Transatlantic airfares

[mad4cruising]

I am considering a transatlantic cruise, however, it seems as if one-way airfares are outrageous! Does anyone have suggestions on the best way to get the best price? I'd hate to pay the same price for the one-way airfare as the 14 night cruisefare. I will need a flight from London into either New York or Miami. Thanks!

[Globaliser]

What time of the year? And what sort of prices are you seeing at the moment? Against that benchmark, I might be able to come up with some ideas.

[mad4cruising]

Thanks Globalizer. I will be flying June 7, 2005. The fares I am seeing are $800 - 990.

[winterstar]

In Nova Scotia we have an airline : Zoom airlines, who fly to London Gatwick starting at $199 (Canadian). They only fly out once a week, and on the flipside, fly TO Halifax once a week. I've never seen it that cheap, but have seen it at about $249 (Cdn). It might be cheaper for you to fly into Halifax and then continue on to NY from there. Even if you have to spend a night in Halifax it will likely still work out cheaper. They key with them is booking early. Worth checking out, anyway!

(BTW I have been to London. Loved it!!)

[judy&steve]

We did a crossing in September 2003 from Harwich to Boston. Part of the deal from RCI was they threw in the airfare. Maybe they still have such incentives.

Judy

[wyeanni]

We are doing London to JFK in May for $441 ARE Lingus Booked with ARE Lingus direct.

[chalky_bertie]

If you can't find a one -way airfare then i suggest you book a cheap standard economy return fare from London to new york or miami and then just not to use the return portion (ie new york or miami to london).

 

If you do it vice versa then as you didnt show up for the first part of your journey then the airline will class you as a no-show and kick you off the return portion.

 

TRAVELBAG.co.uk are offering flights from £300pp ($550) t for the flights with either AA, United or Virgin BUT you may need a UK address to purchase but could be worth checking.

[Globaliser]

Thanks Globalizer. I will be flying June 7, 2005. The fares I am seeing are $800 - 990.

They look like the full economy one-way fares.

 

On a quick and dirty search, the lowest normal one-way fare I could find was an odd routing involving an LH code on a BD flight from LHR to DUB, then CO from DUB to EWR. That came to £325.20 (USD 612.53), but I don't fully trust that result and it may turn out not to be bookable.

 

For return flights to NYC, there are some good fares on AA and UA at the moment, at about £348.30 return (USD 656.04). These are on non-stops, which may be worth more to you than a connecting flight.

 

The best one-way fares to NYC on scheduled airlines that I could find (on a quick and dirty search) is booking directly with Aer Lingus on their website. It offered three connections on that date, two of which are at £217.75 (USD 410.08). That seems basically to be what wyeanni has got. It won't be the world's most pleasant experience, but it's a scheduled airline and anything scheduled beats most charters!

[Rala]

Do check with the cruise line. we also did the Harwich to Boston trans. mentioned above by judyand steve and out fare over to London was $199pp. We did not need return air since we live in the Boston area. Actually, my travel agent told me about this promotion. Good Luck!

[wwinfl91]

We are on the Jewell's Transatlantic this May and have also been shocked by the airfares to get back home. My TA checked with RCI and they only offer roundtrip air, we live in the Orlando area and picked this cruise leaving from Ft Lauderdale because we could drive to the ship (rental car) so that didn't interest us. The fare they quoted was $731 per person for the roundtip from Orlando to Ft Lauderdale and then London to Orlando as a reference.

 

Anyway I just checked out the Aer Lingus site and they seem to have much more reasonable fares from Dublin to Orlando and cheap fares from London to Dublin so we are considering them.

 

Has anyone flown on this airline who can give me any information on it?

 

Also the only flights they have that actually go to Orlando are listed as charter flights. Is this something I should avoid and if so why?

 

Thanks for any help you can give me on this issue.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[506canuck]

it's been a while since I have flown Aer Lingus but it is at least as good if not better than any of the North American Airlines I have flown- Delta,United,Northwest, Air Canada. My Irish relatives have never had anything negative to say about it & their experiences would be more recent than mine.

