Flights from the US to Britain

[John Picard]

I don't travel often as I hate, hate, HATE flying. But, since the Government has done a lousy job of building a rail and/or highway system from the US to Europe it appears that I am stuck with flying there for vacation this summer. I plan on taking my 15-year old son as we explore Britain and possible over to France. I have a friend who lives outside of London to serve as tour guide, so my only challenge is finding a source where I can get a good price on tickets. I already know to avoid major travel days (Mondays/Fridays) and am tentatively looking at the end of June or perhaps end of July for the tour dates. I have been cautioned by people to avoid Heathrow and instead head to Gattwick.

I've tried scouting the Interweb Thingy for "cheap ticket" "cheap airfare" and the like, but the results are websites that have about a bazillion popups and don't generate decent comparisons.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[AliciaD496]

I'd suggest checking both cheaptickets.com and kayak.com. Kayak is a great source that checks most of the major carrier's sites specifically along with most of the major travel sites (expedia, travelocity). With cheaptickets you can have a range of dates and compare ticket prices and travel dates that way.

I studied in London for a year and LOVED it. I hope you have a great trip!

 

[iguana_tonante]

I usually use expedia.com and I have nothing but praises for them.

 

[Sheep]

vayama.com is my site of choice for international flights. I've purchased two sets of tickets to Europe from them and had very good experiences (and prices!).

 

[Marc]

I don't travel often as I hate, hate, HATE flying. But, since the Government has done a lousy job of building a rail and/or highway system from the US to Europe it appears that I am stuck with flying there for vacation this summer. I plan on taking my 15-year old son as we explore Britain and possible over to France. I have a friend who lives outside of London to serve as tour guide, so my only challenge is finding a source where I can get a good price on tickets. I already know to avoid major travel days (Mondays/Fridays) and am tentatively looking at the end of June or perhaps end of July for the tour dates. I have been cautioned by people to avoid Heathrow and instead head to Gattwick.

I've tried scouting the Interweb Thingy for "cheap ticket" "cheap airfare" and the like, but the results are websites that have about a bazillion popups and don't generate decent comparisons.

Any help is appreciated.

I'd also check with your local travel agent or two - it's not always as cheap as the online sites like expedia but if you no to tranfer/catch different flights they can do all the bookings for you and then you know it's all taken care of in one hit.

Also don't forget the prices you see on the websites will initially be without taxes and charges which you might not see until a few steps down the booking path.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

But, since the Government has done a lousy job of building a rail and/or highway system from the US to Europe

I saw a special on Extreme Engineering about the Transatlantic Tunnel they want to build. New York to London in ONE HOUR!

I've tried scouting the Interweb Thingy for "cheap ticket" "cheap airfare" and the like, but the results are websites that have about a bazillion popups and don't generate decent comparisons.

Quite... Some of them steal personal information as well.

 

[Holdfast]

Any help is appreciated.

The nicest transatlantic airline is BA, followed by Virgin. My experiences with the US carriers have been mediocre.

I wouldn't worry about Heathrow vs Gatwick. They're both busy airports but both easily navigable with good connections.

If you really don't like flying, you could cruise over - I think the Queen Mary II does it in about 6 days.

 

[John Picard]

Any help is appreciated.

The nicest transatlantic airline is BA, followed by Virgin. My experiences with the US carriers have been mediocre.

I wouldn't worry about Heathrow vs Gatwick. They're both busy airports but both easily navigable with good connections.

If you really don't like flying, you could cruise over - I think the Queen Mary II does it in about 6 days.

Believe you me, if I had the money I would GLADLY sail.

 

[Pingfah]

I always fly with BA, it usually costs me between £300 and £400 return Heathrow to Baltimore. However, I have had it for £240 from BA, always good to check their site for offers as that was a great one.

Great service, also never had to wait more than 5 minutes to get rid of my bags at the airport.

 

[John Picard]

Oops -- I forgot some important details.

I will be departing Will Rogers World Airport (yeah, what a name) in Oklahoma City and know that I will have to get a connecting flight from either Chicago O'Hare, Atlanta, or (possibly) Houston. I've posted the same question on another forum where other responses for BA have been just as positive.

I'm wondering if what I need to do is price tickets from OKC to Chicago (I can fly direct) and then book another flight from Chicago to London.

 

[wew]

You could try that or try some other airports. I often take Airtran from Charlotte to Boston, then shoot across the Atlantic. Normally it ends up cheaper, except when I went to Munich, then Luftansa from CLT was actually cheaper.

