Finding Flights to America
The North Atlantic is the most heavily used long-distance route anywhere. So the good news is that there's plenty of flights. The bad news is that the fare structures are very confusing (even for travel agents!).
No summary can hope to do justice to the complex web of prices. Try looking at page 200 on Teletext for a sense of the range of travel possibilities and varied prices.
The main variations are:
- ordinary full price
- advance excursion booking (APEX)
- charter fares
- last minute deals
- economy airlines
- consolidator fares
- courier flights
- package tours
- round the world via USA .
Note: Since 1997 there have been new airport departure taxes, but they should be included in the advertised prices of all flights.
Ordinary Full-Price Tickets
These provide great flexibility as any ticket is almost as good as money, being exchangeable with and between airlines. Tickets can be cancelled without penalty, and there's a generous baggage allowance with good service. If your employer will pay for this, then well and good.
Who buys ordinary tickets? Those for whom money is no object and where flexibility is essential.
Advance Excursion (APEX)
These tickets are the most popular form of advance booking as they have a significant price advantage over full-price fares. Tickets must be bought some three weeks in advance (though sometimes this period is changed to meet market demand). Once into the three weeks period, though, no change of departure or return date is permissible (except at deliberately prohibitive cost). Single tickets (costing half the return price) are usually available, which is useful if you wish to return from somewhere else or at an unfixed future date on an `open jaw' ticket. These tickets are increasingly sold as part of a fly-drive package, where a hired car (but no accommodation) is included.
Who buys APEX? Those needing to trade off price for flexibility, and staying no longer than a year (maximum validity). If you know your dates APEX may well be for you.
Charter Fares
These are supposed to be for interest groups booking together, though travel agents have been known to cobble together passengers of no common interest except that of a cheap ticket. There's always the danger of being stranded if your firm goes broke (or hasn't paid its bills). Increasingly though chartering firms are airline subsidiaries or package holiday firms.
Who's for a charter? Those who can't resist the chance of a bargain, and who will not be too inconvenienced if things go wrong, such as single people. You need to be young enough to sleep on airport floors if things go wrong, which seldom happens in transatlantic travel (thanks to US regulation of carriers).
Last Minute Deals
Companies have ways of filling seats still unsold at the time of take-off. At certain times of the year deals may be readily available, but at other times you may have to hang around for days, hardly possible with a schedule to keep to, or with young children involved.
Who's for such deals? Single, young people with flexibility at both ends of the journey.
Economy Airlines
These have been instrumental in forcing the larger companies to increase their flexibility, helping make economy fares a normal feature of air travel. Though People's Express and Laker have disappeared, Virgin Atlantic still provides scheduled serves with and without frills. Their low price reputation may mean that they are booked up long in advance for the holiday season, though at other times you may be able just to book on the day. Though once associated with second rank travel, Gatwick and Newark rather than the more popular Heathrow and JFK, such days are gone and all the airports have been substantially upgraded in facilities and flight connections.
Consolidators
These specialist agents (once known as `bucket shops') handle the airline companies' spare seats which are regularly available at certain times of the year to specific destinations. Discounts are up to 50 per cent, the tickets are legal and valid, and the system is supported (if somewhat surreptitiously) by the airline companies. Don't forget that no one can reduce the flat rate taxes that you now have to pay on top of any discounted fare.
Who could make use of them? If you are too late for APEX tickets and can't face hanging around airports for last minute deals, then consolidators may be able to help, especially for off season travel
Courier Flights
This is the cheapest way to fly. Firms want packages hand delivered by the next plane and need responsible and reasonably presentable couriers. Phone at least two months before you want to travel, and be prepared to be on call until the appropriate delivery turns up.
Package Tours
Virgin Holidays (01293 744261) can provide 3-day packages. But if you have the money, specialist tours can provide more than this standard fly-drive plus motels route around the main tourist circuits. American Adventures (01892 511894) organise active camping tours ranging from 7 days along the west coast to 42 days across country, with exotic routes such as the Yukon and Alaska, or trail walking the Rockies. Other similar groups advertise in the YHA members' magazine and the growing array of walkers' magazines available in large newsagents.
The Round the World option (RTW)
Most airlines restrict stopovers to six locations, usually flying in one direction only. If you do want to fit the US into an around the world trip the best start may well be with Katie Wood and George MacDonald, The Round the World Air Guide (Fontana paperback) which provides information on all international airports, with advice on route planning, tickets, stopovers and possible hassles. Try also Frank Barrett's A Consumer's Guide to Air Travel (a reasonably priced Telegraph Publication paperback), or Thomas Cook's World Travel Pass Guide.
