Air travel to Chicago

[jsimpson]

Hello all, I've been trying to find flights from pretty much anywhere in the UK to Chicago O'Hare in July for ten days but haven't had any luck finding anything under £800.

I've not got much experience booking plane tickets and wondered if anybody had any tips of sites to use etc?

Also which airports provide a direct service to O'Hare from the UK?

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[Ze Random One]

If I get time tomorrow, I'll post some recommendations for sites... (I let my good lady do all the flight booking, I'll book the train tickets)
There are direct flights from Heathrow and Manchester. Manchester only has American Airlines flights (Code-shared with BA et al. I believe), but Heathrow has flights from a number of airlines.

If it's your first time to the states (in a while), I'd make sure you've got your ESTA sorted before booking the flights (unless you have a visa), on the rare chance that you're denied it.

 

[Royston Vasey]

That may well be as cheap as you'll get, it's a fairly long segment at high season. July and August fares are always high. Air Passenger Duty is also a large proportion of the fare these days, and cannot be discounted. You may be lucky and get a decent fare from a consolidator site like Kayak. Skyscanner and Expedia may also have decent prices. I've found uniquely low fares on Kayak, just may have been luck. Booking direct with your chosen airline is often the best.

You may also consider a change in Europe if price is important. I did LHR-MAD-ORD for £1100 in business class a couple of years ago. You can connect through Schiphol or Charles De Gaulle from Birmingham and other smaller airports (KLM/AF/others) and may be more convenient than getting to LHR or MAN. Icelandair from Heathrow via Reykjavik has a reputation for being great value, but a poor in flight experience.

Go for a European airline, as the American carriers can be low frills. Also the current exchange rate will penalise you if booking a flight priced originally in dollars. Virgin and BA are usually well matched on price, and BA is probably a marginally better in flight experience these days. Both are much better than AA or UA or the other Americans.

Word of advice about ORD. It's rated quite highly in general but I've found immigration and security are extremely inefficient. Allow plenty of time.

And Chicago will be very hot and humid in July, be prepared!

 

[Flying Snail]

Another option is going via Dublin, American and Aer Lingus operate direct to Chicago but with a random date search in July US Air are coming up as approx 600GBP although they are all with one change in the US so 3 legs from UK and whatever cost to get there.

One major advantage of flying to the USA from Dublin is that for most departures Immigration and customs clearance is done before boarding so you can avoid all the queues on arrival. In certain US airports these flights are treated as domestic arrivals so you can just collect your bags and walk straight out.

If you haven't already you should use http://www.skyscanner.com to compare prices, it will list most airlines and through ticketing options.

It is also worth checking out the cost of flights from European changeover locations on their own as it is often possible to combine these with seperate connecting flights using low cost carriers for a cheaper overall cost. If considering that however bear in mind that you need to leave enough time to collect and re-check your luggage and a buffer in case the first flight is delayed. The first airline in this case will not do anything for you if you miss your second flight unless they are a through-booked ticket.

 

[eastcoast2much]

Cheapest I Can find in 793 Via IStanbul with a Journey of 23 Hours. IF you need any help drop me a PM, Ill see if there are any deals going for your dates
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Alternatively there is Manchester for 776 return

 

[jsimpson]

Thank you all very much for your helpful replies, I've managed to get it down from £800 finally, result! Thanks again

 

[Greenback]

I did look into air fares to various parts of the States with a view to a visit this Summer, but even back before Christmas it was impossible to find anything below £690.

As has been said, APD is quite a chunk of the fares now, and going via Dublin may provide a more reasonable fare. It may not, though, as it is peak season!

You may also see cheap fares on various web sites - beware! They are not base don real time prices and are usually intended to lure the punte rinto parting with their credit card details only to find that these prices are not available and higher fares ar eultimately charged. This is known as 'bait and switch' and will usually be allowed in the T&C's, so that the company is not actually doing anything illegal.