Need Help with Airfare Suggestion

[Cruzinram]

We are trying to find reasonable airfare from either Orlando, Tampa or Fll/MIA to London. We live in Tampa but can easily fly from these cities. Norwegian is by far less than anyone else for Premium Economy but Norwegian is having financial difficulties. All other choices are 2k plus PP. I have checked with Choice Air and other booking sites, and they are all very expensive. This alone is more than likely going to prevent us from sailing T/A on Silly from Southampton in Oct of this year. Any suggestions on anywhere else to look?
 

[jelayne]

I feel your pain.  We have a TA booked for next April and searched for reasonable airfare.  We ultimately used miles.  We could purchase enough miles for 2 business class tickets on BA & even with the Taxes & fees BA charges the total would be $2775- significantly less than the $8800 to purchase tickets

 

You might want to see if purchasing miles gets a lower cost. 

[ghstudio]

a quick search of two sites showed around $580 per person on united/TAP or jetblue/TAP from Tampa (10/22). MIA-LGW $234 on Air Europe.   Lots of great prices.  of course these are basic economy, so bags are extra, etc.

 

hipmunk.com

kayak.com

 

 

also check icelandair from orlando.....$526 pp but you can stay in iceland for up to 7 days without paying a stopover fee.

 

https://matrix.itasoftware.com/

Edited August 7, 2019 by ghstudio

[JFontaine]

I searched Round Trip from MIA to LHR departing on the 22nd. Basic Economy was $347 a person non-stop on Delta/Virgin Atlantic, or $408 on British Airways.  These are direct flights, but you pay extra for bags and would get no advance seat assignment.  I would buy a Round Trip and just not show up for the return flight.  Delta Comfort would bring it to $1220 a person, Economy Classic is $486 with one free checked bag and get seat assignments now.  I picked a random return date that you will not use, but if you play around with that you might even go lower.  Just remember to book the flight to Europe as your first flight.   You might want to consider going with Economy Classic and buying three seats - the flight that I am looking at is 3 - 3  -3 seat configuration, so you won't have much leg room but you will have a row to yourselves.  You will need to call and do this over the phone.  Don't mention that you are not taking the return flight. 

[downsmead]

Beware of buying 3 seats and not using one. If the person 'meant' to be using the seat is a no- show, the airline can reallocate the seat. We have been on a flight where this has happened - a family of 3 where the dad did not take the flight but the airline then put another person in that seat. Obviously the flight was fully booked / over booked as they often do. The mother tried to argue her case but to no avail.

[GerScot]

Try Lufthansa from Miami.

[JFontaine]

Agreed about the third seat - you need to call the airlines and tell them what you are doing with the third seat before you buy it, and the extra seat gets blocked.  The third seat is assigned to one of the two passengers.  Some airlines do this, I would bet some do not. 

[pl281]

Just wondering what pricing you are looking for - I looked up leaving on the 21st  on Expedia  for 2 adults in premium economy and saw $2054 pp nonstop from MIA ($1656 with one stop) 

 

$1348 via PBI (2 stops Jetblue / Aer Lingus)

$909  via MCO with one stop on Aer Lingus - this seems like

[goofysmom99]

1 hour ago, downsmead said:

Beware of buying 3 seats and not using one. If the person 'meant' to be using the seat is a no- show, the airline can reallocate the seat. We have been on a flight where this has happened - a family of 3 where the dad did not take the flight but the airline then put another person in that seat. Obviously the flight was fully booked / over booked as they often do. The mother tried to argue her case but to no avail.

Whenever I can't find reasonable business class, as a solo, I'll buy 2 seats on 2-4-2 configured aircraft.  When DH was alive, we booked the middle seat on 3-3-3.  They book the extra seat as "Extra Seat Jones (or whatever your last name is)." Actually not bad for sleeping on an overnight flight and not being bumped.  Choiceair has done this for me many times.

Edited August 7, 2019 by goofysmom99

[waterbug123]

13 hours ago, downsmead said:

Beware of buying 3 seats and not using one. If the person 'meant' to be using the seat is a no- show, the airline can reallocate the seat. We have been on a flight where this has happened - a family of 3 where the dad did not take the flight but the airline then put another person in that seat. Obviously the flight was fully booked / over booked as they often do. The mother tried to argue her case but to no avail.

 

That's different.  In the case you mention there was an actual third person booked into that seat and when they didn't show, the airline was within their right to cancel that ticket and assign someone else to that seat.  The suggestion that was made here was to tell the airline you want to book an extra seat for yourself.  That keeps someone else from being assigned to it.

