Flights to Ireland

[rosewalker]

Hi, my first post- very nervous- but not as nervous as attempting using PL to go from Cleveland to JFK and then to Shannon, Ireland.

If is was just myself, I'd give it a try but with a family, I don't want it to be too crazy.

Thought I'd check with BB members if anyone has given it a try. I'm a bit wary of having long layovers.

I know they say one maximum connection flight and that is fine since there are no direct flights from Cleveland, OH anyway.

[dahammer]

first off, how many travellers and what are your dates? What is your maximum airfare budget for this trip?

[rosewalker]

Yes, we have to be there for the week of July 23-27 for a summer school program. So, I thought we would leave Cleveland on 07/20/2007 (Friday) and return 07/28/2007 or 07/29/2007. Our budget for the airfare is about $2,100 as we have expenses for car and lodging plus the tuition to deal with too.

Thanks for any ideas!

[powerplantop]

Our budget for the airfare is about $2,100 as we have expenses for car and lodging plus the tuition to deal with too.

Thanks for any ideas!

If this is per person then its no problem. Delta is as low as $831. But most single stop flights have long or very tight connections. American has some good conections but priced at $1117.

If you bid by price are you willing to take a chance on getting a tight or long connection. I see conections ranging from 54 min on Delta to 10 hours on Aer Lingus.

The 54 min conection has you join to JFK on a small plan so you would have to change terminals. Not much extra time.

[rosewalker]

Powerplantop,

Thanks so much for the input. I think my total budget for airfare is about $2500 for the three of us and maybe that's a bit more realisitc.

I don't mind the tight time frames- I called Delta to see if the 54 minutes was enough since they use like Comair on the first leg of the flight. One person at Delta said that was fine but another said it wasn't. It's been a while since I've gone overseas but I remember it taking some time to get from one terminal to another in JFK.

That's kind of my fear to with bidding. One, I dont' want long lay overs and I don't want tight time frames either were I might not make my connection or it will be a big hassle. The lady at Delta thought it would be OK since it was all the same airline.

In all, I think it might be worth it if I could get a low enough cost. I've just never heard anyone bidding on an overseas flight before.

[thenewbie]

To add some info for your trip.

Delta's operations at JFK are in 2 connected terminals (T2 & T3). There are moving walkways between the two terminals airside. However, if you connect in from a non-Delta flight (i.e. AA) you would need to use the AirTrain and re-clear security.

Also, Delta adds additional time into their flight times to & from JFK. According to flightaware.com, the time from wheels up to wheels down is roughly 1 hour. This would mean there is roughly 45 minutes added to the schedule for any issues (late arriving plane, taxi time, waiting for a gate, etc.). However, this won't guarantee that you arrive in JFK early.

Here are the flight stats for CLE -> JFK.

http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightRating...ivalAirport=JFK

[rosewalker]

Thank you very much Mr. Newbie. I hadn't seen that site before - fascinating - looks like they have like an average late time of about 40 minutes or so. I would've guessed that.

I sure am concerned about how to bid on this on PL.

[rosewalker]

Thanks to all again for the input. I didn't have the nerve to try and book through Priceline so I just went ahead and booked on Continental. Main reason is that I am traveling with my family and didn't want to risk the long lay overs.

Last time we went, we traveled on big 747's but I think these Continental planes are basic 3 across.