October flights

[brizzle]

I am looking at booking a villa and therefore flights for October 2004. I've looked at this years prices as a guide and they seem pretty high but that maybe because a lot of the cheaper seats have gone already.

Question is how much roughly would a direct return be late October for 2 weeks?
I've got December 2003 booked and that cost just under £1000 for 2 adults and 2 children but know that is likely to be cheaper than October.

Ideas anyone?

Thanks in advance,

Briz.
P.S I'd pretty much fly form anywhere in the UK as I'd probably be staying overnight before I go

[Andy & Arlene]

October prices have crept up in line with the summer holidays now.

This is also a prime holiday period as many schools now have 2 weeks holidays in October and the airlines have cottoned on to this.

We are going over this October and our flights for 3 adults and 2 children is just under £2500 flying with KLM. BA were even more expensive. This was the cheapest we could get and I booked them last December.

[chrisj]

Round here the usual half terms are still only a week, but one borough has one week and the next borough
have the following week, so it seems its 2 weeks.

Remember Kens Congestion charge introduction, the first 2 weeks were half terms. I think the school holiday
system has gone to pot, but the airlines have caught up which is a shame.

We booked out flights to Cyprus for the october half term 6 months ago £140, they are now £260 and rising, so
it does pay to book early

As for flights, Charters are cheaper, but can be more cramped and the flights at horrible times. Teletext
late deals are sometimes good, or just search the net.

Chris

Chris

[Cowboy]

Hi Briz,
Have you tried a quote from the link on this site[?]
You can sometimes get a cheaper deal with one the US. carriers if you are prepared to go on a one stop flight. Another alternative is to fly to Tampa which may or may not be cheaper. Tampa is a lovely airport and is about one and a half hours from the main US27 villa areas.
Mike.

[Chris7]

At the risk of upsetting Andy & Arlene [:I] we're going over in October - booked at the end of June this year and got 3 adults and two kids for £1500 inc taxes;)

[Andy & Arlene]

Our problem is because we live in Aberdeen, we are restricted with flights which leave there. We are going our school holidays which are the 11th - 25th October, so as you can imagine the internal or first leg of the flight (ie Abdn - Gatwick or Abdn - Amsterdam) gets booked up pretty quick. In fact because I was not on the ball this year for booking, we are leaving on a later flight and we will not arrive in Orlando till 11.30 at night.

Chris, where are you flying from for that price and what dates are you leaving?

[Chris7]

We Fly out on 21st Oct and back in on 6th Nov (and we'll be going to MK for Mickey's not so scary halloween party :D:D (I can't wait)) - from Manchester via Philadelphia.

Slight downside is 8 hours in Phili on the way back, but I have a nephew who lives out there so we can go and see the city (I'm told 8 hours is more than enough and he knows which areas to avoid!)

[Chris7]

That's the problem of being so far North I guess. Even today you can get Gatwick - Orlando for £330 Adult & £227 Child (+£64.90 Tax) on your dates, but you have the problem (and cost) of getting to Gatwick first.

[MTP]

Hi Andy & Arlene,

If you think Aberdeen is bad you should try from Inverness! Often we have to consider not only connecting flights, but a drive up the A9 or across hte A96 on top of it, which is no fun after an overnight flight.

We have found that by using either AA or BA when you get the UK flight as an add-on it doesn't make quite such a difference, although you have to book early to get availability at the add-on fair price.

Best wishes,

Euan

[chrisj]

Chris

Those flight prices from Gatwick are very good, who are they with ??


Chris

[shepaul]

We have also booked a Villa for October 04 and at the risk of upsetting anyone,[:I] we've just booked fly drive seats with Virgin for for £295 +£65 adult and £175 + £65 for child. This was for five adults and 1 child, Gatwick - Orlando:D

We did this through Charter travel - 01635 254077 who were very helpful.

Paul & Sheila

[brizzle]

I would get a quote but I am going next year and no-one does quotes that far ahead so was looking at prices for this October to get an idea.
I have now decided on November as if I were to go this year it would cost £1000 for 2 adults and 2 children so next year should be comparable.

For anyone interested the flights I booked for this December were through opodo.co.uk and are on a BA flight, so £1000 is pretty good I thought.

