Why on earth fly direct? A personal view.

[cornishfrogboy]

Watching the numerous threads re flight price worries got me thinking. I very, very rarely book anything until I have my flights in place,( but other opinions differ). With a family of 4 and children of 12 and 16, I am pretty standard fare in that I am tied to Easter and Summer vacations, but break into a sweat when I see prices that are perceived as bargains. At 58, I am also a rather seasoned US traveller compared with many (but by no means all) and my signature shows good variety since 2005. My employers also show good flexibility when it comes to taking annual leave and that helps. I also regard the US as a whole whilst I appreciate for other, the vacation is purely about Orlando.. or even purely Disney. As I said, this is purely my own take.

Some have a strict budget, whilst some are very fortunate and pretty much do not. Others can fly at times other than School Hols (and thus get some great deals). We are all very different and this is very much a subjective view. Some may see it as 'teaching granny to suck eggs', others are rookies in the Florida game.. here goes...

Why do people book 10, 14 or 21 nights when doing diy?
There might be better flight solutions when researching at 11,12,13,15.16 etc. That is the beauty of a bespoke diy.

Why not indirect?
A direct is generally from LGW (difficult for many and incurs time getting to and from).Indirects are often from LHR which for others not living southeast of London is either equally convenient or likely more convenient as a departure point. To fly from other than these two can incur substantial extra costs that might outweigh a drive, an overnight and possibly a trip to Harry Potter studios en route.
A direct landing at MCO or even MIA will in probability incur a significant time in Customs and Immigration. (My average is around 2.5 hours and worst, 4.5). There is a strong argument for an indirect, doing Immigration and Customs during your layover and then simply going to baggage reclaim as they unload your in probability, smaller jet. Before you go to your possibly shorter car hire queue.
Flying indirect can also save on driving miles (and driving time) for those more adventurous souls who may wish to travel further afield than Orlando. Even Florida is 2/3 the area of the UK, before you even look at other States. If you plan and then pick your airport carefully, then you can hit all the bases for your vacation whilst not doing return journeys, rather driving a 'ribbon' and saving more time.
Airports to arrive via Atlanta for instance include Key West, Fort Lauderdale, MCO, Sanford, Daytona Beach, Tampa and even the panhandle (Pensacola and Destin), if you really want to stretch it. You then meander your way back taking in Gulf Beaches, the Keys, Busch Gardens, Kennedy, Daytona Beach, whatever you want (if you want).
I calculate door to door, home to my destination in hours. Generally a simple, indirect into MCO from LHR will take me the same hours to my villa and then eventually back to my home as a direct from LGW, provided I have a layover of less than 4 hours going out and 2 coming back. It also, generally saves me loads.
Examples (recent).
Easter, into Pensacola and out of Daytona Beach during the school break in 2017. (LHR). £435pp.

Summer into Ny, train to Washington, flight to MCO and then home direct from Miami (LHR) 2015 £500pp 16 days.

This year Summer, direct into Boston, train to NY, plane to Dayton OH, plane Cincinatti to MCO and then plane home direct from Miami £713 pp including the train. Regretably, this is to and from LGW. 21 days.

This lust for value has inevitably led to our having a phase where it is for us adults and a phase of theme parks for the boys, whilst travelling on one US vacation. Typical splits are 4 days of Culture and 10,11 or 12 of Orlando (give or take). It works well for us, whilst adding an educational element for us all and still getting loads of the 'Orlando magic'.

It is not for everyone, but I certainly feel that it may work for some, particularly as your family gets older. This (and many do it differently), is how I research and buy.

I generally look at my bucket list of US must sees (which is beginning to empty).

I then research my long haul flights on Google Flights as one ways only. This is because google has superb research tools, namely 1. A bar graph (with filters) that shows the cheapest flight on any given day and that goes all the way back, 11 months. 2. A tool so that with one click it gives you the best price from all of the nearby departure airports and that at another click gives you the comparisons of all the nearby arrival airports.

I then do the same for my long haul return.

I then try a return flight search, again on google and using the best two flights that I have earlier found. It may be cheaper to buy a return.

I research Skyscanner, Kayak, Opodo etc. Every one that I think a possible. I also try, if it is a multi centre with an intended several Day minibreak, a reverse of my plans.

I then try a direct internet search and then phone call to the identified carriers. (This has very often resulted in my best final price).

I book.There and then.

