The Big New York Thread

[welshbairn]

6 hours ago, MONKMAN said:

c***s from BA have just notified me that my flight from Toronto to JFK has changed from 11am to 7.45pm My choices are pay £290 to move to an earlier flight, 12 o’clock is all they can get me, or lost half a day in NY.

I said I’ll just not get that flight, as I can source my own for around £80 each. They’ve responded saying if I fail to get my flight to NY, all further travel (back to Glasgow via Heathrow) will be cancelled.

You get better service from Easyjet than so called "full service" airlines like BA. You can change the name on a ticket for £20 with Easyjet, BA say you have to cancel the booking with only tax refunded minus £15 processing fee. Absolute c***s.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

BA are an absolute arsehole of an airline, their product is shite and they benefit from having more or less a monopoly on Heathrow, I prefer going to the states with Virgin, find they do the little things better, especially customer service wise, BA staff can be quite aloof as if you should be honoured they’re letting you on the plane, whereas Virgin and in the states airlines like Southwest etc actually have a bit more personality to them. Had some really negative experiences with BA and now actively go out my way to avoid flying with them Monkman’s story kinda makes my point.

[carpetmonster]

BA are an absolute arsehole of an airline, their product is shite and they benefit from having more or less a monopoly on Heathrow, I prefer going to the states with Virgin, find they do the little things better, especially customer service wise, BA staff can be quite aloof as if you should be honoured they’re letting you on the plane, whereas Virgin and in the states airlines like Southwest etc actually have a bit more personality to them. Had some really negative experiences with BA and now actively go out my way to avoid flying with them Monkman’s story kinda makes my point.

Southwest are the best airline in the US and it's not even close. Delta a fair bit after them, United are useless and the sooner AA go fucking bankrupt the better. Spirit are tolerable mainly because the employees are all quite nice, you're packed into the plane like a rush hour tube train.

[Arabdownunder]

10 hours ago, Rugster said:

I've always bought in advance, even for off broadway. If you're particular about what you want to see I think you need to do that. If you're not particular, and don't mind standing around in a queue for a couple of hours you could use the TKTS booth at Times Square when you get there.

I've seen the Lion King on broadway, it was fucking tremendous.

TKTS booth at the Lincoln Center has much shorter queues.

[arab_joe]

20 hours ago, MONKMAN said:

c***s from BA have just notified me that my flight from Toronto to JFK has changed from 11am to 7.45pm My choices are pay £290 to move to an earlier flight, 12 o’clock is all they can get me, or lost half a day in NY.

I said I’ll just not get that flight, as I can source my own for around £80 each. They’ve responded saying if I fail to get my flight to NY, all further travel (back to Glasgow via Heathrow) will be cancelled.

I would be absolutely shocked if BA don't allow you to cancel the flight, if they have moved it 9 hours.  It might take a couple of phone calls to customer service (or better still complain in person if you are going to be in T5 at Heathrow before your trip), but if you claim to have important business in NYC that afternoon then they really should let you change or cancel for free (if they don't refund you some cash).  I have always been successful when I have had issues with BA (including persuading them to  upgrade me from the Radisson Blu to the Hotel Sacher when I was in Salzburg a couple of years back...) but it can take a bit of time and effort.

16 hours ago, MONKMAN said:

Anyway, show tickets - she wants to go to the Lion King (I've seen it in London with an ex, much to her rage), do we book before or chance it when we get there?

The TKTS app is pretty good.  Also, the website gives a good indication of those tickets that will be available if you check it every few days before you go: https://www.tdf.org/nyc/81/TKTS-Live .  That said, if you have a specific show you want to go to then I would probably just book - especially for big name shows like Lion King, Aladdin etc. which rarely seem to be on TKTS.

[doulikefish]

I was going to change but I've decided there's no chance I'm giving the c***s an extra £290, as there's worse places to spend an extra half day than Toronto.
 
Anyway, show tickets - she wants to go to the Lion King (I've seen it in London with an ex, much to her rage), do we book before or chance it when we get there?

http://etours.to/toronto_tour_airport.html

If she has never been you can do a quick tour of the city from the airport

[MONKMAN]

http://etours.to/toronto_tour_airport.html

If she has never been you can do a quick tour of the city from the airport

My mate will be picking us up from the airport, but that looks quite good.

[doulikefish]

My mate will be picking us up from the airport, but that looks quite good.

