Flying from Dublin (not boomerang).

[cornishfrogboy]

I read this forum daily and of course am aware of boomerang flights and various attempts by airlines to make this more difficult.

I am dummy booking on California with a view on flying to San Francisco on or around 17 Aug 2018 before returning from San Diego around 3 Sept 2018. I have therefore been looking at flights for the same days in 2017.

Whilst Skyscanner, Kayak and co are giving me high £600 and low £700s for indirects with minimal layovers from London, Aer Lingus is offering mainly directs at £550 from Dublin, all in.. These look attractive as rather than the tortuous drive to London (from Falmouth), I can fly Newquay to Dublin return, day before and if I want, day after return for around £108. Dublin has a prem inn nearby. Thus my outlay would be around £658 with great convenience.

My question is this. Is there anything tax or otherwise that would prevent me booking in this way, come the right window of opportunity for summer of 2018?

I have put this on the Florida forum as it is at least equally relevant to Florida as California (or anywhere else), whilst having far more regular readers.

Many thanks in anticipation!

[Nic1982]

I don't think there is anything extra you would have to pay and you also get the added benefit of clearing customs in Dublin.

Have you tried searching from a local airport to California on the aer lingus site as they fly from quite a few local airports and for me it was cheaper booking it all through aer lingus than it was booking direct flights from Dublin and sorting the other flight myself?

[cornishfrogboy]

Thank you Nik1982. I will have a look at locals. The Dublin customs clearance is of course, great news.

[Peko]

Are Lingus flies NQY-DUB (operated by Stobart Air). Booking it all on one ticket from NQY would protect your connection, though I don't know if the connection works for your onward transatlantic, or what the price impact would be vs a booking from DUB and a separate flight to DUB.

If you book from NQY a long way out, there could be a small risk they drop the route, but they also fly to DUB from BRS and could rebook you from there, which although not as convenient as NQY, is better than London (I guess?).

[cornishfrogboy]

I have been playing with the Newquay connection as part of a 'package' of flights in order to protect it. This blasts the total cost way over the price that I can get by separating them (and leaving an overnight stay as a safety buffer).
Things may change in the coming year as the Stobart flights were only recently announced.

[fiona3103]

Living in Plymouth we use the Dublin connection a lot, mainly from Exeter. It's extremely convenient for us down in the southwest so if the Newquay route did get dropped that's a bit closer than Bristol.

[jdouds]

No problems and great place to fly from, also check out eitiopean , we flew with them last year in and out of LA

[catlady]

We nearly always do this every year, we are 3/4 hours drive away from London airports so it makes sense to us. Last year we did san franciscoe via Shannon (you also clear immigration ) with delta but it was indirect, stop in New York?

[Peko]

Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy

I have been playing with the Newquay connection as part of a 'package' of flights in order to protect it. This blasts the total cost way over the price that I can get by separating them (and leaving an overnight stay as a safety buffer).
Things may change in the coming year as the Stobart flights were only recently announced.

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On the outbound you'd need the overnight based on current schedules, since the NQY flight arrives DUB too close to the departure of the SFO flight. That can still be done on one ticket, but because the connection is over 24 hours (just), it becomes a stopover in airline terms and may impact the price.

However, I wasn't able to replicate the £550 price you mentioned for DUB using similar 2017 dates. Cheapest I saw on EI was around £660 for DUB-SFO//SAN-ORD-DUB. To start and end in NQY was coming out at £823, bearing in mind that on the way back you'd have a protected same day connection in DUB, avoiding the need for an overnight there (if you are the risk-averse type, I would take more risk on a return). The difference is not so great in this event, but obviously is if you can get the £550 price. Was that bookable on EI website? Third parties on comparison sites don't always have live pricing.

[CrispyA]

We've flown from Dublin a couple of times as it massively reduced the price for us, even adding in the Ryanair flights MAN-DUB. We've gone the day before and stayed over in Dublin at the Premier Inn - have usually got it for £30. There was no problem in booking it this way. Dublin is a nice airport as well.