Are there any airlines flying directly from the US into Scotland?
 

We would like to visit Scotland this summer from Norfolk, VA USA. In looking for direct flights from the east coast (JFK, BWI, etc) it seems most airlines fly into London or Manchester, England and transfer into Edinburgh or Glascow. Are there any airlines with non stop service from the US into Scotland?

I know for a fact Continental offers direct flights from Newark to Glasgow. Many airlines DO offer direct flights, somtimes its a good deal but mostly its cheaper (for some reason) to either book from (for example) New York to London and book anotehr flight from London to , say, Glasgow. Try Travelocity, Expedia etc. They have them!

Edinburgh and Glasgow are quite well served with flights from Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax, though connections through Canada are more primitively awful and bureaucrat-ridden than they are even in the surviving Communist states like Uzbekistan. However, Zoom is supposed to be very cheap.

Otherwise, apart from Continental's service to both Edinburgh and Glasgow, Airtours offers flights from Orlando-Sandford to Prestwick.

AA offers seasonal service to Glasgow. Unfortunately for you it's from Chicago, so it would involve some backtracking.

If you decide to do a connection in the UK, then pick MAN over LHR. Less of a hassle.

I was on the Continental flight last summer from Glasgow to Newark, and it was excellent. We usually fly to Scotland from Dallas via London Gatwich, but this was MUCH better.

Another option ... USAirways flies direct non-stop from Philadelphia to Glasgow.

When I researched our upcoming trip to Scotland for the fall, the cost of flying direct from Newark to Edinburgh on Continental was better than flying with a stop in London. (Same for their direct flights to Glasgow)

Last time I went to Scotland, I had a long journey of Newark to London, change airlines to Glasgow. It took a long time. The direct flight to Edinburgh is only 6 hours and 45 minutes from Newark! They also offer several different departure times on this route, but not every day.

Dorothy

As the others say - if you need to go directly into Scotland, then Continental is your best bet.

But something to consider, besides flying all the way -- especially if you plan to visit SW Scotland or the Lake District - - fly into Manchester and pick up a rental car there. It is a fairly easy drive north to Scotland, and the Lake District and Hadrian's wall are on the route.

So you could drive just a short distance - less than 100 miles and spend a day/night in the Lakes, shake off the jet lag, see some terrific scenery and be a reasonable drive from Scotland.

Direct to Glasgow is great if the fares/departure cities work out, but Manchester is definitely a reasonable option.

<<mostly its cheaper (for some reason) to book ... New York to London and ... London to Glasgow>>

for <i>some</i> reason? Economics 101. Supply and demand.

The supply of flights on the routes NYC-LON and LON-GLA will always greatly outnumber the flights offered on NYC-GLA.

Time-saving and convenience create a demand curve for the nonstop flights. The large number of price-sensitive travelers get distributed over the high supply of connecting services, concentrating the nonstop flights with price-INsensitive customers. Whenever demand exists in abundance, prices increase until the demand decreases.

In general, the airlines control the supply (not merely the total number of seats on a route, but the number of seats allocated at a given price and terms/conditions of sale), and the buyer has little influence over that.

And the flip side is ... that as it works now, at least... the buyers are quite in control of the price (by making highly informed buying decisions in unprecedented proportions) - - and the airlines seem quite powerless to break the trend of seats sold at prices below cost.

I don't know what is going to break this disturbing cycle in flying economics.

The mystery (well, not really a mystery - - let's say... conundrum) is not the &quot;higher&quot; price of NYC-GLA, but rather the low price of NYC-LON.

Best wishes,

Rex

If I could second a comment above, the southwest coast of Scotland is a beautiful and relatively untouristed area- worth a visit unless you are heading to the Highlands only. Manchester is an easy airport to get into and out of. If you avoid the midsummer tourist rush, the Lake District is very handy and justifiably a prime tourist spot. Take a few days to meander toward the Firth of Forth.

Just a comment, although it appears most Fodorites understand this.

A &quot;direct flight&quot; flight does NOT mean it is a nonstop flight. A &quot;direct flight&quot; can mean that your plane stops at an airport(s) to let off passengers and to pick up other passengers but that you personally stay on the plane. You do not have to transfere to another plane. Your plane takes you from Airport A to Airport B (your final destination).

A NonStop flight of course means that the plane flys from Airport A to Airport B (your final destination) with out any stops along the way.

