July Trip - Suggestions London Air and Hotel...please!

The BIG QUESTION: how/when to find the most reasonable airfare

If you do a search on this forum for the "when to buy airfare" you will get a deluge of responses, but no real answer because airfare purchases are a dynamic thing and ever changing based of origin/destination points and demand. What may be a 'good' time to buy for a trip from LAX-LHR, may be a really bad time to buy a trip from DFW-CDG.
What is the best time to buy a trip from EWR-LHR/LGW? Only the airlines know and they ain't telling!

Buy it when it fits your budget. If your airfare budget is so sensitive, its probably not a good idea to buy a tour and then hope to find airfare.

We dound prices higher to/from US and London on weekends when recently booked our flights to/from LHR.

I was checking prices n British Airways yesterday ( actually looking at type of plane they are flying from SEA on specific dates in July and August) and was astounded at how low the Economy prices were. Specific dates were July 23 OB and August 5 IB. One flight combo wasnunder $1000 which is very low for summer for Seattle flights.

It should be less from the East Coast. I believe they have flights from EWR as well as JFK. These would be direct flights to London.

I checked July 12 to July 23 on BA and came up with $772 RT for a flight from EWR to LHR and back LHR to JFK.

Returning to EWR was a bit more, like $60 more, but probably worth it.

I am sure the East coasters can advise if that is a great price for July travel, but it looks pretty darn good to me.

I stayed solo at the London House Hotel and am staying there this year. It is a nice hotel, very reasonable but breakfast is extra. It is in Bayswater and around the corner from the hotel is two tube stations and you can walk through the park to Kensingtion Palace. There is also a nice pub on the main street near the tube stations. You don't say howm uch is moderately priced and London is expensive.

The BIG QUESTION: how/when to find the most reasonable airfare (from
Newark, NJ) to London (any airport)...BTW, I'm traveling solo. Any and
all recommendations will be appreciated. Thanks! BP

If you want to find "reasonable" airfares from EWR (Newark) to London IN JUNE, you need to be flexible. And I travel solo to the UK often.

Consider flying from JFK. I know it's a pain to get to JFK from NJ but depending on where you are in NJ, public transport or car service might be worth it if you're saving a lot of money by avoiding EWR. Look at fares flying into Gatwick too. So do some research using skyscanner.com from JFK and EWR going to LHR (Heathrow) and LGW (Gatwick).

If you want specific help regarding prices for hotels, define your budget -- don't just say 'most reasonable' because that doesn't provide specifics.

Check out Norwegian Air. Really good prices. They fly out of Newark, and JFK.

There are lots of well-priced hotels in Bayswater and in the neighborhood around Paddington Station, which serves both LHR and Windsor. Four tube lines also stop at Paddington, though in different places (they don't all intersect), so it's easy to get anywhere in London from there. But you needn't stay in that neighborhood because the tube serves the whole city. And the sights are spread out so there's no one "central" area as in some cities.

Use booking.com to look for hotels in different neighborhoods and price ranges, with reviews by people who have actually stayed there. Use Google Earth's "street view" to eyeball immediate surroundings. Book directly with the hotel if possible in case of problems later -- I've never seen a rate on booking.com that's better than the one offered by the hotel itself.

That fare Lola found from EWR sure looks good to me. I'm pretty sure fares will be going up, not down, between now and July. You might take a look at Icelandair, which costs less but routes you through Reykjavik so takes a little longer.

Norwegian Air is a good budget option, but you must consider that their lowest fare does not include seat selection, checked baggage, or meals. If you want any of those amenities, you pay extra. and if you want all three, it is cheaper to get the Economy + Fare.

Also, while they do fly out of EWR, those flights stop in Barcelona before heading to London, making the overall flight time 14 hours instead of the 7 hours that the direct flights from JFK take.

I looked at the same July days I priced above for British, this time on Norwegian Air.

The cheapest RT fare from JFK to London and back on those dates is $559. The outbound flight arrives in London at 23:15, so by the time you go through immigration and travel into London it is after midnight. If you want the overnight flight from JFK instead, arriving in London at 11 am, it is $85 more, for a total of $644.

If you want checked bags, meals, and free seat selection, the Economy + fare for the cheaper flights is $739. If you want to avoid the midnight arrival by taking the overnight flight on the way to London, the fare for Economy+ is $824, higher than the fare I found on British Airways. ( But note that BA charges extra for seat selection, so to compare apples with apples you would add $30 to the BA fare).

Thanks to everyone for advice on booking airline reservation. I was lucky and found a fare for $704+50. on edream to London via United and return from Lufthansa. I'm very pleased. I appreciate your input. Thanks again. BP

I gasped a little as I read that you had purchased through edreams....... Unfortunately, this company does not have a stellar reputation on the air travel forum over at trip advisor. I am hoping that all will go well for you and that you will not experience any difficulties. Certainly, the people who tend to post on an air travel forum about a company are those that have had difficulties, not those for whom all has gone well.

I would encourage you to keep a close eye on this reservation. The types of difficulties that have been reported in the past include an email back to the purchaser that that rate is no longer available and the need to purchase at a higher rate, difficulties in making any changes as necessary, and poor communication with the company. I would go so far as to check this reservation every few weeks to make sure that it remains on track.

Good luck to you on your trip. I know you will have a wonderful time.

Carol is being diplomatic when she says eDreams has a less than "stellar" reputation. It may all go well for you, but from seeing the hundreds of complaints on Tripadvisor, it seems that many times it does not.

Do you actually have a confirmed reservation with e-ticket? Has your credit card been charged? If the answer to both is yes, you have cleared the first hurdle. As Carol says, they are known for offering a low price and then after you book, they come back and say the flights at that price are gone, and ask for more money.

Assuming you do have a confirmed reservation and ticket, be sure to keep an eye on things as Carol suggests. They may or may not advise you of changes in the flight times.

I hope you are one of the lucky ones with no problems with this reservation.

edreams (hmm) or not, it is imperative that you purchase travel insurance. Insuremytrip.com will show you a variety of options from a range of insurance companies. There is a window of advantage soon after you first buy your tickets so don't delay.

I have found it advantageous to look at the various sites like Travelocity or Expedia and then book my ticket directly through the airline. And, for my next trip from EWR to LHR in April, I found Virgin Atlantic to be the most suitable, even though I did have to "buy" my seat.

Here are 96 pages of complains about edreams posted on TripAdvisor.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g1-i10702-k3482801-EDreams_reliability-Air_Travel.html

Look at post 944 for example. They did not get confirmation of slight times until after payment went through. Then it was not the flight they booked at all, instead it was one with a much longer layover.

Not trying to pile on, just posting as a warning to others who might be tempted by their cheap airfares.

Many thanks for your input regarding my inquiry on reasonable airfares from Newark to London. My special thanks about the edream site...whoa! I was lucky to book a decent fare on Expedia (American Airlines operated by BA) for $740. RT...nottoo bad! :-) This is a great forum and I truly appreciate everyone's suggestions/comments. Thanks again!!

I like Orbit, used them to
Book air/ hotel package for my London trip among many others- found a great hotel on there and loved it! Was clean, great staff, beautifully decorated, small bar with friendly bartenders, easy to get to by public transport, tourist sites you can walk to, just lovely
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/lonse-st.-ermins-hotel-autograph-collection/

Thanks to everyone for additional recommendations. Regards,

BP