Flights to the US from Dublin are some £600 cheaper than from London or Cardiff for a family of four. So if we can get ourselves to Dublin some other way we could be quids in.

Ryanair fly from Birmingham for £9.99 – any other ideas?

Swim…. obvious really.

Have you included all taxes in your calc?

Pay the £600. By thing time you have messed around with flying to Dublin you will save next to nothing and wasted valuable time you could have spent fixing your car.

Drive to Fishguard, ferry to Rosslaire?

If it’s £600 for 4 people I reckon it’s worth paying. Your looking at return to Dublin with luggage for 4 people which is going to add up very quick. Have a look at the usual comparison sites but I reckon chances of getting all 4 of you over there and back for less are slim. Aer Lingus do seem to fly Cardiff to Dublin.

Yeah, but how many queues will he get stuck in on the drive there?

I reckon by ferry you could do it for £300 tops. Drive up to Holyhead ferry to Dublin. Its a day wasted though. (or 7 1/2hrs according to google maps)

Ferry = £180
Petrol = £30
Food = £40
Other = £50

I have assumed you are parking your car at Cardiff and that parking in Cardiff is the same cost as Dublin.

Personally I’d pay the extra and go from Cardiff!

Drive to Fishguard, get the ferry.

With Ryanair from Brum it can be done for £260, bringing the total to £2750 ish, vs £3100 ish for flyng from Cardiff. This means a hotel in Dublin on the way out (probably free) which is not so bad, but it means a fair old wait in Dublin on the way back. The hotel I can handle but the 4 hours in an airport with kids after a night time flight.. Not so keen. Still, £350 goes a long way elsewhere…

Train to Crewe, then Rail-Sail from Crewe to Holyhead/Dublin ferry?

Drive through the night to Holyhead for 02:40 ferry and ditch the car there. Foot passengers to Dublin, in Dublin for 06:30 with a kip on the boat.

What’s the price when you fly Cardiff->Dublin->US on the Aer Lingus website?

Edit: I mean put Cardiff and say Boston into the website.

Have you looked at the Aer Lingus flights from Bristol?
Didn’t you ask about this last week, too?

I asked about aer lingus as an airline, that’s all. I think the collective may be right. We could save £350 by using Ryanair, but it’s risky as you get no protection. We’d need the last flight of the day on Thursday to get our Friday morning flight out of Dublin, and if that’s cancelled we’re properly screwed. L

Plus it’d be a bit if a luxury flying from our local airport!

Having been in that position on someone elses dime mol i wouldnt recomend it.

Lotta folks fighting with the desks staff as they just lost on money and desk staff saying – read the t and cs – you do have travel insurance dont you……

I just phoned our travel agent and got them to sort it, not sure molgrips plc has that infrastructure.

but it’s risky as you get no protection

Yep the only flight cockup in the last 2 yers for me was the mixed airline game (had to make a complicated multi stop booking), had 4 hrs to spare but my first flight was 5 hrs late. Had to pay the change fee’s on the later flight and spend 7hrs in an airport. I did get a couple of free lounge passes out of it but that won’t really cut as I don’t thing Ryan Air has lounges.

Hide in the back of a lorry

his means a hotel in Dublin on the way out (probably free)

Who’s gonna give you the free hotel?

Free hotels courtesy of loyalty points accrued through the year with work.

What about flying to Shannon?

What is the price from Cardiff to Boston? Aerlingus do it with one stopover.

I don’t want to go to Boston though! I tried a fair few airports in the US most were similar price.