NA-Flyer

How much is the fare for the chosen itinerary?

alex67500

That's not defined yet but it'll likely be between £1,000 and £1,500. Most of the fares have been around the £1,200 mark, for 800-960TPs, excluding positioning.

vintagepilot

On a sample of one single experience, I would think that the TWA would work best on the outbound trip. With the likely TATL timings, you could arrive mid-afternoon and then progress onward the next morning. Staying on the eastbound trip might leave a long checkout day waiting for an overnight eastbound TATL. Westbound, it would also act as a gathering point for anyone on alternative or more creative routings, arriving at JFK at various times.

That said, on that previous experience, we all arrived on the same flight, and we had all cleared immigration in Shannon so some of the above didn't apply! And only 2 of us stayed there anyway.

I'm not bothered about doing it again necessarily, and I have a stay planned with her indoors for October, but am happy to go with the flow. It is definitely worth a look - you can whizz round it on any reasonable JFK layover, but you really need to stay if you want the full experience.

ISTFlyer

Thank you for the suggestion and the post,

Currently I am doing availability pattern analysis for all 3 main destinations + some suggested side destinations like Vegas, Phoenix, San Jose, etc... , follow how inventory opens T-330 on BA, AA and AS flights that might involve.

Although, it's not 100% confirmed that we would have a TWA Hotel experience, it might be an early-afternoon/afternoon arrival at JFK followed by a morning/late-morning departure from JFK; or it might be a red-eye arrival at JFK and an evening departure out of JFK with those who don't want to join the TWA Hotel party flying a daytime flight to London. The TWA Hotel also offers day rooms and it's not necessary to have regular check-in check-out times to get a room.

PGberkshire

The timings of the pool opening is key....

ISTFlyer

I think it's open from 07:00 to 22:30.
Advanced reservation for the pool might be required and according to the TWA Hotel website ( at the moment that this post is made ) every hotel guest has a 1h45min limit per stay.

Another idea would be to reserve the pool for a private event like some others did. Although, I am not aware if this would have extra costs rather than the $25/$50 admission fee into the pool. The organizing committee would be giving further information if TWA Hotel is selected for the layover and if we could reserve the pool. We might need an advanced deposit for that and it might not be welcome to ask money from people in advance to reserve the pool. It would be a chaos to handle it if people decide to cancel their trip at a further stage, border restrictions remain, etc...

If we reserve the pool for a private event, the 1h45min limit wouldn't apply.

Geordie405

Yes, I saw the discussion (I assume it was the one discussing the 787 to 321 change) and whereas equipment changes on international flights do qualify those on domestics don't. My thought behind mentioning those was more for the benefit of those - as you say - who might want to contemplate alternative routings or, indeed, anyone considering a TP run while in the USA.

ISTFlyer

Definitely, it might be useful for those who would like to take alternative routings.
Also I assume that most people would book through BA and an aircraft change does not qualify for a free change/refund including international flights.

Nephoi

if 16 of us are booked on a domestic widebody business class (assuming, there are 16+ I seats) an equipment change would imply a downgrade for some of us .> rebooking to another routing.

ISTFlyer

Exactly.

ISTFlyer

Some Updates:

* I have so far received more than 30 answers for the poll and still there is a close race between 2 destinations.
* Although many people who filled out the poll has a wide calendar availability next summer, there are people that are not able to attend on several weeks. Thus, I am more inclined to do 2 separate DO's to 2 different destinations if there is a demand. If there is demand for two, both of those trips would be DO's, if there isn't demand for two, one of them would be a DO and the other one would be flight and destination meet-up only.
* As there are multiple requests for Helsinki, on the return leg of the DO('s), I might also consider availability for Helsinki but it wouldn't be on the main routing but suggested as an alternative routing. As the westbound route out of Sofia should be on Monday if a HEL routing is chosen, I am not planning to add Helsinki to this DO. The pre-DO in event in Sofia should take place on a Tuesday as planned so if you decide to fly out of SOF on a Monday, you would miss any event that might happen in Sofia or in London.
* Due to a potential overwhelm, I am currently trying to figure out how to share the flight details for the DO when it's confirmed and bookable. Multiple scenarios are possible and I am evaluating each of them. Further details on this would be available after the poll has been closed.

jay_cee87

I am interested in coming along 😀

Reetmafreen

Party at my place then! 🥳😀 I never tire of visiting the air and space museum, or the whole balboa park area in fact when I have out of town guests visiting.

its strange to see folks actively seeking out East coast stopover points for a west coast itinerary, but that’s simply playing the game here. I was a US Airways elite before the AA merger, so heading back home to the UK for the holidays meant a TATL departure from PHL/CLT, coupled with a long connecting domestic segment. I didn’t know any better back then. BA was not an option as no earning option before the AA merger and paying for seat reservations was at odds with my Scottishness!

These days, with the OW alliance and as a OWS, BA is back in the fold, but I would typically look for direct flights out of SAN/LAX simply for convenience, rather than achieving status with a different earning criteria to BAEC. Why go all around the houses if the EQD/RDM totals are identical to a direct flight? If I have to make a connection (damn you COVID) DFW/SFO and now SEA are my limits for a crAApy domestic connection. I don’t even look at the East coast cities. I guess I’ll get a change to visit one or two of those based on the routing selected for the DO. 😎

ISTFlyer

This is noted. Thank you for the proposition
I also have some sad news regarding SAN; unfortunately SOF-LHR-JFK-SFO-SAN is not possible as the BA fare does not permit the last leg to be on Alaska unless it originates from San Francisco, Portland or Seattle.

As the LAX-SAN flights are discontinued by all carriers, other than JFK/BOS-CLT/PHL/PHX-SAN, etc... we wouldn't have flexibility so the DO purpose which is to fly together on the same aircraft as much as we could would not be met.

Although, SAN is still considered as a side-destination reachable by car/bus/train if Los Angeles is selected and we could organize a day-trip over there.

Exactly, the reasoning of East Coast stopover points come from maximizing Tier Points and this is the main purpose of the DO.

Reetmafreen

Just give me enough time to stock up the bar in the loft! 😉

We could all become train geeks for the day and take the Pacific Surfliner down the coast!