May need to change holiday - what should I do?

[lisag1]

Some of you may remember that we've booked the wrong dates for our forthcoming trip in October!!! This year we decided to bite the bullet and pay full price for our holiday and go in the October half term weeks direct from Manchester with Virgin. The flights cost us £430 ad, £260 kids and to be honest this is a LOT more than we would normally pay!! But I booked the holiday based on last year's 1/2 term date and because of the Queens jubilee this years 1/2 term is a full week later. Basically Cameron is off the weekend after we get back off our holiday

Sooooo, we've been thinking of changing the holiday to November and this is my dilemma!! I can get the same holiday for a whopping £1000.00 cheaper if we go the following month, Cameron is still taking time off school but it has already been sanctioned for October so they can't say anything about that. The only negative bit is because it's in Nov no scheduled airlines fly direct to Orlando from Manchester so this means it's an indirect flight

What would you do? What are your views on indirect flights? Do I save £1000 (possibly £700 after losing our deposit if we change airline) and have the hassle of an indirect flight or leave it as it is?

Thanks for listening guys and I'd really appreciate your help here!!

--------------
Lisa

 

[Fantasia Sam]

Lisa

November is a lovely time to go to Orlando and if you're gonna save £700 then that to means more spending money. I've never flown indirectly before but I know that others have I guess it depends a little on the flight times.. if it meant just waiting around the stopover airport for an hour or so then I would do it.. besides I love flying and especially love the take off and landings so if I was saving £700 in doing this then all the better.. but any more than a couple of hours I probably wouldn't coz I wouldn't want it eating into my holiday time especially if you're only going for a week and then in which case I may be more inclined to stick with the October holiday. Does that make any sense at all

 

[susie2]

hi we are going to orlando in october, but we are still flying from gatwick with virgin dh worried about plane in manchester not being virgin plane but air atlanta and wants a virgin!! plane , we travel down day before on train and are staying in the moat house hotel next to gatwick airport, the kids love doing it this way as the get to see the airport before they fly and can watch, the planes it also worked out a lot cheaper than getting a plane down from manchester to gatwick, for us anyway, this may be another option for you if you go in november, hope this helps in someway susie2

 

[JohnW]

I would take the money and change!

You are only in transit for a few hours compared to a number of full days whilst you are there. You could do a lot on the trip with that money........................

.........or put it towards another trip

PS Travel City do a direct flight now, although I don't know the details.....

 

[lisag1]

Thank you, thank you!

Sam - We're actually going for 2 weeks and we actually change planes in Chicago so we are at the airport for just under 2 hours but I've been told that we actually clear customs in Chicago so there's no waiting about when we land in Orlando.

JohnW - Rang Travel City and their prices were extortionate!!! For the same holiday it was costing £5400, we're paying £2500!!! Don't know what's going on with their prices at the moment as they did use to be cheap.

Susie - The Air Atlanta plane is actually a full livery virgin plane which is operating from Manchester in October. I actually spoke to Virgin's customer service as I was worried about this. We actually flew with Virgin last year from Gatwick and I hate to say this but it was a nightmare!! We're travelling from the West Midlands and it took us nearly 5 hours to get home in the rush hour traffic. We did actually stay overnight in a B&B in Gatwick the night before but it was just the return journey that was a killer. So because of this my husband and Dad are reluctant to go from Gatwick 8-((

At the end of the day it's swings and roundabouts isn't it? You're either commuting from Gatwick which is taking you on a 4 hour drive or you're sitting in a US airport for a couple of hours waiting for your next flight.

Thanks so far

Lisa

 

[BevS97]

I;d rather sit in the airport, than drive to Gatwick. At least with the transfer, you are on your way and under the 'control' of the airline (for want of a better phrase) - so they are duty bound to look after you and get you to your destination.

Whereas, if you drive to Gatwick, and you have a problem and miss the flight, well that's just your tough luck - this always get's me very stressed out - consequently we go down the night before, or else leave VERY early and then end up sitting in the airport for hours before the flight.

My only concern with Chicago would be that it is totally out of the way for Florida -
You are flying halfway across the states, to fly back again. I guess if it doesn't affect the flight times too much, then it's no big deal - but it would bug me to think I was going so far out of my way. I felt a bit like that with Amsterdam - on the return we flew right over the UK to get to Amsterdam, and then turned around and flew back to the UK.

Bev

 

[WebmasterPenny]

For £700 I'd take the money and transfer in Chicago I think! It's adding about 4 hours to your journey I think (lay-over and the fact that you are going off the most direct route), but like you say, you'll be able to clear immigration and customs during some of that time, so it's not all time wasted. I've arrived at MCO before via an internal flight - you <i>whizz</i> thru. You come off a smaller plane therefore your luggage also comes out quicker.

Penny

 

[Mazzy]

Hi Lisa

Have you tried USAirways? They fly from Manchester changing at Philadelphia which is not as far off route as Chicago. Their prices seems reasonable, but don't know how they compare to the flights you are looking at, try a search on Expedia.

They have seat back TVs for the kids too, a system even better than Virgin's from what I have heard AND more leg room.

I am certainly considering using this airline for our next trip, as Virgin have let me down over captioned videos, I refuse to put any more money their way!

Our last trip was in November and we loved it. Yes, the mornings are dark and it goes dark earlier in the evening, but it was MUCH cooler and made the trip that much more enjoyable than our May trip.

HTH and let us know what you decide won't you?

 

[Cinderella]

I would definitely go with November and save some cash. Paying the difference would be ok if you were actually getting half term week.

We always use indirect flights and prefer changing in American airports - that way you don't have to go thru customs in Orlando, which saves time when you are tired. The only direct flight we ever used was a charter one and I prefer having the extra legroom and changing than going direct and being squashed!