Flights (UK mainland to Belfast connections) question

[2Tiggies]

I'm still trawling an ever growing list of websites in my bid for reasonably priced flights for next year June/July. For some reason, no matter where I look, prices are about £200 - £260 less flying from Belfast than they are from any of the London or Scottish airports. There are flights available for £408 - £416, with £667 being the cheapest from EDI or GLA.

This got me wondering whether its a worthwhile option to consider booking from Belfast and arranging my own connections across. For this to be worthwhile I want to be saving £100 per person after paying for the connections plus any applicable luggage fees. There are budget airlines flying that route, for example Easy Jet gives an option to upgrade to their Flexi Fare which then includes 20Kg hold luggage. However these little low cost airlines don't open their flights for booking as early as the scheduled airlines do and I'm not sure if its worth the risk booking now and then hoping for the best. This could work out wonderfully, but could also turn out to be a major headache in 2 months or so when those prices and times are released.

Anyone with any suggestions to broaden my mind on possible options? I've not used budget airlines for nearly 10 years and I am also unclear on the luggage story (can you pay for an additional bag or is the max one per person?). I searched various websites trying to get more info on this but only came across more questions on forums

Of course I could just wait and hope that prices drop by £100 for indirect from GLA or EDI ......... Urgh, I wont miss this challenge when these flights are booked

 

[Azza1987]

I fly to Belfast Int. quite often from Liverpool with Easyjet as my family live out there. We've recently got flights in March for £50.98 pp return!

I've flown from Blackpool & Manchester also, but have no idea about scotland or London? I've flown with Easyjet, Jet2, Monarch & RyaAir (Never again!) quite easily its about 40-50 minutes from either of those locations into Belfast.

You'd probably be able to get a cheap Travel lodge/Premier Inn at Belfast if your flight was the next day to MCO.

I prefer Easyjet for Belfast, I dont take hold lugagge only hand luggage as they allow any weight limit as long as it within a certain size and you can lift it yourself (this however I believe is changing at some point). So you'd be restricted to 20kg with Easyjet hold but could stuff as much as you want in your hand luggage and then transfer it all over on the long haul flight!

North west though you can certainly get some very good flight prices if your willing to book when they are released. The later you leave the more expensive they seem to get from ym experience.

 

[2Tiggies]

Thank you for all the info. That covers a lot of the info I was looking for

I am not worried about the cost of an airport hotel because flying from Scotland we are subject to early departures so I book a hotel in any event. Actually I looked last night and staying overnight near the Belfast airport brought up cheaper hotel prices than GLA and EDI.

I read about the change in dimensions of the cabin bags for Easy Jet but thought this change had only just come into effect a couple of months ago (?) Are they changing it again? I take my camera gear as my cabin baggage and can't have that put into the hold so that is an issue to me. It will fit fine with the tripod in the hold as I usually do, as long as they don't reduce the dimensions for the bag any more than it is now.

 

[Azza1987]

Ah it might have alraedy come into effect and my memory is just being useless!

I've not stayed near the airport as we always stay with family but theres lots of hotel walking distance from the airport in any case.

Whenever I use Sky Scanner Belfast always comes up cheaper for me too, not sure why but we might consider doing the same as you when we go back. Fly to Belfast first then on to MCO. Even its the day before I can always go stay at ym aunt's & uncles house! I found flights about £150 cheaper from Belfast compared to MAN.

 

[2Tiggies]

Ah it might have alraedy come into effect and my memory is just being useless!

I've not stayed near the airport as we always stay with family but theres lots of hotel walking distance from the airport in any case.

Whenever I use Sky Scanner Belfast always comes up cheaper for me too, not sure why but we might consider doing the same as you when we go back. Fly to Belfast first then on to MCO. Even its the day before I can always go stay at ym aunt's & uncles house! I found flights about £150 cheaper from Belfast compared to MAN.

Yes, I noticed MAN is coming up cheaper than Scotland and London departures, but still over than £100 more than Belfast so by the time we get flights to MAN, we may as well pay another £20 and fly from Scotland to save the hassle.

I would normally not consider such a roundabout route without being prompted by some incentive, but a £500+ saving for 2 of us, less connecting flights still makes it significantly cheaper so I'm seriously looking into this now. I'm just worried that the rules for EJ luggage change again after we've booked the inernational flights and then we are really stuck. Unless we arrange a family visit to Ireland and DD and I hitch along .....

 

[irisheyes123]

What happens if you have a long delay on your first flight and miss your 2nd flight I know if you book your flights all together they move you onto another flight just might get messy if they are booked separate although its only a small chance that would happen.

 

[2Tiggies]

What happens if you have a long delay on your first flight and miss your 2nd flight I know if you book your flights all together they move you onto another flight just might get messy if they are booked separate although its only a small chance that would happen.

That has occurred to me and it's these little things that are making me hesitate a bit. As you say, it's not likely and my travel insurance would still cover me in the event that happened, which is less of a risk on the outbound as we would fly to Belfast the night before. It's just such a big saving over the current prices and I'm very tempted to book, but torn between booking and waiting to see if the other indirect prices come down somewhat in the coming weeks/months. It's all the same as the currency gamble

 

[irisheyes123]

That has occurred to me and it's these little things that are making me hesitate a bit. As you say, it's not likely and my travel insurance would still cover me in the event that happened, which is less of a risk on the outbound as we would fly to Belfast the night before. It's just such a big saving over the current prices and I'm very tempted to book, but torn between booking and waiting to see if the other indirect prices come down somewhat in the coming weeks/months. It's all the same as the currency gamble

If I was making a good saving I would do it myself . It's looks like a great price and flying the night before will take the stress out of all the morning rushing.

