US Airways/Indirect flights

[rosh]

With flights finally available for our late October '15 trip, I am now looking at available flight prices.

Direct flights are coming up around £670-£730 and just seem to be creeping up daily. I have found some indirect flight options from around £530 with US Airways which seems a pretty good price. As we have always done direct flights before I'm hoping you guys can help us out with some info

What is US Airways like (always flown Virgin and BA)?

What is the difference to a US Airways (operated by US airlines) flight?

Will we have enough time to catch connecting flights? Stopover times are from 1hr 30 mins

Most connecting flights go through Charlotte airport, has anyone used this route before and any advice? Other connections with longer flights times go through Chicago Philadelphia and Miami

Many thanks for any help and info you can give

 

[chmurf]

What is US Airways like (always flown Virgin and BA)?

they're as bad as the others.
you can expect smaller food portions, but other than that, if you're flying cattle class, it'll still be cattle class ...

What is the difference to a US Airways (operated by US airlines) flight?

You're booling a flight on US Airways, but the plane will be an American Airlines plane. That's called a Codeshare. (if you're familiar with Virgin, you can buy the same Virgin flights from Virgin or from delta. "Operated by" will tell you what name will be on the plane's fuselage ...)

anyway, US Airways and American Airlines are in the process of merging, so that's basically the same company

Will we have enough time to catch connecting flights? Stopover times are from 1hr 30 mins

for a connection at a US Airport on the way out, 2hrs30mins is my bare minimum.
1h30 is really tight, especially if it's your first time indirect to the USA

Just consider that MCTs (Minimum Connection Time) at US airports for International to Domestic IS 90 minutes.
Airlines cannot sell itineraries with less than 90 minutes connection time.
So that's really what airlines and airports consider "doable" (if everything goes well)

on the way in, 1h30 is more than enough

Most connecting flights go through Charlotte airport, has anyone used this route before and any advice? Other connections with longer flights times go through Chicago Philadelphia and Miami

CLT is a nice airport. We went through that airport last year, and it was effortless. Took us 1 hours from landing to reaching our next boarding gate.

PHL is much busier. The immigration hall is huge, and we barely made it for our connecting flight (and being disabled, I was allowed to cut the lines by going through the wheelchair line at immigration. Without that, we would have missed our flight and we had 2hrs20mins)

ORD and MIA are both nightmares. (but ymmv)

 

[Rach78]

Flew with US Airways in April this year. I found them to be good. Would book again no hesitation if the price was right. We had a 2 hour stopover at Philly airport. Landed 20 mins early which made it about 2 hours 20. We got to the connecting flight as they were shutting the doors as the immigration q had been so long. However that may be the minority. As I said would go with them again no hesitation.

 

[dixonsontour]

We've flown MAN - Philly - MCO with US airways a few times.

I'd say you need a minimum of 2 hours transfer time.

You land, clear immigration, collect luggage, go through customs, hand luggage back and go through security - plus you may need to transfer from one terminal to another.

Planes are fine - food always been fine, leather seats, seatback tvs.

Perk of indirect is you land as a domestic passenger at mco so collect luggage and away - no 1 hour wait in immigration.

Other perks are it is nice to break the flight - pop to a real toilet, stretch legs maybe grab a bite to eat. Last leg is only a couple of hours.

You also tend to get a quieter plane - more adult couples not a lot of young kids. First timers and those with babies/toddlers tend to go direct.

We usually land at 6.30pm. direct lands at 3.30 ish plus immigration.

For a decent saving it is worth the extra couple of hours imo.

 

[chmurf]

Perk of indirect is you land as a domestic passenger at mco so collect luggage and away - no 1 hour wait in immigration.

Other perks are it is nice to break the flight - pop to a real toilet, stretch legs maybe grab a bite to eat. Last leg is only a couple of hours.

You also tend to get a quieter plane - more adult couples not a lot of young kids. First timers and those with babies/toddlers tend to go direct.

all of the above is absolutely true.

but there also are downsides.

Immigration can take a long time, but I've seen 1 hour waits at PHL for immigration.
Trading 1 hour in line at MCO for 2hrs+ paperwork and wait at the gate at a layover airport ... that's still 1 hour more lost indirect

Toilet break is a real plus, and it used to be my #1 perk. As well as being able to get "real food".

now, someone who flies through MIA will spend 20 minutes more on the transatlantic plane than someone who flies direct to MCO
Someone who flies through ATL or CLT, after immigration and security will take their bathroom breaks at the same time as someone who flies direct and take the bathroom break right after deplaning, or goes to a McD on Sand Lake Rd on the way to WDW. (give or take 1 hour).

and flying indirect multiplies by 2 the chances of your luggage going missing. (happened to me once ... unpleasant...)

