I was just wondering what the general consensus was on when the best time is to book flights back to the UK for Christmas.

We are looking at going from Chicago --> Manchester and at the moment flights are close to $1000 each and this is a lot more than we are used to paying. Is this standard for Christmas or will flights get cheaper or more expensive?

As no doubt some of you know the only airline that goes direct is AA and for some reason on the day we want to go (22nd Dec) there is no direct flight so it looks like we will be going via Heathrow (or one of several other cities either in the US or Europe). There was a flight for $750 on US Airways but that offer had gone before we could book it.

Any advice appreciated.

I think $1000 around Christmas isn't all that bad. You might get down to around $800 but it's a rough time....unless you travel on Christmas day (usually plenty of seats).

I think it was the fact that we saw a flight for $750 that is the real kick in the balls, so to speak.

I thought I had found a 10% coupon for AA but you have to fly by the 27th Nov. (and not over the Thanksgiving weekend). I have posted the link below as it might be useful to someone else (you have to play a 'soccer' penalty shoot out to get the code)

https://www.aasoccerchallenge.com/?a...L&title=soccer

We went on Christmas day one year, that was really cheap, we got there in the afternoon on Boxing Day. San Francisco to London- Manchester.
The whole plane was full of British Ex-Pats too cheap to pay the money they wanted for flying to get there in time for Christmas day.

Somehow I don't think my Mum would be too impressed if we miss Christmas day and I would miss all the Christmas day tv specials

We've already booked out flights for Xmas. SFO-LHR and I just did a check of the same flights and they're $80 cheaper than when we booked them for the 3 tickets not per ticket so won't worry about that too much.
If I'd booked them about 8 weeks prior when we finally decided we were going we'd have saved about $500!

AA's flight on the 22nd appears to be fully booked.

Flying AA on the 23rd from O'Hare to Manchester and returning on January 3rd gives you a fare of $868 including taxes.

Jim.

We flew from New Jersey to Manchester overnight Christmas Eve/Day a few years ago...we were in the UK for breakfast.

Thanks for the info, for the price difference I think well stick with the 22nd.

Out of curiosity, how do you know that the flight on the 22nd is fully booked? The return flight is a different, smaller plane than usual, so we assumed that they had just cut back on the service and didn't have the direct flight that day.

I think the first 10 days of December are cheapest. But you would need to take a bunch of time off work!!

I can't believe how difficult it is to find flights from Chicago to Manchester....I have often connected in Chicago to give the kids a break (as we fly from Los Angeles).

Having checked AA's schedules for the 1st part of 2010, it now looks as though AA have down-sized from 767s to 757s on the Chicago-Manchester service.

"CRAP!"

Jim.

I just love Noddy's Christmas Special. In the US, you usually get your choice of only 4 movies and 2 animated specials for the entire holiday: Bells of St. Mary's, It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, and A Christmas Story; and then A Peanut's Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Quite entertaining really... I watch all of them over and over again ad nauseum.

Ian

ORD-AMS-MAN on the 23rd with KLM is only $754, returning on the 30th.

I'm impressed with that fare! My general consensus has been to try and avoid flying to the UK at all for the holidays. The fares are usually beyond outrageous. But then again, I'm probably a cheapskate. :P

If you can get that rate, I'd grab it with both hands!

We're looking at flying over for Christmas, and so far the cheapest we can get flying Detroit-Heathrow is $2,600.00 for 3 of us, the weekend before Christmas.
Can't see it going much cheaper TBH.