They are,ive done a few "tours from the airport" and they are generally pretty decent and a welcome change from sitting about a lounge for 5 or 6 hours

[Saigon Raider]

Was just in New York last month and we went to see Sponge Bob Square Pants the musical.

It was absolutely glorious, my 6 and 4 year old loved it and my son has the playlist downloaded and sings it constantly.

Didn't know what to expect as I had never seen a Broadway show but the music, production, lights, etc were amazing. Cost us a fortune* but well worth it.

*The cost was slightly mitigated by finding $1400 in the glove box of our hire car...

[MONKMAN]

Lion King tickets purchased.

[DigOutYourSoul]

Upstate:

I’m heading over next year for a wedding and going to have 4 days outside the wedding to myself. Wedding is up near white plains and I plan to spend at least 2 of these days exploring somewhere either upstate or on the coast.

Does anyone have any “must see” things they know about. I’ll have the car and will be on my own as the wife can’t make it. The only place that’s taken my fancy so far has been mohonk preserve.

Any ideas fully welcome.

[MONKMAN]

Helicopter trips Manhattan. Anyone done this? It’s fairly pricey but quite fancy the night flight. Only problem is there’s no flights from Manhattan at night and need to go to Linden airport NJ, for all the night flights. Seems a bit of a trek to get there and back.

[Andy Dufresne]

On 22/08/2018 at 15:22, MONKMAN said:

Lion King tickets purchased.

Lion King is an amazing show.

[MONKMAN]

Lion King is an amazing show.

I’ve seen it in London and it was outstanding, I’m expecting pretty much the same.

[Stu]

26 minutes ago, MONKMAN said:

Helicopter trips Manhattan. Anyone done this? It’s fairly pricey but quite fancy the night flight. Only problem is there’s no flights from Manhattan at night and need to go to Linden airport NJ, for all the night flights. Seems a bit of a trek to get there and back.

Not been on a helicopter trip because it costs a fortune, however here's a tip that will let you save a reasonable amount off a trip like that.

Download the Google Trips app, search for where you're going (in your case New York), click it then go to discounts. GetYourGuide is usually the best one, will have about 20% off most of the things you'll want to do. You can either book it through the app or just go through to the checkout, note down the discount code it gives you then use it on the website if that's easier. There doesn't seem to be a limit to the amount of times you can use it either (although you need a different code each time) so you can go back if you fancy something else. I used it for a few things in Lisbon in the summer.

The helicopter trip will still be expensive but if it's a couple of hundred quid then 20% off is a decent saving. For the most part, the prices of the activities seem to be the same as if you'd booked through the site of whatever it is, although double check as a few aren't.

 

[Musketeer Gripweed]

Not quite the same as the helicopter tip, but the Circle Line boat trips are worth doing, especially if you get a good tour guide.

You wouldn't get me up in a helicopter anywhere near New York. The sky is almost as busy as the roads. Watching the sky from the top of one of the tall buildings is pretty awesome.

[Pie Of The Month]

https://www.nymediaboat.com/tours/

The media boat tour in New York is probably one of the best I've done anywhere. $95 but it was well worth it.

[doulikefish]

Helicopter trips Manhattan. Anyone done this? It’s fairly pricey but quite fancy the night flight. Only problem is there’s no flights from Manhattan at night and need to go to Linden airport NJ, for all the night flights. Seems a bit of a trek to get there and back.

Yeah ive done one at night its pretty spectacular.We got a transport included deal and it took us about an hr each way for a 30 min flight plus i did my usual and fell asleep in the chopper [emoji16]
Both "romantic"type chopper flights ive booked with the missus,new york and the grand canyon ive nodded off on

[arab_joe]

On 9/6/2018 at 23:15, MONKMAN said:

Helicopter trips Manhattan. Anyone done this? It’s fairly pricey but quite fancy the night flight. Only problem is there’s no flights from Manhattan at night and need to go to Linden airport NJ, for all the night flights. Seems a bit of a trek to get there and back.

I did a day-time helicopter ride in January (I couldn't be bothered heading to NJ for the night version), from the tiny heliport next to the Staten Island ferry port.  It was expensive but well worth it as a one-off. 

The 20 minute flight took us over Statue of Liberty and then right up the Hudson River past Central Park etc.  Even through the glass the quality of the photos was amazing.

[Arabdownunder]

Round Manhattan brunch cruise. https://www.sail-nyc.com