Major Probs In Finding Flights
 

Hi everyone, I have been trying to find flights using the Ana tool that is linked off this site to find a flight for myself to visit my girlfriend who is working in the USA at the min.

For the last two months I have been trying to find flights from London Heathrow / Gatwick or Manchester to ANY of the Florida airports and have had virtually no luck at all. I am trying to fly out around the 27th July give or take a couple of days and coming back on 1st Sep give or take a couple of days but cant seem to find a thing. I have enough points to cover the return flight which makes it even more annoying.

I rang up BMI Diamond Club a month or so ago and was told to ring back every week as apparently flights dont get released on some airlines until last min but I have tried and just cant seem to find anything. I have even tried looking for flights for next week and the week after just to see if this case is true but still nothing comes up.

Does anyone know what I am doing wrong ?, all the airlines that fly to the USA cant all be fully booked can they ?.

should be lots of space LHR-YYZ-MCO/FLL/MIA, have you tried that routing?

Since you're in bmi's Diamond Club, if / when you do find availability, you should make your booking as two one-way trips. This gives you much greater flexibility if you should need to make any changes later.

cheers,

Henry

Ok I will see if I can get it as two singles then, thanks for that :) , By the way which airports are FLL and YYZ ?, I know the other codes:)

YYZ = Toronto Pearson International
FLL = Fort Lauderdale (just north of Miami and a good choice away from the masses of MIA, no lounges though for *G

Just tried that routing and no luck :(

what does a O mean in a colourless white box ?.
if I do
London(LHR) Toronto(YYZ) Fort Lauderdale
then
Fort Lauderdale Toronto(YYZ) London(LHR)

leaving the 27th July coming Back 1st Sep, I get a O in economy but no gold bit on the background, just white.

ahh just realized that the first leg from London to Canada is unavailable, seems you cant fly to the USA at all as you pick any London to any Florida airport and nothing comes up, even next week :confused:

It's easier to break the journey up in to legs - that way you'll only look for the journey you want.

So search for LHR-YYZ and then YYZ-MIA (or elsewhere).

I'd actually suggest checking for FRA-MIA and ZRH-MIA. However Swiss doesn't show on ANA, but I can help you find this from ExpertFlyer. For instance, on the 1st September there is plenty of availablity on Swiss for MIA-ZRH.

I can't find anything for the outbound on Swiss though

rang up diamond club and they said to use http://www.staralliance.com
to look for availability and said that I could check for qualifying flights using that too, but I cant seem to find anything that says about using star alliance miles, only checking routes where the star alliance airlines routes.....

this is what I have found too, there is plenty of availability for inbound flights but virtually none for outbound.

Have you got lots of miles? LH has first class availability on 27th July for FRA-MIA...

LH have economy seats open for 23rd July FRA-MIA

I only have 45,600 so only enough for economy I think, which is a bit of a pain.

Enough for cash+miles for business class - not that I could find any ;)

Im in the uk tho, Frankfurt is four hours the wrong way and back :confused:

Have you got any alterantives? You've left it too late and it's the start of the holidays in the UK.

Frankfurt is normally used for business and first redemptions to N America, as LH offers a better product than US/UA.

I haven't though, according to BMI iv left it too early. iv been ringing them since autumn time and every time I ring they say there is no availability, and say that apparently some airlines don't release flights until a week or two before and to ring back later. Now im beginning to thing they don't release any flights at all for the London to Orlando / Tampa route as iv been ringing since September time and had the same response and been using the Ana tool for the last couple of months and had the same thing on there too.

Any UK airport ?, I just mean from Frankfort its going to add another 4 hours to the journey, and that's excluding changing planes and waiting etc, the last few times iv took a plane from Heathrow or Gatwick, with a stop off in Detroit for 3 hours then onto Orlando, but there doesn't seem to be anything on this route as far as airmiles are concerned.

Your problem is that no Star Alliance carriers fly London to Orlando/Tampa direct. None fly London/Miami direct either. Virgin Atlantic is your only option using BD miles but these awards use considerably more miles and you're limited to a handful of flights.

You indicate you're not keen on a back track via Europe. If so you are limiting your options considerably. If it was me, I'd much rather transit in Europe in order to get directly into Miami than to transit in Washington/Chicago/Charlotte/Philadelphia on UA or US!!!

I'm sure the flights were there previously - they would have opened up around 330 days previous to the dates needed.

The problem is that (putting it nicely) many of the staff in the bmi call centre in India are useless or can't be bothered (some are excellent though).

My suggestion would be to come and join us in the bmi forum - where Diamond Club users with far more skill than I will sort you out quickly.

Oh I see sorry, I thought you meant that I would have to back track to Europe then ALSO stop off at somewhere like Detroit as well. I cant fly direct into Orlando anyway can I as its not a immigration airport ?.

You can fly in to Orlando - if you can find availability!

LH even fly FRA-Orlando, but there's no availability near your dates.

If your really stuck then you could try FRA or ZRH or IST to JFK the get a connecting flight with US to Florida. If US have no availability then you could buy a Jetblue return flight. I done this last year, it cost me around $120 return. Another option is with UA from LHR or Dub or AMS to ORD or IAD then connect to Florida. Also try US from London (or regional from MAN, BHX and GLA) to PHL and connect from there. The service is rubbish but it will get you there. Personally I'd not bother burning miles for C on US, slum it in Y then try and get LH, LX or TK back. Remember you don't have to use the same routing for the return if you book 2 x one ways. Definately go to the DC forum, we're a very helpful bunch:D

Thanks for your help guys, I decided in the end to bite the bullet and just buy a ticket, as the date I want to fly is drawing closer.This way it is going to give me more points anyway so I can use them for a trip to Egypt at the end of the year as there seems to be availability every day going there, so all good :).

Have a good time ^

Thanks, will do :D:cool: