Booking connection from regional US airport

A wild guess here, your airport is only served by Southern Airways Express or its the only airline that code shares with an internatinal airlie (United) and Southern Airways Express hasnt published their summer 2026 scheudle. If you look March 2026 and earlier you will find flights. Wait a few months and check agian.

As for booking separate flights, that carries a lot of risk, if there is a problem getting to the hub, you are out the cost of a ticket, or having to re-book at last minute rates. You can mitigate that with time (fly to the hub the day before?) or with money (by booking fully refundable/changeable tickets)

Separate flight will also mean getting checked bags, checking in with the second airline, going through security again. Much of that can be avoided by not checking any bags.

An option might be to use a little larger regional airport, like Harrisburg or Allentown. A couple hours of driving, but maybe worth the risk mitigation.

From what I can see, only Southern Airways Express flies out of Williamsport. You will need to drive to a larger airport to really make this work.

I'll add...

how do I talk directly to an airline or travel agent to set up a single flight package?

A travel agent can buy you tickets, and make it look like a single package, but it would just be two separate itineraries and offer no more of a guarantee.

You could possibly contact Southern Airways Express, see if they offer any connection services. They seem to indicate they have interline agreements with American and United, not sure what is offered out of Williamsport (looks like your only option is to fly to Washington-Dulles), but they might be able to issue you a single ticket.

Thanks for your replies!

I'll check back later to see if the updated flight info gives us more options. I hadn't thought to check earlier flights to see what's regularly offered.

Your warnings about missing connections and needing to re-check bags & pass through security verify my initial concern. (I hesitate to suggest to my wife that we travel without bags!)

We've flown out of Newark and JFK before, usually to save money on the flight--the 3-hour drive and parking create the most anxious leg of the trip. It may be a pipedream to leave from an airport that's 10 minutes away from home.

If you can make your way to Philadelphia, American Airlines has nonstop service to Edinburgh.

And from Dulles, United has nonstop to Edinburgh.

Fares for next August are as low as $774 round trip.

It's not necessarily a 100% pipedream, but if you focus exclusively on flying from your small local airport, it'll limit your options down to near-zero (it appears the only options would begin with a single flight to Dulles) and will very likely be more expensive and/or increase travel time, possibly introducing other potential headaches - compared to flying out of a bigger international hub.

If you can get to Philadelphia, you will have multiple options to choose from (American has nonstops to both Edinburgh and London, and British Air to London).

From Newark, you'll have nonstop options on United to Edinburgh, and both United or British Airways to London.

Even more options if you can depart from JFK: Delta and Jetblue nonstops to Edinburgh; British Air, American, Delta, JetBlue and Virgin Atlantic all have nonstops to London. Virgin Atlantic and Aer Lingus have nonstops to Manchester. And if you're willing to connect in Europe, there are lots more options for getting from the major NY hubs to Edinburgh.

Lots of options = competition, and (usually) lower prices. Depending on a single flight on the only airline that serves your local airport = a monopoly, which does not tend to keep prices down. Of course, cost isn't the only factor to consider. But if it's important to you, it's going to give you a good reasons to investigate starting your flights elsewhere.

Good luck.

Although our Bend/Redmond airport is getting bigger it’s still third tier and the flights out still have a tendency to get delayed if there’s not a gate available in Denver, SanFrancisco, Seattle, etc. A few years ago we missed our connection to Amsterdam because of a 4 hour delay getting into San Francisco. Whenever we travel internationally now, it’s going to include booking an overnight stay in the major hub before our flight. Just to be added in as part of the cost of traveling and creating an enjoyable trip.. The perils of living in a small town….

Mr E is correct with regards to the schedule situation. I see connections from IPT in March but nothing
in the summertime yet. The airline may (ala Southwest) be able to give you info on when their summer
2026 schedule will open. There is a slightly ominous header on the airline website about funding for
the airline in the wake of the government shutdown, which may or may not mean anything in the
regular state of affairs.

The other options noted by others to get to a hub to start the journey are workable but of course
involve additional cost & time, which may or may not be counteracted (as also noted) by how much the
tickets out of IPT cost.

Considering the effort it is likely going to take to get across the pond, I'll say you should consider
going to London, spending a couple of days, and then the train up to Scotland, if you start from
Williamsport.

I lived for 35 years in a small Colorado town. From that airport, we had one choice of airports to fly to: Denver. So we always ended up with a three-leg flight, one to Denver, then usually Chicago or Newark, then Europe. But we always booked this on one ticket and, fortunately, rarely had difficulties with the connections.

No travel agent needed. Check on Google flights for possibilities and then book directly with the airline.

Make you life easy and drive to Newark and fly from there. I live 3 hours from O'Hare and would not think about flying locally for a flight to Europe.

Thanks again to answers and discussion. I suppose it's a kind of calculus: Does one want to keep the car parked at home and spend more time in airports, risking those connections? How much do we save on a flight while putting up with an added layover? Cost of parking vs. cost of non-stop flight? Do I add a convenient overnight at the airport, which takes time away from arriving at my final destination? While we travelers usually make the right decision based on reliable gut feelings, someone should design an equation that could quantify all this!

You've answered my practical questions, and many of you are helping to put that long drive to a busy airport into context.

Safe and happy travels!

You might also look at park, fly, sleep offers (pay for a night at a hotel and they let you park your car their while you are away).

Keep in mind, that some of the flights to Edinburgh are seasonal. For example, United flies nonstop out of Dulles to Edinburgh; there are a couple of months in the winter when you won’t see it on schedule.

Probably not applicable to the OP, but I'll post a small horror story here for possible use by others.

It was roughly 300 miles for us to drive to Denver from our western Colorado town, but early on we did that - once. It was in late May. On the way to Denver, the mountain pass (Vail) was closed because a semi had jacknifed in the snow up top. We sat in our car for two hours hoping the pass would reopen in time. And it did - in time for us to barely get to the airport and be the last people in the check-in line for our flight by parking close in rather than in the economy lot. After two weeks away, we had a rather steep parking bill.

Returning, we made it over the pass but then were stopped midway home because a wildfire had shut down the interstate. We got the last hotel room in the last town before the stoppage.

Needless to say, we flew from our regional airport thereafter.