About to book indirect flight-a couple of questions..

[idreamofwdw]

First of all, hello! It's been a long time since I've posted on the boards due to a depressing lack of Disney holidays but that is all about to change as I am booking flights for October today!

My travel agent has found indirect flights from Manchester via Philly. I was very hesitant at first as it will be myself, DH and our 11, 9, 5 and 9 month old and thought it would be just too much hassle. However the price has convinced me lol.
My questions are:
We only have a 2 hour layover outbound and just 90 minutes inbound. Is this enough? I'd like to think that if it wasn't doable it wouldn't have been offered to us, but maybe I'm being naive!

Has anybody travelled this route recently, especially those with young children/infants-I'd be interested in hearing your experiences & any tips.

I'll be posting an accomodation question soon but will get the flight organised first!

Thanks in advance

 

[wilma-bride]

I am guessing that it will be a significant saving, for you to be seriously considering with children as young as yours.

Inbound shouldn't be an issue as you won't have to clear immigration or anything.

I have never travelled via PHL so not sure how slick the process is there - I would certainly not want any less than a 2 hour layover on an indirect flight though.

 

[idreamofwdw]

Taking indirect flights is the difference between going and not going for us this time round It's costing less than £3k for the flight and car hire for all of us. My children are quite used to me yelling at them to hurry up so I can see us being quite good at running through the airport

 

[MrsIncredible1974]

First of all, hello! It's been a long time since I've posted on the boards due to a depressing lack of Disney holidays but that is all about to change as I am booking flights for October today!

My travel agent has found indirect flights from Manchester via Philly. I was very hesitant at first as it will be myself, DH and our 11, 9, 5 and 9 month old and thought it would be just too much hassle. However the price has convinced me lol.
My questions are:
We only have a 2 hour layover outbound and just 90 minutes inbound. Is this enough? I'd like to think that if it wasn't doable it wouldn't have been offered to us, but maybe I'm being naive!

Has anybody travelled this route recently, especially those with young children/infants-I'd be interested in hearing your experiences & any tips.

I'll be posting an accomodation question soon but will get the flight organised first!

Thanks in advance

I'm interested in replies too. As others have said, making a huge saving on the price of direct flights will determine whether or not we keep, amend or cancel our resort booking with DDP.

 

[ABZDisneyFan]

The main thing to remember is that you will not have two hours.
Assuming you land in Philly on time, which is what they base your arrival time on, the plane could take 15 minutes to get to the gate, you could take another 15-20 minutes to get off, you then have to clear immigration, pick up your bags then clear customs, drop your bags off to be transferred & then get to your gate.
If everything goes according to plan, then you will be fine but if you get any delays you could miss your connecting flight.
The airline will get you to Orlando eventually but it could be the following day.
I'm not trying to put you off, just making you aware of what could happen.
We're looking at spending a few days in New Orleans before we get to Orlando next year & going through Philly looks like one of our options, funnily enough it's a two hour layover as well.
I'm flapping already about the connection time so have been looking at other ways to do it as there are no direct flights to NO from London.
Have you looked at Aer Lingus via Dublin? I'm sure they fly to Dublin from Manchester, we've flown them a few times & the US immigration & customs pre clearance in Dublin is brilliant.

 

[Woodview]

Just a thought If your Travel Dates are flexible you might have a look at

Manchester to USA with

Aer Lingus to Orlando Via Dublin

Or Aer Lingus to USA & onwards with Aer Lingus Partner airlines

Going Via Dublin you Clear Immigration & Customs IN Dublin

You Arrive in USA as a Domestic arrival ( No Immigration on arrival )

Your Luggage when checked in at Manchester will be sent direct to Final Destination so No dragging of Luggage around

 

[chmurf]

We only have a 2 hour layover outbound and just 90 minutes inbound. Is this enough?

The inbound is more the enough

the outbound is outside of my comfort zone.
As a PP mentionned above, 2hrs is the time between wheels down (first plane lands) and wheels up (second plane leaves the ground)
factor in 15 minutes to get to the gate, 15 minutes to deplane if you're at the back, and especially since you're a large party), and the doors of your second plane will close 20 minutes before take off.
Those unmovable times eat 50 minutes off your connection time. Meaning that 2hrs mean that you have 70 minutes to clear immigration, collect bags, clear customs, clear security and change terminals/concourse and get to your gate
and that's 70 minutes tops if your plane lands on time at PHL

Tnis is doable, but this is tight. If you have no other alternative (re: money / schedule) you could take the chance. If you can find a later plane out of PHL, and have a longer layover, then do it.

