My daughter and a friend are flying from Chicago to London in June to join a student tour group, and it’s my job to find the flight. The tour company wanted $1300 for each round trip ticket, and I thought I could do better. But how…I don’t know. I’m afraid to try Priceline for something so major. It has to be a non-stop. Plus the dates are quite specific: they have to be there for the start of the tour.
Thanks for any help!
You can do better.
I always start with sidestep.com to see what the various options are. Enter LON as the airport code as this will show all of the various London airports. Once I identify which airlines are options, I typically go directly to the airline sites. Sometimes I have found better deals on expedia. It pays to shop around.
If it has to be non-stop, you will be limited to just a couple of airlines.
I don't think that priceline will let you specify non-stop.
I have learned by reading this page, that the best way to get the lowest fare is to keep searching every day. Fares change daily; so you might find the lowest fare tomorrow.
There is no way to tell; that's why experienced travelers advise to keep searching. And buy when you find your fare because it may not be there tomorrow.
Do you then keep checking Sidestep every day? Is that the best search that covers everything? I just wonder if I am doing this in the most efficient way. If it’s not an organized search it stresses me out and I might make a mistake.
And what IS a good fare? W ill the best one get past me because I just don’t know? Last night the cheapest I found for non-stop was $975. My husband flew to Asia last year for less than that and says that price is way too high.
Related issue:
I need it to be a non-stop (I don’t want to risk the kids missing a connection), there must be ways to find out which airlines and which airports would have those, without checking one by one. On my end, I’m about equidistant between Milwaukee and O’Hare in Chicago. But would Milwaukee have non-stop flights to London?
And when I do a search for London, about 6 airports show up. I know Heathrow is the biggest and maybe Gatwick second. I assume there is no point in my checking those others because I doubt a non-stop would be going to those. Am I right?
Linnea -
Chicago would be the best airport since it does have non-stop international flights. American and United are based there so those would be 2 to begin with. Also check Kayak.com and sign up for a fare watch. June is the beginning of high season and sales have not quite begun yet for that time. You may want to wait a few weeks to see what comes up.
Airlines w/nonstop from ORD to LHR:
American
United
British Airways
Continental
Virgin
bmi
$975 from the West Coast in June on strict dates is pretty reasonable. From Chicago...hm, you can probably do a bit better, but I wouldn't use the Asia flight as a comparison.
Because you have two pretty strict parameters (nonstop and dates), you may have to bite the bullet and pay a somewhat higher fare to get those other two things.
I used vayama.com last year and got a good deal. Their service was reliable.
As I said in my topic, if your daughter and friend are both students and under the age of 26, then it may be easy to find a really good deal. Check out statravel.com (got my tickets from Denver to London for $687, although we have a 5 hour layover in Houston) and studentuniverse.com
One thing you can also do is one you find a fare you like, go directly to that airline's website and see if they can do better. I prefer to buy directly from the airline.
If there is a problem, and you bought directly, it's the airline's responsibility to fix it. If you bought it from a third party, they could say you have to deal with that third party (whoever you purchased the ticket from.)
Just my preference.
The others have given you good advice, but I just wanted to say - I'm shocked to see someone else from BG here!! YAY!
Edit: Try using Kayak to search for flights - what time a year are you looking at? I think you can do much better than 1300 for ORD to LHR... I've seen as low as 500 or 600 (but if you're looking for tickets in the middle of the summer, it will be more like 800).
Wow, you're right! What a shocker! I never see my town show up on any forums!
Great advice so far, all: I really appreicate it!
Check out American Airlines at www.aa.com. They have a non-stop flight from ORD(O'Hare International-Chicago) to LHR (London Heathrow)for $822 round trip. I didn't know your exact dates in June so I popped in some random dates. The price does change depending on the day of the week you want to fly.
Hi Linnea,
Kayak and Sidestep are now owned by the same company, so the sites are pretty comparable. Sidestep has a "faretracker" option where you can sign up to have fare info for a particular trip sent to you daily or weekly.
Since you are limited to non-stop out of Chicago, you might also go to the specific airlines that serve London from Chicago (e.g. Virgin, AA, BA, United etc.) and sign up for their newsletters. You will get lots of junk mail from them, but you will also get emails when fares go on sale.
You stated, "there must be ways to find out which airlines and which airports would have those, without checking one by one". There is a way. Use "LON" for the airport code which will get you Heathrow, Gatwick and all the other London airports. Also, when you get the results back from sidestep or kayak, click on "nonstop".
