transporting my children for summer holidays overseas

  just a little frustrated as to how i'm supposed to find good air rates for flying my children back and forth for holiday visits once i move to the UK. I have to fly with them both as my daughter is 7 and my son is 10...any ideas or advice as to where i can find dirt cheap flights both going to and coming from the UK-USA?? Most appreciative if anyone can help out here 

I feel your pain.  My hubby's kids are all under 12 and still live in the UK.  We still go over and visit them cause it's so expensive to go and get them and bring them to the US for a visit. 

If you fly before June 1 for the summer, the tickets will be cheeper.  Also, if you have the return within 30 days, the price is less.  American lets kids between the ages of 5-10 fly unacommpanied as long as they don't change planes.  They can change planes unacommpanied when they turn 11.  We don't do this, as his kids don't want to fly by themselves. 

Northwest has tickets for around $300 to London from time to time.  Continental does the same deal, but it might only be when the kids are in school.

Hope this helps a bit.

Thanks a ton, I'll keep that in mind for sure, we'll be flying my daughter to the UK and my son the the USA so whatever we end up doing it'll be a fair swap..LOL... but school in the states never gets out before June 5th...so I suppose i can plan for later than that and purchase the tickets earlier than that and basically it sounds like I'll be doing some bargain shopping.....

Hi, been there ... LisaE and I are in Rome this weekend with the transported child and I'll write more fully here when we get back.  You CAN get good fares, and good service - just harder to find.

I can relate.  I have 2 daughters the same age, 7 and 10, and I also have to fly with them.  It's pricey to say the least.  What I did was buy a return ticket for myself the day before they fly back with me and the day after I return them.  Then buy return tickets for myself and my girls to the UK and back.  It helps if you can buy them as early as possible.  The price goes up the longer you wait.  I also bought my tickets from the US to the UK through my friend's travel website http://www.darksandstravel.com  She was able to get me a pretty good rate on tickets and saved me about £100. 

Best of luck!

Just curious...

Baccaboo mentioned something about ages.  My sd is 10 now and has made 2 unaccompanied direct flights to S FL from Seattle now, last Christmas and this last summer, and we've just booked her for this summer.

Is there an age restriction for international travel, and that's why your 10-y-olds can't fly alone?

The only restrictions I've found is they can't change planes until they are 11, and they can't fly alone until they are 5.  You have to buy an adult ticket and pay extra $60 for the flight attendant to keep an eye on them. I'm sure other airlines have similar deals.

We've never tried it, because the kids don't want to fly by themselves.  So we visit them and get a hotel.

Virgin doesn't charge extra for its "youth programme" service.  Don't know the ages, though.  Just used them for the first time to send my oldest to the US for a visit by himself.  He's 16 and has obviously flown before, but never alone.  His name is amended on his passport and he has Further Leave to Remain here in the UK, so I just figured it was easier if he had someone to help him through immigration at both ends.

well, here's the full scenario, so that there's no confusion, both of my children have different fathers, my daughter lives with her father,and will be remaining in the USA with him, my son lives, and is moving with me, so I will be literally swapping children with fathers at the airport. My son will travel to the USA with me to go see his father, and then my daughter will return to the UK with me to visit with me. My son, I'm sure, could fly alone because he is 10, but my daughter can't, because a) she is 7, and b) her dad prohibits anyone accompanying her on her flights besides myself. All of this travel, of course, is at my expense, because of the american friend of the court system, which also is fine with me, I just want to save a penny anywhere I can during this traveling, if yanno what I mean.

Dont know where you are going in the USA but Air India has dirt cheap flights all year round. We paid just £199.00 in the summertime! They fly into Chicago from Heathrow a few days a week and I think maybe New York but not for certain. The only problem is the flights are always overbooked and very full so seating can be a problem. We had to ask people to change with us so we could sit close together. Check out their website and book as early as possible as the cheap seats sell out quickly.
Also I used to work for American Airlines and at that time the age limit was 12 for unaccompanied child. Also keep this in mind about unaccompanied minors. (only speaking about American Airlines). They will never book an unaccompanied child on the last flight of the day.
Best of luck
Pebbles

Alot of the travel sites alow you to sign up to be notified when tickets between the destinations you specify go on sale.  But be sure to watch both the US and the UK sites.  It sometimes works out cheeper to buy the ticket in the country of departure.