Thanks, that is really helpfulWe have stopped at Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia, New York and Washington. in our experience Detroit and Philadelphia have been the easiest. We only did Washington once and I remember it being grubby. Atlanta (done a few times) - customs was very busy but not too long and we had to a train to change terminals but the airport was clean and we made connections without too much trouble. Detroit - customs easy - a long terminal that has a train running from end to end. Clean with OK food places. Likewise Philadelphia. New York (JFK) was a nightmare and on one occasion when son missed a connection (flying on his own as an older teenager) no one really wanted to know and he didn't know to stand his ground and make them sort it out. The only solution offered was for him to make his way to La Guardia where he could get a flight to MCO that was leaving in an hour. He and another lad in the same situation had very little cash, ran with cases (luckily he was a very fit basketball player at that point) to the entrance where they met a lovely stretch limo chauffeur who was heading back from dropping off his boss and took pity on them. Drove them over in record time and they made it!
Mrs TT
Have you looked at London to Amsterdam to MCO
Or London to Dublin ( Immigration done here .... so you arrive as a domestic Passenger ) to MCO ( Orlando )
with Aer Lingus
No, I will check this out. Thanks.Have you looked at London to Amsterdam to MCO
Or London to Dublin ( Immigration done here .... so you arrive as a domestic Passenger ) to MCO ( Orlando )
with Aer Lingus
ThanksPhilly is a decent airport (in the departure lounge) but clearing international arrivals seemed so backwards!
You were only allowed to go through the automated gates if you were a US citizen, so that side of the queue was empty whilst we had to wait ages to get through! (Longer than at Orlando)
Thanks, I will check it out.If it has to be a US airport I would look at Atlanta as there are a dozen flights to Orlando from there, if you have delays, bad weather etc, there are plenty of options to rebook you to.
But I would prefer a European airport myself, as you avoid one time US customs and transferring your suitcase to your next flight yourself. Lufthansa also has a flight to Orlando from Frankfurt.
Thanks Bethi agree with Detroit being an easy connecting airport - i've used it many times and it's pretty painless and i enjoy window shopping there, they have some nice airside stores to waste your time in...
JFK is dreadful and i would avoid it unless you get a super bargain you can't refuse..
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You don't have to have a stop to be cheapest, keep your options open as I've seen direct flights cheaper than stopped flights before now.
Will do thanksYou don't have to have a stop to be cheapest, keep your options open as I've seen direct flights cheaper than stopped flights before now.
i agree with Detroit being an easy connecting airport - i've used it many times and it's pretty painless and i enjoy window shopping there, they have some nice airside stores to waste your time in...
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Hello Beth any tips about changing planes in Detroit. I’m looking to book our flights for this coming December in a couple of weeks and as I’m using Virgin air miles it looks as though via Detroit is going to be our earliest flight out of Heathrow.
ok so that's weird....virgin isn't listed on the airport website, so i have no way of knowing if they use mcnamara or north terminal.
there are international airlines using both terminals.
Looking at the list, aeromexico, air france, and delta use the mcnamara terminal (mostly delta which has a major monopoly in detroit, with 75% of the traffic there)
and the following airlines use the north terminal: everyone else: air canada, alaska, american, frontier, jet blue, lufthansa, royal jordanian, southwest (i didn't know southwest flew to DTW, news to me), spirit, united and wow...
virgin isn't mentioned..
so the reason i say this, i have never ever been in the north terminal..
i assume it's much like the mcnamara terminal (what i always refer to as the delta terminal, since it's mostly delta in there)..
mcnamara is very nice, so i'm sure the north terminal is also nice as i think it was built later..
of course, as with any US airport, if it's your entry point into the US, you have to cross immigration and customs.
Immigration in the mcnamara terminal was pretty painless.
True, i'm an american, so it's always relatively painless, but now with the kiosks, things have been simplified.
and customs seemed pretty simple as well.
after you cross customs, you give back your suitcases at the connecting flights desk.
Just ask the customs officer where it is.
i've gone braindead, so i can't remember where you come out, but i'm sure you have to go through security again.
it's pretty fast in detroit - none of those hour long lines.
I've made it through detroit immigration customs really speedily - i think i clocked myself at much less than an hour, then adding on security.
But i would never bank on that.
of course, i assume that virgin will only book you with the amount of time you need there...
once you're airside at mcnamara - it's a really long terminal...really really really long..
one long straight terminal....
there's a train right inside the building - it's overhead...if you look up you'll see it..
it has three stations - in the middle and at each end..
but i never use it since the terminal also has moving walkways and i like to look at the shops...
and if i have a long wait, i like to walk up and down the terminal to get a bit of exercise in between flights..
or rather to stretch my legs after the long flight over the atlantic..
the food in the terminal isn't bad and the shops are interesting..the first desigual i ever saw was at that airport...
i usually use the delta business lounge, so i don't hang out in the terminal itself except to walk around..
but again, i'm talking about mcnamara and not the north terminal.
the airport has good maps of the two terminals on their website..
https://www.metroairport.com
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