Christmas New York flights

[Holibobby]

I’m a single parent to my DD (10) and want to travel to New York for Christmas. The cheapest deal I could find was flying home on Christmas Eve so would arrive back in UK at 9am. It’s £200 cheaper than going on alternative dates.

Is it too risky flying home Christmas Eve incase flights get cancelled and we get stranded at Christmas or is this highly unlikely?

Which airline are you looking at?

IcelandAir

No one can tell, but what an adventure it would be!

These days Christmas flights can be fairly popular so unlikely they'd be cancelled due lack of demand.

OTOH given the time of year there's always a chance of disruption due weather and routing via Iceland (if you are) will increase that risk.

I flew IcelandAir to New York, not at Christmas, it was April, and it was fine, but there are no 100% guarantees because weather. Have also been there for new year and there was a massive snowstorm, but the blizzard was over by the time we left and it was fine.

If it was me I'd still go, but have a plan in place in case the worst happened - check your rights on replacement flights, make sure you're covered with travel insurance and take note while you're there of a couple of hotels in handy locations with vacancies in case you need another night or so. Very unlikely to happen though!

Not one I'm familiar with, sorry.

I wouldn't have thought there would be an unusual number of cancellations having to do with Christmas, although it might be slightly more difficult to get a cab to the airport if that's what you're doing.

I think there's a website or app where you can check an airline's on time records.

I think getting to one of the New York airports on Christmas Eve should be OK...(even Christmas Day itself would be OK).

The much bigger problem is arriving in (or for that matter departing from) the UK on Christmas Day if relying on public transport...

It can even be a nightmare even at somewhere supposedly well connected to tube/bus/rail as Heathrow...

I wouldn’t worry about the cancelled flight myself . A 10 year old is on the cusp of believing and it’s probably as much fun stuck in New York aka Home Alone then getting home knackered and jet lagged.

If you are arriving on Christmas Day I agree with others it’s the journey home. If you live down south you can expect numerous junction closures and road works if you’re driving. Forget it by public transport and lose the £200 saving by taxi.

The dream would be to be stranded and get a couple of extra nights.

Ive seen so many people offered £££ because they've overbooked flights and always wanted it to be me. Work couldn't complain when I don't turn up because it's not my fault they overbooked and I get a free extra night somewhere. Unfortunately it's never happened.

You can’t rule anything out. The first time I went to NY, we were due to fly back on 21st Dec but Heathrow was closed due to bad weather, meaning flights were cancelled. We ended up getting home at 10am on Christmas morning. Fortunately, we’d parked at the airport.

Make sure you have decent insurance that covers weather!