A question for those in North East England

[ChrisS]

Originally Posted by silverfox46

We live in Yarm, just outside Middlesbrough. Prefer to use the train direct to airport day before travel.
Just for information you can now purchase tickets 24 weeks in advance, so grab a bargain.
We usually go down to local train station as the guys there are great with looking at cheapest way, they told us about the changes although this year we have no plans to visit Florida. Need a change for a while.

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Hiya SF, thank you muchly The Trainline currently offering advance fares to Fri 27th Oct on Mia (Man Airport) services, from your experience, do station desks also offer 20/24 week advance fares on Mia services? National Rail, TPE, VirginEastCoast and Red Spotted Hanky up to the beginning of September, TPE to the 8th Sept, as it's their service it's amusing they don't offer as far in advance as The Trainline. VirginEastCoast offer 24 week advance fares, but not on Mia routes. I smile at the rail network Mia code for Man Airport, was once told I couldn't travel by train to Miami

The Trainline booking fees, but check for fees if booking via a mobile app. For sales up to £35.00, 75p booking fee, from £35.01, £1.50 booking fee. No fee for payment with Paypal, Apple Pay or Debit card. 2% of the value of the booking for credit card payments.

The Trainline website states self print, advance tickets only, on all TPE routes. A big plus for us as we're in Fl when I book our Mia to Dhm, generally queues at station machines/desk agent are very long.

[Big Belle]

Wow. Loads of great responses. Thanks everyone. It's interesting that there is no real consensus but I will note all of the suggested options in my planning book and work through them 😀😀

Thanks again

BB

[OB1LukeLucas]

We flew from Glasgow in the May holidays and got a great deal as Scotland wasn't on holiday at the same time-Newcastle & Manchester was between £1500-£2000 more at the time for the holiday. Last October we did indirect in the BA sale NCL-LHR-CLT-MCO it was a long travel day but went really smoothly and we all had great sleeps, no daft 3am wake ups! We flew home MCO-MIA-LHR-NCL which was a bit of a pain with quite a delay in Miami but I'd do it again. I think I prefer flying home to NCL without having to drive. I'd really like to try the Dublin route as it's definitely a plus to clear customs before MCO. I'm looking at the Dreamliner for next year but still not sure the price is quite worth it-I'm very tempted though!

[mushumadness]

Manchester as everything else is too
Far from us we are near pontefract

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Big Belle

Hello Dibbers

Just having a look at some prices for next April after Easter. Only Thompson fly direct from Newcastle which is a bit limiting and not really within budget.

A question to those in North East England...what is your preferred flight route, and why?

Thanks

BB

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We live near Chester le Street. We prefer to have DIY holidays and I would MUCH prefer to fly from Newcastle. However, we don't care for indirect flights and usually go out of the main season.

That limits us to Thomsons, who fly direct from Newcastle, but their flight costs are astronomical whenever I've checked.

Example, we're flying with VA from Manchester in PE in late October for less than Thomsons would cost us flying EC ! Their PE costs approx £200 per person more than we paid with VA for a broadly similar offering i.e. wider seat, more legroom and more luggage which is what our requirements are. Food, drink etc are not really an issue, and whether we land at MCO or Sanford is a coin toss. One may have immigration queues, t'other is a longer haul to the villa we've booked. Six and two threes, as they say

Since there are 4 of us going ( was 5 but had to cancel one person ) that's around £800. We've got a b&b + parking sorted within 10-15 minutes of the airport for £150 inc parking for 2 weeks, so a big, big saving.

I really would prefer to fly from Newcastle, though - just the prices don't warrant it unfortunately.

[ChrisS]

Originally Posted by mike230652

We live near Chester le Street. We prefer to have DIY holidays and I would MUCH prefer to fly from Newcastle. However, we don't care for indirect flights and usually go out of the main season.

That limits us to Thomsons, who fly direct from Newcastle, but their flight costs are astronomical whenever I've checked.

