It’s good news for the Europeans – flying across the Atlantic has become even more accessible. Most of the European citizens are already eligible for the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), but with an enhanced flight schedule from the UK to the US you can quickly organize a short-term tourist or business trip. You want to catch a show? Visit relatives? Or simply explore this spacious land?
Under the Visa Waiver Program holders of a valid electronic passports and citizens of one of the countrie eligible for VWP do not need a visa to travel to the US, they must only file for an ESTA authorization online. The tedious process of printing forms and scheduling interviews is replaced by this travel authorization, which is electronic from beginning to end and is as easy to handle as buying the plane tickets on your preferred website. Although in most cases you will get an answer within 30 minutes, to be safe you should apply at least 72 hours before the start of your trip, or better, when you start planning it. After filling in the required fields you will quickly get a reply and that information will be available to both your carrier and the US border authorities every time you decide to take a trip in the two years following the approval, provided the passport associated with the ESTA is not expired. You can stay for up to 90 days per trip and 180 days per year.
Truth is, flying is just about the only way to get across the big pond onto American soil and when it comes to flying to the US many factors come into consideration: flights are already long enough, but add to that a couple of layovers and the different time zones it takes up a whole day at least. Not to mention the exploding budget. This is why the new flight routes, operating since 2017 come in very convenient – much less hassle, much less stress of changing gates and tracking bags. You can just sit back and catch up on watching movies, while traveling to a whole new continent non-stop.
There’s much to choose from since 2017: You can fly directly from London to New Orleans with British Airways four times a week. The same airline has started to offer non-stop flights to Florida and California (San Francisco). Delta can fly you to Portland, Detroit and Atlanta almost daily from London and to New York’s JFK from Edinburgh. From London there are also easy connections with Icelandair, who announced 2 new flight routes – to Philadelphia and Tampa. Thomas Cook has added a new route from Manchester to San Francisco and increased the number of flights to Los Angeles and Boston. United Airlines service two flights per day both to LA and San Francisco and Virgin can take you as far as Seattle without having to change planes. To those you can add Air Lingus, Norwegian and Primera Air, all trying to catch up with the competition. This certainly gives everyone a lot of choice and flexibility, so prices for transatlantic travel are likely to be very lenient on your pocket. Why wait?