Best flight options for California

[Pooh Bear]

Hello!

I’m finally at the stage of being able to start planning our 3 week trip for next Sep/Oct as OH has got the thumbs up for leave, so I’m looking for some advice on the best options for flights. And who are the best people to ask? Dibbers!

There’s just the two of us and I’m happy to either do fly drive or do flights/car separately, though we won’t need the car for first 3 nights. We live in NE Scotland so Edinburgh/Glasgow are around 3.5hr drive away and handiest for international flights. We do, however, appreciate that we might get much better deals out of London airports, though that then means an extra day holiday to fly down plus the expense of the return flights down plus hotel the night before. I’m open minded to suggestions.

We will be flying into San Francisco and departing from either LA or San Diego - either works as I don’t mind swapping around our itinerary to accommodate either. San Diego might be handier but probably more expensive?!

So, wonderful fonts of all knowledge, what do you think would be our best airport to fly from in the uk and return from in the US? Airline suggestions? And when should we look at booking? I’ve never done independent travel before (having always gone package because I’m a coward!) and so will be incredibly grateful for any words of wisdom.

I’m caught in that hard place between being desperate to start booking things ASAP so I can start on making spreadsheets, planners and all that guff, and waiting to find the best deals. Argh!

Thank you so much for any help you can offer!

[fatblokeflorida]

Can't help with advice on best airport to fly from the UK, but we've just returned a couple of weeks ago and if I had the choice I would return from San Diego. It's a much nicer airport, much quieter than LAX but BA are the only airline offering direct flights from SD to the UK. We all flew into San Francisco but our eldest son flew home from SD as he couldnt get as much time off as the rest of us and his return fare was £300 more than each of ours returning from LAX. LAX is really busy and a bit of a poo hole which i would prefer to avoid if at all possible

[shack69]

Have you considered aberdeen to SFO or LAX via amsterdam with KLM ?

[KarenG]

I’d start with Skyscanner, Google flights or Kayak to see what options exist from your local airport.

We have found options flying from Exeter (my VERY local airport ie almost walkable from my house) which although are longer / more flights overall save us time compared to getting to London. It showed me routes to explore I’d not have considered.

[jdouds]

Hi we have done a couple or trips and would also suggest you go in and out of the same airport, this depends on what you want to see of course. This worked really well for us as we did a circular route.
We started in LA and up the coast to Santa Barbara ,Monterey , San Fran, yosemite, vegas, Palm Springs and then home from LA. Have a look at what you really want to see and then go from there. LA tends to be both cheaper to fly to and more company's .

[Bad Pink Tink]

agree with KarenG start with Skyscnner, you can put in all the variables, different departure and arrival airports, and different types of routes, direct / 1 stop / 2 stops.

One of my friends lives in Perth, Scotland and she usually travels from Scotland to Heathrow, stays overnight at Heathrow and then the next morning gets a direct flight from Heathrow to LAX.

Heathrow direct to San Francisco will be the most expensive.
Other options are
Scotland / England to a European airport and then direct to San Francisco
Scotland / England to an American airport then to San Francisco

Many of the European and American airlines are code-share partners, so if you have to change planes you could fly transatlantic with a European airline and then transfer to a domestic American flight, but as the 2 airlines are code-share, your luggage may be checked through to your final destination and you will receive 2 boarding cards at your first check in.


You should look at flights from Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool or even Dublin .

You should look at flights via Iceland or Amsterdam.

I have flown Aer Lingus direct from Dublin to San Francisco and returned Aer Lingus direct LAX to Dublin.

I usually book my June transatlantic flight in January, as Aer Lingus have a January sale every year. You should check if other airlines have January sales.

Generally I would recommend 10 to 6 months in advance for transatlantic flights. At 4 months and less before departure transatlantic flights start to go silly prices. As with all flights, travel dates are important to, holidays either American or European, and school term time make a difference to prices too.

[mickey68]

We did a similar trip last year and had to swap our itinerary around and fly into LA and out of San Francisco as when we did a dummy booking for our September dates the hotels were 2-3times higher than the surrounding weeks. Not sure why. We booked around April for the September/October so you may get better deals booking earlier but it may be worth checking prices of hotels before confirming flights.

[familybell]

I’ve actually been looking los angles and san fran into one and out of the other also from Scotland, Aer Lingus have been coming up with good prices from edi to los/sfo via dublin and I believe you pre clear us immigration in dublin, I think they also fly from Aberdeen which may be better for you?
Have you considered flying from Inverness (not good with maps but that looks close for you) BA via LHR or KLM via Amsterdam both do los/sfo and I believe it’s cheaper to fly from Inverness as you don’t pay departure tax from there (but I may be wrong)
Your still a bit early for sept/Oct for flights are these are released 11 months before hand although I think BA may be a bit earlier. BA also do packages which sometimes work out cheaper than booking separate so might be worth looking at adding your hotels with them.

[400ixl]

We nearly always go from our local regional airport, often via Amsterdam with KLM, this time we did Loganair to Manchester and Thomas Cook from there.

So the suggestion of Aberdeen via Amsterdam is worth looking at. Looks like you can also go via Dublin, Manchester and Heathrow from Aberdeen which would give some good options.

Rarely works out more than having to travel to London when you take in hotel and parking costs. It does mean indirect flights but again I;d rather wait in an airport than be on the M25.

Also don't discount flying in and out of different airports. It can mean a much more enjoyable holiday without having to do loops or long drives at the end. We have often again found these to be no more or not much more expensive, especially when taking in the extra costs of getting back to that starting airport, or what you miss out on by not going elsewhere.

[Bad Pink Tink]

Originally Posted by familybell

I’ve actually been looking los angles and san fran into one and out of the other also from Scotland, Aer Lingus have been coming up with good prices from edi to los/sfo via dublin and I believe you pre clear us immigration in dublin,

See more...

This is what I did a few years ago and yes the prices are good when you book 10 months approx from departure.
And yes with pre clearance in Dublin (and Shannon and Cork) its AMAZING

Ireland and a few other countries have this arrangement with USA. This means that there is USA Homelands Security in Irish airports. You check in as normal, and go through the regular security and wait in the main departure concourse of Terminal 2 in Dublin, where all the shops and restaurants are.

Then about 2 hours before your flight you will be called to US Pre Clearance. You go down to the lower level regular departure area first, and then go down another level to the US Pre Clearance. There are big signs everywhere so you cant miss it.

You go through another bag and body security check and then there are 2 sections, self service kiosks for anyone travelling on a USA passport and then everyone else who needs to see a human US Homelands security agent.

Just as you do when you land in America, at Dublin airport you get the eyeball and fingerprint scan, they ask you to identify your checked luggage on a screen and they ask you the usual questions, ie how long is your visit, purpose of your visit etc etc. Then then stamp your passport and you go on to the airport departure gates. Once they stamp your passport you are technically in USA even though you are still in Dublin airport. This means you can not go back up to the main shops and restaurants. At the American departure gates there is a small bar, a cafe and a sandwich kiosk, so make make sure to do your shopping before pre clearance.

When you land in America, you land at a domestic gate and you just walk off and collect your bags. Its far less stressful after a 10 hour transatlantic flight.