Flying to USA
 

Hi

I'm travelling from UK to USA (London to New York) in July as part of my honeymoon.
Both my fiancee and I are bad flyers at the best of time - and with the recent delayed flights to East
Coast USA due to alerts - we are a bit worried.
Mostly worried that our flight could be delayed and we will miss part of our Honeymoon.

Any reassurances?...or are we right to be worried.

Thanks

Chris

What is it that you're asking?

I'm unsure that any of us can "reassure" you. In this day and age, security-driven flight delays on international and domestic flights are possible.

Dan's sort of said it all. Of course, it's possible. But way more flights still arrive safely and on time than don't. I think you just have to be ready to go with the flow. If you end up spending the first night of a honeymoon in an airport think what a great story it will be to tell the grandchildren.

Christma--

If you are flying over for a CRUISE, then come in a few days ADHEAD of time ,in case you are fearful of delays due to security...

If you are doing a land pkg,then you will have to do as we do...if flights are delayed, we just get on the next flight the airline allows us and fly to the destination...

What kind of honeymoon are you doing that a day or so delay will hurt?
Remember, the delays for security are for your protection...so don't worry..you will be put on the next available plan to the US IF this happens to you...

Have a great honeymoon...

sorry my typing is so bad....in a rush this morning....

Obviously part of me is worried about the risk of terrorism - though that on it's own wouldn't stop me. Biggest worry is that we're doing a 3 stop tour of America and I'm worried about being delayed (for days) and missing connecting flights etc

Chris

If there's any way possible, you should always allow a "safety" day stopover in your arrival city. That way if you are delayed a day, your whole trip isn't messed up, you just lose that "extra" day.

Well, the fact is that yes, you could be delayed by terrorist alerts or, more likely, by bad weather. Your honeymoon will happen wherever you are, you will not miss part of it, you just might not spend it all exactly where you expected!

Worrying accomplishes nothing, but as others have said, building in some flexibility would help.

Who knows - my husband just spent hours on a grounded plane while trying to fly Boston to California. Flight left 7 hours late. No real explanation.

Travel delays happen, whether as a result of alleged security issues or not. Weather delays, equipment delays are not unusual, as others have said, try not to have too tight a schedule and then roll with the punches. Some of the more interesting travel stories involve having to make alternative plans.

A friend came from the UK to NY last week on Virgin. He experienced a 4 hour delay before takeoff in London, with no explanation.

How many days are you planning on spending on each stop, and are you flying city-to-city? We flew from DC to San Diego at Christmas and experienced only slight delays, although we arrived 2 hours before each flight departed -- and coming back our flight left about 45 minutes late, but picked up the time in the air and we landed a bit early. (That seems to happen more often flying West to East than visa versa.) If a flight leaves in the late afternoon from New York, you might be delayed due to thunderstorms in July, but you really can't plan for that, and the airline would try its best to get you to a connecting flight or suitable replacement. (Last May thunderstorms meant we couldn't fly from Baltimore to Philadelphia for a flight to Europe, so USAirways put us in a cab to Philly. We made our flight easily, and noticed several groups for whom they'd done the same.)

Hi Christma

I have just flown back to the UK from America and had no problems. Security was reassuringly tight (we were searched a couple of times and once again at the gate prior to boarding the plane). Only delays were from London to Glasgow due to bad weather and quite a tight transfer time between terminals again due to the additional security. We had a great time. Hope your plans work out.

Hi

Thanks for the replies....how likely are thunderstorms in July??

Chris

Where?

Thunderstorms are possible but not especially likely in July - more common in August. The same for hurricanes. but there's no way to know about any of that before it happens. If it does, they'll just delay the plane's take off or divert to another city - its no big deal. I think you're worrying about this way too much. Unexpected events are part of any trip and you just need to roll with the punches. After all, you could have a plane drop onto your house - it's posible - it;s happened. But you just can't spend your life worrying about things like that or you'll never enjoy it.

Thunderstorms are common up and down the east coast and in the midwest in July and August. Storm activity in any of the major cities can cause delays elsewhere. I agree with uhoh_busted that you can't plan for it, but you can try to NOT schedule flights in the late afternoon when TS's are most common.

I understand this is your honeymoon and you want everything to go perfectly. But you can't control the weather. It won't ruin your holiday but you do have to be willing to roll with it or you'll be miserable.

Have reread these posts and perhaps I've been missing the point. You've been focussing on the delays as the issue but it seems like you really don;t want to make this trip at all. When you say you're bad flyers does that mean that you really hate it? that you'll be in hell for 8/9 hours of the trip? If that's what the issue is I have 2 recommendations. first, consider taking one of those fear of flying classes - they can help people who really have a flight phobia. Or 2, take your honeymoon somewhere you can drive to. that way you won;t spend all the time leading up to you wedding angsting about these flights.

Hi

nytraveller - you're kind of right.
We are desperate to make this trip - been looking forward to it for ages...but as time draws nearer and the more alerts that seem to happen - the more worried we become. It's all a matter of trying to balance our fears against how much we want to make the trip and finding a logical outcome.

Thanks

Chris

I think that you should carry on with your travel plans. Canceling your trip due to terrorist threats is exactly the sort of thing that the terrorists are hoping for. This is a worldwide problem that isn't going to go away for the foreseeable future. We just have to learn to live with it and carry on with our lives. It would probably be prudent to leave a day or two early.