Laurie

Hi, I hope someone here can help me with this problem.

We would like to fly to London, LHR or LGW, in June 2005 with our friends who are from Naples, Florida. My husband and I will begin our flight out of Des Moines, Iowa.

I would like to book airline tickets that place all 4 of us on the same plane arriving in London. How can I coordinate this? I have found a way using Delta's website and routing us all through Cinncinati.

I would like to be able to do this with other websites too, including Orbitz, but I cannot make it work to put us all on the same plane arriving to London.

Any Suggestions? Thanks! Laurie

rex

Are you asking this question for the intellectual exercise of it? or is there some practical merit I am missing? If you can reserve (buy?), as you wish on the Delta website, what difference does it make to be able to do it on Orbitz?

Presumably, it could be done on more than one other carrier besides Delta - - maybe USAir throigh PHL?

I am not trying to question your motives - - just don't know if I am missing why you need more ways to do what you have already figured out.

Best wishes,

Rex

Gardyloo

Pick a gateway airport that has service from both parties' "home" airports, preferably on the same airline, for example JFK, Miami, Dulles, Boston, Atlanta...

Then use the "multiple destinations" or "multiple flights" choices on the websites you want to use, Orbitz, Expedia, etc., and say, for example, from Des Moines to Atlanta, Atlanta to London. Then do the same thing from the other airport, e.g., MIA or FLL or Fort Meyers to Atlanta, Atlanta to London. Always confirm the fare by querying both the Orbitzes and the airlines' own sites. Ya never know.

There are sufficiently few transatlantic flights from most gateways that it won't be hard to synch the flights.

Laurie

Rex, The reason that I would like to know how to do this on websites such as Orbitz, Expedia, etc., is because they often offer less expensive options than the airlines own website. I will try USAir through Philly. Thanks.

Gardyloo, Thanks for the advice. I have been using the multiple flights choice option on those websites, but it is very difficult to coordinate the flights so that we will end up on the same one to London. I will keep trying. Thanks for your help. Laurie

greg

I sympathize you with your plight.

We did a similiar trip, but domestically.

Different booking sites not only give different prices, certain routing is available from one site but not other. Very frustrating.

What others suggested is about as good as you can do. Even if you get the tickets on the same flight, the airline can reroute you and your friends on separate flights if they decided to cancel or change the equipment. One airline's response was that putting all passengers on the same reservation "improves" the chance that all travel together, she would not say that it guaranteed that all party travel together. In our case, the tickets were necessarily on different reservations. The airline informed us they would "put a note" on reservation that we want to travel together, but there was no guarantee.

Gretchen

And don't make the connecting flights too close to departure for London. We were to rendezvous with our kids coming from Denver and us from the south. Our flight was delayed by mechanical problems--I was about to lose my mind since we had the TGV tickets and no reservations planned!! Long story short, if the Paris flight hadn't been delayed also we would have missed it. The connection was abut 2 hours and was made by actually talking to an airline agent!

ira

Hi Laurie,

When you do finally arrange for all of you to be on the same plane, don't forget to arrange that you all sit together.

Chatters

Laurie-- I find myself on that predicament quite often as I tend to travel sometimes with relatives who are departing from Florida, San Juan, JFK, etc.... I either coordinate w/airlines directly (go to their website and pick the flights appropriately) or called the Orbitz, Expedia, travelocity, cheaptickets on the phone and explain the situation.

I believe Continental partners with British Airways out of Newark.

suze

Don't assume that Expedia will necessarily be cheaper. I use the site to scout out all the options, but then go direct to the airlines when I book my ticket. I have found the prices to be the same most times, and for whatever reason I feel better doing business direct with the carrier.

It might work better if you worked backwards. Find a flight from a major hub, JFK for instance to LHR. Then get both parties to JFK in plenty of time to meet up and catch the plane together.

Baligirl

Laurie -- I have performed a similar task in helping fly my family to the Caribbean, all from different origins, and ending up on the same plane into San Juan, and beyond. I did a search for myself out of NC and found the best option and worked backwards, finding everyone flights into Miami in time for our flight. I booked on Orbitz bc I too care about the ole wallet! I'm not sure I'm explaining well, but basically, work backwards. oh and orbitz has a seat selector now too so like someone said, don't forget to get seat assigments together when you book. Hope this helps -- let me know...

Laurie

Thank you to all for your suggestions. I knew there had to be a way to do this!

I will keep watching the websites for sales. I am not in a big hurry since we do not leave until June 2005.

Thanks again for your help. Laurie

bluestructure

Wait til winter and look for air fares. Sign up for luck fares club w/ Icelandair. Have your friends leave from Orlando and you leave from Minn/st paul on Icelandair. Meet up in Iceland and both take same flight on to London. They have good Lucky Fares that come out every week. Just wait a lil longer for summer lucky fares. **thats one suggestion**

paula1470

Laurie - I think someone may have already mentioned this but pick an airlines that has a common hub you could meet up in and then look at flights coming into that hub and them continuing on to London. I have done this a few times and it's not too difficult. I live in San Diego and have gone on trips with my friends from Arizona. First time, we all meet in Denver (a United hub) and flew on to New York. Next trip we met up in Dallas (American) and flew to London Gatwick. It does mean you will have connecting flights but that's the case from many cities anyway. Your idea of connecting in Cinncinati would work and there are other East Coast hubs you can check.

I used Expedia to look up airlines and flight times to get an idea but actually ended up booking directly through the airlines. (I do seem to have better luck with Expedia when doing multiple destination searches.)
Fares were not more by calling the airlines directly and I could make sure we had seats together, etc by talking to a reservation agent. And as Gretchen said, make sure to give yourself plenty of time between connections for both parties so that one of you don't send up missing the plane to London.

clevelandbrown

You may have difficulty arranging this through a service like Orbitz or Expedia, because the low fare tickets they have are often in limited supply. i.e., when you find a good fare and try to buy it, you will often get a message that the fare is no longer available. They also often cobble together itineraries that do not leave adequate connection times. Sometimes their fares are illusory, in that they add on taxes and fees at the end of the process, which brings their total cost up to, often, more than you would pay buying directly from an airline. I'm not saying you shouldn's look at these places; I'm saying that they do not necessarily have the lowest prices.

My suggestion would be that you familiarize yourself with the gateway airports that serve your final destination (such as Newark for Continental, I think), and are easily accessable from your home airports, and the airlines that fly that route, and wait until one has a sale, and pounce. There have been many postings from people who saw a good fare, but didn't buy it right away, and it was gone by the time they made their decision. So for you and your friends, I would suggest that you agree on a maximum price for the transatlantic leg and appoint a designated buyer (sounds like it will be you) who will be authorized to buy the four tickets when you find a good price. You will need the precise names on each passport when you buy the tickets.

Once you have that flight settled, it should be easy for each couple to arrange their own round-trip tickets to the gateway, being certain that you leave plenty of time to make connections. Since you will be with friends, I might suggest even four or five hours connection time as a cushion.