Flying from Orlando to New York and then home!!

[snookhams]

We are in the middle of discussing our 2006 summer holidays as my parents would like to come with us again, but as a special treat because Dad will be 70 we would like them to spend a few days in New York as our treat and then fly home from there. How difficult is it to arrange this here from the UK had a quick look at the Delta website and the flight to JFK this year are about $68 so thought that was reasonable! Has anyone had any experience of doing this, we would like to fly LGW to MCO on outward journey and then for them to go MCO to JFK and 3/4 days later back to LGW!!

 

[tazz23]

i posted a similar thing to this a few days ago!

i was quoted £460 for virgin/ba gatwick to new york and then an interenal delta song flight to mco and then flight direct from orlando to gatwick. i think this sounds reasonable!

not sure if this helps you but i think its a great idea!

happy planning!

 

[UKDEB]

We did the same thing in reverse last year. We flew Virgin LHW-JFK just after Christmas, then American Airlines from La Guardia to MCO on New Year's Day and back home MCO-LGW a couple of weeks later.

The only problem I think you might have with your plan is that you would need to book scheduled flights to be able to do what are effectively 2 one-way trips to and from the UK, and I don't know of any airlines which fly New York to Gatwick.

 

[mickg7dyd]

Hi,
I have always found Virgin Holidays very flexible and on our last trip we flew into Miami and out of Orlando with no promblems. Only downside was we had to use the train to and from the airport as we flew out of Heathrow and back into Gatwick.

Mick.

 

[Frances999]

We are doing this in August. We are flying with Virgin from Heathrow to New York and SONG from New York to Orlando and then back from Orlando to Gatwick with Virgin. I booked the Virgin flights via Virgin Atlantic's website (because I used miles to upgrade to PE).

Unfortunately, there are few airlines who fly from Gatwick to New York. Because we wanted Virgin, there was no option for us but to fly from Heathrow. What we will do is this - DH will drop me and the kids at Hilton Heathrow with all the luggage and then drive the car to Gatwick and park it up. Then he will take the National Express Coach from Gatwick back to Heathrow (buses run basically every 10/15 minutes). This way, the car will be in Gatwick ready for our return.

The flight prices turned out a bit less than if we had booked direct. We booked with SONG via www.expedia.com but you can also used www.jetblue.com . It's quite ironic in that these small, internal planes from New York to Orlando often have more legroom than Virgin Atlantic, and they have superb in-flight entertainment.



EDIT: Try and get a flight from JFK to MCO, rather than La Guardia. Apparently JFK is a much nicer airport and there are fewer delays. Because there is just one runway at La Guardia, there are often long delays and the flight times can often take longer.

 

[snookhams]

Frances 999 what a great idea about the car - I don't care where it's parked DH gets long term parking free as he works for BAA so that's ok, I will have to check out how to get from Gatwick to Heathrow by car though.

 

[penlanspice]

We're doing this also, flying with virgin into orlando and then back from JFK. we have an internal flight with Delta.

Frances
Thats a good idea about the car thing. how long does it take on the bus from gatwick to heathrow?

Sam

 

[Frances999]

Unfortunately, I believe it takes about 1 hour on the National Express from Gatwick to Heathrow. An alternative could be to take the Gatwick Express train from Gatwick into Paddington, and then get from Paddington to Victoria to get the Heathrow Express to Heathrow. However, I figured this was much more hassle than simply jumping on the coach straight to Heathrow.