I just found out that I need to go to Charlottesville in January for a few days. I've only done the trip once and went to Heathrow via IAD. My problem is that the trip to and from Heathrow (from Exeter) is the worst part of the whole trip!!! So I need to figure out if there's a better way to travel. I'll be flying business class for at least the transatlantic section (some of the regionals into CHO don't seem to offer it). I want to travel on Star Alliance, which is why I am posting here.

Options that I've thought of include Flybe-CDG, then UA-IAD-CHO. Unfortunately this means collecting my luggage and re-checking in. It would probably be a long wait in CDG as well. I was also wondering if there was something out of Bristol, but can't really find a decent way of searching. I wouldn't mind changing somewhere further west than IAD as long as it wasn't more expensive. LHR via IAD is currently the default, though. One advantage of this, I guess, is that the AC lounge in LHR is way better than any Red Carpet Lounge I've ever been in .

Is there a decent search engine that will allow me to figure these things out?

If all goes well, I'll have to do this a few times this year. While I can do this trip with just a little luggage (but not carry-on only ) this time, in the summer I'll be bringing 2+ largish pieces, so discount airlines may not be an option.

Any thoughts?

Dr. PITUK

I'd use beta.itasoftware.com.

in the from place a semi colon list of the airports that you might want to fly out of...

something like this.

from: BRS;LON::IAD UA+ (bristol or london area airports through IAD using United Airlines or it's partners.. as far as I am aware that is what the UA+ does - although it doesn't typically show any of the more "obscure" partners like croatia airline).

then do something similar for the entry airports.
to: IAD;CHO

in any light, i'm hardly an expert on the syntax for this booking engine, but a quick browse through the mileage run forum would probably net you more information about this than you could possibly care to know.

also, CHO is probably one of the most expensive airports that I have ever flown into. if you find that you have extra time, you're probably better served by renting a car out of dulles and driving down.

Erm...how about the one at www.staralliance.com?

cheers,

Henry

The electronic timetable on www.staralliance.com will show lots of routing options.

Thanks for the information.

I did try the staralliance engine. It was misbehaving last night, but I've tried again this morning. The Bristol and Exeter options aren't available, so I assume that there's no SA flights that go out of there . I would have thought the BMI would fly *some*where in the southwest!! It looks like I'll have to either go to Heathrow or else buy a Flybe segment separately and change at a bigger airport.

The itasoftware sight looks good - I'll give that a try.

Thanks,

Dr. PITUK

Not sure if it's an option, but everyone seems to forget about Gatwick these days. Gatwick now comes into play on Star thanks to TAP and mainly US Airways flights.
I've used the train from Gatwick to get to Plymouth in about 3h 00m in the past (so what's that, about 2 and a half hours to Exeter?) From memory there's a train about 9.15 Gatwick to Reading and a very quick (10 mins) connection there onto a Great Western to Exeter train. The 9.15 departure connects well from most Nth American inbound flights, including US from both PHL and CLT, both with direct connections inbound from CHO.

Dunno about anyone else, but I prefer Gatwick over Thiefrow any day, but I guess that also depends on destination in London or elsewhere.

I didn't even think about Gatwick! I have taken the connection from Reading that goes to Gatwick and it's not too bad (though I got off a stop earlier).

How does USAir Business class compare to United or AC?

In the past I've always rented a car at IAD, though it was because I wanted a car to get to hiking and biking more than saving money . Also, doing the math it doesn't seem that it actually takes much longer. It's a 2 hour drive direct to the hotel, compared with an hour flight plus waiting for connection plus risking delays (e.g. CHO seemed to be basically closed yesterday) plus getting downtown from the airport.

Hmmmm... Why did I want to fly this time?

Thanks,

Dr. PITUK

No *A flights out of BRS or EXT in the current timetable.

*A isnt well represented in UK. The airports I have listed as being served by *A in the UK are (those with international flights marked with ~)

~Aberdeen
Belfast
~Birmingham
Teesside (name may have changed?)
~Edinburgh
~Glasgow
Inverness
Jersey
~Leeds
~London (LHR, LCR, LGW)
~Manchester
~Newcastle
Norwich
~Nottingham/East Midlands
Stornoway

Thanks Kiwiflyer!

Although this won't get me to CHO any more productively, I've printed off your list for future reference.

Thanks,

Dr. PITUK