How much to pay to avoid a 4 hour stop over each way?

[lljkk]

Direct flight cost to where I want to go is £4250.
With 4 hour stopover (so total journey time -> 15/16 hours each way), I can reduce the cost to £3600.
6 travellers.
I suffer badly from jet lag which will be made worse by stopovers.
Is £600 worth paying to save 8 hours of my life spent in boredom?
WWYD?

I'd take the stop tbh - in fact am doing this later this year when we fly. I quite like a leg stretching stop off as long as is a reasonable airport (Dubai in our case) - can freshen up.

HOWEVER, when we went to Florida last year I didn't do this as I think if its somewhere where the jetlag is bad (and it was bad on the way back) with kids, I'd pay the difference. Think we paid easily £600 more to fly direct.

Ta. I didn't think any airport anywhere was really nice enough to spend extra time in .
Stop over is Philadelphia. I bet it's an interesting city, but no time to visit.
Also with a stopover I increase risk of missed connection (although shouldn't be a signif. risk in May).

I'd pay the extra to fly direct particularly if the stopover is each way. It can take some considerable time to do a same day internal transfer in the US and once the plane lands that clock to reach that second flight starts ticking. Infact it can add hours to an already long day.

I would always pay the extra to fly direct. hanging around particularly with kids in an airport is duller than dull. I suffer with jetlag badly too and when we have had to do this due to no direct flights I have felt shocking so never again for me.

My SIL is going to Florida at Easter, and has chosen a flight with a stopover (Atlanta?) to avoid going direct to Miami and the immigration queues at that airport. Atlanta is apparently a lot less hectic...and then you get the simple internal flight to Miami.

Might something like that be relevant to you OP?

I have just had a 4 hour holdover in Copenhagen. Nice airport though it is, 4 hours is a long time!

How much do you think you would spend on food/drinks etc during the 4 hours?

eek, good point Creamy. Maybe not much to buy since we'll be fed on plane & could bring some snacks. The thing about travel is that it makes me tend to under eat hugely. But bored kids would whine for stuff & food driving me batty.

I'd pay £600 to not have to get off plane, clear immigration, clear customs, check bags back in, do security, get on plane again. And Philadelphia is not one of my favourite airports either

Say to spend £75 at each stop then you would be saving £450. I'd fly direct.

We stopped at Philadelphia this summer and needed the four hours for the rude, unhelpful immigration people to let us in (grrrrrrr). Queued for an eternity to have passports checked/interview carried out, queued again to collect bags, queued again to re-check bags, queued again to board. Four bloody hours of bloody queuing. I would pay the extra.

Never ever rely on the airline to provide fully re food lljkk!.

You'd be better off taking some of the childrens favourite foodstuffs on the plane with you for them to eat.

Do not forget to leave any uneaten fruit or meat/cheese sandwiches behind on the aircraft when leaving it!!.

Mumof22222boys - hope your SIL has allowed enough time (she ideally needs around 3 hours minimum) to transit Atlanta to catch her next flight to Miami. Her schedule could be well messed up if the flight from the UK arrives late or ends up waiting in line at immigration at Atlanta for what seems like a mini ice age. It can be a process beset with stress.

Hi Attila (Mum222boy here...just name changed). She is a pretty savvy traveller...I think she is also going business which I am told speeds things up. I would worry in her position (recently had horrendous transit at large German hub!) but she is a formidable character who copes with everything and pays up if she needs to!

And Attila thanks for advice on previous thread re Sandpearl and Clearwater...we are headed there ourselves next summer! No nasty transfers for us!!

,

Johnogroats

It'll speed things up as business class people are usually let off the plane first but that's about the sum of it.