markaspden

Hi i am planning a trip to the uk hopefully for christmas 2010 not seen my family in 10 years. I have a wife and 2 kids both american citizens. I need to travel from atlanta and live close to teeside airport but i could land in london and get thr train up north. Anyone with any helpfull tips please let me know. If anyone out there has any cheap ways of flying any websites or anyone flys to teeside let me know. I am new to the group so hello to all. I live in the south in alabama.
thanks mark

lansbury

Look at the Delta/Northwest tie up with KLM. KLM fly to a lot of UK regional airports with connections to the US via their own and Delta/NW flights from Amsterdam.

Useful place to start looking for flights is Kayak.com. However the airlines do not put the flights (and hence prices) into the reservation system until 330 days before departure date.

Bear in mind Christmas is normally one of the most expensive periods to fly.

The Horticulturalist

It's probably going to be at least around $1000 per person if you are going in the runup to Christmas. I like Orbitz.com for flights, you might want to look at Expedia.com aswell.

Tuesday and Wednesday are good days to fly for cost as they are usually quieter, though that probably won't make any difference at Christmas.

For train bookings go to thetrainline.com, you need to book this well in advance aswell to be sure of getting a seat, I can't imagine having to stand for 3 hours after doing a transatlantic flight with kids! Kids travel half price and under 5's are free I think.

Might also be worth looking at flights to Edinburgh and getting the train from Waverly, it's only about 2hrs to your part of the world. Don't think you can get a direct flight from ATL though.

We fly from ATL into Glasgow to go home so I like to book a hotel the night before and leave the car in their carpark, they provide a shuttle to the airport terminal. I like the Drury Inn and Suites there, https://wwws.druryhotels.com/
It always has good reviews on tripadvisor.com.

Ginblossom

You could fly into Europe and go into Teeside. Barcelona I think might be an option. Has to be quicker than going north from Heathrow, esp. on a train!

lansbury

Just had a quick run through some of the fares for earlier months which are in the sytem.

Fares to Teesside from Atlanta look stupidly expensive, even multiple stops. To Newcastle they are half the price and cheaper than non-stops to Manchester.

penguinsix

Fly in February.

Usually one of the cheapest months to travel. While you are in ATL consider also a short hop to JFK and flying from there. With more flights to the UK than any other airport, there is more competition from JFK and lower prices than ATL or other airports.

dunroving

Last time I checked, TheTrainLine.co.uk was still charging you for using a CC to make a purchase, whereas National Rail was not: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

markaspden

Hi you said that you book a hotel room and leaave your car do you mean you leave your car at the hotel or the airport what does that cost.
Thanks.
Also i would like to go at christmas but i have to buy 4 tickets so i will be looking for cheaper times of the year. As long as my kids are out of school
thanks mark

The Horticulturalist

We went back in March and took the kids out of school for an extra week tagged onto spring break, it was a good bit cheaper than the summer but it was cold and miserable so next year we are leaving in May as soon as schools are out.

We book the hotel room at the Drury (about $80- $90) and leave the car at the hotel for a max of 14 days for no additional cost. They provide a shuttle bus between the hotel and the airport. It doesn't have the same security as an airport long term car park, but our car's not worth nicking

markaspden

Hi thanks horticulturist. Are you from glasgow i was born in Glasgow, i was born in govan, my dad was from govan and mum from england so when i was born we lived in england. Always been a rangers fan. Where in mississippi do you live. Also when you leave your car do you ahve to tell the hotel. I think i might try and travel during summer break.
thanks mark

Mummy in the foothills

Lots of hotels near the airport here will do that, some charge a little for each day and you need to have a room for one night going out and one night coming back. Works out cheaper than long term parking, or have a good friend drop you off at the hotel and use the shuttle in the morning to get to the airport.
(I google the name of the airport and add hotels with free shuttle loads come up)

The Horticulturalist

Mark, my Husband is from the East End, but we lived in Govanhill when we were first married which is not too far from Govan.

Yes, when you leave your car you need to tell them. Ask about it when you book the hotel, from memory you fill in a card with some contact details, I think you keep the keys. You also want to confirm with them exactly how long you can leave the car.

We went in march this year purely to save a bit of money, we are also a family of four and it worked out about $1000 cheaper in total to fly then than in June for all of us. However, it was cold, miserable and in the end not worth it. We also got caught in some late snow and ice on the A9 up to Inverness to my family, very scary as we were driving my MIL's teeny little Ford Fiasco, they closed the snowgates just after we got through.

So now we've saved the extra money and we're just going to go in the summer instead.

The Horticulturalist

The Drury didn't charge anything extra to leave the car, nor did you have to stay on the return journey.

We have to drive 4.5hrs to get to Atlanta Airport and we were connecting to EWR before our transatlantic flight, so for us it was really worth getting to the airport the night before rather than doing a long drive on the same day as the flights.

The Horticulturalist

Thanks, I'd forgotten that. We used a switch card (or whatever they were called) to book and they are usually free, but of course that doesn't apply from here.

Ash UK/US

I am flying into Teeside in Feb, Grand Rapids-Detroit-Amsterdam-Teeside. I am paying $2700 for 2 adults and 2 children, 3 and 6, (remember this is in Feb). I have always got the best flight deals with http://www.bt-store.com/default.asp?CatID=10&PageID=10 sometimes the price changes between the search and booking but even so they are usually the best prices and I have used them several times!

This trip we are also going to London for a few days I paid £29 return per adult and £14.50 return for my 6 year (youngest one goes free) on the new GNER. National Express used to run the east coast main line but it is now GNER again. http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/

To be honest unless you are on a really tight budget it is not that much difference to fly into Teeside.