Booking at last - JFK/LGA Question

[TraceyL]

Finally got the go-ahead from hubby to book our trip

Accomodation - sorted & booked
Care Hire - sorted
Disney tickets - sorted and partially booked
Universal tickets - tbd

Biggest step - flights....
I've been drawn to American Airlines because of their extra legroom and competitive fares but at the moment the cheapest fares are coming out via New York, which means transferring from JFK-LGA and vice versa.

Done a bit of research (cost $20 round trip per adult, takes approx 1 hour by coach) but what about the logistics of changing airports with two young children after a transatlantic flight ? Any body done it ? Would you recommend it to save a few more £££ and and couple of hours flight time (alternatives are via Chicago) ?

 

[Peebee]

Hi Tracey,

We've travelled to MCO through Chicago and Miami with AA and they've both been fine. Although we've not made the journey between JFK and LGA, we were stuck for ages in awful traffic coming into NYC from Kennedy last year - mostly heading out of the airport. If you do go this route i'd make sure you have plenty of time between connections.

What is the difference in cost/time with using Chicago ?

One other thing you need to be aware of is that there is great concern that AA might file for Chapter 11 in the US as United did a few months ago (ironically United are about to emerge from this it seems). It may not have a great effect on the flights that you book, but they are trying to cut costs all over the place by laying off staff and cancelling services, so make sure you have holiday insurance arranged up front just in case.

Best of luck.

Paul

 

[TraceyL]

They're actually coming out more or less the same price at the moment (been a few days since I last checked), with the flight time not much more. Connection time is ony 2 1/2 hours in NY - which doesn't seem anywhere enough to include customs and a 1 hour trip across city

What's Chicago airport like ?

United Airlines are slightly cheaper again (connecting inChigao or Washinton) but I was avoiding them because of the Chap 11

Wonder how AA/UA compare ........?

Back to the drawing board lol !!

 

[BevS97]

Connection time is ony 2 1/2 hours in NY - which doesn't seem anywhere enough to include customs and a 1 hour trip across city

Yikes Tracey, I would be terrified of such a short connection personally.

When are you wanting to fly, and what quotes have you had? I'll have a look around cause I haven't got a trip of my own to plan right now....

 

[Peebee]

Unless anyone else here has direct experience of the transfer and can recommend it then I think you should veer towards Chicago Tracey. The airport is very nice and modern from what I remember, with little trains to carry you between terminals. It is a pretty huge airport but they seem to handle the mass of people very well.

I think United are a pretty standard carrier - no extra legroom compared to AA.

If only one of the big US airlines would fly direct to Orlando i'm sure we'd all give them tonnes of business, wouldn't we?

Paul

 

[TraceyL]

Bev - always glad of another keyboard I've tried Expedia, Opodo, Bon Voyage, Ebookers, Lastminute, Sky Deck, Florida R Us, BA, VA, AA, KLM - can you suggest any others? (I've alredyy got accom sorted) Cheapest quote is Sky Deck £1299 AA via Chicago. Going Oct 19 - Nov 5, 2 ad, 2 ch ( 6 & 2).

It would be great if BA & VA had more directcompetition wouldn't it ?

 

[SidB]

Peebee,

Where did this info about United come from ? I was considering using them but read this on the BBC website and had second thoughts.

United, which was hoping to use bankruptcy as a means of getting its house in order, lost $367m in February alone, and said it saw no prospect of getting back into profit.

 

[Peebee]

I friend of mine mentioned it to me last week Sid. He's a big fan it seems, but even so has been putting off booking flights for a while now. Anyhow, he mentioned to me that that the company seem fairly confident that their staff will shortly accept some big pay cuts making the business more viable for the future. With the current slow-down in the airline business the only option for most of these companies is to cut costs, I think.

Even so, I would probably wait a little longer if you can before booking any flights with them. The longer the war continues the worse the situation will get for some of these firms.

Paul

 

[SidB]

On Radio 4 this morning they were saying that the only way for United to cut it's overheads enough was for every employee to take a $20,000 pay cut !!!

The American airlines may get some support from their government, but I think I'll probably fly with BA just to be safe. This is the point where somebody says that BA have gone bust.

 

[Peebee]

Not a tiny amount by any standards! We're normally great fans of AA but have decided to stick with Virgin on this occasion (i'm not quite as optimistic as my friend, you see!).

Paul