bingobob777

Hi Folks,

Trying to plan a trip to NYC then Orlando/Disney for the kids for 2nd April to 14th April next year and was hoping for some expert advice from you knowledgeable folks. I've got approx. 300k Avios and was hoping to book PE both ways and upgrade to Business Class for 2 adults and 2 kids.

- If flights are released 355 days in advance, I guess I can't book a BA Holiday with return flights until 24th April, is that right? Meaning 343 days after outbound are released. Looking 343 days from now it looks like all the BC Avios seats have been snapped up. Do I have any options here or am I just not going to get BC seats on outbound when booking at 343 days out?

or

- Can I book outbound at T-355, then inbound at T-355 then add a hotel to turn it into a BA Holiday?

madfish

Not sure where you are looking but I am seeing 4 CW seats on flights into JFK on most days. I don’t think. You will have an issue with availability for JFK booked 11 months in advance. Issue will be return flights from Florida and securing 4 CW seats on these routes.

bingobob777

Hmm, I'm not seeing flights when logged in to BA. Outbound on 4th March showing nothing, Inbound 15th March not seeing anything?

pauldb

Why are you keen to make it a BA holiday?

windowontheAside

Might be worth monitoring the return flight for a while to see if four seats ever get released at T-355. The guarantee is for two CW seats per flight, so 4 might be pushing it at peak time, but I don't know as it's not one I track.

Flexible preferences

Don't forget LGW services are reducing CW seats to just 32, so it might make finding CW redemptions less likely after the guaranteed 2 are snapped up.

tigertanaka

Consider TPA as an alternative to MCO. Nothing special about the airport but is an easy drive from Disney and widens your options for a flight home.

pauldb

A bit of anecdote that might help: we've got 5 seats LGW-MCO on 2Apr, returning NYC-LHR 16Apr, and we booked that in July so they definitely open up more seats later, unpredictably. 1&3Apr were also opened up outbound; I never found anything MCO-LGW but had loads of choice NYC-LHR.

As others have said, I don't think 4 seats LON-NYC will be a problem, even booked t-343 (I'm also seeing options next March). Four seats MCO-LGW would seems less likely but at least you don't appear to be looking for the last days of the school hols (at least where I am schools go back on the 23rd next year?). But it does seem telling that even in March 2019 I can't see any choices for 4 seats MCO-LGW, only 2 seats on several days.

There are several days when you can get 4 seats back from TPA - if that would work I think you have more chance.

bingobob777

Convenience and Avios really, but was looking on Disney website last night and may just make Hotel/Ticket booking with them.Any tips?

tigertanaka

Book a "holiday" on ba.com (flight + car) and you don't have to pay the balance until 5 weeks before departure, plus the flight prices are often a lot better than booking a flight only and you will get bonus avios too. You can also do an ex-EU this way (but without the bonus avios).

I have always booked Disney direct although try and get a price on the US site as well as the UK one (which can be a little tricky) as the exchange rate has improved a lot over recent months. I would study the historic dates when Disney have offered free dining as this saved our family of 4 a fortune.

jp-mco

We frequently do this when flying to Orlando. There is nearly always no lines at immigration whatsoever compared to the 1-2 hour hell you often experience at MCO. It's only a 75 minute drive from Tampa to Orlando and it's always nice to have 1 night in Clearwater at the beginning of any trip and wake up looking at the ocean!