Flight woes

[doodles]

You could always try flying indirect via a European hub. We have done this in the past and our luggage was tagged straight to MCO. We flew via Frankfurt with Lufthansa. £400ish in the Easter school holidays with luggage.

[Floridatilly]

If we book lite and pay for 2 suitcases we would save around £500
But you don’t sit together? Is that right?

[Floridatilly]

Originally Posted by TheHughesCrew

Oh gosh, so frustrating for you.

But this. If you don’t compromise on something, you’re unlikely to find flight prices to suit. I don’t think they’re going to all of a sudden drop x

What about one way car hire? A very quick google shows £80 from Manchester to Gatwick with Enterprise. Not sure exactly where you live, but it’s a ball park figure. It’s a 24hr hire so can pack the car the night before?

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That’s a lot cheaper than train fare!
Thank you

[landandword17]

We don’t have children so we can be very flexible but we started travelling in 2013 then had a gap when I was caring for an ill family member and started back in 2017. I’ve been able to price match now every year and our 2020 15 night summer holiday is only £6 more than our 2 weeks in 2013.

In order to do that we’ve just had to sacrifice something each year. We’ve gone through Dublin a lot, we’ll go from London, we’ve taken a cheap flight to Dublin or Iverness to avoid the surcharges and gone from there and saved hundreds. We’ve gone indirect changing in JFK. Same with accommodation. We’ve switched that up every year too to keep price down.

At least you admit you’re being negative so now that you’ve had a good moan it’s time to now get down to it and start making sacrifices 🤣 🤣 I’d start on google flights. Go and price up your dates there. See what you can find going indirect, from London, from Man and then start working the numbers. How much is each “must have” worth to you. As others have said can you rent a car to take down, have you priced the train with the family card, a day room on the way back to have a rest before driving home, what are the times through Dub like? Sometimes for us they were better. Have you priced an Uber from Sanford incase you got a bargain there. You can get this done for a reasonable price, just think positively now and you’ll get something. Once it’s booked, you can start planning and I bet it won’t seem as overwhelming once you’ve accepted that it’s booked up and it is what it is.

[TheHughesCrew]

Originally Posted by Floridatilly

If we book lite and pay for 2 suitcases we would save around £500
But you don’t sit together? Is that right?

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You have got 2 children with medical issues. If you phone the airline, they should offer you free pre bookable seating...

[MillyMoo]

We flew from Gatwick in november, 2ad 2ch one with spd and asd, 4 very large suitcases! I bought a friends and family railcard and saved not far off of £100, and our train journey meant we also had to change, all of that plus a little person who wasnt well. It is doable - it's not the easiest but we did it!
Check the train prices with the railcard too, it does make such a difference!

Like others have said, theres alot of obstacles in your way which makes it seem like your holiday isnt do-able, but once you start going through them and let some things give a little it really will be!

[Floridatilly]

I am feeling more positive this morning! I think I got myself in a rut. My husband deals with the fights (his job is to sort the travel lol) so I am just going off his word and his negativity. He is not very flexible (just picture a grumpy old guy &#128521 but he is very stuck in his way.
While he is out today I am going to have a good look but I am less than useless to be fair. Apart from getting prices direct with virgin, direct with BA or sky scanner who do you check with?
I have noticed on sky scanner it always prices the lite package, we do not need 5 suitcases but we do need 2
So just paying for those is a idea but worried we won’t be together on the flight.
Wish me luck 👍🏻

[MillyMoo]

Sometimes packages with british airways are very reasonable. We never book flights and hotel separately it always works out so much dearer on the dates we want to go so sometimes it's worth looking at packages too. I know with BA they usually charge you for pre booking seats but as your children have hidden disabilities you can book all seats for free.

Glad you are feeling more positive today! ☺️

[bernard301]

You say you have virgin miles, have a look on headforpoints or one of the other frequent flyer pages about the new Virgin/Delta/Air France/KLM redemption routes, you might be able to pick up a better deal by flying a codeshare from LGW/LHR/MAN and using one way hires to avoid taking your car and parking.

Just a quick aside about your husband not wanting to leave the car with a reputable meet and great service, the car being left on your drive during your holiday is at much more at risk than with in the M&G compound for that period

[screwy55]

Originally Posted by Floridatilly

I am feeling more positive this morning! I think I got myself in a rut. My husband deals with the fights (his job is to sort the travel lol) so I am just going off his word and his negativity. He is not very flexible (just picture a grumpy old guy &#128521 but he is very stuck in his way.
While he is out today I am going to have a good look but I am less than useless to be fair. Apart from getting prices direct with virgin, direct with BA or sky scanner who do you check with?
I have noticed on sky scanner it always prices the lite package, we do not need 5 suitcases but we do need 2
So just paying for those is a idea but worried we won’t be together on the flight.
Wish me luck 👍🏻

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Morning - it might be worth giving a broker a quick call today to see what they can do. They sometimes have access to 'deals' that us mortals do not have.

Try Dial a Flight, Netflights etc.

Good Luck.