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General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Reschke on May 02, 2005, 02:55:43 PM

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: Reschke on May 02, 2005, 02:55:43 PM

My wife's cousin is getting married in July and we would like to go for the wedding since his parents will not be able to attend. However the cost is simply more than what I can fathom. Just checking prices through American Airlines and British Airways partnership for Coach its $10K USD for full fare and in business/first class its $21K USD. Both of these prices are for two adults traveling.

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: Tarmac on May 02, 2005, 03:06:24 PM

That can't be right.  Who are you talking to?  What city are you flying into and out of?

For reference, I flew round trip to London for 900 bucks about two years ago.  With the current state of airlines, I can't imagine that prices have changed that much.  I went through a travel agent, too, and that was with comission included.

ed: looks like prices are similar -- 900 to a grand from Detroit to London.  Have you looked into taking a regional carrier from Gatwick/Heathrow to your destination?

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: mora on May 02, 2005, 03:42:10 PM

The flights from New York to UK are generally under $600. The cheapest roundtrip prices are around $250. I wouldn't personally pay more than $800 return from Alabama to Scotland. Try different search engines, the airlines themselves don't allways give their best prices at their websites.

If you give me cities and dates I can look something up for you.

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: eagl on May 02, 2005, 03:51:31 PM

If it's really expensive direct to Scotland, you could try American Airlines to London and pick up a local carrier to Scotland.  Depending on how far in advance you book, you can get tickets on the discount carriers for $2 plus fees, which works out to about $60 per ticket.  If you do though, read their luggage restrictions VERY CAREFULLY.  For example, Ryanair lets each passenger carry a toothbrush and comb, then charges about $50/lb for checked baggage.

Ok that's a small exaggeration, but you get the idea.

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: JB73 on May 02, 2005, 03:59:52 PM

guessing you are flying from birmingham to somewhere unnamed in scottland, it is hard to say


i just chose glasgow as a destination because putting in scottland gave a whole bunch of names i did not know

orbitz says you are 133t

or $1337 LMFAO at the "l33t" thing for 2 round trip leaving july 1 and returning july 15 (you didn't mention dates of the trip

it's even cheaper on multiple carriers or more than 2 stops.


$10,000 makes me go WTF were you looking at to get a price like that??

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: Reschke on May 02, 2005, 04:08:41 PM

We are looking into round trip out of Birmingham, AL into Edinburgh.

I just got off the phone with Continental with a round trip cost of $5600 USD in first class. That is one stop in Newark before direct into EDI bypassing London/Gatwick.

Also just got off the phone with American Airlines and the lady I spoke with told me there was a "hiccup" with the reservations earlier today that sent prices sky high. She even offered me 4 round trip first class/business class tickets if I had purchased those 20K tickets earlier. Now the price is $4100USD each going through AA.com for them. I almost wish I had purchased those high dollar tickets but the corporate Amex would have screamed bloody murder on that charge. :eek: BTW the flight on AA would have gone from Birmingham-Dallas-Gatwick-Edi.

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: Hangtime on May 02, 2005, 04:09:33 PM

(http://www.joe-ks.com/archives_jul2004/GayPlaneTail.jpg)

Round trip discount fares available...

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: Chairboy on May 02, 2005, 04:21:24 PM

One way to save money is to be flexible.  Instead of specifying the exact time you want to fly, go to a place like travelocity that has a fare watcher and tell it the cities you want to fly from/to and let it show you the best fares.  You look at the dates they are available and see if any of the low cost (as in, sub 1500) fares are compatible with your plans.

People who specify "I wish to leave at 8:20 on this day, then return at 5:32 on this other day" usually screw themselves out of a much cheaper fare.

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: Bodhi on May 02, 2005, 05:05:12 PM

$1123 a person coach on northwest airlines.

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: Bodhi on May 02, 2005, 05:07:10 PM

$1051 w/ one stop coach on priceline flying on continental

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: Schaden on May 02, 2005, 05:24:53 PM

Try expedia.com

http://www.expedia.co.uk

NY to Heathrow for 2 people is £402 on Virgin or about USD750.00, never ever trust the airlines, Expedia has great deals.