I'm a strong advocate of the indirect route. After all, beggars can't be choosers, I fly out of Paris most of the time, and we don't have a direct link to MCO, so I fly indirect.
And that might be why I'm seriously considering flying out of LGW next year to catch a direct (VA or BA) even though it's more expensive, because even if I need to wait 1hr at MCO for immigration, I might still be out of the airport before the indirect flight even crosses into Florida, with only 9hrs on a plane when those coming indirect have been on the road for 13hrs+

Of course, everyone will see the perks of one way or the other. But I just wanted to show the other side of the coin.

Both direct and indirect have their pros and cons. I don't think there is a better way, there is only one best way for each family.

For a decent saving it is worth the extra couple of hours imo.

I think that what I bolded is key.
It has to be a decent saving to be worth it.
If it's only £50ish less indirect, then it's not worth it (in my opinion)
any saving over £80/£100 per person is well worth it.

 

[dixonsontour]

Been last 5 Octobers. 4 out of 5 flown indirect.

The direct flights tend to be very dear over half term - we usually pay £500 each but prices for next year seem higher (not booked flights yet!)

Savings have been several hundred pounds each.

 

[chmurf]

I'm currently monitoring flights with a flight back to the UK on oct. 31st (what was I thinking when I began planning ... and now I'm no longer flexible on dates...)

prices are ridiculous
VA closed it's eco cabin for booking, so now it's only PE at £1200+ per person, for the inbound flight ...
they will open eco again after christmas or early january, but so far prices are scary

But to be honest, I still leave the indirect door open.
I never paid more than 550€ (£430) for my flights in october, going indirect from Paris with either united or us airways.

looks like I've picked the wrong date (oct 31st) for a flight back to the UK, because of half term.
In France the school holidays have a lesser impact on airfaires

the only real downside is that a cheap indirect from france will require to fly out of MCO at 2pm, meaning the loss of the last day
there are only Air France/Delta and Lufthansa who fly out of MCO around 8pm-ish, but their indirect flights cost as much as VA direct from LGW so if I want one last morning in Florida before going back home, I don't have much of a choice. (not to mention that both airfrance and Lufthansa consistently go on strike before the holidays ...)

 

[rosh]

Thanks for all your thoughts and advice, now I am torn about that decision to make as I can get a Virgin miles and money booking for just over £600 each with using £24 clubcard vouchers for the miles.

The quotes of £530 for the indirect flights are on comparison sites such as travelsupermarket through agents such as travelup, net flights and crystal travel. Reviews I read about these agents are filled with stories of the advertised prices not being the actual available price and extra charges being added after booking. When I try to book direct on the US Airways site prices are coming out more like £580, so this seems to back this up.

Does anyone have experience of using these types of sites?

I'm feeling like the direct virgin miles and money is worth the extra cost for peace of mind at the moment

 

[rosh]

Thanks deno. I just tried the same search on expedia and the same Us Airways route that were on travelsupermarket at £530 are showing up at £566. Seems more like what the actual price would end up as. £40 per person more each for virgin direct seems like the winner, if only they hadn't started charging for pre booked seats as that's now another £150 to add to the cost and I do love my bubble seats!

 

[disneyholic family]

as was very amusingly stated, US Airways is as bad as all the others.

i would never fly with less than 2 hours to go through immigration/customs (which occurs at your US entry point - so Charlotte in your example).
And i usually go for minimum 3 hours, but that's because our entry is always JFK in New York (a nightmare of an airport).

since we can only fly indirect (we have no direct flights from where we live), i would be more than willing to pay a premium to fly non-stop into orlando.
However, to save £200/person i would be willing to fly indirect. It's easy. Nothing to worry about, and worth that much savings per person.

 

[Portugal1000]

We booked with US but ended up on AA flight and though they were excellent. We flew LHR-MIA-MCO. we had 2 hours stop over on way there and 90 minutes on way back. Definitely the best ever entertainment. Hundreds of films. The plane was brand new. We were in the front row of there little upgraded section. Forgotten name now but it cost us £350 total for the 3 of us return. Food was good. Main ticket was £600 for 6th to 29th August. Really hope I can get same route and airline next year. Also could pre book seats straight away. Honestly, thought they were do much better than Virgin which I have flown on 8 times.