Travel 2019
Good news: we’ve finalized the flight plans for the Summer 2019 trip. The cost this year is consistent with the last few years, so that’s good news. But you will want to act quickly because these costs rarely go down, but they will certainly go up as more seats fill on the flights!
In the following message, you will find (1) an explanation of our air travel plan, (2) details about the flights you should book, (3) instructions on ordering your tickets, (4) information about alternatives to these preferred flights, and (5) some additional flight-related suggestions.
Our Air Travel Plan
As we discussed at the information sessions, each participant will need to book his or her ticket individually. Although you will book your ticket individually, we’d like everyone to book the same flight from Charlotte to London, if possible. That way, we can arrange an airport shuttle to take the group in from the airport to our London lodging. Some exceptions can be made, of course (for instance, people who are going to be somewhere other than North Carolina in June might want to fly directly from that location rather than returning to ECU before departure). But if you book a flight that’s different from the booking provided below, you may have to take a train from the airport to the city, and very few train stations have escalators, which makes traveling with luggage rather frustrating. Aside from that practical matter, it’s just nicer to travel in a group!
To make it possible to travel together, we’ve selected flights for which there are still lots of open seats. Nevertheless, it’s important to book your flight soon; we have around 18 travelers in our group, and we want to grab all our seats before others take them! There’s no way to predict how long the space will remain available, and there’s also no way to know that the price will remain the same.
Flight details (a.k.a. “Book this itinerary!”)
Here’s a summary of the itinerary that you should book as soon as possible:
Outbound: Greenville to Charlotte to London-Heathrow
American: AA5008 (PGV-CLT)
Departs Greenville 21 June 2019 @ 2:31 pm
Arrive Charlotte 21 June 2019 @ 3:51 pmAmerican: AA730 (CLT-LHR) — Overnight Flight
Departs Charlotte 21 June 2019 @ 6:55 pm
Arrives London-Heathrow 22 June 2019 @ 8:00 am
Inbound: London to Charlotte to Greenville
American: AA733 (LHR-CLT)
Departs London-Heathrow 14 July 2019 @ 12:20 pm
Arrives Charlotte 14 July 2019 @ 4:30 pmAmerican: AA4795 (CLT-PGV)
Departs Charlotte 14 July 2019 @ 9:14 pm
Arrives Greenville 14 July 2019 @ 10:18 pm
If you want, you can join us in Charlotte (usually that means in Concourse D – International Concourse) and skip the PGV-CLT leg of the trip. At the moment, that direct flight is actually MORE expensive. I do not understand airline logics.
How to Book Your Tickets
The best way to book your ticket is directly through American Airlines website: http://www.aa.com. You can go through Expedia or Orbitz or another reseller option, but the prices — at least at the moment — are not any better. In my experience, when you book with the airline directly, you get better service should something go wrong.
When you get to the American site, you can search for the trip as such:
REMEMBER: the flight numbers are everything! Make sure those are correct with the flight you book. The times sometimes shift by up to 15 or 20 minutes, so don’t be surprised if your time is a little different from when I took the screenshot. As long as the flight numbers are right, we’ll all be together on the same flight.
When you go to select your flights out and back, you’ll see two prices that are fairly close. American Airlines now offers “basic economy” and “main cabin” with about a $100 price difference. I highly recommend you spend the $100 up front and go for main cabin. If you read the stipulations on the two kinds of tickets, you’ll see that with “basic economy” you have to pay to check your bag, you board last, and you have no assigned seat until the day of the flight — which means you could more easily be bumped from the flight if they get in an “over sold” situation. You’re not really saving much money once you factor in the cost of checking your luggage.
Once you have selected both flights, to London and back, you should see a screen that looks like this one:
As you go through the process, you’ll see that you’re asked to enter your traveler information. This is very important: it MUST match what’s on your passport, so be sure you enter this information correctly.
Eventually, you may be asked to enter your Passport Number, so be sure to have it handy. If you haven’t gotten it yet, that’s fine. You can add that information later.
Send me an email at BANKSW [at] ECU [dot] EDU to say that you’ve booked your ticket and what your itinerary is (Group from Gville; Group from CLT; or On My Own). If you are traveling on your own, please send a copy of your itinerary so that we know where you are and how we might best make plans to meet you once we’re all in London. We instructors will be three bundles of stress between now and the time that every student has booked a ticket. Please settle our nerves by telling us when you’ve booked.
If you want to share a seat with someone you know from the program, then just book your flights at the same time and choose seats together.
Alternate Bookings
Some of you already have plans to travel on different days or from different airports. You might need to book flights different from those listed above for different reasons:
- You plan to be somewhere other than Greenville before our departure date, and you prefer to fly from where you are rather than coming back to Greenville to fly out with the group. If Charlotte is closer for you, you can just meet us at the gate in Charlotte (and of course book just that leg of the flight). But if you’re in eastern NC, there’s really no financial advantage to driving over to Charlotte. Just fly out of Greenville with the rest of us!
- You plan to stay in Europe for additional travel after the trip ends (lucky you!)
- You wait too long and there are no more available seats on the specified flights.
In each of these situations, the process of booking your flight remains the same, but, of course, the specific flights will differ. If you’re departing from an airport other than PGV (Greenville) (e.g., if you’re going to be in New York, Atlanta, Virginia Beach, or Peoria), you might want to search for the best fare from your location. If possible, try to get a booking in which you will be landing at London Heathrow Airport (LHR) before the group’s arrival time (8:00 am). If you do that, we should be able to meet up in the airport so you can take our hired shuttle bus in to the city. The shuttle can’t wait if your flight is delayed. You will have to get from the airport to the city on your own, but it’s not difficult, and we can give you the necessary instructions.
If you plan to travel in Europe (post-trip), note that you can book an “open jaw” flight (that is, a flight where you arrive in one airport, but return from a different airport—e.g., Greenville to London, then tour Europe by train, then Madrid to Greenville). The airline websites provide instructions for booking this type of flight. If you’re on the continent, an open-jaw booking may be cheaper than returning to London first.
This is important. If you plan to use an alternative booking, PLEASE let me know as soon as possible! I’ll keep a list of everyone’s booking status.
Additional Suggestions and Comments
Become a member of the American Airlines frequent flyer miles program! It’s free, and this flight will give you almost 10,000 frequent flyer miles right from the start. (That’s almost halfway to a free domestic flight, and almost 1/3 of the way to a flight to the Caribbean!) You can book your ticket first, then sign up for the miles program; as long as you’re a member before you board the plane, you can count the miles.
Reminder: use the exact same name for your flight booking that you have on your passport. No nicknames! I’m talking to you, Richard “Muscles” Taylor.
Some of you may not be sure yet whether you’d like to travel after the program. It’s possible to book your tickets, arrive in London, decide that you’d like to stay longer, and change your return flight by paying a change fee. That fee is something like $200 plus any increase in the new booking. So it’s possible to be spontaneous, but if you know for sure that you’d like to stay longer, you’re better off booking the extended itinerary from the start.
That’s it for now! Please, please let Dr. Banks know when you’ve booked your ticket. We’ll sleep better knowing everyone’s successfully booked. Summer is a busy travel time for London, and the earlier we’re all booked, the more likely it is that we can travel together. This is especially true if you’re planning to fly out of Greenville, since it’s a smaller plane and there are fewer seats available. Book ASAP, okay?
Have questions or need help? Just ask. We’re going to have a great trip!