Example, we're flying with VA from Manchester in PE in late October for less than Thomsons would cost us flying EC! Their PE costs approx £200 per person more than we paid with VA for a broadly similar offering i.e. wider seat, more legroom and more luggage which is what our requirements are. Food, drink etc are not really an issue, and whether we land at MCO or Sanford is a coin toss. One may have immigration queues, t'other is a longer haul to the villa we've booked. Six and two threes, as they say

Since there are 4 of us going (was 5 but had to cancel one person ) that's around £800. We've got a b&b + parking sorted within 10-15 minutes of the airport for £150 inc parking for 2 weeks, so a big, big saving.

I really would prefer to fly from Newcastle, though - just the prices don't warrant it unfortunately.

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Hi Mike... it seems par for the course that Ncl has pricey fares due to limited/no competition on Sanford charters.

Re the United summer service from Ncl, not convinced they wanted the route, reflected within their off peak economy fares, some Ncl to MCO fares were circa £3k, others £400 or so, no consistency! Wonder if Ncl offerred them a two year cheap/nil airport charges as they were so keen to get a US carrier into Ncl. United didn't have the best of reps for Ncl delays and cancellations either.

You may remember AA were due to start a 2006 Ncl service, they cancelled not long before service was due to start, citing high jet fuel prices and economic conditions in the US airline industry.

Originally Posted by mushumadness

Manchester as everything else is too far from us we are near pontefract

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Hi mush - Man Airport is about 90 mile closer for you than us NE travellers, do you feel that's too far from your home for travel? Likely you'd have to do a change on the train, perhaps at Leeds.

We're Steeler's Wheel, Stuck in the Middle with You, NE location dependant we're circa 160 to Man, Edi and Gla

[Guest]

Originally Posted by ChrisS

Hi Mike... it seems par for the course that Ncl has pricey fares due to limited/no competition on Sanford charters.

Re the United summer service from Ncl, not convinced they wanted the route, reflected within their off peak economy fares, some Ncl to MCO fares were circa £3k, others £400 or so, no consistency! Wonder if Ncl offerred them a two year cheap/nil airport charges as they were so keen to get a US carrier into Ncl. United didn't have the best of reps for Ncl delays and cancellations either.

You may remember AA were due to start a 2006 Ncl service, they cancelled not long before service was due to start, citing high jet fuel prices and economic conditions in the US airline industry.




We're Steeler's Wheel, Stuck in the Middle with You, NE location dependant we're circa 160 to Man, Edi and Gla

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ChrisS - You're pretty much on the ball about the 'sweetener ' that NIA offered United to introduce a service. Shame it went belly up as the region put a lot of effort into getting them here.

Yes, I recall United bottling it back in 2006 ... were they ever really committed to the region?

Last thing I wanted to do was schlep down to Manchester, stay overnight ( I don't trust the train service! ) then have a 2 1/2 hour trip back after an overnight flight.

Thomson - to my mind - can and do charge a premium price because they have a monopoly and some people are happy to pay over the odds for the convenience factor.

[andyhen]

I think the biggest frustration regarding flying from ncl is that there are no longer any flights to the second busiest airport in the country. the gatwick route was always busy when I used it even back in the BA days and have heard about gate costs in gatwick being the reason but it doesn't wash with me.

[fl-veteran]

Originally Posted by andyhen

I think the biggest frustration regarding flying from ncl is that there are no longer any flights to the second busiest airport in the country. the gatwick route was always busy when I used it even back in the BA days and have heard about gate costs in gatwick being the reason but it doesn't wash with me.

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I agree - that is very frustrating, "Change airport" is not something you want to see in your itinerary...

I would far rather my flight was an extra £10-20pp than have to think about getting between London airports in rush hour.

[Geordie boy 57]

Originally Posted by andyhen

I think the biggest frustration regarding flying from ncl is that there are no longer any flights to the second busiest airport in the country. the gatwick route was always busy when I used it even back in the BA days and have heard about gate costs in gatwick being the reason but it doesn't wash with me.

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I agree
Not being able to fly Newcastle to Gatwick us a real pain
Used to use that route quite a bit for work
Would love it if they put that route back on