Air flights.

[Grrrpredictivetex]

Posting for traffic really.
My question is, have you flown to New York by any other carrier than British Airways or Virgin?
The cost for these are astronomical, and can't really justify it for a few day. Don't get me started on the single occupancy fee on hotel rooms. Other carriers seem a lot cheaper, but are they any good? 8 hour flight on cramped plane (long legs) is not my idea of fun at my age.
Tia for any thoughts you may have.

I've only been to NYC once. We flew with KLM and it was absolutely fine. However, it was a Tuesday afternoon at the end of January and there were only about 12 people in economy on the flight so DH and I ended up having a row of seats each and chatting to the crew for most of the flight. I thought the legroom in economy was fine and the plane was clean and modern.

We flew home on American Airlines and it was hell. Like flying in a cramped and dirty old bus. Would not recommend them.

Just done a search on skyscanner . I put in made-up dates, obviously, but Virgin comes up as the second cheapest carrier.

Maybe have a search there with your actual dates and see what you get?

I’ve been on Aer Lingus, Continental and KLM, all were absolutely fine. Aer Lingus probably the best of the lot (changed in Dublin though, not direct)

I always opt for AA over BA. Better service and you can usually get the premium
economy ‘experience’ including extra legroom for cheaper because you can book a main cabin (economy) ticket then pay to select a main cabin extra seat. You seem to get a lot more food with the US based carriers too! They codeshare though so if you’ve already priced BA it’ll include AA flights. Same for Virgin and Delta. I don’t fly United as my lunatic ex neighbour is one of their pilots and I refuse to take the chance of running into him.

If we know which airlines you are thinking of it would be easier to advise.

Flown to the US using United loads of times, I rate them higher than BA or VA.

I honestly open to suggestions. It's a special birthday for DH family member and we though we'd surprise them but it falls during Easter so obviously pushed prices right up. Only ever flown Virgin or BA to the States, so looking for any options you can recommend.

Honestly?! An 8 hour flight in economy (if that’s what you’re looking at) is never going to be the best experience. Go with the cheapest direct flights, consider booking extra leg room seats if you can for comfort and spend the money when you get there doing special things. I definitely have preferences for certain airlines but economy transatlantic is mostly much of a much, none of it very glam.

We went with BA pre-pandemic. It was £1500 for us for flights AND hotel (for 4 people) but the flights by themselves were £2500.
Look and see if they've got a good package price

Thanks everyone my travel agent has suggested Air Canada, so another one to add to the mix 😂

Have you looked at packages with BA? As we paid £600 each for a package with them to New York

Yes direct with norwegian from Gatwick it was excellent.

We flew Air Canada to Canada a few years ago and they were excellent. Better than BA.

Also look at flights that let your clear customs in Ireland I think you can do this in Shannon or Dublin. Saves so much hassle at the other end.

ive flown BA and Air Canada this year and much prefer BA

ive flown BA and United to New york and think they are pretty much the same in economy

That would mean a transit in Canada. Although it’s not a bad thing on the way here because you’ll clear US CBP in Canada, it’ll be worse going back as you’ll have two rounds of immigration and customs to do.

I live in the US and have flown back and forth between the US and the UK probably 60
times. There’s not much to differentiate between carriers in economy class. My “nicest” flight was also my cheapest - Norwegian Air, back in the day when they flew from Gatwick to the US.

Delta have lost my luggage 3 times. Virgin flight attendants seem to be more interested in chatting amongst themselves about the shopping they’ll be doing when they get here (on the flight to the US) and comparing notes about what they did buy on the flights back to the UK. BA planes always seem dirtier to me. AA has a fascination with serving cold pizza on the flights and calling it “dinner”. Air France seats are more uncomfortable than others, I think.

You just end up picking the lesser of the evils.

All flights from Ireland direct to the US clear CBP in Ireland.

She’ll have to go back in time to fly Continental. They ceased operations 10 years ago. What was left of them was bought by United.

They were excellent. Too bad they don’t fly here anymore. I got some great bargains with them.

We also fly aer lingus via Dublin.

A million times easier doing immigration at the start of the flight in lovely Dublin rather than doing it in hot sweaty JFK arrivals Hall.

Presume slightly more expensive.

Before deciding carriers you need to decide how important is non-stop to/from the (?)UK to you?

As others have mentioned using Aer Lingus (and KLM) involve a change of flights, similarly unless things have changed significantly with regard to traffic rights if you use Air Canada AFAIK you will have to change in flights in Canada.

Icelandair is a good cheap option

We have, but with it being over Easter and only a few days it about £1500. Quite possibly that's what it costs now but just can't justify it sadly.

There's a new airline just launched, Flynorse or something that looks good.

Do you want direct?

If not i would look at flying out of another European hub to see if its cheaper (madrid, paris, hamburg etc)