I can give you first hand feedback on the MAN-PHL-MCO flight.
back in 2013 the PHL-MCO flight connecting from the MAN-PHL flight, had to be held at the gate because the manchester passengers were still in the immigration line. And the layover was longer than the one you're quoting

Some DISers have made this connection without any problem. So it's really hit or miss, because that's really on the short side of the connection time.
It can be done, but you can't get any guarantee you'll do it on the day.

bottomline : if you find a longer connection at the same price, go for it. If you don't then it's risky, but still doable
worst case scenario, they put you on the next available flight to Orlando (not necessarily the next plane) and accomodate you if you have to spend a night in PHL

 

[P800aul]

First of all, hello! It's been a long time since I've posted on the boards due to a depressing lack of Disney holidays but that is all about to change as I am booking flights for October today!

My travel agent has found indirect flights from Manchester via Philly. I was very hesitant at first as it will be myself, DH and our 11, 9, 5 and 9 month old and thought it would be just too much hassle. However the price has convinced me lol.
My questions are:
We only have a 2 hour layover outbound and just 90 minutes inbound. Is this enough? I'd like to think that if it wasn't doable it wouldn't have been offered to us, but maybe I'm being naive!

Has anybody travelled this route recently, especially those with young children/infants-I'd be interested in hearing your experiences & any tips.

I'll be posting an accomodation question soon but will get the flight organised first!

Thanks in advance

Hi

We've done this every year for the last 6 years and it's no issue I guess you are flying American Airways 11.00am from Manchester? The tricky part is clearing immigration then security again before boarding the flight from Philadelphia.

So this is how it goes, from the plane its a fair walk to the immigration hall, then usually a 20 - 30 min wait to get cleared, once you are through that your bags will have been off loaded from the belt, find them and go through customs. Your bags then go on a belt right outside the customs clearance, on their way to Orlando, you then take a short walk down a ramp to the security check, which always looks chaotic (it is) it moves pretty quick just be ready.

Then you're done (once you've redressed yourself,) in the past my children have had time to get a McDonald's and eat it before we start to board the jet to Orlando.

We only have two children and can not imagine what it may be like with four, I guess as you have very young ones they will let you on planes quicker etc so that should help. There are a lot of people on your flight from Manchester going to Orlando so don't worry they will want you at Philadelphia to get that plane

Coming home piece of cake all of the business end is at Orlando just be at the airport in good time going home and you'll have no trouble. The one time we where delayed from Orlando they held the Manchester flight until we got there.

Good luck, we're there in October so we'll look out for you

Regards

Paul

 

[Jon84]

Have you looked at the Thomas Cook flights from MAN, the new refurbed planes are good, and the flight only prices are not half bad either!

 

[markkelly]

Just did some indirect flights at Easter -
Outbound via Charlotte - we had done this route previously with a bigger lay over - this time I booked with a 1hr 50min layover which felt tight....then the flight time changed to 1hr 35min. As said above it is the airlines responsibility to get you there so in that sense it is inconvenience rather than disaster. I ensured we sat as far to the front as possible and rushed through with my kids - however, a plane from France had just landed in front of us and we had to queue a fair while. Loads of people were flapping and trying to negotiate their way to the front but the officials have none of it - they do it every day as as above they WANT you to make the flight. We did easily as it goes so it worked perfectly - also clearing customs somewhere small like PHL is much quicker than in Orlando.

The way back was vis Philly - to get a decent price it was a long layover 3.5hrs from memory and since you just check the bags through to UK from MCO on the way back this was a disappointment ...however, they changed the flight inbound too...we had a 53min layover and the plane was 30mins late taking off from Orlando....they held the plane and although we powered through the airport - a good 10min walk ...we easily beat a lot of passengers and ended up sitting on the plane waiting for the bags.


I think you''l be fine...suggest getting maps of the terminals - and checking in early near the front as you can and walking fast from the plane to the immigration line....e.g no toliet breaks until you are through immigration

 

[idreamofwdw]

Hi

We've done this every year for the last 6 years and it's no issue I guess you are flying American Airways 11.00am from Manchester? The tricky part is clearing immigration then security again before boarding the flight from Philadelphia.

