You may be just the guys to help me.
Next April we plan a trip to visit Florida again. In the past we have always flown BA or Virgin. We prefer Virgin as they fly from Manchester which is closer to our home. Previously we have always managed to get two for the price of one tickets but since 9 11 they seem to be nonexisitent. I have juat checked out fares for next year with BA and Virgin and they are about 980GBP for two tickets (todays rate is 1.78 to the dollar) which is far more expensive than in the past. I was wondering about perhaps flying to NY with a US airline , staying a couple of days then continuing on to florida (Orlando, Miami, Tampa or Fort Myers, any would do) Is this idea feasible do you think? and what sort of flight length could we expect?
We have usually chosen a british airline as they have very short flight durations direct to the US and dont use 'gateways'. Should we go for the same airline thoughout or choose a different one for the transatlanic crossing and the internal flight?
I would welcome your comments.
CM

<b>Countrymouse</b>,

The idea of visiting New York is a good one. The fares between UK-NYC should be very reasonable. Much competition on that route and April is still good time to find some cheap fares.
The flight from New York to one of the Florida destination will be aroud 2.5 hours and it also should be reasonable. When looking for the domestic fares look at the usual suspects (<b>www.orbitz.com, www.expedia.com,etc</b and also look at some of these LCCs (<b>www.southwest.com or www.jetblue.com</b as they are not listed on any other travel sites. Once you check the above travel sites, go to the individual airline sites (<b>www.aa.com, www.ual.com, www.contionental.com, etc</b. just to compare and save few $ as the airline sites don't charge a service fee like the travel sites. You do have to remember that sometimes the travel sites will have some fares that the airline site may not and vice-versa.
If for some reason you decide to skip New York and want tofly directt to Florida, American Airlines <b>www.AA.com</b> will have a direct flight from Manchester to Miami starting this fall. It's just another option and it may be cheaper.

Good luck!

Do consider British Airways.
Continental has occasional &quot;real bargains&quot; in BusinessFirst which is VG and highly regarded.
DAL, NW and United are down my list (DFW)
M

I fly in to the US frequently on either Qantas or United. United service to San Fransisco is great with a good lounge and showers waiting at the other end. In this last year I would rate UA performance better than Qantas but that is where it stops. If I fly then on to St Louis, New York or Boston I end up going through that horrible hub called Chicago. Therefore I would prefer to fly AA or use a connect to most places with UA through Denver. I find US airlines are pretty good domestically but I think the real issue for a foreign traveller in the USA is hub airport delays. My understanding is that AA service to South America and to Europe is generally better than what the others offer. For those sectors to Europe from USA I always go British Airways or Lufthansa depending whether I am on a One World Alliance or Star Alliance ticket. Generally I think BA flat business seats are great and better than what the opposition offers.

<b>Countrymouse</b>, if you decide to go straight to Florida, you might also want to look at bmi. They fly from Manchester to several North American destinations, including Washington DC. Because they are part of the Star Alliance with United, you could connect on to various locations in Florida on a single ticket.

We flew RT to the UK on bmi a month ago and were favorably impressed, particularly with the service. And for the particular time we were flying, they were the cheapest by a good margin.

I will give you my experience in business class:
American--Seats do not recline all the way, and so-so food. (1998)
Delta--Great seats and service (2002)
Northwest--If you are on one of the new airbuses it is awesome, seats totally recline and have a privacy &quot;egg&quot; thing around them (2003)
Continental--Great seats, excellent recline. better food than NW. (2002)

Also got one of those great fares, last Nov $1000 on NW and next month $1790. (Usually $7000-8000) per person.

Laura

Many thanks folks. Lots of good info.
AAFrequentFlyer : lots of good in depth info.
Mikemo : unfortunately BA only fly from Gatwick (London) so is not so convenient (the M25 is an absolute nightmare!) but thanks for taking the trouble to reply, much appreciated.
Sydney Steve : thaks good tips
msgo : thanks, I didnt know bmi flew those routes definately worth a look.
Laura D : thanks it seems from those fares that you can fly business class for the price of economy with BA or Virgin. definately be checking that out.
What are the flight durations with US airlines? Do any of them go direct or do they all use hubs?
CM

I would choose Lufthansa. Oops, that wasn't one of your choices. We flew Lufthansa to Italy, with a plane change in Frankfurt, Germany, and it was great.