Originally Posted by
GoldCircle
For those not quite thinking like parents:
First off, most of the smaller cities that have direct service to the US on CO or US are operated with 757s, meaning the seating is 3-3 and less than desirable for a family in Y; if in C, then 2-2 is fine.
Third, forget the trip to DUB to save on APD - adding 5 hours to a journey to save even £360 is just not worth it when kids are involved.
I must say that I am rather puzzled by these comments. I am not sure who "those not quite thinking like parents " in this thread are supposed to be.
On the "first off" point, the OP was talking about traveling business class, not economy, therefore 2-2 on the 757s.
On the adding 5 hours bit, I am rather confused as to how traveling via DUB would add five hours to the journey for a LON area-based flyer.
Clearly, you would have to travel to DUB the night before as a same-day connection on separate tickets would be far too risky given that US-bound flights depart in the morning.
The point about the APD saving is that it pays for your hotel in DUB (or FRA, etc..). As I said in my previous post, it is probably not sensible if you can get a direct flight ex-LON. However if you
can't due to lack of availability and you need to connect elsewhere, then it seems to me that it is not entirely stupid to look at making the first leg on a separate, paid booking, use the savings for an overnight stay and start the redemption from DUB (or FRA, etc...). It also means a break in the journey rather than having one very, very long day with several connections in multiple airports.