Any tips on getting an affordable short-notice flight from UK to US?

We had an experience with Expedia a few years ago that has turned us off to buying from a website that isn't thr airline directly.  Good luck with the trip, I'll be thinking about you.

We should have followed your advice racheee, and you can be sure we will *never* use a third party again!!

You can imagine how upset I was when, at MiL's house in Manchester the night before we're due to fly out hubby went to print off our tickets.  Long story short, after being told our booking has been successful, given an itinerary, etc we found out we had been booked *and then cancelled* the next day!!  We spoke to someone at US Air but he wasn't able to find us seats on the PHL to FLL part of the journey, all kinds of replacement flights that would have been 30 hours or more stopping in very far away places like Paris.

We will have to reschedule for Feb when hubby has time off at half term again in order to spend any quality time with my dad.  If he gets much worse I can go over myself before then....

Oh no Andee!!! That's horrible. I'd be raging, for sure.     

That's terrible, Andee. I'm so sorry. 

Oh no! That's ridiculous. Ugh.

We should have followed your advice racheee, and you can be sure we will *never* use a third party again!!

You can imagine how upset I was when, at MiL's house in Manchester the night before we're due to fly out hubby went to print off our tickets.  Long story short, after being told our booking has been successful, given an itinerary, etc we found out we had been booked *and then cancelled* the next day!!  We spoke to someone at US Air but he wasn't able to find us seats on the PHL to FLL part of the journey, all kinds of replacement flights that would have been 30 hours or more stopping in very far away places like Paris.

We will have to reschedule for Feb when hubby has time off at half term again in order to spend any quality time with my dad.  If he gets much worse I can go over myself before then....

Are you *bleep*ing kidding me? I can not believe it.  I am so sorry,  what a pain in the ars*!

Just seeing this. 

So sorry to hear all that is going on with your dad and now the whole debacle with your plane tickets.  That's insane!  They should be ashamed, but sadly, you know they won't be.   

Oh Andee!  I just read this, that's crazy! I am so sorry, last thing you need is all that stress!

Ladies, thank you all for your supportive comments.  In a way it was a slight blessing as my dad's been doing nothing but sleeping all day at the moment.  He said he's looking forward to us coming when he's feeling better (I hope he does feel better at some point) and since we're now planning to go in Feb at half term we can book a longer trip, it won't be as rushed--just hope my dad does feel a bit better then....

He said he's looking forward to us coming when he's feeling better (I hope he does feel better at some point) and since we're now planning to go in Feb at half term we can book a longer trip, it won't be as rushed--just hope my dad does feel a bit better then....

I'm glad you get to spend more time with your dad. That's definitely a silver lining. I hope he's feeling better then.

Ladies, thank you all for your supportive comments.  In a way it was a slight blessing as my dad's been doing nothing but sleeping all day at the moment.  He said he's looking forward to us coming when he's feeling better (I hope he does feel better at some point) and since we're now planning to go in Feb at half term we can book a longer trip, it won't be as rushed--just hope my dad does feel a bit better then....

Glad to hear he's hopeful -- that's half the battle. Gives you more time too.

I'm sorry you didn't make the trip as you planned, Andee!

I booked direct with the airline (as I usually do) for this last trip (just got back) - and still got screwed!  We booked back in June for our Oct/Nov trip, where our original arrangements were that we were to leave the US on Tues Nov 6 and return to the UK on Wed Nov 7.

When I went to check in on Mon (Nov 5) for our flights (Baltimore to Atlanta to Manchester) - discovered the airline had changed our transatlantic flight from Tuesday to Wednesday & without telling us this!  So we were (at that time) scheduled to fly into Atlanta on Tuesday, then having to wait there (a whole day?!) until the flight out Wednesday!    Did they think we somehow wouldn't notice?!

Seeing red, I rang them up at which point they then explained they were no longer running a Tuesday-schedule Atlanta to Manchester flight, so they had just booked us onto the next one... 

Well all our plans on this end (hubby's work, ground transportation already arranged, booked & paid for etc) revolved around arriving on Wed.  So they reticketed us to go via Amsterdam & then over to Manchester - meaning two changes of flights, much longer travel time, and crappy seats on a fully booked transatlantic flight.  And no concessions from the airline, just a lot of customer service agents saying they were sorry & passing us on down the line to the next rep/gate agent/etc in our hopes of getting an upgrade or something for our troubles.  But we got here on Wed as scheduled.

I am going to make a formal written complaint on it this time, but doubt we'll see any redress.

However, I have now decided that I am actually a big fan of the lowcost airlines now - rather than the traditional carriers.  Yes, the lowcost pricing structure is silly & confusing, but as for the flights - they do what it says on the tin.  The best flight I have had in recent memory has actually been on Ryanair - yes really!  The worst trip ever was the one we just made home - it wasn't comfortable, easy, convenient or cheap.

A lowcost carrier couldn't have been any worse than what we just went through.  And I have changed my mind about the one-and-only-one carryon bag (handbag inclusive) policy...after seeing ever so many rude passengers taking the mick on this trip, such that not everyone onboard ends up with a place to store their carryon luggage.  I really hope that someone like Ryanair does start offering cheap flights to the US - I'll go for the one carryon & pay for a checked bag in return for a minute proportion of friendly relations vs our recent experience - we have your +-$1000, now bugger off because we simply just don't care!

 

I'm going to take a random stab in the dark and guess your airline was Delta, Mrs R? Sorry you had such a crappy experience! I've started only booking the  direct BA flight from Atl to LHR, now. It's slightly more, but the best experience I've had on a flight (I've flown it 3x now).

Yup!  Our problem is that we avoid flying from London - it means an extra trip/extra expenses/more time for us just to get down there (and back home again), vs flying out of Manchester or LBA.  And the options out of our nearest airports are a bit more limited.  

I have the Delta Skymiles thing which is pretty worthless, IMO.  The main reason I joined was hoping for enough miles for an upgrade at some point - except to get upgrade to Business Class, you have to first pay for a coach class ticket at some ridiculous price that no one in their right mind would ever pay anyway - might as well buy Business Class yourself for that!

Usually have reasonable experiences on their domestic (US) flights, but their transatlantic service completely sucks.

I have the Delta Skymiles thing which is pretty worthless, IMO.  The main reason I joined was hoping for enough miles for an upgrade at some point - except to get upgrade to Business Class, you have to first pay for a coach class ticket at some ridiculous price that no one in their right mind would ever pay anyway - might as well buy Business Class yourself for that!

In the FF community, Skymiles are known as SkyPesos for a reason. You're better off just saving up to book a whole itinerary in Business using Skymiles. Don't forget you can use them for KLM and AirFrance as well.

Yup!  Our problem is that we avoid flying from London - it means an extra trip/extra expenses/more time for us just to get down there (and back home again), vs flying out of Manchester or LBA.  And the options out of our nearest airports are a bit more limited.  

I have the Delta Skymiles thing which is pretty worthless, IMO.  The main reason I joined was hoping for enough miles for an upgrade at some point - except to get upgrade to Business Class, you have to first pay for a coach class ticket at some ridiculous price that no one in their right mind would ever pay anyway - might as well buy Business Class yourself for that!

Usually have reasonable experiences on their domestic (US) flights, but their transatlantic service completely sucks.

Delta are the worst transatlantic carrier by a country mile, I was devastated when Continental and Delta merged, meaning you never knew if you were going to get a nice Continental plane or annoying rubbish Delta. I've stopped using them completely, which means I'm down to AA.