Booking flights to US for 2 adults + 4 kids

Manuel

Hi,
I have been shopping around for a while for flights to the US next Spring.
The price variations are enormous on different dates, even within the same airline and route.

But I found a booking on Delta's own website, Dublin to Washington, for 2,500 for the 6 of us.

I can't imagine I'd get any better than that. I guess at that price there'll be no changing dates etc allowed, but it's very tempting.

We would be staying with friends/relations for most of the time, so the flights are the biggest cost consideration.

Just wondering what folks think. For example, any pitfalls I should look out for? Will Delta start adding extra cost for standard luggage etc if I proceed with the booking?

I feel a bit apprehensive about spending so much money on an online booking - especially under the assumption that no changes will be allowed ...


Is 6 months in advance a good time to book (to save money) .. or do you think it's too early?

Any advice welcome. Thanks.

/M.

él statutorio

Manuel wrote: »

Hi,
I have been shopping around for a while for flights to the US next Spring.
The price variations are enormous on different dates, even within the same airline and route.

But I found a booking on Delta's own website, Dublin to Washington, for 2,500 for the 6 of us.

I can't imagine I'd get any better than that. I guess at that price there'll be no changing dates etc allowed, but it's very tempting.

We would be staying with friends/relations for most of the time, so the flights are the biggest cost consideration.

Just wondering what folks think. For example, any pitfalls I should look out for? Will Delta start adding extra cost for standard luggage etc if I proceed with the booking?

I feel a bit apprehensive about spending so much money on an online booking - especially under the assumption that no changes will be allowed ...


Is 6 months in advance a good time to book (to save money) .. or do you think it's too early?

Any advice welcome. Thanks.

/M.

That's fantastic value, if it was me, I'd be paying it.

The best value I ever got was €280 return to LA and that was when the € was at about 1.6 to the $.

Manuel

Sorry, I should have been more specific. It's 2500 Euros for the 6 of us (not USD).

It's still by far the cheapest I've seen so far ...

I think I would prefer to book through the airline than any third party, as someone helpfully recommended on this forum.

One other thing: while shopping around, I considered flying to JFK and taking the train to DC, instead of the connecting flight. The very same flight just DUB-JFK on its own was more expensive than the two hops to DC, DUB-JFK then JFK-BWI. Is this common? Seems odd.

Thanks.
/M.

Neadine

Manuel wrote: »

Sorry, I should have been more specific. It's 2500 Euros for the 6 of us (not USD).

It's still by far the cheapest I've seen so far ...

I think I would prefer to book through the airline than any third party, as someone helpfully recommended on this forum.

One other thing: while shopping around, I considered flying to JFK and taking the train to DC, instead of the connecting flight. The very same flight just DUB-JFK on its own was more expensive than the two hops to DC, DUB-JFK then JFK-BWI. Is this common? Seems odd.

Thanks.
/M.

If you're just going to fly into JFK, you should get your friends/family to check out domestic flight from their end, with American IPs domestic flights seem to come up cheaper than looking at them from this end, in my experience.
Also, there is a bus service that is far cheaper than the train, used it last year, it's about 3.5 hour bus ride from NYC to DC and cost about $30, maybe less.
There are some amazing deals on flights at the moment. I usually head over in November and booked flights in July to DC, for E380 return, thought it was took good to be true at the time, but they are all mine.

steel header

I live here in NY though I take my sister and her 2 kids out here every couple of years. She came last time with Delta and she said they were great. I don't recall her mentioning anything about extra fee's. I made the booking's here 6/7 months beforehand. It's never to early to book, if you want the best prices.

Different prices for different airports is not unusual here. If I was booking a flight to Ireland say for tomorrow, I would fly from Newark, NJ. I know it will be 200/300 cheaper than JFK. Why this is I'm not sure.

Neadine

Manuel wrote: »

Hi,
I have been shopping around for a while for flights to the US next Spring.
The price variations are enormous on different dates, even within the same airline and route.

But I found a booking on Delta's own website, Dublin to Washington, for 2,500 for the 6 of us.

I can't imagine I'd get any better than that. I guess at that price there'll be no changing dates etc allowed, but it's very tempting.

We would be staying with friends/relations for most of the time, so the flights are the biggest cost consideration.

Just wondering what folks think. For example, any pitfalls I should look out for? Will Delta start adding extra cost for standard luggage etc if I proceed with the booking?

I feel a bit apprehensive about spending so much money on an online booking - especially under the assumption that no changes will be allowed ...


Is 6 months in advance a good time to book (to save money) .. or do you think it's too early?

Any advice welcome. Thanks.

/M.

Did you check out United?? During the summer they were flying direct Dub-DC

él statutorio

Manuel wrote: »

Sorry, I should have been more specific. It's 2500 Euros for the 6 of us (not USD).

It's still by far the cheapest I've seen so far ...

I think I would prefer to book through the airline than any third party, as someone helpfully recommended on this forum.

One other thing: while shopping around, I considered flying to JFK and taking the train to DC, instead of the connecting flight. The very same flight just DUB-JFK on its own was more expensive than the two hops to DC, DUB-JFK then JFK-BWI. Is this common? Seems odd.

Thanks.
/M.

I know it's Euros, it's a great price.

As regards DC, would you drive it?

I drove from DC to upstate NY back in May and it was grand.

Manuel

Neadine wrote: »

Did you check out United?? During the summer they were flying direct Dub-DC

Yep. It's €4,500 and involves returning via O'Hare! Outward non-stop ...

I've seen other airlines coming in around the 3,000 mark, but nothing close to that Delta price (so far) ...

Edit: Scratch that, Air France website just threw up the exact same Delta flights for €100 less :-)

lil_lisa

I always use kayak.com, they're pretty good at searching most airlines.

Manuel

Thanks for the help, it's much appreciated.

Sorry if this has been asked and answered before, but if you book a trip like this, where 75% of the cost is taxes, can you re-claim that tax if you don't/can't travel, and if so is it difficult to claim back?

Thanks again.
/M.

mikewest

are you using www.skyscanner.com or .ie for your flight searching. It can turn up some real surprises in terms of cost and airlines!

Manuel

Thanks for the tip Mike.

Skyscanner throws up the same flights, then directs me to lastminute.com for a total price about €200 cheaper than via airfrance.ie ...

Just wondering what's the catch? What are the risks and pitfalls of booking through lastminute.com instead of directly with the airline?

Sorry for all the questions, it's just that it's a lot of money (to me) .....

Thanks again.

/M.

Manuel

I monitor flight prices weekly and I noticed this week that the flights I was looking at have all gone up about 30 Euro E/W each (about 300 Euro in total) in one jump since I started looking in early September.

Just wondering how often do the airlines review their prices, or is it pretty random? In my case it's mainly Air France/Delta flights.

I juggled my dates around but I notice they've gone up across the board this week.

Time to bite that bullet :-)

athtrasna

Manuel wrote: »

I monitor flight prices weekly and I noticed this week that the flights I was looking at have all gone up about 30 Euro E/W each (about 300 Euro in total) in one jump since I started looking in early September.

Just wondering how often do the airlines review their prices, or is it pretty random? In my case it's mainly Air France/Delta flights.

I juggled my dates around but I notice they've gone up across the board this week.

Time to bite that bullet :-)

They are fluid in most cases, constantly changing based on factors such as quantity of tickets sold and the price of oil. Generally new fares are uploaded twice a week.