 

[SmoothieX]

My experience flying to England involved a multi airline itinerary. Delta from Boston to Paris, then Air France from there to Bristol. The damn Frenchies lost my luggage.

 

[StolenThunder]

Expedia, Opodo both provide decent prices and service. I've flown Air France transatlantic, and that was fine too.

 

[the 4th hanson bro]

I've tried scouting the Interweb Thingy for "cheap ticket" "cheap airfare" and the like, but the results are websites that have about a bazillion popups and don't generate decent comparisons.

Quite... Some of them steal personal information as well.

Going off information that's over 4 and a half years old, and with undetermined veracity as well.

Oops -- I forgot some important details.

I will be departing Will Rogers World Airport (yeah, what a name) in Oklahoma City

Isn't it a bit ironic for an airport named after someone who died in a plane crash?

[/QUOTE] and know that I will have to get a connecting flight from either Chicago O'Hare, Atlanta, or (possibly) Houston. I've posted the same question on another forum where other responses for BA have been just as positive.[/quote]

They won't help you with prices, but www.flyertalk.com can give you great information about the transatlantic product of different carriers.

I'm wondering if what I need to do is price tickets from OKC to Chicago (I can fly direct) and then book another flight from Chicago to London.

The only danger there is that if you're on different carriers and there's a problem with one of the flights, you may be out of luck on the second flight. Staying with one carrier means you have a better chance of getting where you're going if there's travel disruptions.

If you go Southwest to ORD, know that Southwest doesn't interchange bags with other carriers, so you'll have to claim your bags and re check in and go through security if you have a checked bag.

Try the airline sites directly, you may be able to get a deal there as well. American Airlines seems to always offer deals and they fly direct from ORD or DFW both.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Some of them steal personal information as well.

Going off information that's over 4 and a half years old, and with undetermined veracity as well.

Can't be too careful, especially in this day and age. Besides, just follow some of those links to forums where people talk about getting scammed by those sites. Seems pretty convincing to me.

 

[the 4th hanson bro]

I agree you can't be too careful, but there's no data on those sites more recent than 5 years ago.

I'm fair certain the sites referenced are out of business.

 

[Lindley]

I've never had any trouble with Orbitz, except that they don't always include every possible airline.

What I would suggest is making sure that you check the "departing within 50 miles" box. Sometimes, fares out of smaller airports can actually be cheaper, strangely enough. Coming back from a Thanksgiving in Wisconsin, I noticed that Madison->Minneapolis->Chicago->Washington/Dulles was actually *cheaper* than the same trip minus the Madison leg. Unfortunately the people I were staying with weren't that close to Madison though.

 

[wew]

I've tried scouting the Interweb Thingy for "cheap ticket" "cheap airfare" and the like, but the results are websites that have about a bazillion popups and don't generate decent comparisons.

Quite... Some of them steal personal information as well.

Going off information that's over 4 and a half years old, and with undetermined veracity as well.

Oops -- I forgot some important details.

I will be departing Will Rogers World Airport (yeah, what a name) in Oklahoma City

Isn't it a bit ironic for an airport named after someone who died in a plane crash?

and know that I will have to get a connecting flight from either Chicago O'Hare, Atlanta, or (possibly) Houston. I've posted the same question on another forum where other responses for BA have been just as positive.[/quote]

They won't help you with prices, but www.flyertalk.com can give you great information about the transatlantic product of different carriers.

I'm wondering if what I need to do is price tickets from OKC to Chicago (I can fly direct) and then book another flight from Chicago to London.

The only danger there is that if you're on different carriers and there's a problem with one of the flights, you may be out of luck on the second flight. Staying with one carrier means you have a better chance of getting where you're going if there's travel disruptions.

If you go Southwest to ORD, know that Southwest doesn't interchange bags with other carriers, so you'll have to claim your bags and re check in and go through security if you have a checked bag.

Try the airline sites directly, you may be able to get a deal there as well. American Airlines seems to always offer deals and they fly direct from ORD or DFW both.[/QUOTE]

On the other hand, O'hare is named after a Medal of Honor pilot who was shot out of the sky.

 

[nevermore]

Oops -- I forgot some important details.

I will be departing Will Rogers World Airport (yeah, what a name) in Oklahoma City and know that I will have to get a connecting flight from either Chicago O'Hare, Atlanta, or (possibly) Houston. I've posted the same question on another forum where other responses for BA have been just as positive.

