Booking flights to Oklahoma from Scotland, but via a stay in New York on the way back?

Soldato
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9 Mar 2010
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My partner and I have been invited to a wedding in Oklahoma on the 5th of November.

As it's a bit of a hike (18/19 hours including transfers) we thought we'd do a 2 week stay.

Also, considering it's not very often we'll be making trips to the USA, we noticed that most, if not all, flights have a transfer in New York so thought we could spend one of the weeks there.

The rough plan is that we stay with friends in Oklahoma for 3 or 4 days before the wedding, on the Saturday, then give ourselves a little time to recover before taking a flight to New York on the Monday and staying for a week or so.

However, I've never done this split flights malarky... And don't know the US or how it's internal flights work at all.

What's the best way to tackle this? Given that most flights from Edinburgh appear to have about an 8 hour transfer in New York on the way out would we be better spending the night there? Seems like the waste of most of a day otherwise?

How close is NYC airport to NYC actual? Would you expect to be able to walk out of the airport and be able to do some shopping before catching a flight to Oklahoma?

Any advise would be massively appreciated (including the right forum section for this query!)
 
Which NYC airport? Kennedy, La Guardia or Newark?

Also, where in NYC? It's a BIG place. If you want downtown Manhattan, it's a decent cab ride from JFK.

As for split flights, CHECK CAREFULLY. I used to do UK to US a lot and American Airlines let me break the flight, once either outbound or returning, without charge. But I was usually travelling on a ticket class with minimal restrictions. I've also come across airlines and ticket conditions where even if the plane lands at a mid-point, the transfer doesn't allow you to break your journey. Don't assume that just because the plane goes Oklahoma to NYC, then a different flight number from NYC to UK that you will necessarily be allowed to exit the "secure" bit of the terminal. Some do, some don't. You need to check, specifically, for your booking, unless you explicit book arriving NYC on one date, and departing a few days later, which some airlines will do without charge, but many won't. Or that used to be the case. I don't often fly scheduled these days so am out of touch.
 
New York has more than one airport..

Anyway, my suggestion would be to fly to New York, take a return domestic flight from New York to Oklahoma, return to New York and fly home from there.
 
New York has more than one airport..

Anyway, my suggestion would be to fly to New York, take a return domestic flight from New York to Oklahoma, return to New York and fly home from there.

Internal flights can be surprisingly expensive. Or used to be, anyway. That method needs to he checked carefully, too.
 
fly business class out of london city airport.

you land in Shannon, Ireland to refuel and clear US customs, then land as a domestic passenger in NYC. great way to dodge the horrific immigration queues.
 
fly business class out of london city airport.

you land in Shannon, Ireland to refuel and clear US customs, then land as a domestic passenger in NYC. great way to dodge the horrific immigration queues.

You only do that on the first of the two flights a day.

The other stops to refuel but does not pre clear.
 
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