 

[cherjp]

2tiggies , are you only looking at scheduled airlines ? , we went this july from manchester with thomsons on the dreamliner, it was £1000 cheaper for the four of us than flying from glasgow, overnight accomm premier inn at 29 quid per room and fuel down and back, no where near £1000 for that lot .

BA are also doing good prices for their flydrive options.

 

[2Tiggies]

2tiggies , are you only looking at scheduled airlines ? , we went this july from manchester with thomsons on the dreamliner, it was £1000 cheaper for the four of us than flying from glasgow, overnight accomm premier inn at 29 quid per room and fuel down and back, no where near £1000 for that lot .

BA are also doing good prices for their flydrive options.

Thank you for pointing that out. I have looked at TC and Thomsons but at the time was only looking at Scottish departures and they were no good to me from here as they only fly on certain days to MCO and came up quite expensive next to the scheduled airlines. I am willing to be completely flexible on airports because as you will know, save for precious few fixed dates with VA from Glasgow, you are pretty much forced to go indirect from here anyway, as you either connect at a UK airport or another one out of the country.

I haven't looked at fly drives as I don't drive

 

[Neo]

Have you thought about connecting in Dublin? There is much more scope for airlines, with US Airways, American Airlines, Delta and direct with aer lingus plus you have the advantage of going through immigration in Dublin, so it's like a domestic arrival in America?

I live in Northern Ireland, and every time we fly to states, it's through Dublin.

Even flying Dublin to Orlando via gatwick is cheaper than going direct from Gatwick with British airways

 

[2Tiggies]

Have you thought about connecting in Dublin? There is much more scope for airlines, with US Airways, American Airlines, Delta and direct with aer lingus plus you have the advantage of going through immigration in Dublin, so it's like a domestic arrival in America?

I live in Northern Ireland, and every time we fly to states, it's through Dublin.

Even flying Dublin to Orlando via gatwick is cheaper than going direct from Gatwick with British airways

I've looked from Dublin too. In fact I started looking from there before Belfast came up randomly as a recommendation for cheaper alternate airports but the flights from there are showing more expensive by about £100 than from Belfast. I will try going through individual airline's websites and put the search in and see what I can find

 

[Neo]

I'm looking for August next year!


Look at US airways & British airways web page, they seem to be cheapest. Also seeing travel up is workin out quite cheap!

 

[2Tiggies]

I'm looking for August next year!


Look at US airways & British airways web page, they seem to be cheapest. Also seeing travel up is workin out quite cheap!

I don't know anything about Travel Up. Do you? They have had the better of many of the prices for any given route searched but I always avoid companies where you have to phone to book because inevitably when you call, you are told that the price shoots up from what you are viewing on the screen

I am not able to be very flexible on dates, give or take a day or two either side, so I'm willing to be flexible on whatever else I can, such as airports and airlines. We have been traveling in September/October the last few years and there is a bit of sticker shock involved in the summer time prices and to be honest, I dont' really even have an idea of what is considered to be a good price for the time of the year I'm looking at! I'm hoping it will be cheaper than August as we are in Scotland and our schools close in late June and I will be taking DD out for the last few days to try keep the options open for better deals (well in theory .... how that is really working for me right now is another matter, lol)

 

[Neo]

Never realised you had to ring got travel-up!

If your still looking to fly to belfast, easyjet is great, yet to have a delay with them! Fly to Glasgow with them regularly with work. As suggested before, put the weighty items in your hand luggage and move them over at belfast.

Where had you looked to stay?

 

[ChristieK0310]

I don't know anything about Travel Up. Do you? They have had the better of many of the prices for any given route searched but I always avoid companies where you have to phone to book because inevitably when you call, you are told that the price shoots up from what you are viewing on the screen

I am not able to be very flexible on dates, give or take a day or two either side, so I'm willing to be flexible on whatever else I can, such as airports and airlines. We have been traveling in September/October the last few years and there is a bit of sticker shock involved in the summer time prices and to be honest, I dont' really even have an idea of what is considered to be a good price for the time of the year I'm looking at! I'm hoping it will be cheaper than August as we are in Scotland and our schools close in late June and I will be taking DD out for the last few days to try keep the options open for better deals (well in theory .... how that is really working for me right now is another matter, lol)

Hi,

We live not far from belfast and always have to connect somewhere except once when we paid for aer lingus dub-mco direct.

I've just booked our Xmas flights via skyscanner with travel up. It cost me £1450 for 2 ad 2 ch going belfast international to Newark then newark to MCO with delta although they are ticketed through air Canada.

We booked our easter past flights the same way and I was really reluctant to use them as reviews aren't great however I took the plunge and paid £1050 for 2 ad, 1 ch, 1 infant and it went without a hitch.

You don't have to phone to book you do it all online then they send you a conf email containing a delta ref number which immediately lets you on to pick your seats then about 24/48 hr later the flight is ticketed and you get your eTicket and ticket numbers.

By FAR the cheapest I can find and as you can see I've jumped right back in again. So flights for £360 each

Regarding flying into belfast. If possible you would want to fly into the international (BFS) and not the city (BHD) if using delta and as its an 11ish flight there's no mad panic in the morning. Only point to note is its a smaller plane with one isle - we have a child who likes to walk so it matters to us but not enough to pay extra to get a 2 isled plane lol!!

Other option is to drive (I'm guessing you live in Scotland???) we do it sometimes if we can't get flight connections at decent price. It's super easy and another option.

As already mentioned dublin is fab to connect through and if same price I would pick it but if belfast cheaper then it!

Hope this helps??? Any other questions just ask

Christie