[mad4cruising]

Thanks to everyone for your tips and suggestions!

 

Globalizer, where are you finding a flight on AA for under $700 direct? I just went back to the AA site and got the same fare as I found yesterday which was $814.

 

If I was traveling alone, I wouldn't care about the connections, but I will be traveling with my elderly grandmother so I would love to be able to book the direct AA fare that you found. Otherwisw. I might just have to go with the connections flying Aerlingus.

[laurieny]

You can't directly book on ITA but you should check it out to see what flights are available. There were $599 flights on American when I just checked. The link is http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch/

 

-Laurie

[Globaliser]

Globalizer, where are you finding a flight on AA for under $700 direct? I just went back to the AA site and got the same fare as I found yesterday which was $814.

Actually, today it's better. The fare is £316.30 (USD 597.97) - fare basis NJXE8S. The base fare is £267.00, plus taxes.

 

This was showing both on aa.com and on ITA. It's a published fare, as it shows in Travelocity and it's bookable on their US site as well as their UK site.

[wwinfl91]

Thanks for the web site above. We'll also on the Jewell cruise to London and trying to find our way home. It looks like the most economical way is going to JFK and then from there to Orlando. To go from London to Orlando costs like twice what this option would be.

 

Thanks again.

[xpcdoojk]

Thanks Globalizer. I will be flying June 7, 2005. The fares I am seeing are $800 - 990.

 

I got an email from British airways, and I could do a round trip NY JFK to London and on to Paris for less than $450 with taxes... you might want to check out their web page.

 

jc

[Globaliser]

I got an email from British airways, and I could do a round trip NY JFK to London and on to Paris for less than $450 with taxes... you might want to check out their web page.

The problem is that mad4cruising needs to start in London, so fares from NYC are no good. You can throw away the second half of your ticket but not the first half.

 

BA's winter sale unfortunately ended in the middle of last week, so the £199 fares are no longer available, although I have a feeling that they weren't valid for June anyway.

 

The cheapest return fare on BA from London to New York for 7 June 2005 is currently £449.30 (USD 845.42). The cheapest fare to Miami is £566.10 (USD 1,065.33).

 

I had a look to see if aa.com might have cheap return fares on AA to Miami like those I found to NYC. Unfortunately, the cheapest non-stop fare is the same as that on BA. However, you can get a one-stop flight on AA for £415.90 (USD 782.644).

[captbill]

A fellow Cruise Critic on our upcoming Golden Princess cruise booked a one way flight from JFK to LHR on Air India.

 

I just checked your June 7 date, and they are showing Flight # AI111 flying Heathrow to JFK for $227.50 US (including taxes) for an economy seat.

Go to: http://www.airindia.com

[mad4cruising]

Captbill, thanks for the info but I just booked through Aer Lingus directly. Altogether, I am paying approximately $415 per person, which I am happy with. I would rather have had a direct 7 hour flight, than an 11 hour flight, but not for twice the price.

 

Globalizer, I went to ITA late last night and the only AA fare that was in the rane you quoted was for AA and another airline, with at least one connection. That's why I went with Aer Lingus. If I have to have a stop over with AA or Aer Lingus, I decided that I might as well pay less for Aer Lingus.

 

Thanks again to everyone who contributed to this thread. I can always count on this message board for help!!!

[Globaliser]

Globalizer, I went to ITA late last night and the only AA fare that was in the rane you quoted was for AA and another airline, with at least one connection. That's why I went with Aer Lingus. If I have to have a stop over with AA or Aer Lingus, I decided that I might as well pay less for Aer Lingus.

Oh, that's a real shame. Those AA fares are still there; I've just pulled this straight from aa.com (randomly chosen flights on that date, as all flights are currently selling for the same price):-

AMERICAN AIRLINES

105 LHR London 06/07/2005 11:55 AM JFK New York 06/07/2005 02:25 PM 777

AMERICAN AIRLINES

142 JFK New York 06/15/2005 08:30 AM LHR London 06/15/2005 08:15 PM 777

 

Your Price

1 Adult

£ 261.00

£ 57.30

£ 318.30

Your Total Price £ 318.30

[mad4cruising]

Globalizer, the itinerary you are showing me is round trip. Maybe that is the reason I did not come up with same fare. I just need one way from London to New York.

