Are they all much of a muchness? I find myself having to find flights to the USA at Christmas so have checked out the obvious one (Skyscanner), but are there any others, or will they all just regurgitate the same options/prices?
Thank you
Google Flights is very good. Also has the option to track prices which I used when I went to Australia - the flight finder thing sent me emails every couple of days.
Loads of airlines running Black Friday deals at the moment too. Try Icelandair, they're normally pretty good for transatlantic with varying lengths of stopover in Iceland. Virgin Atlantic and British Airways usually get into a transatlantic sale frenzy around this time of year too.
That's good to know – currently looking at around £7k for four return flights to Utah.
Always had good experience with Kayak. Standard warning is book directly with the airline if not much more expensive.
I like Kayak. Endless search parameters to tweak, price history/tracking/alerts.
Top tip. I've found that flights seem cheaper to book on a Tuesday (i.e. physically book on a Tuesday, no matter day you are flying). The Google flight price tracker has shown that. Prices seem consistently lower in the Tuesday update than any other day. Weird.
That's an interesting thing fat boy fat, presumably because of how the dynamic pricing algorithm has 'demand' coded into it. I use google flights since they took over ITA matrix, because there are lots of filters you can play with. But it doesn't include luggage prices well. Kayak and Skyscanner are also good, just ignore any split tickets that don't have long layovers between them. And always book direct with the airline. Be aware you have better protections flying with a UK or EU operator coming back (not who you bought the ticket with but who operates the flight).
Christmas 2025? That is close so yeah you might be stuck though you might get lucky. Look at different departure and arrival airports - google is good as you can add 5 airports in each search. If you have time to add a bit of contingency to get there (an overnight at an airport hotel) consider flying out of Dublin, or Madrid, Amsterdam, etc might be cheaper overall. There is always a chance of disruption flying via East Coast airports at that time of year. If the cheaper tickets connect through West Coast, Texas or Europe, that is preferable IMO.
There is always a chance of disruption flying via East Coast airports at that time of year. If the cheaper tickets connect through West Coast, Texas or Europe, that is preferable IMO.
Yep, we connected via Chicago when we went to Utah. Actually Colorado but with a week in Utah. Manchester - Chicago - Denver. We drove to Utah.
It'd be worth considering something like UK to Los Angeles or San Francisco then Utah, even though you're going back on yourself.
Just be aware that bike boxes will almost always get opened and physically checked by TSA during connection.
That's good to know – currently looking at around £7k for four return flights to Utah.
Always seems cheaper to fly to Denver than SLC. Although it's quite a drive to utah - but what a drive. Can stop at Glenwood Springs, Grand Junction even Vale was good and reasonable money.
Google flights all the way. Then wait for BA sale which was around October.
It's not much of a sale.
We got Denver next year business class for a treat 1600 each. It's not normally something we would do. I think last time we did economy out and business in and was £1200. The we've done premiere both ways was about £1200. I bet economy is about £600 or so.
But the downside he we have to go in July due to partner being a teacher and it's boiling but we survived in Moab this year.
(Ah Christmas missed thay bit We've already booked for that a while back. I've learned to book about 9 months in advance.)
I always use Kayak, but I think Google Flights is better - seems to have access to more airlines, including those that "aren't available" on aggregators.
Be very aware with Kayak that it often links to Kiwi, Booking.com, Opodo etc. Those sites will often claim to have a flight cheaper than you've seen elsewhere, try to charge you for all sorts of nonsense add-ons, then as you get to paying for it all, claim that the cost has in the last 5 minutes gone up (to the usual market rate).
It's all an utter scam, and I've rarely found them significantly cheaper than booking direct with the airline (for a single carrier) or something less scammy like Expedia
It's all an utter scam, and I've rarely found them significantly cheaper than booking direct with the airline (for a single carrier) or something less scammy like Expedia
To be honest this is just good advice across the board including hotels.
Not one issue getting money back from hotels book directly in the pandemic.
To be honest this is just good advice across the board including hotels
The last few times I've flown long haul I've identified the airlines that fly to the destinations I was interested in and got indicative prices via Kayak but then gone direct. Direct booking no more expensive and had a lot more options for booking open-jaw and longer stopovers on indirect flights.
Hotels are weird as, much as I hate it, Booking.com is the ONLY way to book some hotels now and is (absurdly) frequently cheaper than booking direct via the hotels' own websites (I don't know if booking forces the discounts onto the hotel or eats it from their own margin).
Hotels are weird as, much as I hate it, Booking.com is the ONLY way to book some hotels now and is (absurdly) frequently cheaper than booking direct via the hotels' own websites (I don't know if booking forces the discounts onto the hotel or eats it from their own margin).
