Anyone from the North of Scotland?

[swift]

I'm helping some friends who have never been before plan their trip. Their local airport is Inverness and they would prefer a package if possible. Does anyone know whether you can get package holidays from Inverness? So far the only option I've found is Flybe/Virgin flights with Expedia changing at Manchester or Gatwick. The Virgin flights from Glasgow are not available for their dates.

Many thank for any help you are able to give me.

[2Tiggies]

Hi! Do your friends want to go direct, or do they not mind a connection somewhere?

I know that companies like Thomsons (and I think Thomas Cook) fly from Aberdeen on certain days of the week during the "Summer" season, typically April to October. These charter airlines go to Sanford International Airport. I have never flown that route so I can't give you any info on it.

If they prefer to go with a scheduled airline there are options from Glasgow and Edinburgh like COntinental - which seems to be a favourite of many - where they connect in Newark and that is year round as far as I know. I have always gone to Manchester and flown from there becasue I could never get flights from Glasgow. Next year I am going Glasgow, but only because I booked 17 months out and was flexible enough on my dates to be willing to pull DD out of a week of school.

It all depends whether they are set on a package or doing it DIY as well. I have always done a package because I wasn't confident enough to put the trip together myself, but I have vowed that after the next trip I will do the DIY thing as it is usually, although not always, more cost effective.

One point on the Manchester flights: the 10.25 am departure gets you to MCO early afternoon which really gives you the best part of the afternoon plus the evening to settle in and go and do something.

How many people are there in your friends' party?

[Cyrano]

We flew from Aberdeen - Gatwick, Gatwick - Orlando International. The Aberdeen leg was with Flybe. The Gatwick leg was with Virgin Atlantic.
The whole holiday accomodation, flights was booked via Virgin Holidays.
Independent may offer cheaper choice. Booking the flights in one ticket meant that if Flybe ran late Virgin were duty bound to put us on the next available flight

[swift]

Thanks. I will have a look at Aberdeen and Glasgow charter options.

There are 2 adults and 2 kids 11 and 7. I think that 2 changes may be a bit much for them as the adults are not frequent flyers and the kids have never flown before, so I was looking for a direct flight from the UK on the assumption that they will have to make one change in the UK.

[Muscateer]

I have also done the Aberdeen to Gatwick then Virgin through Virgin Holidays.

Before that I did packages from Glasgow with Thomas Cook. I also looked into Virgin from Glasgow but they only seem to do certain dates all which have never suited us.

[zara]

Virgin Atlantic do a shuttle down from Glasgow to Gatwick.
I don't know if they do Inverness. Even though you cant get a direct flight from Glasgow in the winter Virgin will add on a shuttle with British Airways to get you down. Phone them and see.

[2Tiggies]

Originally Posted by swift

Thanks. I will have a look at Aberdeen and Glasgow charter options.

There are 2 adults and 2 kids 11 and 7. I think that 2 changes may be a bit much for them as the adults are not frequent flyers and the kids have never flown before, so I was looking for a direct flight from the UK on the assumption that they will have to make one change in the UK.

I have to agree about the changes being more difficult with kids. With every change there is also the time involved in clearing customs if appicable, checking in, going through security ..... Despite being well travelled, this is the biggest reason why I have always gone directly from the UK. Let us know how they get on.

[starrysky]

Hi

We are from aberdeen and did Aberdeen to heathrow and then a transfer by bus from there to gatwick and then a direct flight to orlando. Worked out really well and we had more than enough time between our flights to do this.

We have flown to sanford before and as we were staying in a disney resort last time we felt it better to go to orlando than sanford to get the ME. It really depends on how much they are willing to spend. We were not cheap to go BA aberdeen-orlando with above mentioned stops compared to going glasgow-sanford.
However we did factor in the cost of getting to glasgow, paying for parking, hotel over night etc and we felt that the convenience of going from our home town was worth it. Also if staying on property and not gettting a hire car the transfers from sanford are pretty pricey as the ME is not an option.

[scottish mum]

Hiya we always fly inverness to either gatwick or manchester then with virgin from there to MCO. We fly down with fly be but book it ourselves as it is quite expensive if you let virgin book it. Would have been about £450 more expensive if they booked it for us (there are 5 of us). The only thing with booking fly be yourself is that you lose virgins baggage allowance on the fly be leg but for the saving you make it is cheaper to pay the excess. We did try and fly from glasgow one time but the drive home is a killer, 4 hrs is hard work on the A9. At least if we land in inverness someone can pick us up. We also prefer direct flights and flying into mco so this works well for us and we find gatwick is usually cheaper than manchester for the fly be flights and sometimes virgin.

If you need anymore help feel free to ask me

[swift]

Thanks for all your help and advice . They decided to book a flydrive from Glasgow with Thomas Cook.