Heathrow to Edinburgh is about £70 per head on Sleazyjet or about £160 by train.

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: Staga on May 02, 2005, 05:29:04 PM

For example, prices for single person. DUg out from EBookers:

American Airlines
Continental Airlines
Total :  $ 1072 p.p.   ($ 1219 incl. tax)
     American Airlines
     Continental Airlines : Economy
     Depart : 16Jun 09:45  from Birmingham [BHM]
                     - 2 Stops / via Newark [EWR]  London [LHR]  / 17h 25m
     Arrival : 17Jun 09:10 to Edinburgh [EDI] +1

     Depart : 23Jun 09:05  from Edinburgh [EDI]
                     - 2 Stops / via London [LHR]  New York [JFK]  / 17h 45m
     Arrival : 23Jun 20:50 to Birmingham [BHM]

 

Continental Airlines  
Total :  $ 1146 p.p.   ($ 1264 incl. tax)
     Continental Airlines : Economy
     Depart : 16Jun 09:45  from Birmingham [BHM]
                     - 1 Stop / via Newark [EWR]  / 15h 55m
     Arrival : 17Jun 07:40 to Edinburgh [EDI] +1

     Depart : 23Jun 09:10  from Edinburgh [EDI]
                     - 1 Stop / via Newark [EWR]  / 17h 40m
     Arrival : 23Jun 20:50 to Birmingham [BHM]

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: beet1e on May 02, 2005, 06:19:43 PM

If flying AA, you could fly direct from Chicago to Manchester. From there, it's even drivable to Edinburgh, or maybe you could get a train.

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: Pei on May 02, 2005, 07:11:57 PM

Quote

Originally posted by beet1e
If flying AA, you could fly direct from Chicago to Manchester. From there, it's even drivable to Edinburgh, or maybe you could get a train.

It would be cheaper, quicker, more reliable and much less frustrating to get a shuttle flight to Edinburgh from Manchester. British Midland (http://www.flybmi.com) are usually good for that kind of flight. When I fly back to the UK at Xmas I go into LHR and get a BMI flight north to Leeds or Teeside, usually for less than 40 quid.

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: Chairboy on May 02, 2005, 07:14:29 PM

Quote

Originally posted by Pei
usually for less than 40 quid.

Can you please convert that into wittlesburg farthings or St. Luxembourg Danamarks so the rest of us can follow the conversation?

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: Pei on May 02, 2005, 07:16:35 PM

Quote

Originally posted by Chairboy
Can you please convert that into wittlesburg farthings or St. Luxembourg Danamarks so the rest of us can follow the conversation?

quid = pounds

http://www.xe.com/ucc/

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: Reschke on May 02, 2005, 10:55:29 PM

Thanks for the help. I wouldn't mind hopping a train or commuter flight up there or even renting a car and driving the distance.

For those of you who live in Britain what is the distance and allowed highway speeds between London and Edinburgh? I have never been to England and or Scotland and would like to take a few days to tour after the wedding before coming home. After all it would be really close to the 10th wedding anniversary for my wife and I and we could just call it our anniversary trip.

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: beet1e on May 03, 2005, 07:55:49 AM

Quote

Originally posted by Reschke
For those of you who live in Britain what is the distance and allowed highway speeds between London and Edinburgh?

About 400 miles. Legal speed limit is 70mph, but most people do more like 80-90.

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: Tarmac on May 03, 2005, 01:45:18 PM

The train ride from London to Edinburgh is beautiful, especially if you've never been there before.  It's a little over 4 hours, iirc.  

Also,  if you fly into London, the RAF museum at Hendon is only a 30 minute subway ride, and Duxford (the best air museum I've ever been to) is only 45 minutes by train.  In July you might also be able to catch an airshow, or at least see a bunch of warbirds flying.    If you'll be there the 9th and 10th, they're having their huge WWII airshow.  I highly recommend it.

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: Replicant on May 03, 2005, 01:49:11 PM

Quote

Originally posted by Reschke
Thanks for the help. I wouldn't mind hopping a train or commuter flight up there or even renting a car and driving the distance.

