Advice on flights to San Fran etc.

[martyn7836]

Hi all unfortunately I was involved in the TC issues and lost my holiday. While waiting for refund I have been looking at my alternatives. It seems I will struggle for direct flights which surprised me. My route is as follows
Manchester to San Fran we will then road trip across to Vegas before flying back Vegas to Manchester. I’ve found a direct return but can’t do it going out. Virgin have a flight which leaves man 06:00 arrives At Amsterdam before then flying to San Fran. It doesn’t look like a 747 not even sure if it’s virgin plane. I’m used to going Orlando on the virgin 747 jumbo. Does anyone have any experience of this route do virgin not go direct if not anyone you would recommend. Wonder if it’s worth looking at BA and connect in London.

[kateb78]

Depends on the time of year whether there are direct flights to/from Manchester to some destinations. We’re doing the same flights but are flying with BA via LHR as there were none available in March. Virgin pulled the direct SFO flight and then TC went, so I don’t know if there are any other options at the moment.

[galaxyflorida]

You’ll be flying on KLM on the AMS-SFO, possible KLM as well on the MAN-AMS, though might be Flybe (can’t tell as the screenshot doesn’t show the flight number). Virgin don’t fly to SFO from Manchester, only from Heathrow but they may end up buying some old TC slots, but who knows.

If you’ve got to fly from MAN, lots of indirect options for you. As you say BA via Heathrow, Aer Lingus via Dublin

[fiona88]

We couldn't find a direct flight, virgin did MAN - SFO having to change at LAX (virgin then delta), just make sure any transfers have a decent window as you clear us customs at your first stop and we don't know what Brexit might bring for EU changeovers

[danisleigh]

We are doing the same in reverse and booked direct flights with BA but had to swap from Manchester with TC to Heathrow. We could have gone via Heathrow from Manchester but as we live between the 2 airports it made sense to cancel the parking/hotel etc at man and start again!

[martyn7836]

Hi guys thanks for the advice. Yes Manchester is best option as we only live 20 mins away. We due to fly end of sept so maybe out of season for most direct flights. It looks to be KLM according to the screen shot below. Do you still collect virgin air miles and what are KLM planes like. When I’ve looked it seems to be 3,3,3 so possibly not as big as the jumbo. I tend to be only flying long haul to Orlando lately but when I did do turkey 2 years ago I found the plane to be far to cramped would hate the idea of something like that all that way. (Admit that plane was just 3,3). Sorry I know nothing about planes just what tv and films they have. Does klm have that I guess they do.

[martyn7836]

[cornishfrogboy]

I am flying to SFO on 30 March and coming up from West Cornwall, would have considered any of Manchester, London etc as they are all 5 to 6 hrs driving. We got ours direct with BA from LHR.

I guess that you must weigh up the inconvenience of travelling to LHR against the inconvenience of indirect flights, layovers potential missed connections and similar as well as time taken from the gate at the departure airport to time at the arrival gate in SFO. We tend to incorporate the journey to London (or elsewhere) with other things that we might be driving past on the way and wouldn’t otherwise visit, an obvious one for LHR being the Harry Potter Studios at nearby Watford.

Our flights LHR- SFO on 30 March and admittedly YVR-LHR on 11 April, both direct, came in at £395pp. We also looked at a straight forward LHR- SFO return at the time and this would have come in about the same.

Hope it helps.

[jdouds]

Hi don't rule out dublin as it's great clearing customs. How long is your trip , you say road trip what's your planned route.

[martyn7836]

Hi we plan on staying two nights in San Fran. Then making our way stopping in the below places before arriving in Vegas for 4 nights. It’s 8 blokes from work all after a holiday if it was with family I would be spending more time in other places etc but it’s just a Harley road trip with Vegas at the end.