I’m visiting Ireland in March, how can I get from London to Dublin for a good price? I checked the Aer Lingus website, for 4 people it was almost $500 USD. I would like to find a cheaper fare, any local dopers know of any? We would like to leave London on March 24th, in the morning, return to London on April 4th, before 1:00PM (<<~~time flight back to the US leaves).
PS - how hard is it to drive on the opposite side of the road, we want to rent a car. I know how to drive a stick, it can’t be too hard, right?
Eurotrip.com has a board with info. about cheap flights, including the type you’re asking about. Maybe Ryan Air or Easy Jet.
The weirdest thing about opposite side driving is navigating the turnabouts.
We checked Ryan Air too, but they only fly out of Stanstead (sp?) airport in London. We thought maybe we’d wait until we got to London to book a flight to Dublin, getting tickets online was frustrating, both the Ryan air site and Aer Lingus site. The flights we wanted wern’t available, and kept kicking back to the “choose your flight” page.
We are flying in on the 21st and spending the weekend in London, would we be totally screwed if we waited to book until we were there? Or is it better to book the flight to Dublin in advance?
It’s usually cheaper to do an advance booking. You might be running into Easter or other holiday times. I checked British Airways for your dates and times and found 4 adults, round trip from Heathrow to Dublin for just under $400 U.S., including all fees/taxes. BA is having a sale. If you fly out of Gatwick, it’s about half that price.
BTW, Ireland is so beautiful, and everyone was friendly when I visited last month.
Boscibo,
You’re flying into Dublin on the 24th?! What are you thinking!? Do you not realise that St. Paddy’s day is a mere week before? Sheesh.
Anyhoo, keep checking the Ryan(sc)air site. At current they’re booking cheap-o flights for your date of outward travel but not the return. Sometime in the coming days you should be able to check the price for your return. Also when you see a good price, take it! The fare rules may change the next day.
That said, I don’t know how much cheaper you’ll get than 500 USD for four people. For the sake of argument, we’ll say you get a return flight for 40GBP. Count on another twenty spot to cover taxes. Getting youself to and from the airport will add another 20(ish) to the total cost. (For the record, fly out of Gatwick if you can. It might cost a little more to get there but the trip to the airport is a hell of a lot shorter, quicker, and easier.) At this point you’re closing in on your inital quote. Still cheaper but not by much. Additionally, if you throw Ryan(sc)air’s on time departure rate in to the mix, Aer Lingus starts to look a lot better.
Having said that, there is an 8 pound fare offed through Ryan. If you can get that then you’ll saving some cash.
Taking the ferry is also an option however, you’ll pro’ally end spending way more than you would traveling by air.
As for driving on the right. You might be a bit dis-oriented at first but it doesn’t takre long to become accoustomed to it. (Biggest problem is that every time you go to switch gears you end up opening the door.)
Also check out British Midlands. They’re about $100 U.S. round trip between Heathrow & Dublin. I suspect you want Heathrow because you are returning to the U.S. from that airport. If you don’t have tickets to London yet, you could do open jaw, meaning U. S. to London to Dublin to U.S.
RyanAir fly out of Stanstead, Luton and Gatwick.
I know, I know. I’m going with my mom and she works for the school district, they are strict about the days she can be off - it has to coincide with the day the kiddies have off. Oh well, I’m sure we will do some post holiday drinking while there.
Our flight to London is already booked, good point about trying to stay at the same airport. We’re going to try and be flexible, maybe staying in London the weekend before we return instead.
Thank you! I did do some more digging on the Ryan Air site, the front page made it look like Stanstead was the only airport to fly out of. They do have good fares, we will keep looking.
Thank you all for the help!