New York flights

[usernotfound0000]

Looking to go to New York next year to celebrate a big birthday! Just me and DH. Our nearest big airport is Manchester but direct flights are limited. Which would you say is the best London airport to use? Thank you!

You could consider flying Aer Lingus from Manchester via Dublin or Shannon. It's at least going in the right direction and Shannon (not sure about Dublin) allows you to clear US immigration there so it's much quicker on landing in America.

Heathrow would give you a wider choice if flights if you want to use a London based airport.

I’d really recommend JetBlue - we flew Gatwick to JFK in the summer we’re very impressed with price and service

I second Aer Lingus. I think they were trying to sort preclearing from Manchester but no idea if they have yet. Even going via Shannon is a good thing if it's quicker to clear the airport in New York.

There are some amazing deals with Icelandic airlines if you can get a short flight to Reykjavík

Actually it’s not with Icelandic, it’s with PLAY, you go to Google flights and search from there. You can fly from Liverpool to Iceland if it’s easier. Might not be JFK, think I saw La Guadia. Also Baltimore was available too for about £400

Thanks everyone, definitely stuff to look at. I'd been pretty set on a package with BA as they have some amazing deals on hotels (if it wasn't a company like BA I'd think they were too good to be true!) but I will look at these other options. We would definitely prefer direct but the option of pre-clearing on Shannon sounds like a good option. Aer Lingus offer a direct from Manchester but it was quite a bit more than BA from Heathrow or Gatwick.

If you choose BA from Heathrow you get a lot of flights a day so options if there's disruption so not a bad choice.

A few years ago I flew Manchester to JFK with Virgin Atlantic (I'm in Scotland) and paid a little extra to sit upstairs in 'the bubble'. So still economy service but behind premium economy and more intimate and away from the main economy seats. It was great and would definitely do it again if it's still on offer. Felt like the service was better too.

I second Aer Lingus. I think they were trying to sort preclearing from Manchester but no idea if they have yet. Even going via Shannon is a good thing if it's quicker to clear the airport in New York.

Not as yet. We flew direct with Aer Lingus Man-JFK in August. Having said that immigration at JFK took about ten mins!

I would still do BA from Heathrow. Or AA codeshare. Just way more options and yes, they do good deals on hotels.

Would you drive or get the train down to London?

We would drive if going from London.

I did a BA package just pre covid to NY and agree they are good deals (cheaper than booking separately in my case) plus you get legal protection under the package travel regs

@VanCleefArpels
Thats a good reason to book a package. With possible airline issues, a package is worth more than a slight delay at immigration.

At the start of the month I flew Manchester to Boston with Aer Lingus via Dublin. Shannon didn't seem an option to Boston. My experience was a mixed bag. MAN is only 5 miles or so from home for me so a cheap mincab ride.
Positives

Price was competitive with best price out of London
US pre-clearance at Dublin was quick and efficient and I arrived in Boston as a domestic arrival and walked straight out after baggage reclaim.
Negatives
Aer Lingus service was pretty poor, awful meal on the outbound flight. I left Manchester at 8 am and arrived in Boston 1:30 pm local.
All alcoholic drinks were a pay bar.
IFE fairly poor choice and simply didnt work on the return journey, No wifi on board.
Not even a pre arrival coffee although was woken slightly later than otherwise
Arrived a Dublin on the way home to despite having boarding cards receive an email saying my onward flight was delayed from 09:15 to 19:15.
After US preclearance food and drink choices were pretty limited.
Staff at Dublin Airport completely lacked Irish hospitality.
WIFI and sockets in the airport are severely limited.

Despite the negatives on cost and convenience I would consider it again, BA are no great shakes and the US airlines worse,
If the BA package is a fabulous deal then iy may be your best option.

Ba have so many flights you rarely get big delays to NY. Also T5 is a dream. We’ve just gone to Amsterdam from T3 today and it’s horrible really. Flying economy with most airlines is just transport. Flying club/business gives you extras (normally). I like a lounge and priority boarding. Didn’t get that service with klm today. Everyone just pushed on like Ryanair. DD flew Norwegian back from NY a few years ago and it had no food. 12 hours late. Just awful. We just haven’t had this with BA. Others might have had iffy experiences but a direct flight is worth a lot. Plus a good hotel price makes it worthwhile to come down to Heathrow.

I flew to New York a couple of months ago with BA and it was great. Lots of flight times to choose from and T5 was absolutely great.

Landing back into LHR and having to drive back home will be horrendous after a long haul flight. Book Virgin Atlantic from Manchester.

We live close to Manchester Airport but always do transatlantic from Heathrow. Usually used VA but went Delta last time (September) and they were great. We stay over the night before. Yes, it’s a PITA having to drive back but we do it as for us, the benefits outweigh this. If we felt we needed it, we’d just get a hotel in Heathrow again.

See, our usual standard is Ryanair with the kids so anything will feel like a luxury to us!

@usernotfound0000
At least NY is 7 hours. I’ve just arrived in Buenos Aires after 14 hours from Amsterdam. That’s without the Heathrow/Schiphol flight earlier. Having extras is valuable to us.

We went to New York with BA from Heathrow just this week. Good flights, no delays, immigration at Newark took less than 10 minutes. So I'd only consider flying via Shannon/Dublin if it was substantially cheaper, not because of pre-clearing.

We went to New York with Virgin from Heathrow this summer. The service from Virgin was great. I'd book Virgin from Manchester as it's your nearest big airport. If you went from London you'd have to factor in transport costs to London and possibly a hotel the night before. And if you're tired from a flight it'll be a miserable drive home.
Have a great holiday, we all loved New York.

NY hotels are eyewatering expensive at the moment - we struggled to get anything less than £300 a night for a Hampton Garden inn type place midtown. Definitely price up the full package whatever route you choose.