I'm wondering if what I need to do is price tickets from OKC to Chicago (I can fly direct) and then book another flight from Chicago to London.

Oh my god, could you be making this more difficult?

Go to www.kayak.com, type "OKC" in "from", type "LON" in "to" and choose "London-all airports". Then, enter you departure date and return date, then hit "search". Choose a flight based on whatever criteria you prefer, be it trip length, trip legs, price, whatever. Prices DO include taxes and fees, as they do on almost all such sites; if they do not, it will state that clearly. This is how you do it at all the travel booking sites. You do not have to separately book all your flights, and doing so is unlikely to save you money.

Right now, the cheapest available flight I'm seeing is a Continental flight (which of course connects through Houston, super-long layover though) for $1316 r/t, Wed Jun 23 2010 – Wed Jul 7 2010. The BA flight would mean going through O'Hare (flight operated by AA), cost for those dates currently sits at $1479. That's super high, but then you're booking waaaaay too early. Prices will drop. You should be able to do this trip for about $1000. If the cost difference for you flight between Continental or another American carrier and BA is under about $200, take the BA flight as it will be far more pleasant and the service is far better and not bare-bones like crappy American carriers. Both these flights are into Heathrow, of course. I have no idea why anyone would have a problem with that airport if they can read English and have been to an airport before, but you COULD fly into Gatwick if you want to either pay several hundred more, or you want to have 2 layovers instead of just one. Your choice.

Most travel booking sites allow you to set up email alerts that will inform you either when a price drops to a pre-set amount, or they will let you know at whatever interval you choose, what the current flight costs are for your chosen trip. Kayak even tracks price trends and projections etc.

 

[John Picard]

Oops -- I forgot some important details.

I will be departing Will Rogers World Airport (yeah, what a name) in Oklahoma City and know that I will have to get a connecting flight from either Chicago O'Hare, Atlanta, or (possibly) Houston. I've posted the same question on another forum where other responses for BA have been just as positive.

I'm wondering if what I need to do is price tickets from OKC to Chicago (I can fly direct) and then book another flight from Chicago to London.

Oh my god, could you be making this more difficult?

Go to www.kayak.com, type "OKC" in "from", type "LON" in "to" and choose "London-all airports". Then, enter you departure date and return date, then hit "search". Choose a flight based on whatever criteria you prefer, be it trip length, trip legs, price, whatever. Prices DO include taxes and fees, as they do on almost all such sites; if they do not, it will state that clearly. This is how you do it at all the travel booking sites. You do not have to separately book all your flights, and doing so is unlikely to save you money.

If you weren't so darned cute, I'd come up with a snarky response I know all of the "To" and "From" for planning the trip. The reason I stated my point of origin was to give the more seasoned travelers an idea of my itinerary. Most people might not realize that I'm not close to a major airport.

Right now, the cheapest available flight I'm seeing is a Continental flight (which of course connects through Houston, super-long layover though) for $1316 r/t, Wed Jun 23 2010 – Wed Jul 7 2010. The BA flight would mean going through O'Hare (flight operated by AA), cost for those dates currently sits at $1479. That's super high, but then you're booking waaaaay too early. Prices will drop. You should be able to do this trip for about $1000. If the cost difference for you flight between Continental or another American carrier and BA is under about $200, take the BA flight as it will be far more pleasant and the service is far better and not bare-bones like crappy American carriers. Both these flights are into Heathrow, of course. I have no idea why anyone would have a problem with that airport if they can read English and have been to an airport before, but you COULD fly into Gatwick if you want to either pay several hundred more, or you want to have 2 layovers instead of just one. Your choice.

Most travel booking sites allow you to set up email alerts that will inform you either when a price drops to a pre-set amount, or they will let you know at whatever interval you choose, what the current flight costs are for your chosen trip. Kayak even tracks price trends and projections etc.

A friend of mine recommended BestFares.com and stated that only suckers book this far in advance. I performed a preliminary check for January and came up with $800 and change per person. Many of the airlines headed there were either Lufthansa, Air France, or KLM Royal Dutch, all of which earned high marks from people I know on another forum. One frequent traveler stated: "I won't fly American, United or Northwest cause they're like Greyhound Buses with wings."

I don't fly if I can help it, hence my mild degree of confusion over what to look for and how to get there.