[downsmead]

Ah yes, I can see the distinction between the two. This way the seat is assured 👍.

[gfkcruiser]

Did you call choice air or just view the website?  I had called and found that the cost of my one way after TA was a fraction of the listed cost.   Not always the case but may be worth a try. 

[4774Papa]

We live in South Georgia and normally fly out of Jacksonville, Fla, but sometimes flying out of Orlando can save tons of dollars.

 

I think there are many discount airlines that use Orlando and that sometimes results in low fares.

[wendychloecruiser]

Try air2sea or choiceair.  They are usually very good at one way overseas rates.   Please be careful of Norwegian....just search for Norwegian airlines from hell on another site.  

[Tipsy tea party]

18 hours ago, Cruzinram said:

We are trying to find reasonable airfare from either Orlando, Tampa or Fll/MIA to London. We live in Tampa but can easily fly from these cities. Norwegian is by far less than anyone else for Premium Economy but Norwegian is having financial difficulties. All other choices are 2k plus PP. I have checked with Choice Air and other booking sites, and they are all very expensive. This alone is more than likely going to prevent us from sailing T/A on Silly from Southampton in Oct of this year. Any suggestions on anywhere else to look?
 

Hi, although I live in the UK I  regularly use Skyscanner.com  for sourcing flights. I believe you can access the site from the US. You can either choose specific dates or select the whole month so you can see the best time to travel. Hope this helps.

[Jim_Iain]

On ‎8‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 1:56 PM, Cruzinram said:

We are trying to find reasonable airfare from either Orlando, Tampa or Fll/MIA to London. We live in Tampa but can easily fly from these cities. Norwegian is by far less than anyone else for Premium Economy but Norwegian is having financial difficulties. All other choices are 2k plus PP. I have checked with Choice Air and other booking sites, and they are all very expensive. This alone is more than likely going to prevent us from sailing T/A on Silly from Southampton in Oct of this year. Any suggestions on anywhere else to look?
 

 

Try searching on Flights.Google.com    You can also set up alerts to monitor a fare and it tells you what the fares are trending.   I was just checking for October and most airlines are about $1,500 RT Premium Economy.   I generally find the best deals on Choice Air but sometimes find I have to play a game of trying different airports like LHR, Paris, Frankfurt etc.    Also play around with the dates by a day or two.   I just booked a Business Class to Heathrow from SFO for $1,200 Business Class one way. 

[Alan2504]

On ‎8‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 9:56 PM, Cruzinram said:

We are trying to find reasonable airfare from either Orlando, Tampa or Fll/MIA to London. We live in Tampa but can easily fly from these cities. Norwegian is by far less than anyone else for Premium Economy but Norwegian is having financial difficulties. All other choices are 2k plus PP. I have checked with Choice Air and other booking sites, and they are all very expensive. This alone is more than likely going to prevent us from sailing T/A on Silly from Southampton in Oct of this year. Any suggestions on anywhere else to look?
 

You can't book direct with this software but it allows you to search multiple departure points and arrival etc, usually throws up some interesting options.

 

https://matrix.itasoftware.com/

 

If you find something talk to a TA to book or find it direct with the airline

 

 

[SurfeitLE]

We were on the Silhouette transatlantic last year and used Choice Air to fly to Vienna on United and visit a niece there, a week prior to the cruise. Our rate was amazing, something like $265 from Denver. So, your flight doesn't have to be anywhere near the port to use Choice Air.

 

You may want to research alternate airports like this, or somewhat closer, as Jim_lain was suggesting. On Choice Air I found, for example,  FLL to Dublin on October 22nd for $560, for an 11 hour flight. I think Choice Air uses standard (not basic) economy, so you should get a free bag for that part, and perhaps seat selection. Dublin has inexpensive flights to a number of London Airports, including Gatwick, for as low as $12 or $18. That probably does not include a checked bag, but may include a carry on. Just make sure the airport you're flying to has rail or bus connections to Southampton. Gatwick is fine, you'll use the Southern line right from there, but I don't know about the other airports.

 

You could also fly nonstop Dublin to Southampton early on the 24th for as little as $46 and avoid the rail altogether.

 

If you drive to and fly from FLL,  you would have your car already there when the ship docks, and won't have to additional one way flight expenses and schedules to meet.

 

Just note that if you buy a round-trip ticket as suggested earlier, and don't show up for the return leg, the airline could hold you responsible for the full one way fare. I think they rarely do that, though. I have never done it myself, maybe others here have more experience with that.

 

Dennis