Direct flights
 

We’re due to go for the two weeks over and after October half term next year. Am I being unrealistic in hoping for direct flights from Manchester to Orlando for £600 with one checked suitcase?

So far the direct flight prices for similar times of year (ie part school holiday, part not) are unaffordable and even BA’s Manchester to Miami route is coming in at a whopping £824 without a car despite the extra time and travel expense involved.
Will those prices drop when the other airlines release flights, or do I need to shelve our plans altogether? We have an autistic child so doing long US stopovers isn’t an option.

I'm travelling end of Sept/start of Oct next year from London. We originally budgeted £600 each, already more than what we've paid in the past but unfortunately ended up having to go over that, ended up £680ish direct with virgin, but they're the times we wanted and the prices do seem to just be going up and up.
Hope you can find flights/prices that work for you!

Manchester direct over school holidays is always high I'm afraid -

Tui for half term week are already over £800- that only leaves Virgin and Aerlingus- - Virgin were looking silly prices this year.

Aerlingus on launch day is your best chance - Going via Dublin may be a little cheaper and more manageable for you (but not as cheap as a US stop over). I think Half term often ranges over a 2 week period for some schools- so it may be a help coming back the second week or it may not be.

Even off peak (September) direct flight prices from Manchester are expensive next year. A lot of Virgin's are £750+, so I'd expect school holiday dates to be even higher unfortunately. TBH, I think even in normal times that £600 for direct flight from Manchester during school holidays is optimistic. Have you looked at Aer Lingus?

Direct from MAN, sadly yes, I'd say it's unrealistic as the prices are high even in low season let alone holidays. Too much pent up demand coupled with VS raising their prices quite a bit anyway.

Could you travel to Heathrow/Gatwick or even Dublin the day before? This should open up some more reasonable prices.

Thanks all. I think flying from Dublin should be doable so I’ll start looking when flights come out.

Failing that we wait eight years and can go at off peak times 😭

I think the only way you can potentially get that sort of price is by leaving it last minute and getting a deal a few weeks before. I've paid £575 with BA with luggage for middle September-October, so off peak.

were flying from manchester direct with Aer Lingus on 1st Oct, flights were £540 when booked 2 weeks ago with luggage

Admittedly this is outside school holidays but aer lingus have been cheapest I've come across

I have been looking at flights from manchester and direct prices were crazy. I ended up booking Heathrow - orlando via dublin and managed to get august prices including accomodation for under £3000 which from Manachester was over £4000.

We can go late August into Sep and have paid a ridiculous price (based on previous years) for London Heathrow to Miami - we have 2 autistic children and they much prefer travel to Heathrow (which is expensive but in budget) than a change of flight in the US.

Fly drive from Virgin wasn’t as bad as we feared and they know the itinerary well in advance with a night at Heathrow before the main flight and immigration built into the holiday.

If you can, consider other airports - it is so frustrating given we are very close to the airport too, but flight prices from Manchester are through the roof and just not an option for us anymore given we need 5 adult return flights every trip.