Hello- I'm trying to organize a summer vacation from Eugene, Oregon, USA to Santorini, Greece without having to place a mortgage on my house. Everything's gotten so much more expensive since my last visit. I've been looking for days on the internet for cheap ways to get there, and so far my best chance is to fly into London and take a charter directly to Santorini either from LGW or LHR. Can anyone please recommend some good charter companies in London with websites? I've got an address in London where I can have the ticket sent once I've purchased it, but I still need to find the best price if I'm to make this happen.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

For what it's worth, I wouldn't start out with the Web. The Web and ex-UK charter flights don't seem to go well together. A few operators seem OK for major charter destinations like Malaga or Athens- but they stutter for your kind of destination.

What I'd do would be to get The Sunday Times and Time Out and work my way through the phone numbers in the travel ads section. Even in Eugene, Orgeon it must be possible to find a way to get these indispensable travel aids.

Alternatively try www.thomsonflights.com for their weekly flight from Gatwick.

BTW, there are no charters from LHR. Flights to Thira do go from Gatwick, and may go from Stansted or Luton. You might find better value using Birmingham or Manchester.

Thanks for the info, I'll be looking for a copy of Time Out, I remember it well from my visits to London.

I somehow got on their mailing lists and I vaguely seem to recall that the This is London newsletter (thisislondon.co.uk) and the lastminute.com newsletter sometimes advertise such things. It's possible opodo.com might too. But Flanneruk undoubtedly knows the most about it.

Last year on the Gatwick Express, the British woman sitting next to me had just returned from a holiday in Greece - pity I didn't ask her what agency she used!

Try Excel Airways who fly from Gatwick to a number of destinations including Santorini. www.excelairways.com

Another alternative might be to fly to Athens from the USA and then fly with Aegean Airlines, but I suspect this will be more problematic from Oregon.

You could try some of the following but most charter flights only seem to operate once a week to Santorini, on a tuesday from Gatwick.

www.dial-a-flight.co.uk
www.air2000.co.uk
www.cheapflights.co.uk
www.olympicholidays.co.uk
www.firstchoice.co.uk

Thank you all for your excellent feedback!

Can anyone else add to this list of charter companies and travel agents?

Go to www.johnnyjet.com for links to London bucket shops and agents.