airline recommendations

[TinkerbellW]

I finally took the plunge and decided to do diy trip next August. Booked resort and tickets with Disney and now the window is open for me to book airline tickets. I've always flown with virgin but have also looked at Thomas Cook who appear slightly cheaper.
I want to fly direct so any thoughts on Thomas Cook would be appreciated. Failing that I'll change my booking and get Disney to organise the lot (yes I know -defeats the object)
I'm a northern lass so ideally I'll be flying from Manchester

 

[Woodview]

Try ,

Manchester .... Dublin

Dublin to Orlando Direct ...... Both with Aer Lingus

 

[Elise79]

All airlines will get you there and if you are looking at E then they are all much the same - honestly though Adding flights to a Disney package usually only costs a couple of ££s more than booking them yourself.

We won't fly BA anymore for multiple reasons - but they aren't option out of MAN anyway so any of the others will be fine.

 

[cliveywolves]

We used to use BA & Virgin but our last 3 flights have been direct with TC from Manchester and its has saved us £1000's now, always been good once onboard no issues at all, we did have a 3 hour delay in August but was for technical issues.. That being apart would recommend them....

 

[Jon84]

If you fancy going via Dublin, book on Expedia.ie (Dublin to MCO with Virgin) and you can get a PE Seat for the Price of a Eco Seat.

I'm assuming you live near MAN?

The drive back south at 9am after a flight was killer!

 

[ABZDisneyFan]

We've used Aer Lingus to fly to the States a couple of times now (New York & Orlando).
The customs & immigration pre-clearance in Dublin is fantastic & means you walk off the plane in the States as if you've arrived on a domestic flight.

 

[saintrob]

We've flown with Virgin, Thomas Cook and Aer Lingus. If you're flying economy then as others have said, there isn't a great deal of difference. Thomas Cook from Manchester will save you £s on the Virgin price and are good. I don't think it's worth paying the extra that Virgin are asking and as they now fly into MCO, I'd use them again.

I was really impressed with Aer Lingus - great crew and very efficient. The added bonus of no immigration at MCO was excellent. Aer Lingus don't fly every day however, even during the summer season. I managed to book a business class seat for near enough the same price that Virgin wanted for economy!

 

[scoobydooby]

I don't think Virgin can be beaten especially if you can stretch to premium economy. They are expensive though. I won't touch BA I have only poor reports of flying with them and if something goes wrong their customer service is shocking. For an economy seat from Manchester direct I'd just go with the cheapest if price was the deciding factor for me. I wouldn't go via Dublin as I just want to be there ASAP. In 10 trips we've only had one wait of an hour in immigration and have been through in half an hour or less every other time. In my experience reports of chaos there are over stated. That's said, I always book seats that get you of in the first 50 passengers.

 

[Jon84]

I don't think Virgin can be beaten especially if you can stretch to premium economy. They are expensive though. I won't touch BA I have only poor reports of flying with them and if something goes wrong their customer service is shocking. For an economy seat from Manchester direct I'd just go with the cheapest if price was the deciding factor for me. I wouldn't go via Dublin as I just want to be there ASAP. In 10 trips we've only had one wait of an hour in immigration and have been through in half an hour or less every other time. In my experience reports of chaos there are over stated. That's said, I always book seats that get you of in the first 50 passengers.

Same as you, I've been through and in my Mustang within 45-50 mins of landing because of seat choice.

That said, I think it depends which flight you are on. If you go on the MCO Website and check the Excel Document, you can see that there is a 30 min period where LGW & MAN Virgin Flights, and a BA LGW are all due in within mins of each other, and they all use the same gate range at MCO so it gets busy!

The TC flights are always earlier so you tend to get through without disruption