Why on earth fly direct? A personal view.

[galaxy101]

I think I'm going to have to go indirect this year due to our dates, the Newcastle flight with TUI has no return option! There is just me & my daughter this year, I am nervous about doing so many stops looked at BA NCL-LHR-MI-MCO, Aer Lingus shows on some sites but not on their own! I'm starting to think I'm going to have to play around with my dates a bit & possibly travel to Manchester or Glasgow, seen a good flight with Icelandair from Glasgow x

[claireyfairy8]

I think it really depends on where you live. It's great if you are down south with these great hubs with loads of direct international flights. Sadly for me, Aberdeen is poor for connections. I have to get at least one flight to get a direct flight. If I go via London, I have to transfer between Heathrow and Gatwick within a 4 hour window. Not ideal.

Do I want to drive to Glasgow and then fly direct? No. Thats a horrible drive, especially after a long flight.

I almost always go indirect bar my flight at xmas. ABZ-AMS-MCO. Fantastic. Great price too.

I am driven by price. Xmas flight was £370. Bargain!
May flight via London, £305.

The cheaper my flight, the more I can spend on holiday or squeeze in an extra trip during the year.

Is going through 2/3 airports difficult? Not really. Some are - Chicago is not an airport I'd do again - but Atlanta, Detroit, Philly, JFK, Newark, Cinncinatti, Boston, Memphis, Charlotte... all easy to navigate. You then clear customs & immigration in a quieter airport than MCO's immigration hall. Arrive into MCO as a domestic passenger and you are out within minutes.

No brainer.

Some say it's difficult with kids. Well I did it loads when I was little. If it was that bad, my parents wouldn't have done it again over many years. It's all about being prepared. Snacks, books, toys... whatever you need to distract them.

Is indirect for everyone? No.
Would I go direct if the option was there? Yes (for the right price)
Can you save a lot of money going indirect? Yes.

I suggest you try it. Some save £1000's. Have a stopover, see a new city, or just as I like to do, pick up a fridge magnet.

[danisleigh]

We did indirect for the first time in 2017, Heathrow via Newark to mco out and via Dulles on the way back. We found it no more stressful or time consuming than direct especially on the way out as we went through immigration at Newark in 5 minutes and had some food at the airport so when we landed we were straight out and we also didn’t rushed the faff of getting food either. We are totally converted now and if it will save us loads are happy to go indirect but if i found a direct bargain would book it purely because of the risk of missing connections.

[hsm89]

I think this is a really interesting point of view and I wouldn't hesitate in booking indirect when the time comes to needing a comparison.

But as luck has it, living in the Midlands does have some advantages - TUI flights to SFB at great prices. I've had some hellish experiences at MCO so anything to avoid the potential immigration queues, I'll do, which might be another bonus to the indirect option.

And we're making the most of not needing to go in the school holidays...yet!

[Peacemaker]

I don't mind indirect but the times have to suite us with young children. Some of the cheaper flights include very early departures from Orlando or very long stopovers.

[Bozza]

Give me direct any day. Give me not economy any day also!

However, we're in Orlando right now having booked flights less than two weeks ago, finding some cheap-ish indirect flights with American that fitted our strict Saturday to Saturday of half-term requirement.

As we're only here for a week, and because American want £50 per case each way, we did cabin luggage only, taking a small wheeled case each. This removes one potential stress point of having to pick up and hand back cases when we changed flights, and also the slight risk of cases not making it onto the second flight.

We left Heathrow at 10am, had plenty of time for sushi and drinks in Charlotte during our two hour connection, and were in Orlando around 6pm. All worked very well. I had made sure that there were later American flights down to Orlando from Charlotte so had we missed our connection for any reason, there would be a good chance of getting on a later flight.

[Bolto6]

I'm open to indirect if it'll save me £100's but my DH would prefer to fly direct, so far I've only been to MCO on a direct flight. When we went last September I got MAN-MCO direct for £1062 for all 3 of us.

My parents are also open to both options, especially if it saves money, my mum can be a nervous flyer and can suffer with claustrophobia, she actually prefers an indirect on a long haul destination because she can get off and have the space she needs. When we've gone to the West Coast, they have all been indirect flights, my parents have also done MCO indirect through Charlotte from Manchester.

Regarding the OPs point on length of stay for DIY, I book my accommodation in 7 night chunks, as that is what is available to me where I book from, so I would possibly go 13 nights but not 15, as I just cannot be bothered staying in a hotel for 1 night either at the start or end of my holiday. My parents have done it, but me and my DH just don't want the hassle, even more so now we have a LO.

[Mickie]

Thanks everyone for contributing to this thread real food for thought. Recently we’ve been doing Orlando direct but we’ve got a 5 year old and limited time at October half term (wife a teacher so can’t take her out of school but they both get 2 weeks)

All set for 2019 but looking at 2020 prices was looking for other options. We’ve seen a lot of the states (apart from the big bit in the middle!) and have done 3 fly drive tours of over 2000 miles and 6 or 7 states but not since children came along. Definitely thinking via Miami or Atlanta would reduce costs and give us a manageable “mini road trip” with enough time in Orlando in the October half term just. Totally get it varies for everyone and party depends if you want to just focus on the desination or have the time to enjoy a bit of the journey as well.

Think this is one of the most interesting threads I’ve read recently!

[Posiesmum]

I’m torn on this. We’ve done many indirects, and all was well. There were all the arrival bonuses you mention.
BUT - we had three in a row which ran into problems
Via NY with Delta - flight from LHR delayed 4 hours, connection missed causing overnight layover and next day flight from NY
Connection via Dallas, massive delay in Dallas due to storms and tornadoes. Again, overnight in Dallas, lost a day of holiday and Disney cancelling our POFQ booking as a no show despite ringing them to tell them of the delay.

Missed connection in Toronto due to massive snowstorm delaying deplaning.
So, for the last few we have gone direct. I found these experiences quite stressful and as just a pair now we can afford direct prices.
However, we seldom do multiples of 7 nights. Last few have been 9, 11, 18 and the next will be 10 nights.

[MinniMouse]

We’ve flown to Florida 7 times now, once direct which was great. Out of our 6 indirect flights we’ve had 2 that were terrible. One with Air France via CDG, problem being DH and DS have same first name and surname so AF decided to remove one of them from our booking which resulted in just under 2 hours at check in desk being told they doubted we’d be able to fly, then on return same issue and was only given tickets for first leg MCO to CDG and told to collect tickets for next leg at CDG “helpdesk” which should be renamed as “we don’t give a s##t desk”. Made the next flight by the skin of our teeth but not before I had a meltdown after being ignored by staff and even having a member of Air France crew put her hand up to my face to silence me Our luggage was left in France. Second disaster was last year. Delta via JFK to Edinburgh. Bad weather in New York meant we wouldn’t make our connection. We were offered, and accepted alternative flights with Aer Lingus, however we were down graded and very jet lagged as we had several hours to kill in Dublin after our long overnight flight. We had to go through security and dump our cases twice as although delta checked us in it wasn’t until we got to the gate was when they sent an email out to say we wouldn’t make our flight. We had to collect our luggage from delta office, hang around the airport for another 6 hours then do it all again

Indirect is great but only if you don’t have commitments to get back to UK. It worked 4 times for us and there was 5 of us on 6 of the flights so huge saving there but it’s just DH and myself now so the saving is still good but we’re in Scotland so not a lot of options. Would never do Manchester again. Too long a drive.