Tampa Travel Forum

We live in the north of England and want to go to Clearwater in April 2008 can anyone tell me the cheapest way to get there, ie straight from Manchester to a US city and then down to tampa, or would it be better to book from Man to NY on one ticket and then get an internal flight down. I have looked online and the cheapest tickets I can find are £525. I was under the impression the earlier you booked the cheaper the tickets, or am I wrong.
Can anyone help please
Thanks Chris

The disadvantage-and risks-of having an off-line connection is that when you have a delay or cancellation on the first flight inbound, the next airline is not obliged to accomodate you. Chances are that you'll lose that second ticket. So be very careful with that.
Just checked Continental (MAN-EWR-TPA) in April 08: fares from 500 - 650 euros, taxes and surcharges included, depending on day of the week. And this is an on-line connection.

I use the month long search at
http://matrix.itasoftware.com/
for this type of question

When I search April 2008 for MAN>TPA
I get $870US (~441 UK pounds) mid week fares
on Continental and others. This includes
taxes and fees.

Have you given some thought to flying into Orlando on one of the reasonable charters from Manchester,doing a car hire and driving to the west coast and
directly into Clearwater in about 2 1/2 hours.

I agree that the cheapest may be to fly straight into Orlando, rent a car, and drive on to Clearwater. I often fly to Florida and Orlando offers the cheapest rates both on flights and car rental. Just returned and rented a full size car for eleven days for $188 US. Don't know how long you are staying but Orlando had a lot to offer...spend a few days there first or last. Disney, Universal,or Sea World...many other activites to do. On the drive to Clearwater, Tampa offers Busch Gardens, Lowery Zoo, and a pretty bay. Once in Clearwater, drive on down to Treasure Island, Sarasota, or Fort Myers for great snorkeling, beach, and sun...Have a great trip and send oranges or grapefruits home...they will love them!!
O

I just did the drive from Orlando to Tampa, and it was soooo easy. All highway, and took just over an hour. Therefore, I recommend finding the cheapest flight to Tampa *or* Orlando, because they're really about the same. Clearwater is probably about 30-60 mins beyond Tampa.

Not sure how prices are for international flights, but I've usually found that the specials that the U.S. airlines run only start about 2 months before the date of flight. Therefore, I usually book airfare about 4-6 weeks prior to my U.S. domestic flights.