So this is how it goes, from the plane its a fair walk to the immigration hall, then usually a 20 - 30 min wait to get cleared, once you are through that your bags will have been off loaded from the belt, find them and go through customs. Your bags then go on a belt right outside the customs clearance, on their way to Orlando, you then take a short walk down a ramp to the security check, which always looks chaotic (it is) it moves pretty quick just be ready.

Then you're done (once you've redressed yourself,) in the past my children have had time to get a McDonald's and eat it before we start to board the jet to Orlando.

We only have two children and can not imagine what it may be like with four, I guess as you have very young ones they will let you on planes quicker etc so that should help. There are a lot of people on your flight from Manchester going to Orlando so don't worry they will want you at Philadelphia to get that plane

Coming home piece of cake all of the business end is at Orlando just be at the airport in good time going home and you'll have no trouble. The one time we where delayed from Orlando they held the Manchester flight until we got there.

Good luck, we're there in October so we'll look out for you

Regards

Paul

Thanks Paul, we've booked now so there's no going back haha! This is really useful info-it's great to hear from someone who has done it. My biggest concern is that we may get held up by something silly like the fact we will (probably) be taking our puschair and definitley taking our car seat and if they will take longer to off load off the plane. Have you travelled with either? Thanks again for this info

 

[idreamofwdw]

As said above it is the airlines responsibility to get you there so in that sense it is inconvenience rather than disaster

I like this quote, i'll be sure to remember it!

 

[P800aul]

Thanks Paul, we've booked now so there's no going back haha! This is really useful info-it's great to hear from someone who has done it. My biggest concern is that we may get held up by something silly like the fact we will (probably) be taking our puschair and definitley taking our car seat and if they will take longer to off load off the plane. Have you travelled with either? Thanks again for this info

Hi

No our DD's where 6 and 8 when we first went, so they had Boostapak's. However I assume you'll give up your car seat at check in and the pushchair at the gate, as I said by the time you get through immigration all of the bags have come off the plane, been round the carousel once and the airport staff offload them on to the ground near the carousel, so I would guess your stuff cases car seats and push chair all to be there.

It all looks like hard work but it always seems to work, you know things can go wrong I'm sure, but I wouldn't worry these guys do it for a living

You've been to Disney before, maybe with not so many children, just plan and organise the hell out of it and it will run smooth I'm sure.

Regards

Paul

 

[chmurf]

guess as you have very young ones they will let you on planes quicker etc so that should help.

For that, OP would need to be at the boarding gate for preboarding, roughly 45 minutes before scheduled take off for MCO

that would only leave them 70 minutes from landing. Including taxi and deplaning and getting the pushchair from gate check (30 minutes total)
that will leave them 40 minutes to clear customs, fetch bags, clear immigration, clear TSA and leg it to the next boarding gate

If they don't do it in that time frame, they'll need to board with the rest of us measly cattle.
If they do it in 40 minutes, the gate personnel will allow them on the plane before first/business

@OP, just ask airport/gate/airline personnel for extra assistance, like preboarding (you can also request that at MAN to be let on the plane before everyone else. That will leave you time to settle down, and invaluable time to stow your carry ons in the overhead bins before the place gets mobbed.

 

[P800aul]

Hi

Like I said we've done this very flight 6 times with two the hour layover and never had an issue, agreed with only with two children, on all occasions we've been at the gate before the first call for anyone to board the plane from Philadelphia to MCO.

Regards

Paul

 

[disneyholic family]

recently, the biggest problem in the indirect scenario has been security rather than immigration/customs.

At least that's been our experience. TSA has gotten worse and worse and worse, and the lines longer and longer and longer.

I've witnessed a lot of people missing flights after being stuck in the TSA line.

but as others have said, if you miss your flight, it is the airlines responsibility to get you there at some point.

 

[dixonsontour]

We've done that route several times usually hassle free. 2 hours is fine and less on way back. On 28th may they cancelled the mco connection. Chaos ensued as there were 71 trying to get to Orlando and 1 unhelpful woman on the desk. Half of people were put on next flight rest inc us went to Charlotte then another flight onto Mco. We fly indirect usually and never usually have any issue. Am flying same route in October. Planes have decent legroom and entertainment on seat back TVs on transatlantic.

 

[dixonsontour]

They held the plane home on Saturday for an hour so 35 could make it from orlando (we had got earlier flight to Philly) I've also rushed to make connection in Philly in past only for them to hold the plane as over 70 connecting. It is a v popular route.