Briz

[shepaul]

Briz,

Not only did we get a quote for October 04, but we booked the actual tickets. May be worth trying them for November if that's when you want to go.

Paul & Sheila

[chrisj]

I use opodo a lot, but will call Charter Travel as well. another tip ive found is that is
you can afford to pay the full amount upfront rather than a deposit, sometimes you get a very good discount

Chris

[Chris7]

Just got back to checking the BB - the flights from Gatwick were with various airlines (I think the prices I quoted were from American Airlines) - I searched through wwww.airline-network.co.uk

[chrisj]

Thanks Chris , will have a look around

Just checked flighs for next year and BA are way expensive

flights alone 4 adults 1 child £3833, with Virgin flights and 7 seater for 2 weeks £3961, so for £128 we get the car. Got a friend
who ive found out works for virgin so seeing if we can get a discount
with them first


Chris

[brizzle]

Yipee, thanks Sheila & Paul.

I just phoned Charter Travel and am now booked on a Virgin flight next November.

They get so many pre-release seats to sell at only £20 more than the price will be come December. I know I could probably have waited but since I have booked my Villa I wanted to make sure.

For anyone interested prices for 11th November 2004 were £289 + £65 tax for adults and £179 + £65 tax for the kids....

Thanks for everyones help.

Briz

[shepaul]

Briz,
Glad you got your flights, have a great time.

Paul & Sheila[8D]

[stavros47]

Hi
I've just booked my flights to go on the 25th Oct the first day of the school holidays.
2 adults budget car hire CDW and insurance and taxes etc.. all in for £785.
I think thats as cheap as you can get at the minute as I did a lot of searching.
That was with Travel city direct.
(note we did have to phone twice, just 1 hour earlier the same package was £1000.)How does it work?

[Chris7]

I hope all goes well for you steve, but you might want to read some of the comments on this site about Travel City Direct (or you might not if you've already booked)[}:)]

[MrEktion]

We are out to Orlando with TCD for the 3rd time on Saturday, no disasters on the last two trips Steve, but good savings each time.

Flying on the European 747's for the second time this trip so I should be able to give you good feedback when I'm back in September.

As I have posted before TCD is basic but cheap with good legroom for a charter if you are tall (like me!). I am sure you get what you pay for but from Manchester if you want non-stop your choice is charter or Virgin and going with TCD saved me £1475.00 for a party of 6 over Virgin prices on the flights alone.

I'll let you know if the refurbished planes are better than the old style liveried ones we travelled on last year.

Cheers

Mr Ektion

[Big Mack]

Hi everyone,

I have been quoted £379 + £65 per adult and £149 + £65 per child flying direct from Manchester with Virgin. (The only problem is i live in central Scotland.)
Because this is my first ever trip to Florida i dont know how good these prices are? My dilema is do i wait a while and try to get a deal on a fly-drive or a flight only with a charter, or should i just snap these flights up and hire a car to get us to Manchester.

The other thing is there are five adults and two children in my group so i dont want to leave it too late and risk not getting seven flights together!
Has anyone else flown Virgin from Manchester (especially any Scots) How was it? and is it much better than a charter flight?

Thanks

Mack

[Andy & Arlene]

I prefer to travel by scheduled airlines, rather than charters. I've never flown Virgin before so cannot comment on them. However, from previous posts I recall some people had a good experience with them and some not.

Personally, if I were you I would go for these flights if that is the cheapest you can get. Since there is a large group of you, then it will get more difficult to get seats later on.

[chrisj]

We had great flights with Virgin, We wont fly long haul on charter, its bad enough just going
to spain etc with the cramped seats. Virgin were fantastic, but then we have flown BA as well and they were just as good.

[Big Mack]

Just out of curiosity i e-mailed Icelandair ticket sales and allthough their prices and schedules aren't out until 11 months before you want to travel, they have said that the lowest fare will probably be about £370 + Tax per adult and £250 + Tax per child. This works out about £200 dearer for me but does mean that i do not have to get to Manchester first!
I think i will wait until all of the schedules are out for next September and then decide.
By the way i was quoted some horrendous prices today flying direct from Glasgow with Airtours £590 pp or First Choice £672 pp (No kids discount!) You guessed it ...... I wont be flying charter airlines.[8D]