Flights for August 2017 advice please

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MoiraIsobel

Earning My Ears

Joined

Aug 3, 2011

• Sep 27, 2016

• #1

We are booked at OKW for 21 nights August 2017 so I've started to look at flights. There will be 7 of us flying. 4 adults 2 children and 1 infant. Virgin Atlantic flights coming out about 6600 direct from Manchester. British airways about 4500 but changing in London and having to get from Heathrow to gatwick. Obviously there is a massive price difference but a little apprehensive about flying to London and having to change airports with 3 little ones.
Has anyone had any experience with the BA flights and transferring between airports? I'd really appreciate any advice as the difference in cost would be quite a lot of our spending money.

Hope this makes some sort of sense and thanks in advance!

 

BudgieMama

DIS Veteran

Joined

Sep 15, 2013

• Sep 28, 2016

• #2

I'd look at the cost of booking a taxi or a coach and give plenty of time because it relies on the M25 which isn't the most reliable motorway.

Is it worth considering a train from Manchester, tube/taxi across from Euston to Victoria (direct tube I think Euston is on the Vicky line) then the Gatwick express? You'll save time on security and bag collection, and not be relying on the M25?

 

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MoiraIsobel

Earning My Ears

Joined

Aug 3, 2011

• Sep 28, 2016

• #3

I did think about flying direct from gatwick but the flights go back up to £6000. I'm torn whether to just suck it up and go with Virgin for the convenience or try BA. Wishing there wasn't such a big difference in the cost!

 

Jon84

wdwaddictuk

Joined

Jun 30, 2015

• Sep 28, 2016

• #4

Look at Thomas Cook Flights from MAN, prices usually pretty good

 

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pickers1982

DIS Veteran

Joined

Aug 13, 2013

• Sep 28, 2016

• #5

MoiraIsobel said:

We are booked at OKW for 21 nights August 2017 so I've started to look at flights. There will be 7 of us flying. 4 adults 2 children and 1 infant. Virgin Atlantic flights coming out about 6600 direct from Manchester. British airways about 4500 but changing in London and having to get from Heathrow to gatwick. Obviously there is a massive price difference but a little apprehensive about flying to London and having to change airports with 3 little ones.
Has anyone had any experience with the BA flights and transferring between airports? I'd really appreciate any advice as the difference in cost would be quite a lot of our spending money.

Hope this makes some sort of sense and thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

We live in the Channel Islands so as you can imagine quite often have to change airports multiple times (and we have young children). The kids have never been an issue but just for peace of mind I would leave a decent amount of time to move from one airport to another.

For 7 of you I would suggest a taxi and they will meet you straight from your first flight (and probably a similar price) and take you to the second.

 

tinkerbell1991

DIS Veteran

Joined

Apr 12, 2011

• Sep 28, 2016

• #6

Which dates are you looking at?

 

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MoiraIsobel

Earning My Ears

Joined

Aug 3, 2011

• Sep 28, 2016

• #7

Friday August 4th till Friday 25th.

 

purplejam

Mouseketeer

Joined

Dec 27, 2009

• Oct 1, 2016

• #8

We have just booked our flights for next Summer (July 26th - August 30th)
We are flying indirect from b'ham to Orlando via Frankfurt on Lufthansa
They aren't ideal - wouldn't really choose to fly west before flying east
But the times are good and more importantly they were cheap !!! £610 each
Friend flew this route last year and said it was fine - here's hoping !!!

 

tinkerbell1991

DIS Veteran

Joined

Apr 12, 2011

• Oct 1, 2016

• #9

Hi, I dont know if this is of any use to you, but have you had a look at skyscanner. The below are the direct and 1 stop prices that it's showing for your dates and for 4 adults, 2 children and 1 infant

 

saintrob

DIS Veteran

Joined

Apr 29, 2012

• Oct 2, 2016

• #10

I'd also look at Thomas Cook direct from Manchester. Another alternative is to fly Man to Dublin and then Aer Lingus to Orlando. We've flown with both airlines and had no complaints.

You could also price American Airlines Man to New York and then a connection to Orlando to avoid flying to London.

 

chmurf

DIS Veteran

Joined

Nov 30, 2011

• Oct 2, 2016

• #11

purplejam said:

We are flying indirect from b'ham to Orlando via Frankfurt on Lufthansa
They aren't ideal - wouldn't really choose to fly west before flying east
But the times are good and more importantly they were cheap !!! £610 each
Friend flew this route last year and said it was fine - here's hoping !!!

Click to expand...

Lufthansa open their flights much earlier than the other carriers (exception is BA/Aer Lingus)
they seem to open 1 year out when other carriers open at 330 days
you can't even see LH flights on Expedia, as this booker won't display dates over 330 days from return date


We've booked on LH, direct on Lufthansa's site (CDG -> FRA -> MCO ) for roughly the same dates as OP
Sat Aug 5th -> Sat Aug 26th (one day later than OP each way)

we struck a stupidly good bargain on Sept 22nd (2 weeks ago) and paid £550 per adult (675€) on "K" fare class ( sheer luck I wasn't even really monitoring prices at that time and was just waiting for the 330 days mark)
needless to say that we booked instantly ... those are october prices, not August

we must have taken the last available seats at that price on the LH464 (FRA->MCO arriving at 5:40pm) because 10 minutes later the price had gone up to over £900pp (over 1000€)
they will probably stay at least this high up until the departure

 

purplejam

Mouseketeer

Joined

Dec 27, 2009

• Oct 2, 2016

• #12

purplejam said:

They aren't ideal - wouldn't really choose to fly west before flying east

Click to expand...

I'll try that sentence again - wouldn't want to fly east before flying west
But I'm guessing you knew what I meant !!

 

DrunkJam

DIS Veteran

Joined

Jul 1, 2016

• Oct 2, 2016

• #13

I don't know, that sounds like a huge amount of hassle.
If you can afford to do so, I would stick with Virgin.
I really don't like, and won't fly BA. They have less room, and statistically lose more luggage, especially on flights with connections.
But then, I get really, excessively anxious about lost luggage.
Virgin have also always been super helpful with the children, so...

 

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MoiraIsobel

Earning My Ears

Joined

Aug 3, 2011

• Oct 3, 2016

• #14

Thank you everyone for your advice. While we were trying to make a decision the BA flights went up a little and virgin have come down a little so for the convenience we have decided to stick with virgin.
So excited now! Plus yesterday I got an email from Disney saying 306 days to go. Woo hoo! And thanks again!