I booked a hotel last year via booking.com, got a significant discount over the price advertised on the hotel site (partly cos I'd done x number of bookings through them so I got a loyalty discount or something...) and when we got to the hotel, they said "please come direct to us next time, we'll match whatever price you see on booking.com". Gave me a card with a code that obviously identified me as a repeat customer.
I don't know if they have to pay to be on the site or if it's a margin taken from them but they clearly didn't like it.
Notably Premier Inn are not on booking.com, I guess being a nationwide chain gives you a bit of leeway in going it alone.
Flights, I always book direct; the stories of going via third parties when something goes wrong seems to be not worth the risk in terms of saving £40 off a flight that already costs £800!
If you can find one locally try an independent travel agent. They can often do it cheaper (if only by reducing their fees slightly) but for a sale of several thousands they will look up all avenues they know to best a price.
A friend booked Jet2 holiday through a local one last autumn. Was cheaper and less hassle than online shenanigans. I also got flights to New Zealand cheaper and better times using an agent than online.
Hotels are weird as, much as I hate it, Booking.com is the ONLY way to book some hotels now and is (absurdly) frequently cheaper than booking direct via the hotels' own websites (I don't know if booking forces the discounts onto the hotel or eats it from their own margin).
I booked a hotel last year via booking.com, got a significant discount over the price advertised on the hotel site (partly cos I'd done x number of bookings through them so I got a loyalty discount or something...) and when we got to the hotel, they said "please come direct to us next time, we'll match whatever price you see on booking.com". Gave me a card with a code that obviously identified me as a repeat customer.
I don't know if they have to pay to be on the site or if it's a margin taken from them but they clearly didn't like it.
Yes, they pay a huge margin to Booking and I think the rules are that they're not allowed to discount the stuff on their own websites. So I think you either need to call or get a discount code as you have to bypass that. Depends what you're booking - in an English speaking country I'd call, but language often a barrier to doing that where I'm travelling (and I'm staying in low end places anyway)
Well, after spending an entire weekend, we have just got flights for the four of us (originally budgeted at around £6k in economy) and the in-laws (they had a £10k budget in business class) at a total of £15k. Crazily, it would have been £18k total if we’d gone economy!!! So we pooled the budget and we get to help them through airports/flights more closely. Result!
I know we could have got cheaper had it been just the four of us, but we needed to be on the same flight as the in-laws (I didn’t mention that bit in the OP). So I’m quite happy - I’ve never done business class 😀
On a recent work trip I was pleasantly surprised by transfers in Detroit. I got through in an hour. Admittedly hand luggage only but it was the quickest I've ever got through immigration in years. Unfortunately you'd have to fly Delta though. Not the worst airline by any stretch but not as nice as other options. For work by preference has been BA economy + (or what ever they call it) as I'm not allowed business.
My wife used to fly to Chicago a couple of times a year for work. She swore by going through Dublin. You could clear immigration there rather than in the US which was much faster. I've only ever been through Chicago on transfer once. It took 4 hours and our luggage didn't make it onto the next flight and was delayed. Could be worth a look.
In terms of booking. Try chat GPT.
You'll not get different prices but it is eye opening when it comes to transfers and other options. I recently used it to find flights "from a UK airport within 3h drive of Newcastle that have a maximum of one change. Flying on friday, saturday or sunday, whichever is cheapest as long as I have time to drive there on the day of the flight and don't need a hotel". Naturally some of the options weren't real but it narrowed it down so I didn't have to check multiple airlines and airport options.
So I’m quite happy - I’ve never done business class
Woohoo! And as you're going west it's a daytime flight - so you'll actually get time to appreciate being in business class, rather than just going to sleep!
so you'll actually get time to appreciate being in business class, rather than just going to sleep!
True – although we will be kept busy making sure my father-in-law is okay anyway. I think they are both quire relieved that we will be on-hand for the entire of the flights, not just getting them on and offboard.
Enjoy biz, it's a nice treat. Do get to the airport early to relax in the lounge - although you should expect them to be busy at Christmas, once you've found seats it's nice to have a sit and drink before boarding. Then if there are traffic issues etc getting to the airport you are ok because you have planned some spare rime. And go to the gate at 1 hr to 45 mins before departure, because you'll get a drink on board and can settle into your seats, work out how the seat works, storage space, etc. If any boarding pass has SSSS on it, go to the gate an hour before departure as you'll be called forward and the whole family can go with you - it's just a secondary check with shoes off and a swab of hand luggage.