What's my best option LHR to florida?

Going to take advantage of the sale and book another flight to Orlando. Being that all departures are from lhr, I have narrowed it down to 3 options which will give us a taste of not only the new check-in facilities at lhr but for the first time, the clubhouse at lhr.

Option 1 : fly lhr - mia and drive to orlando

Option 2 : fly lhr - ewr, transfer to continental and fly to mco (receiving miles/points if i book business class)

Option 3 : fly lhr - jfk, transfer to delta and fly to mco

Assuming all options will work out around the same price give or take 100, which do you think would be the most comfortable / easiest ?

I await your expert options with anticipation [:D]

thanks

David.

[HighFlyer]

Which class of travel?

I'd probably go for option 2 with the notion that EWR will be less hectic than JFK, unless you are flying in UC where you may be able to take advantage of the CDC transfer or hire car option from MIA. Dont forget the CDC range is any address in Florida.

Thanks,
Sarah

[Neil]

I would fly to MIA and then drive. When I was younger we did this on a few occasions when we went to Disney. We stayed in MIA the first night then drove to Orlando the next day. IIRC it is about a 3 or so hour drive.

[Darren Wheeler]

Personally I'd do the LHR-MIA option. A lot less hanging around and connections to miss, plus the drive up, while 3 hours+ is easy. Plus, given the state of the NYC airspace, less likely to get delayed.

Originally posted by HighFlyer
Which class of travel?

I'd probably go for option 2 with the notion that EWR will be less hectic than JFK, unless you are flying in UC where you may be able to take advantage of the CDC transfer or hire car option from MIA. Dont forget the CDC range is any address in Florida.

Thanks,
Sarah

Upper ... but a z fare

thanks

David

[RichardMannion]

David,

I can't beleive I have to agree with Neil, but personally if it were me I'd do LHR-MIA and then do the drive.

Option 4 in order to avoid flying Delta, would be flying to JFK, BOS or IAD, and then flying JetBlue down to MCO. I've heard very good things about them. jetblue.com

Thanks,
Richard

The jetBlue option is a good one, and I've done it 3 times via Boston.

LHR - BOS with Virgin then BOS _ MCO with jetBlue.

jetBlue have some very good fares. This time last year I paid $44 inc taxes to fly BOS - MCO [:D]

I'd be tempted to book one D fare and others Z fare to MIA and take the CDC from MIA to your location. Hsve you considered the cost of this options - as HighFlyer suggested? This to me may be the shortest and also the most pleasant / least hassle!

I'd do option 1 for 2 reasons. Good shopping at Sawgrass Mills and the drive up the coast is great if the weather's nice.

The only negative is MIA. Immigration is appalling, the most disorganised airport we've ever been to outside the 3rd world. A night on South Beach helps you forget though [;)].

Miopyk[8D]

I think I'd fly LHR - MIA then do the drive (or as Slinky09 has said, book one fare in D to get the CDC). If you have not got to drive on arrival you can avail yourself to a beverage or two in flight.

The only thing to consider is immigration at MIA - it has a reputation for being awful (think the travel section in yesterdays Times described it as something along the lines of 'long slow moving queues, miserable staff & even Hell has better working air conditioning'). That would be a pretty fair summary of my last experience through MIA immigration too.

Also, MIA is one of a few US airports that will soon start to take all 10 fingerprints from each Visitor entering the USA under the Visa Waiver Program - that will realy help the queues - not.

depends if you are keen to get more tier points....in which case Upper class to EWR and then continental first to Orlando, getting more tier points than just the Upper class to Miami

Originally posted by miopyk
I'd do option 1 for 2 reasons. Good shopping at Sawgrass Mills and the drive up the coast is great if the weather's nice.

The only negative is MIA. Immigration is appalling, the most disorganised airport we've ever been to outside the 3rd world. A night on South Beach helps you forget though [;)].

Miopyk[8D]

Ditto on all counts.The drive is easy (particularly after a night down on SB). I much prefer Sawgrass to anything Orlando has to offer in the way of outlet shopping and there's a great Cheesecake Factory which sets you up nicely for the onward journey.
MIA is probably the most unpredictable airport I've ever used.On a good day it's a doddle (30 mins to car and at SB in an hour) on a bad day 3+ hours just to get through immigration.

Originally posted by DragonLady

MIA is probably the most unpredictable airport I've ever used.On a good day it's a doddle (30 mins to car and at SB in an hour) on a bad day 3+ hours just to get through immigration.

Ditto to that, I stopped visiting MIA give years ago simply because of this - the sooner VS move to FLA the better (not likely though).

[Neil]

the sooner VS move to FLA the better (not likely though).

I must say Slinky, I have never seen Florencia, Colombia(FLA)on anyones VS wish list before, interesting choice. I do agree that it is highly unlikely they will fly there anytime soon[;)][:D]

I would go with option One.
There's a Mandarin Oriental in MIA you could stay at for the night if you want to recover from the flight [:p]

Who wants to see the whole country from the sky, take your time and enjoy the drive from Miami to Orlando. And you'll have the option of passing a Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits.

Cheers!

Dean

Last time we flew into MIA , immigration was a doddle.[8D]
Sawgrass great for a spot of retail therapy. [;)]

There has got to be a more cost effective way of getting from MIA-MCO than the price difference from Z->D isn't there? Also I assume you want to return so a one way boost to D only solves half the problem.

I would go to MIA, hire a Mustang through Dollar and enjoy the drive.