UK to Birmingham, Alabama

Ivrytwr3

Lad has been accepted for a study year in US, we're looking at flights now and was wondering if anybody had any tips for decent prices?

Flying from anywhere in England, early August.

I've looked at Skyscanner and we're looking at £1k+

Voyager2002

Just get a cheap transatlantic flight and then a bus.

daveyjp

Flights to Atlanta will give more options.  2 hour drive from there.  Or cheapest flight to a major US city which has low cost internal flights to Birmingham.

Google flights for searching.

bagand96

August is peak travel time.  Are you looking for one-way flights?  Most airlines that fly transatlantic will charge a lot for one-way tickets, in some cases it can be more than a return.  You could look at buying a return ticket and then "missing" the return leg.  Airlines don't like it but doing it as a one off shouldn't cause any issues.

Ivrytwr3

One way, well returning maybe at Xmas

Will check out single and return prices - ty.

skycatcher

Have a look at Momondo - they have analysis on when it is best to book for particular routes etc.

Ivrytwr3

Seen on Kayak that there is StudentUniverse - these flights are a few £100's cheaper. Anyone heard of them or if they are good to use?

daveyjp

With any site other than the official airline ticketing operation look deep into the website and see which company you are dealing with,

Studentuniverse is part of Flight Centre, so a well established agent.

bagand96

Ivrytwr3 said:

One way, well returning maybe at Xmas

Will check out single and return prices - ty.

It might be worth looking at Norse Atlantic.  They price like low cost airlines so will have attractive one way fares.  They have tickets to New York/Miami/Los Angeles in August starting around £300.  Obviously would then need an onward domestic flight/journey which will add cost and time.

Doshwaster

bagand96 said:

August is peak travel time.  Are you looking for one-way flights?  Most airlines that fly transatlantic will charge a lot for one-way tickets, in some cases it can be more than a return.  You could look at buying a return ticket and then "missing" the return leg.  Airlines don't like it but doing it as a one off shouldn't cause any issues.

Border control officers also tend not to like people travelling on one-way flights so could cause problems at immigration. Better to get a return which has an easily changeable return date.

Voyager2002

Doshwaster said:

bagand96 said:

August is peak travel time.  Are you looking for one-way flights?  Most airlines that fly transatlantic will charge a lot for one-way tickets, in some cases it can be more than a return.  You could look at buying a return ticket and then "missing" the return leg.  Airlines don't like it but doing it as a one off shouldn't cause any issues.

Border control officers also tend not to like people travelling on one-way flights so could cause problems at immigration. Better to get a return which has an easily changeable return date.

That would not be an issue for someone who is going there to study. He will have a student visa rather than arriving as a tourist.