After the adrenaline rush is over, I then look at what I have bought, this time it is London to Boston on 18 July and MIA to London on 09 August. This was bought with the intention of seeing Boston and Orlando with a last night in Naples over 21 days. I saved by taking 22.
I then found the AMTRAC to NY WAS £35pp, a flight from Laguardia to Dayton was £80 and a flight from Cincinatti to MCO was £82. The jobs a good un! All for £713.

Had I wanted, I could have had 4 nights in Boston and then flown direct to MCO for £112, a option that may have suited others better. Total flight price would have been £609 pp

Hoping it helps somebody in planning US vacations (within a budget).

[BevS97]

We are quite happy with an indirect but as we live nowhere near London we don’t have much choice in the matter. It’s pay way over the odds for the one direct flight a week or leave from another airport. As soon as I start factoring in a drive and an overnight stay then I think I might as well fly to my stopover. Whether that’s in Europe or the USA.


However, My friend is a single mum. Nervous traveller. And she always books direct from Newcastle. She pays significantly more than we do. But she is more comfortable doing that and I can understand that.
And if we left home at the same time I do think she’d be at her hotel many hours before us.

Our next trip involves a flight to London. Overnight in London and then an indirect via NYC. It was cheap but it’s not for the nervous traveller.

[Rossalino]

I agree with you and love planning a holiday like you've just done. We live fairly near to Gatwick so that's always out airport of choice but the reason I don't like going indirect is I hate flying and the thought of having to take off and land twice just makes me more anxious. I think there's quite a few people on here that have a fear of flying and that could be one of the reasons why people prefer a direct flight.

[THOscar]

I'd imagine people often fly direct because they don't want to see somewhere else. Nor do they want to transit via another airport with the increased risk of delayed/lost baggage, missed connections etc.

It's great if you can make it work for you but personally, I like my holiday as relaxing as possible and that means not trying to see 4 places in the space of 2-3 weeks.

[Quensabob]

I hate the stress of airports so flying direct suits me ,we also live an hour from Manchester so its a quick drive then one flight and we are there,also
We are lucky we dont go in peak times so our flights usually cost no more than £400.00 each!

[FlorayG]

You do have to take more than the flight price into consideration. I've booked indirect from Bristol via Dublin. This costs £100 more than the direct flight from another airport but means I can get a return taxi to Bristol airport for £120, saving me driving time and fuel, overnight airport hotel stay and 14 days airport parking charges. Also Magical Express from MCO at the US end instead of a transfer from Sanford.
Altogether the money cost will be about the same and no driving stress for me even if it does work out a little more expensive

I would NEVER have thought to look at indirect flights without the encouragement of Dibbers thanks guys

[scoobydooby]

I’m lazy. I want to get on the plane in Manchester and off at MCO. I would do your type of research if prices out. That said. I paid £730 for direct flights Man to MCO last July with Virgin for without any of that faffing about... That’s close to what you have paid with quite a lot of what, for me, would be unwanted drama.

[GenoviaPrincess]

I fly direct because when I'm going on holiday it's generally to avoid stress rather than to put myself in potentially highly stressful situations. Flying indirectly presents (and increases) the risk of missed connections, bigger delays getting to your final destination, lost baggage, just generally running round an airport frantically. If I can afford to fly directly and avoid (or lessen the chance of) those things, I don't see why I would opt into them voluntarily.

I have flown indirectly to destinations when I've had no choice (such as when I went to Finnish Lapland and had to go via Helsinki), but to be honest I would rather save money in areas other than the flights. If an indirect flight presented a saving of many hundreds of pounds and didn't have a risky connection time, it would probably be a no brainer. But I've never seen a saving of more than about two or three hundred, and quite frankly that isn't worth the increased stress for me.

Helps that I live right by Gatwick airport too I suppose.

[ERICSMUM]

For those of you who can follow this process and save yourselves money, Well done.

I’ve reached the stage in my lift when I want travel
to be as quick, easy and comfortable as possible, which comes at a price 😱. Obviously I don’t want to pay over the odds nor the risk of losing money or losing my holiday.

I book my flights direct with BA or VA, whichever is cheaper at the time. I use BA for car hire too (as they are very reasonably priced IMO ) to make it into a package holiday for ATOL purposes.

I get quotes direct from hotels but thus far have found better prices with U.K. travel companies.

I don’t use the “flight finder” companies mentioned in the opening post because I’m not confident that the credit card protection would apply if the worst happened.

I travel solo and it will always be expensive, there’s only so much I can trim off the price.

[Bridget]

I fly direct because I don't want the hassle of airports faffing about, worrying about missing a connecting flight and I got a direct price for £360 per adult so I am not complaining.