Experiences of non through tickets

[sotagals]

I just saw on the General thread that Eastern are flying to LHR from Teesside next summer.

Obviously going from Heathrow opens up loads more options than Northern travellers normally get.

We would go down the day before and stay in a hotel but not sure about our return from Florida.

Same day or stay over again?

Does anyone have any experience with non through tickets? And anything else to consider?

[Guest]

Can you book it with a ta as a through ticket? You could still go down the night before and if they did the hotel in the middle wouldn't it then become a package with deposit and package protections? Might be worth looking at.

In terms of coming back that day or the next surely it depends on connection timed to a certain extent? Could get a day room or pod if a long change.

[Kat11]

We are looking into the option of staying in London on the return for the night. We are going to use the arrivals lounge then go into London on the tube. I’ll go for a sleep for a couple of hours while the family mooch about then have dinner and get train home the following morning.

I’ll definitely consider flying straight back to Teesside though if they bring the flight forward, as currently it’s showing as 2.30pm on our day and I can’t wait 5 hours for it, so thought we’d extend the holiday if they don’t.

Kat

[youre-nicked]

I've just done a dummy booking and the cheapest for next Easter was £110 per person (that comes with 15 kg hold luggage)

That's £550 more for us and then the expense of a hotel, its looking too pricey for me which is a shame as Id love to support the local airport.

[Fleagle]

Why not just book the train get an advance ticket using a railcard sometimes pretty cheap?

[sotagals]

My reasoning is that NCL via Heathrow is £440 more (for 4) than leaving from LHR for the same flight into Miami.

If we were to fly down separately that would give us a bigger choice of airlines and flights instead of just BA.

Plus we'd get a lift to the airport so no parking fees which could offset the hotel.

Downside of course is the risk of not making the return flight if we try to do it on the same day.

I've looked at trains down before but it's always been expensive.

[Kat11]

Originally Posted by sotagals

I've looked at trains down before but it's always been expensive.

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Not sure how old you all are but if you get a rail card it can pay for itself in its first use.

If you book early and buy tickets on specific trains it can be even cheaper.

If you’ve got kids under 16 the family and friends one is the best (£30 for the year) We’ve actually got return tickets in the past for as little as £60 return for all 4 of us. You have to be on the ball though and book as soon as released.

We are planning on trains (although would consider flight if the price was right) as we can get return tickets and two rooms in a central London PI for less than the flight and still have plenty left over.

Kat

[Shooby doo]

One main thing springs to mind- luggage, depending on who you book with, EJ for instance,you will have luggage costs both ways NCL-LHR & of course there is no send it off at NCL & next see it stateside.
When looking for flights last year, for DS, EJ Worldwide was worth considering, the internals were EJ but Trans-Atlantic were Norwegian & luggage was the same for the whole package.
SD