't check them again after.

1hr isn't enough to get through immigration and customs, and no carrier should try and sell you a ticket on those conditions. Make sure you are on a single ticket (ie one ticket for your entire journey), rather than two tickets (one for your long haul return, and a different ticket for your domestic connections). One ticket offers more protection should you experience a delay.

Personally I would use comparison sites to find you a good price and connection times you are happy with, but then book directly with the airline. This gives you control, rather than an airline and a travel agent debating who is at fault should something go wrong. Most airlines have arrangements with domestic carriers in the US to enable you to buy the whole thing from one provider (eg Virgin might do the long haul, with Delta doing the domestic, but all under one ticket. Or BA and American Airlines.

You may get a preferential rate if you book flights and a hotel, or flights and a car from an airline - even if you don't use the hotel or car. Check this out as an option when pricing things up.

Hope that helps

Caz3121

patgc wrote: »

My husband and myself, 70 & 66 are hoping to fly to Portland Oregon next May stopping for about a month. Neither of us are experienced travellers, having only done the odd package holiday over the years. Have been looking up flights etc but am now getting confused.
Should I get travel insurance in place before booking flights ?
Do I book flights now or wait till nearer the time ?
Looked at Virgin flights that stop at Seattle with 1hour between landing and takeoff. Is this enough time to do immigration etc ?
Looking for the shortest flights with only 1 stop flying from London.
Which comparison site would people recommend for best deals ?
Help and advice would be much appreciated.

flights for May have been out for some time, you can use a site like skyscanner to identify cheapest dates in a month (assume you have some flexibility) Google flights is also useful to compare prices
Look to book through the airline direct - there are many third parties that use a "bait and switch" approach - of not have live pricing so appear as cheapest in the searches, take your money then advise that fare is sold out so you need to pay £x more or wait for a refund.
Unless you are travelling with hand luggage only and have a US passport and Global entry you will need longer that one hour if you are transiting in the US. You will need to clear immigration (may take more than an hour depending other flight arriving same time, number of desks open etc) then you need to collect your baggage and clear customs then drop the baggage for your next flight...I would look for a connection of around 3 hours if on the same ticket

FunTime

Insurance after flight purchase.
Book when you see an exceptional price or at least a price to your liking.
Airlines won't sell you a flight unless there is time to make the transfer.
Currently the cheapest is Icelandair at around £600.

Example:

richardw

FunTime wrote: »

...Airlines won't sell you a flight unless there is time to make the transfer....

Airlines will sell you a flight trip with a connection irrespective of your nationality, visa/esta, or if you have checked luggage or not. Sometimes there isn't enough time.
If you feel the connecting time is not long enough, pick flights with a longer connecting time.

The road journey from Seattle Airport to Portland is about 2hrs 45mins, do you think going by car is a possibility ?

jpsartre

patgc wrote: »

Looked at Virgin flights that stop at Seattle with 1hour between landing and takeoff. Is this enough time to do immigration etc ?

Probably not. Better to look for something with 2-3 hours between flights IMO.

patgc

FunTime, the Iceland Air looks interesting. Would we have to go through customs/immigration twice, i.e. Reykjavik & Portland both ways ?

patgc

richardw wrote: »

Airlines will sell you a flight trip with a connection irrespective of your nationality, visa/esta, or if you have checked luggage or not. Sometimes there isn't enough time.
If you feel the connecting time is not long enough, pick flights with a longer connecting time.

The road journey from Seattle Airport to Portland is about 2hrs 45mins, do you think going by car is a possibility ?

No, driving wouldn't be an option.

FunTime

patgc wrote: »

FunTime, the Iceland Air looks interesting. Would we have to go through customs/immigration twice, i.e. Reykjavik & Portland both ways ?

No, only transit in Reykjavik. No need to collect luggage.

bagand96

FunTime, the Iceland Air looks interesting. Would we have to go through customs/immigration twice, i.e. Reykjavik & Portland both ways ?

Icelandair are good and Reykjavik is a good place to stop, it's a nice place to break the journey with regard to flight times. The airport there isn't too big and is very easy to connect through.

You wouldn't need to clear immigration and customs at Reykjavik. You'd get off the plane from the UK, straight into the departure lounge for the flight onwards to the USA. Your bags are automatically transferred to your next flight. The one thing you may have to do is go through security again with it being a US abound flight but that's very simple.

Another point to add is I know you've said London, but Icelandair fly from Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow if any of those are more convenient.

Also, making the connection in Europe and then flying direct to Portland will be much easier than connecting in the USA. In the US you must clear immigration and collect your luggage at your first point of entry. So in the Seattle example, you'd have to clear customs and immigration there, then collect your bags and re check them in for the onward flight. This can be a pain depending on the airport.

richardw

Btw there are some direct non stop Delta flights starting in May 17 http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/267814/delta-adds-portland-or-london-heathrow-from-may-2017

They aren't everyday though.

The aircraft is a B767, these are 2-3-2 seating.