BettyB

Hi - this is my first post on this forum, though I use the Europe one a lot. We have the chance to visit Alexandria some time next summer, to house-sit for an old school friend. This is very exciting, because we have never been able to afford to visit the States before. I have only just started to research - but can anyone advise on the best policy for booking air fares from Scotland? Should we book early? Should we fly to New York perhaps, to save a bit on the fares? Would it be easy to travel from New York to Alexandria? Many thanks.

Anonymous

Alexandria is adjacent to Washington, DC. Any particulars about flights, or travel between cities, would be the same as for Washington. Your options after arrival in NYC would include another brief flight or a train or bus ride of about 3 hours. To access the train or bus to DC, I'm pretty sure you'd have to travel from the airport into Manhattan, so there's an excuse to visit NYC, too!

Alexandria is right on the DC Metro (tube) transit system, very convenient. You can get full Metro details, including a trip planner, at www.wmata.com

Washington is served by 3 airports; the one called National (officially Reagan) is by far the most convenient. Another one, BWI, is sometimes referred to as "Baltimore" but the W stands for Washington and it's no farther or less convenient than the third one (Dulles). I use BWI all the time and take the $3 express bus from the airport terminal to the Metro station.

You will find the summer climate in the DC area quite oppressive; avoid August and especially July if you can.

emd

Anonymous is right about summer weather usually, but this summer has been so nice. We have had only one week with a bad heat wave, and the rest of the summer has been pleasantly mild and much less humid than normal. This week it has been in the mid-80s. I have been able to go outside this summer every day without sweating, except for the one heat wave week. So hopefully you'll have that kind of luck next summer too.

If you fly into JFK airport in NY and take the train down to D.C., you can either take a train to Union Station in D.C. or a different Amtrak train to the Alexandria Amtrak Station. The Alex. Amtrak station is next to King Street metro (on the edge of Old Town Alexandria) and might be more convenient for you since you are staying in Alexandria, although they are completely different trains (they just share the same line) than the trains that go to Union station. The trains that come into Alexandria are not as on-time as the ones that go to Union Station.

As Anonymous said, try to come into Reagen National Airport (airport code=DCA) if you fly from NY JFK to DC. You will practically land in Alexandria if you fly into Reagen National airport. If you fly into Dulles, you are a 45 min. $60 cab ride to the closest part of Alexandria, and if you come into Baltimore-Washington (BWI) it is further. The routes from Dulles and BWI airports to Alexandria can be a nightmare in traffic. And I would not want to hop on a bus and then the metro after a long flight (or two flights) if you come into BWI airport.

rkkwan

Easiest and fastest way to travel from Scotland to Alexandria is to fly Continental from EDI or GLA to EWR (Newark, across the river from New York City), then connect to DCA. Or fly USAirways from GLA to PHL (Philadelphia), and connect to DCA.

May not be the cheapest, but save you trouble connecting in London.

[AA flies GLA-ORD (Chicago) and Delta flies EDI-ATL (Atlanta), but those flights add flying time.]

BettyB

Wow - this is all very helpful. Thank you all so much.I like the idea of flying Continental from Glasgow or Edinburgh to Newark,rkkwan,and the prices look as if they won't be too bad. Maybe we'd be best to see if we could go earlier in the year, to avoid the hottest weather - my friend is fairly flexible I think. Is there any advantage in booking early or leaving it later in the hope of a seat sale?

npurpleh2

If you purchase a seat and then later find a lower airfare for the same trip, some airlines will refund the difference to you in the form of a travel voucher for future travel. For this reason, I usually go ahead and book the flight when I think I've found a decent flight because I know that if it goes lower then I can still get the travel voucher for the difference. In order for this to work for you though it would have to be on an airline that you would use again to fly to other destinations (so the voucher would be useful for you) and of course you would want to ask the airline you book with if they have this type of policy.

rkkwan

If you fly CO, you generally won't find their cheap fares early. Start looking about 3-4 months before flying.

CO charges US$100 to change a booked ticket. So, only if the fare goes down by more than US$100 will you get any value back, and it's in the form of a voucher. You actually have to pay the extra $100 too. At least that's the policy for booking here in the US. Don't know about booking in the UK.

Don't know about USAirways policies.