Airline recommendations

[Tink2312]

Hi,

We're looking at flights for next October and, as anticipated, Virgin prices are crazy (£1200 each!). We're looking at going indirect, which my parents did last year with Delta via Atlanta. They weren't that impressed with the plane (little inflight entertainment, very no frills plane etc) and we'd prefer to try another airline and have been looking at US Airways via Philly or United (which has numerous transfer options inc Newark and Dulles). We liked the look of Air Lingus (which is by far the cheapest for our preferred dates) but the 5 hour layover at Dublin on the way back has put us off. I know many of you have flown indirect with these airlines and was hoping I could have some opinions on the flights and the transfer airports themselves (I.e easy to navigate etc).
Thanks in advance

 

[flortlebap]

What are your dates?

And which airport ideally?

 

[Brave5]

I'm also looking for Oct flights and at the moment Thomas Cook is looking good but I've never flown with them(but it is direct and cheaper than Virgin) If last year is anything to go by USair and United flights will get significantly cheaper in May (family of 5 for £2468) with a layover (can't remember where though). We flew USair in the summer to Seattle and found them to be very good - service and comfy seats.

Philadelphia is a great airport for conections. I've done connections in Newark Chicago and Atlanta and found them all easy to navigate.

Hope this helps a bit

 

[BudgieMama]

We paid £1200 for both of us to fly direct from Gatwick to MCO, that's for next August with BA. Might be worth spending a few minutes having a look at their prices.

 

[disneymotts]

We've just paid £2400 for four of us for October. Flying with BA, LGW to MCO.

Definitely worth giving BA a look.

 

[Kath2003]

Choose the cheapest. They are all* the same.

* Have used Virgin, BA, American, United, Delta and Air Canada.

Airports - no real differences; choose the most convenient flight times. Don't gamble on short connection times on the outbound - 90 mins to 2 hours minimum. Miami is a boring airport. Its kinda cool to watch the in-terminal train in Detroit. Toronto has the best wifi. That's about all I can say on airports. We tend to pick a city we wouldn't mind being stuck in if the flight were cancelled.

 

[Tink2312]

Thank you for the replies, that's really given me something to think about. I'm definitely going to have a look at BA.

Flortlebap - my ideal dates are 16/10-1/11, but we have thought about shifting it back 1 week (9-25/10) and we'd also travel out on 17 or 18 Oct if it was cheaper. The $$ rate is helping a bit with prices from the US websites - US Airways are our front-runner at the moment.

Update: just checked BA - prices ok, but as we're flying from Manchester, it looks like they're expecting us to transfer from Heathrow to Gatwick ourselves.

The search continues...

 

[FaithTrustPixieDust*]

We've flown Delta via Atlanta a couple of times, and it's always been a nightmare! It's one of the busiest airports in the world, so immigration takes hours usually. If you end up booking via Atlanta, I'd definitely recommend leaving 3-4 hours between flights!
I flew United to Newark in June and it was great. Immigration was painless, United have a HUGE selection of inflight entertainment (literally 100s of movies and tv shows - no chance you'll get bored!), and the seats were really comfortable. We also enjoyed our food onboard for the first time ever
Thomson/First Choice are also very good, and direct, but fly into Sanford instead of MCO. I actually prefer it as an airport, but no Magical Express, so you'd need a car!

 

[jen_uk]

We flew with US Airways last year and they were great

 

[Tink2312]

We flew with US Airways last year and they were great

Good to know as we've just booked Man to Mco via Phl. Came in at just over £1850 for 3 adults for our preferred dates.

Thanks everyone for the responses