Good Luck.
Hello neighbors in Buffalo Grove!!!!
We do have a lot of "Groves" in Chicagoland!
A couple months ago I got tickets at US Air for $620 round trip to Frankfurt. They fluctuate constantly going up to a high/low of $1200 so you have to check frequently. Before this price it was even cheaper but I couldn't get ahold of anyone else who was going with us because it was 1:00 am. Then it went way up by the next day, and a few days later dropped again.
Try www.skyscanner.net. I have found some good fares.
I found my flight from Chicago to Paris for $730 which includes all fees and taxes. The flight dates are 5/23 - 5/31. Aer Lingus ususally has cheaper fares.
Try Airfarewatchdog.com. Put in the airports your willing to leave from and the arrival airports. You'll get an update on the lowest fares as they change. Is there a special reason it has to be non-stop? You'll get a much cheaper rate if you're willing to change planes at least once.
If it were me, a stopover would be no problem. But I am sending 2 teens who have never flown without a parent to tell them what to do, and when to do it, and where to stand in line in an airport! If they missed a connection they would not know what to do. It would cost me more than I would potentially save in stress.
Well, to be honest, I'm from Chicago, too, and no matter how much I read about 'deals' and 'online bargains,' we always pay $1200.00+, each! My own experience is that there are no best deals unless you have 100 percent flexibility in your schedule and don't mind many transfers and long, long flights!
Gio, it depends on where you are going. I have traveled repeatedly to Ireland and Europe and never paid anywhere near your $1200. I always go nonstop,and I'm usually pretty firm with my dates. My most recent trip was not a nonstop, but had one change in Miami for a flight to Costa Rica ($387 roundtrip in December). I think the key is getting signed up with numerous farewatcher-type email notifications, both from various airlines and from places like Shermans Travel and Travelzoo. You do have to be willing to buy right away if you see a good deal, but they are out there.
I don’t know what price IS actually a good deal, it just seems like even the lowest I have found, $950, seems too high. But maybe it’s right on target.
British Airways has ORD-LHR tickets for $761. I enjoyed my flight on BA much more than my flight on American, which was very uncomfortable.
Look at American Airlines. We are flying RT Columbus, OH to London through Chicago (nonstop from Chicago) mid May to beginning June for about $450 each. That cheap little ticket will cost me a bundle.
Denny, I'm not sure what you mean by "That cheap little ticket will cost me a bundle." ?
Must be frustrating to fly west (to Chicago) to be then able to fly east (to London).
I have alerts set up with American, it’s still really high as of this morning, $1084 for a Chicago to London non-stop.
I have been checking daily, as suggested, and have fare alerts set up on Kayak. But the price has fluctuated by only a dollar or two up and down since I started.
Considering it’s mid-March, I don’t know how long I should keep this up. Since it’s now only 3 months until departure, won’t fares start going up now?
Thank you SO much! That was a big drop so I decide to jump on it! I had been monitoring British Air as the airline I’d like if the price was right. I’ve flown it only once but I liked it very much.
I booked through Orbitz (it didn’t cost much more) because they have a price guarantee in case the price goes down. I appreciate all the helpful advice!
Linnea..Glad to hear that it has all worked out. A big difference in pricing depending upon May or June departures I think. Flying west to Chicago won't be too bad because we pick up the hour we lost, but it enables us to fly during the day and get to London at 11:00pm their time. We are hoping that will beat the all-nighter with no sleep. As to the "cheap little ticket/bundle"...I am often accused by the partner of espousing the "Save a little, Spend a lot" school of economic reasoning. Because I found a cheapo ticket to London we now have the opportunity to spend bazillions on a 2 week trip to England when we otherwise would have been happily ensconced on the sofa. But we are ready to roll! We were in London 17 years ago and had a wonderful time and were treated with kindness everywhere we went. We're 2 retired educators here...hang on to your hat! You'll have a ball.
The trip is not for me…sigh. It’s for my daughter and her friend. Both of whom are graduating high school a few days before the trip and starting college in the fall. Our son got to go to Europe with a school group at that age and we always promised her she would get the chance too. Our family went to England 16 years ago when my husband had to work there for 2 weeks, but our daughter was 2 and remembers very little.
Wish I had had the chance to take a month long Europe trip at that age. Or any age! I have to stay home and make the money for the trip. Maybe when I retire!
