The states is a "relative" large place... any specific area? Prices different from city to city and airport to airport.

www.expedia.co.uk and www.opodo.co.uk are pretty good. They have special offers pages and unlike most sites they only show you what's available, which saves an awful lot of time. Also, if you're flexible on dates it's worth trying lots of different combinations of departures and returns, as I did that a few years ago and found one particular combination of dates that was £200 less than any other!

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by Chambler
The states is a "relative" large place... any specific area? Prices different from city to city and airport to airport.

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Yes, I know they do. I'm aware a flight to LA will be dearer than a flight to New York and that airport tax will effect the price.

To use an analogy, the prices of Budgen's own brand food will, generally, be cheaper than those of Marks and Spencer's own brand food. Or the price of petrol will be dearer on a motorway service station than at a supermarket.

I'm just looking for a site that generally does good deals overall, then I can look into the nitty gritty.

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by Whistler
(quotes)
Yes, I know they do. I'm aware a flight to LA will be dearer than a flight to New York

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Not all the time. I've always used expedia to book my flights (book an e-ticket rather than a paper one and you can make ammendments to it if need be) and I've not paid over £250 for one to America. I think the best I ever got was the first time I went to L.A. It was just under £200. With expedia you have to check back everyday and keep an eye on the prices. I remember when me and Yvonne went and the price rose by £50 the day before we booked it and then 2 weeks after we did book it they'd risen by another £200!

My father-out-law swears by contacting the airlines direct (Virgin, B.A. American Airlines, Delta) and remember if you don't fly direct you can save loads but it will add lots more hours travelling.

One other thing I've just thought of: If the place you're going to isn't a major city then it may be cheaper to get a flight to the nearest major city then booking a separate domestic flight from there to your destination.

It may sound strange, but I know that a return flight from the UK to Vegas is generally no less £450, while a return flight to LA is, as T said, usually less than £250 and return flights from LA to Vegas can cost as little as £35

Yeah, my friend actually lives in Charleston, South Carolina but it, so far, is working out cheaper to fly to Atlanta.

Thanks for your suggestions so far.

A friend of mine, until recently, was living in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Cheapest flights I found usually involved changing at New York or Philadelphia. I stopped using internet travel sites and just booked through my local Lunn Poly. I found they were usually cheaper, and the few times the internet was cheaper it involved dodgy companies whose helpdesk was based in a country where english was not the first language, and there incompetence meant I almost never reached my destination on two occasions.

I would have thought, if you book early enough, that a flight to Charlston should cost you no more than £2-300 pounds. I usually fly with AA, who will give you the internal US flight for free.

Hope that helps.

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by Whistler
Yeah, my friend actually lives in Charleston, South Carolina but it, so far, is working out cheaper to fly to Atlanta.

Thanks for your suggestions so far.

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As Jayjay said, you may benefit from a flight connecting via either New York (Newark is less popular than JFK an may be a little cheaper) or Philadelphia.

When I flew out to see my cousin in Pennsylvania last October, I used eBookers.com and the flight cost about £230. When my cousin flew over here in November he took a flight from Philadelphia which went via South Carolina, so a flight for you via Philly might be worth looking into.

As far as Atlanta is concerned, it is the headquarters of Delta airlines and you may wish to consider using the "direct" approach suggested by T's father-in-law.

If you do chose to go via Atlanta, you might want to stick around for a day or so. I worked out there a couple of years ago and loved the place! It's the home of Coca Cola and CNN, plus the site of the 1996 Olymipics.

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by Whistler
I wonder if anyone can help me?

I'm hoping to fly and see a friend in the States in June and would appreciate anyone pointing me in the direction of a site that does cheap flights.

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I don't know much about sites for air travel because I don't fly a lot. But I've been seeing a lot of ads here in the US for a site called cheaptickets.com. As I said, I can't recommend it from having used it, but if you haven't tried it, it's probably worth a look. Good luck.

try ebookers