[Globaliser]

Globalizer, the itinerary you are showing me is round trip. Maybe that is the reason I did not come up with same fare. I just need one way from London to New York.

Sorry, I didn't realise we were at cross-purposes. Given your preferences, though, I would still have suggested buying the cheaper round-trip fare, and just throwing away the second half of the ticket ... sorry, of course, I meant "accidentally missing the return flight and making other arrangements for getting home". :)

[ScottC4746]

I am considering a transatlantic cruise, however, it seems as if one-way airfares are outrageous! Does anyone have suggestions on the best way to get the best price? I'd hate to pay the same price for the one-way airfare as the 14 night cruisefare. I will need a flight from London into either New York or Miami. Thanks!

 

 

If you go to http://www.travelocity.com I found a flight on Sunday 5 June one way from London on Delta to Miami for US$934 which comes out to roughly £518. Sunday is a pretty expenisve travel date as is Fridays. Do you have an exact sail date and I'll check that for you? Be sure and allow one or two days to get aclimated to the time difference. Flying from Europe to the US you feel the difference.

[jezzdogg]

So many of you are knowledgeable thought I could get some help on this. Wed I booked (2/3) I booked thru Travelocity flights on BMI LHR to Copenhagen leaving 6/29 at 9:25 in the morning returning to Heathrow on 7/2 at 9:40 in the morning to pick up our transfers to Dover for our Criuise of Constellation.(Paid 162pp which was on several websites, but because I did not know the airline, thought it was safe to book on a known website) Thurs afternoon Travelocity informs me that if I want those tickets I have to pay an additional 170 pp, even thought they had sent me a confirmation on prurchasing the flights, as they have some rule about 24 hours and ticketing. Problem is that I booked our flights from the states around these flight times, we got what I think is a great deal on American Airlines flying JFK to LHR for 657pp and we get 5% back thru cheaptickets. Also booked non-refundable hotel rooms for Copenhagen. Now I need flights for around those times so meld into everything else. Anyway what fares can you guys find for around those flight times.......only thing I found so far was BA for 300pp or changing airports on easyjet for around 100, but that means taking the bus to stanton

Many thanks

Norma

[Globaliser]

Wed I booked (2/3) I booked thru Travelocity flights on BMI LHR to Copenhagen leaving 6/29 at 9:25 in the morning returning to Heathrow on 7/2 at 9:40 in the morning to pick up our transfers to Dover for our Criuise of Constellation.(Paid 162pp which was on several websites, but because I did not know the airline, thought it was safe to book on a known website) Thurs afternoon Travelocity informs me that if I want those tickets I have to pay an additional 170 pp, even thought they had sent me a confirmation on prurchasing the flights, as they have some rule about 24 hours and ticketing.

Did you hold the flights with Travelocity, or did you actually purchase and pay for the tickets? If you paid for them but Travelocity didn't ticket them in time, then it seems pretty outrageous to me that you now have to pay more for them.

 

FWIW, the lowest prices being offered to the UK market at the moment for those flights seem to be £129.60 ($244.26) per person booked directly with bmi, or £137.40 ($258.60) per person booked with Scandinavian. (Note: The flights you picked are actually operated by Scandinavian not bmi, although Travelocity should have made that clear to you when you booked.) Similar flights with British Airways are £160.60 ($302.69) (0955-1245 out, 0720-0830 back). All of these are from Heathrow, of course.

 

If you're prepared to change to Gatwick for the Copenhagen flights, Maersk Air are currently offering return flights for £87.00 ($163.97). Changing to Gatwick from Heathrow when you arrive should pose no real problem; it's just hassle. When you get back, though, you'd have to make some arrangements about whether and how you would get to your transfer from that flight. You might be able to get onto a cruise line transfer that picks up at Gatwick, because there will probably be quite a lot of passengers who arrive there rather than Heathrow.