What makes up your mind?

[joolz1910]

I was doing dummy bookings for flights (not going until 2012 but I like to plan) and came up with two prices: Direct with BA was £2289, Indirect with AA was £1928. As I have very limited experience, I was wondering how much of a saving would make you go indirect? I know it's a personal choice but I am curious how much flying direct is worth to people.

The prices quoted are for 3 adults (1 is 12 years old) and 2 children.

 

[torsie24]

We went indirect for a saving of £350 for the two of us.

We flew with Delta, who were amazing, changed in Detroit which was an amazing airport, it added about 4 hours in total to our journeys, but I would certainly do it again.

 

[joolz1910]

We went indirect for a saving of £350 for the two of us.

We flew with Delta, who were amazing, changed in Detroit which was an amazing airport, it added about 4 hours in total to our journeys, but I would certainly do it again.

I think if I saved £175 per person, I wouldn't hesitate! Especially for 5 of us at £875!

 

[torsie24]

But then the £350 you are saving for 5 of you could get a couple of nice meals, or nice toys for the kids.

We looked at it that we weren't going to visit any parks on our first and alst days anyway, and the extra money was a nice help, it almost paid for our AKL upgrade from POFQ.

 

[gemmybear83]

I think for me I would want to save about £100 per person. I would not want to connect in new York because of the long immigration queues, also remember you won't have any set back entertainment on your internal flight - might be important if you have kids?

Were planning on flying klm from Newcastle via Amsterdam (transatlantic is martainair) this is about £440 per person which is great price from Newcastle avoids an overnight stay in London.

 

[T16GEM]

also remember you won't have any set back entertainment on your internal flight - might be important if you have kids?

That isn't true with Continental from Birmingham, they have seat back IFE systems now.

Connecting at Newark is fine, as long as you give your selves a decent connection time - we did it in 1.5 hours the first year and saved about £700 by going indirect this time (4 of us)

We always go indirect now as it's the only way out of season that we can fly from BHX as it's literally 5 minutes down the road from us - as we listen to the planes every single day we are difinitely going to use it!

 

[torsie24]

Joolz, have a look at the prices on KLM via Detroit.

Immigration is a breeze, and Detroit is the best airport I've ever ben in!

Plus the Lon-Detroit plane was wonderful, and the internal flight was pretty roomy.

 

[wayneg]

I used to have a £100pp rule, £300 for 3 of us. BUT that was when Virgin gave a service worth paying a premium for. Now I probably wouldn't pay more than a premium of £100 for all 3 of us as long as the indirect are good flight times.
Its easy for us as we enjoy indirect flights, our BMI & NWA flights both knocked spots off Virgins service.

 

[Lizzybear]

Since our last 2 trips have been in and out of different destinations and next year's is likely to be the same we'd have to fly from London to do direct flights both ways which i'd really rather not do if I can help it, for all the extra expense and travel time it incurs. For this reason, I would only fly from an airport other than Manchester if a cheaper flight price outweighed the extra travel costs. However, if I was flying from London regardless i'd fly indirect for a £100 saving for the 2 of us, possibly less.
FWIW, I found immigration at Newark a breeze, done it twice now and waited far less time than i've ever done in Orlando Also, we didn't have seatback screens on our flight from Newark to Manchester in 2008, the plane had gone tech so they had to use a different one. The US internal flights don't tend to have them but they do have the communal screens so there's usually something to watch. I always bring my own stuff to do anyway, the IFE can potentially go kaput on any flight.

 

[Elise79]

Personally the savings would have to be substaintial to make us fly indirect. Our holiday time is far more important to us than saving a couple of hundred pounds. We like PE so to fly indirect I would want to save a least £750 for the 3 of us.

With DD not yet 2 the hassle of having to change planes with her is a negative as well - too much stuff!

 

[joolz1910]

I checked out KLM and their price was £2148. I'm not even going until 2012 but I want to know what the prices are likely to be!

Changing flights with 3 kids in tow is also making me wonder whether the savings would justify the hassle. Then again, £300+ would pay for a nice souvenir shopping spree!

 

[alibeau]

I'm afraid I just wouldn't consider flying indirect at all at the moment

Even before we had our LO's we only did it once for our honeymoon, MAN to a London airport (can't remember which one!!) and then onto the Bahamas. Although to be fair the whole process was hassle free and the 'change over' was in the UK, I can just do without the waiting around. I just want to get there and get back asap Call me impatient if you like!! I'm all for the least amount of hassle as possible

From what people have said on here, it seems like a popular choice though to get some great savings, perhaps we would consider it when the girls are older and/or we want to go to different destinations. I wish I was a bit more adventurous and I take my hat off to those who go indirect but for now, MAN to MCO is our only choice.

Good luck with finding a good deal

Ali

 

[wicket2005]

If it meant getting to Orlando I would go the cheapest way possible if that was my only option but prefer to travel direct.

 

[kieras nana]

i don't mind flying indirect at all,so if i was only saving £100,for 3 of us,it would be indirect.£100 is £100
tracy

 

[wideeyes]

If it was the difference between going or not going. It wouldn't be my first option however if it made my trip affordable rather than struggling then I would consider it.

 

[Kath2003]

I don't mind going indirect. What made up my mind was going indirect once. I realised that for very little hassle or delay, we could go twice as often. My indirect flights are literally half the cost of direct flights. It's actually quite nice to get off the plane, have a walk around and a drink before getting back on.

The savings we made by flying indirect paid for both our hotel and our park tickets. It adds a total of 6 hours to our travel time - but saves us £100 per hour.

(We don't have kids but I'd imagine that a change of scenery and a chance to stretch their legs would be okay for a lot of families).

Oh and there's something really satisfying about having cleared immigration already, so literally walking straight out of MCO once you land. We were checked into our hotel 90 minutes after landing in MCO - which included an hour long bus ride!

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

It would have to be quite a substantial amount to make me go for indirect flights. Just the hassle of getting off and on again and the worrying about the 1st leg being delayed and missing the connection just isn't worth saving a few hundred pounds for me. Also DH has a fear of the take off and landing phase of flying, so adding that into the equation makes it just not worth the saving.

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

I would go indirect if i was making a big saving, though the whole changing planes scare me...I'd be worried i would get lost lol.

 

[Kath2003]

It would have to be quite a substantial amount to make me go for indirect flights. Just the hassle of getting off and on again and the worrying about the 1st leg being delayed and missing the connection just isn't worth saving a few hundred pounds for me. Also DH has a fear of the take off and landing phase of flying, so adding that into the equation makes it just not worth the saving.

Up to you, but unless you're booked on the last flight of the day, you'd just get moved forward to the next flight if you missed your connection. I leave more time on the return trip though, because domestic flights are more likely to be delayed than international flights in my experience. That said, I've been on over 10 domestic flights and only one was delayed (and that was one I was running to catch anyway!).

In terms of getting lost: you won't. Airport staff in the US are extremely helpful. I usually use American Airlines and they put up the gate numbers of connecting flights on the little TV screens on the plane about an hour before you land, and they provide terminal maps in their on-board magazines. Airports are well signposted, even if you have to change terminal.

 

[kevin harrison]

I'd be interested to know how many of the posters on this thread that prefer indirect have children?

For me, it would be insanity to have to transport everything we need through two airports and two sets of imigration lines.