I only mention this as I have know people that had a &quot;direct flight&quot; without realizing that the flight would make 1 or 2 stops along the way and consequently were annoyed regarding the length of time they had to sit on the plane while Passengers got off and others got on etc.

It is like hotel resorts that advertising &quot;ocean views&quot; from their hotel room. Oh yes, but in some cases the &quot;ocean view&quot; is from the bathroom window. If you truly want a straight shot look at the ocean from your hotel room then you need to book a room with the description &quot;ocean front&quot;.

Sometimes, IMHO, the travel industry does not go out of their way to identify what their various descriptions really mean.

Actually, it's even worse than what LoveItaly says. To keep this thread in context, take a look at flight CO 16. It may seems like a &quot;direct&quot; flight LAX to GLA, with a stop in EWR. But in fact, the first leg is usually a 737-800, and the second is a 757-200 or 767-200. So, there's nothing &quot;direct&quot; about this, except if you book it as one flight, you only get 5,453 FF miles instead of 5,666 if you book them seperately. And if your first flight is late getting into EWR, the second flight doesn't have to wait for you either. [If you want to get that extra 213 FF miles, you can book the two flights seperatly, but pay ~$5 more for tax/fees each way.]

And of course, coming back, you have to clear immigration and customs at EWR...

You know you're not going to get a nonstop from where you live to Scotland, so as long as you know there will be at least one stop, you can always get a nonstop to London and then one to either city. Most major international airlines will have a nonstop from Washington to their home city in Europe and then a flight to Scotland (AF through Paris, KLM through Amsterdam, BA and VA through London, etc.).

If I were in Norfolk, I might look for a flight from IAD to Europe, and then the short run, although you can always do it the other way and have the short flight at the beginning (such as Continental through EWR).

If you are willing to drive to BWI, though, you can take Icelandair to Glasgow, with a stopover in Reykavik. They often have good fares.

Thanks for the suggestions of Continental and USAir from Newark and Philadelphia for non stops into Scotland. We do intend to rent a car during our trip, so flying non stop into Manchester and driving north into Scotland sounds like a good idea. Arrivals into Manachester are early morning so we will have most of the day to see the Lake District, etc. (we have 2 expereinced drivers so jet lag is not a concern). This will be our first trip to Scotland so ANY MORE COMMENTS ABOUT DRIVING FROM MANCHESTER INTO SCOTLAND FOR A WEEK'S VACATION WILL BE APPRECIATED! THANKS, TWO TRAVELERS

A doable 1st day itinerary would be something like - drive from M'ster up the M6 to junction 36 or 37, around te north end of Windermere, along Ullswater and back to the M 6 at Penrith junction 40. This routh is all through wonderful scenery and you would see two of the major lakes and some lovely villages. Stop anywhere - and have lunch in a local pub.

Then - depending on you time and stamina - next detour is M6 junction 43 at Carlisle. From there is is only about 10 miles to the B6318 which is the road than runs along side of Hadrian's wall. You would not have to go far to see some terrific view points and amazing sections of the Wall.

from here either 1) take the A6071 to catch the A7 north and stay the first night somewhere like Hawick or Galashiels in the Borders, OR 2) continue on the 6318 east to the A 68 and spend the first night in Jedburgh. If you are up to the driving #2 would be my choice. The daylight will be long and you can see a lot.

Then from the Borders it is an easy drive the next day up to Edinburgh. I'd stay there a couple of days - in a B&amp;B joust outside of the city center because most places right in the middle don't have parking, while most in outer neighborhoods do. Edinburgh has a really good bus system and every B&amp;B website will tell you how far to the nearest bus stop because it is a selling point.

Then from Edinburgh you have 3 or 4 nights and you could gow just about anywhere - up into Aberdeenshire for the &quot;Castle Trail&quot;, or over to Argyll for west coast scenery/islands, or anywhere.

Two notes: the Lake Ditrict detour will be easy UNLESS you are doing it on a summer weekend, especially in August. Then the area gets really congested - so hopefully you land midweek.

Note two: You will probably be fine - but that first day could be a slog even being experienced UK drivers. Certainly doable - but have a plan B just in case. Something like - if you have an especially bad flight or are just totally spent, go to the Tourist Info center at the airport and have them find you a room nearby or maybe as far as Penrith. (this is a back up plan just in case - as I said you will likely feel OK)