California flights

ceewash

Trying to plan a holiday for 4 to california. we can only go July/August and the flights are about £620 return. can anyone suggest any cheaper options or is this what I will have to pay?

_Andy_

July/august isn't going to be cheap as it's the school hols. £620 is quite reasonable to be honest.

sturll

Air Canada always seem to be cheapest to LA or SFO.

debs66_2

'tis about the going rate i'm afraid. the cheapest rates are always when they first come out, and you can book 11 months in advance. the only consolation is the price of everything once you get there, given the great rate against the dollar.

one tip, last year we went with BA as we booked on the first day available and paid £404 return each. Having flown with Virgin prior, I did think we were better looked after with Virgin, and they were bang on with flight times, whereas we had a 3 hour delay with BA on our way home before we even set off, and i have since heard that BA aren't the most punctual. BA staff also ran out and fed us within an hour of take off, and but for the odd trip with a small cup of water/juice every now and again, didn't feed us until an hour before touch down - and we were starving after over 8 hours on a plate of aircraft food!

money saving isn't always about getting something the cheapest, but getting the best value for money.

have a ball, you will love California. we will be there at the same time as you and we can't wait.:j

ceewash

Would it be better value to buy some sort of fly drive/hotel package? Any suggestions?

debs66_2

to be honest, I have never found a package deal that has beaten booking direct and separately, and I am one of those people who searches everything first before booking.

last year we booked flights with BA, then a car with Dollar (through dollar.co.uk - not .com, as the UK site includes absolutely every tax required. US car hire sites don't include all the taxes as most people hiring are american and have their own insurance. once you start adding the insurances as extras, it usually comes in more expensive than the quote via the UK package).

we then booked a beach house via www.vrbo.com from a lovely couple who invited us to their sunday afternoon barbeque party with their family, they were so friendly. the house we rented was in a gated community on the edge of a bluff overlooking a surfing beach, and we settled in so well as it was set up as a family home with everything included. much nicer than a hotel.

let me know if you need any good sites for planning your trip, or any more info. and by all means check out the packages. they can restrict, but that may suit you.

dannybe2

I don't get why the flights are so expensive this year. At the start of May last year, I found a flight for 440 pounds for a direct return flight LHR -> LAX from start to middle of august. Though I had to wait til the end of June to book, I still only paid 600 pounds for a direct flight with United Airlines. This is including all taxes and fees, so why are they already well over 600 pounds this many months ahead, I can't believe they're going to go down closer to the time?

GIRLPOWER_2

dannybe2 wrote: »

I don't get why the flights are so expensive this year.

Totally agree I have spent weeks looking for flights in the summer kids holidays from all UK airports to all the USA, Canada, China and Thailand and unless you want to fly Air India (They are doing BHX to Toronto £297 for 2 weeks in Aug) Flights are a lot more expensive than his time last year with no bargains to be had.

May be because we had such a bad summer 2007 they are expecting more people to go away this year??

ceewash

debs66 wrote: »

'tis about the going rate i'm afraid. the cheapest rates are always when they first come out, and you can book 11 months in advance. the only consolation is the price of everything once you get there, given the great rate against the dollar.

one tip, last year we went with BA as we booked on the first day available and paid £404 return each. Having flown with Virgin prior, I did think we were better looked after with Virgin, and they were bang on with flight times, whereas we had a 3 hour delay with BA on our way home before we even set off, and i have since heard that BA aren't the most punctual. BA staff also ran out and fed us within an hour of take off, and but for the odd trip with a small cup of water/juice every now and again, didn't feed us until an hour before touch down - and we were starving after over 8 hours on a plate of aircraft food!

money saving isn't always about getting something the cheapest, but getting the best value for money.

have a ball, you will love California. we will be there at the same time as you and we can't wait.:j

if I decide to wait until 2009 when do you suggest I start looking for flights to become available.

debs66_2

you can book from 11 months prior to your flight date - however, that is 11 months from the last flight, ie the return flight home. i suppose in theory you could book a flight out exactly 11 months to the day you would travel out, but you would not be able to book the return until 2 weeks later (or however long you are going). we just book the 2 together though.

i just play around with the calendar when i start checking flights. if you play now to 'book' for around 11 months from now, you will note that there will only be an option to buy up to a certain date. that always tells me when the date would be that i could book.

i often play with the calendars of a couple of flight companies leading up to the time i can book, as the prices are usually running similar to the dates I want. you can then start doing your maths without sitting in a panic saying
'what shall we do, shall we book?!' when a decent price comes up and you're not sure if its beatable. i usually have a couple of windows open at the same time though and compare as they come up.

one tip i was offered once on this site was to clear the cookies off your computer before returning to check a flight price, as someoone said the companies recognise the computers and can up the prices daily to instil a sense of panic to book. how right that is I don't know, but i often do it anyway.

hope that helps!

truman_sparks

If you are prepared to travel to manchester you can fly bmi to Las Vegas for £470 with bmi i know cos i was looking for mid july, im not going though anymore. If you fly on a tue/thur its a direct flight. If you want to fly to L.A its hardly costs anything more.

there you go, £600 cheaper less a hotel in manchester if you need, (10 am flights i think)

I joined this site to tell you that!

truman


just had another look, be quick not many dates left but if you want man-L.A;15 july till 29th is £560 as is july31 to 13th aug otherwise its £600-£700+. otherwise £470 direct to vegas is still cheap imo. The other carrier that was cheap was continental.