DIY Newbie trying to go to Orlando via New York, any tips?

[mollies_mum]

Hi all, happy new year and all that jazz

Basically I would like some help/advice. DH and I would like to go to Bikefest in Daytona in March 2012 and was thinking about flying from Manchester to New York for a few days and then on to Orlando for a few more days (then drive to Daytona.) Then fly from Orlando to Manchester on the way home.
If anyone has done this how did you go about it, ie where/when did you book, how much did it cost you etc.
I've already been looking at hotels but have no idea how to go about booking the flights. Do I book the different parts separately with different airlines or find one that stops over...HELP I've never done this before
As always any help or advice would be greatly received

 

[wayneg]

You use a site like Kayak.co.uk or Expedia.co.uk + others that allow you to book multi stop/Multi city flights.
For March 2012 you can't book until April 2011, when it gets here post again if you want help with finding prices.

 

[Kath2003]

Hi all, happy new year and all that jazz

Basically I would like some help/advice. DH and I would like to go to Bikefest in Daytona in March 2012 and was thinking about flying from Manchester to New York for a few days and then on to Orlando for a few more days (then drive to Daytona.) Then fly from Orlando to Manchester on the way home.
If anyone has done this how did you go about it, ie where/when did you book, how much did it cost you etc.
I've already been looking at hotels but have no idea how to go about booking the flights. Do I book the different parts separately with different airlines or find one that stops over...HELP I've never done this before
As always any help or advice would be greatly received

Have done a trip to the US with numerous stops. My advice would be to choose when and where you want to enter and leave the US. Flights within the US are plentiful and cheap, whereas transatlantic flights require greater thought. If I were you, I'd book either in and out of Orlando and then fly to NYC, or in and out of NYC and then fly down to Florida. We found this to be significantly cheaper and flexible than booking multi-city packages.

 

[wayneg]

Have done a trip to the US with numerous stops. My advice would be to choose when and where you want to enter and leave the US. Flights within the US are plentiful and cheap, whereas transatlantic flights require greater thought. If I were you, I'd book either in and out of Orlando and then fly to NYC, or in and out of NYC and then fly down to Florida. We found this to be significantly cheaper and flexible than booking multi-city packages.

I have done it this way myself saving approx £100pp(quite a saving back in 2002) but OP needs to bear in mind internal luggage allowance is probably not included in flight ticket (booking multicity you get trasatlantic allowance included for internal flights) and any missed transatlantic flight due to an internal flight being delayed could result in the need to buy a new ticket, buying as one with a multicity ticket its the airlines responsibilty to get you to your final destination.

 

[paulh]

but OP needs to bear in mind internal luggage allowance is probably not included in flight ticket .

if staying on-site bell services will hold for you or if not there are storage places which will hold for you
Paul

 

[Kath2003]

I have done it this way myself saving approx £100pp(quite a saving back in 2002) but OP needs to bear in mind internal luggage allowance is probably not included in flight ticket (booking multicity you get trasatlantic allowance included for internal flights) and any missed transatlantic flight due to an internal flight being delayed could result in the need to buy a new ticket, buying as one with a multicity ticket its the airlines responsibilty to get you to your final destination.

We did five cities (plus others, but not by air) over the course of a month a few years ago and booking the internal flights ourselves saved us £600 per person

We had baggage allowance on all our internal flights at the time but the OP should indeed look it up as many airlines do charge (although not much - $25 per bag - up to 50lb! - is typical). Ironically it's now many of the cheaper airlines like South West Airlines that offer free baggage. Many, many people now travel with hand-luggage only (myself included, although not for that mammoth trip!) so this may not be an issue.

The way to do it to ensure you don't miss your transatlantic is to allow a long connection time - ideally overnight - but good travel insurance should cover you for missed transatlantic flights anyway.

 

[STOCKYJIM]

We did exactly this trip in 2009 and did a multi vector search through Virgin - which allowed us to fly to NYC and back from Orlando. This actually worked out cheaper at the time than flying direct to Orlando.

For the internal stretch however we went with Amtrak - for a train down to orlando from NYC. Although it takes 20 hours its a night train which meant we got on at 2pm in NYC and got off at noonish in Orlando.

We found that we could book the train tickets and a cabin - which gave us first class benefits including all meals - for much less than taxi, flights meals and overnight hotel and the trip felt much more part of the holiday than flying has done.

The best part was walking to Penn station from our hotel and checking into the first class lounge (included) and then strolling onto the train without having to go through the strain of airport security. It really was a nice, stress free, way of getting from A to B.

Whichever way you go - hope you have a great trip.

Jim

 

[mollies_mum]

Thanks everyone for your input, its really helped. Think I'll take Wayne's advice about coming back in April when flights are available

 

[disneyholic family]

i wonder if VUSA tickets are still available.....also known as "visit the USA tickets"...

they can only be bought outside of the US - they're a pay one price sort of ticket and you can add up to a certain number of legs..

DD and i had VUSA tickets 3 or 4 years ago....

our international ticket was into and out of JFK in New york....and it included an add on to get us to orlando...

but then from orlando we were on a VUSA ticket that took us from Orlando to Texas....then from Texas to chicago....then chicago to arizona.....then arizona to detroit.....then detroit to orlando.....(and then the other ticket carried us from orlando back to new york and then across the atlantic)...

 

[UKDEB]

We've flown into and out of different US airports several times. We've always booked a round-trip with one carrier (Virgin or BA as it happens) and then an entirely separate internal flight. If you're planning on staying in New York for a few days before flying to Orlando, you won't have any worries about making connections.

 

[mollies_mum]

Thanks again

 

[Pooh's-Honey-Pot]

We got Virgin to do this for us, for our October trip - they booked us flights Heathrow to NY and Orlando to Gatwick with Virgin planes, and booked us an internal flight with Delta. I was really pleased with the price and its a way of using your FVC discount if you have one, but I dare say you will find it cheaper DIY!