For those of you who live in Britain what is the distance and allowed highway speeds between London and Edinburgh? I have never been to England and or Scotland and would like to take a few days to tour after the wedding before coming home. After all it would be really close to the 10th wedding anniversary for my wife and I and we could just call it our anniversary trip.

Train would take about 6-7 hours from London Heathrow to Edinburgh (ex used to travel to Edinburgh from 100 miles north of London and that used to take 4 - 5 hours).  Distance, including tube from LHR, is about 450 miles (did a train time check and it's about 6 hours plus waiting times at Heathrow and at London Kings Cross so you can add up to another hour).

I think that Glasgow would be the cheapest international destination in Scotland (think flying into Edinburgh is more expensive).  Glasgow to Edinburgh is about 1 hour by train.

I did a search of flying into Glasgow International (NOT Prestwick!!) and I got the price to $1,046 which is pretty reasonable.  Flying into Edinburgh is about $200 more.  London Heathrow is about $150 more plus you need to get from London to Edinburgh!

I would recommend flying straight into Glasgow.  

If you did want to visit an aircraft museum then there is one about 15 miles from Edinburgh called 'Museum of Flight - East Fortune' (http://www.nms.ac.uk/flight/index.asp).  I've been there and it's okay, obviously not as good as the ones down south but they have a Concorde, Me163, Beaufighter, Blenheim (latter two awaiting construction - check for access) plus other aircraft.  Most impressive thing for me was that the airfield has many buildings untouched since WW2.

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: mora on May 03, 2005, 02:05:57 PM

The most cheapest way would be to get a $50 flight with JetBlue or something similar to NYC and get a $300 roundtrip flight to Scotland from there, they do excist but you have to shop around.

The last time I went to states I flew HEL-JFK-FLA for $550 return.

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: Tarmac on May 06, 2005, 08:16:57 AM

I emailed a friend who routinely flies from detroit to edinburgh.  Here's her reply.  This applies to detroit, but hopefully it'll give you some ideas.  

-------------------
ROUTES
Strongly Suggested:  Northwest/KLM on the Detroit-Amsterdam-Edinburgh route.
BIG advantage is that you don't have to go through customs/immigration in
Amsterdam.  The Dutch don't bother since you're going to be leaving their
country very soon on your connecting flight.  Another good point is that
Amsterdam Schipol airport has good signage so no trouble getting to departure
gate.  Only small downside to going through Amsterdam is that they're on the
Euro; if you wanted to buy anything in the airport you'd need to hit a cash
machine to get the correct currency (or charge it on a credit card and accept
any currency conversion fees charged by credit card company).
Customs/immigration in Edinburgh is quick and painless.

Second Best:  Continental on the Detroit-Newark-Glasgow route.  Shorter flying
time.  No customs/immigration until you hit Edinburgh.  Downside = you'd need
to catch a train from Glasgow to Edinburgh (about an hour, $30).

Not Recommended:  British Airways on the Detroit-London-Edinburgh way, you have
to go through customs/immigration in London and that is a HUGE pain in the ass.
Last time I went that way, it took me four hours to get through.

COST OF FLYING
Check out lastminute.com.  Flights in July will always be more expensive due to
the time of year.  I found one for about $1187 round-trip in July on the
Northwest/KLM route.  Tip:  try to fly on a Tuesday or Wednesday as it's less
expensive.

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: Replicant on May 06, 2005, 09:44:52 AM

I would avoid going via Amsterdam.  Almost everyone I know who has flown via Amsterdam (UK to Germany) has had problems with their luggage going missing.  I think they have a real problem there.

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: Toad on May 06, 2005, 10:02:15 AM

Fly Haggis International... you'll love the cuisine!

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: Replicant on May 06, 2005, 10:04:19 AM

Oooh, I could just eat a haggis!  Lovely food! :D

Title: What is the best airline carrier going into Scotland?
Post by: Tarmac on May 06, 2005, 10:34:15 AM

Quote

Originally posted by Toad
Fly Haggis International... you'll love the cuisine!

If you don't think about what you're eating, haggis is pretty good.