Direct Flights to Norfolk International Airport, VA?

[Old Salt]

My wife and I live near Cambridge, England. We fly to Norfolk, VA, every year and it has become increasing difficult, often depressing every trip - we are both in our late 60's and she has trouble walking. It seems New York, Dulles and Baltimore airports have become terribly non-customer-friendly.

I keep hearing about a direct flight from England, to Norfolk, but, I sure can't find any. Does anyone know of any airline that flies from anywhere in England, to Norfolk, Williamsburg or Richmond, Virginia?

Mr and Mrs Old Salt sure would love to hear of any way to avoid New York, Dulles and Baltimore.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Old Salt

[Buenchico]

(2-part post):

The word 'international' in the title of many US airports is about as meaningful as the word 'world' in 'World Series' baseball ;-)
Most 'international' airports only serve domestic flights. It seems that Norfolk International is no different. See the route map here:
http://www.norfolkairport.com/flightinfo/route Map_January-2008.pdf
(The detail on that map is very congested. To view it properly, use the 'magnifier' function in Adobe Reader)

Wikipedia confirms that Norfolk International only handles domestic flights:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk_Internati onal_Airport

Looking at that map, Philadelphia would seem to be a possible alternative to New York, Dulles and Baltimore for your connection. US Airways fly there from Gatwick. (They also fly between Philadelphia and Norfolk). BA have a service from Heathrow.

[Buenchico]

Richmond International Airport is another example where 'international' is meaningless. The route map shows only domestic flights:
http://www.flyrichmond.com/HTML/Flight_Info_02 _Pages/Nonstop_Flights.html

However, US Airways operate from Gatwick to Charlotte and then on to Richmond. (You can also fly to Norfolk from Charlotte or from Philadelphia to Richmond).

If you want to consider travelling via either Philadelphia or Charlotte, I'd recommend taking the train from Cambridge to Kings Cross. Don't bother with hassle of the underground, simply take a taxi around the corner to Kings Cross Thameslink and board a train on the Bedford to Brighton line (which calls at Gatwick Airport). Alternatively, drive from Cambridge to Bedford and board a train to Gatwick Airport from there. Then fly with US Airways to Norfolk or Richmond, via Philadelphia or Charlotte.

Chris

[Buenchico]

I welcome In A Pickle's contribution, which was posted while I was carrying out some further research.

It seems that you've ignored a possible arrival point; Newport News Airport is just across the river from Norfolk. I discovered this after trying to find suitable flights (for some random dates I chose, in June) on the US Airways website. It's got a wonderful facility which enables you to search for flights to neighbouring airports to your first choice. Flights were offered to Norfolk, Richmond and Newport News, all via either Charlotte or Philadelphia. (I freely admit that I'd never heard of Newport News but my world atlas shows that it's very close to Norfolk). Flying into Richmond (via Charlotte) and back from Newport News (via Philadelphia) offered good connections and a total return fare (including taxes, etc) of �527.87 per person.

http://www.usairways.com/awa/content/internati onal/english.aspx

Chris

[Old Salt]

Thanks to everyone for such a great response to my post, especially Buenchico

I am actively pursuing US Airways in order to determine if they do have direct flights into Newport News............which is very near where I wish to ultimately arrive. But it would be tremendous if they have a flight from UK to Charlotte (either one).

By the way, Buenchico, is it Charlotte, Virginia, or North Caroline..............Charlotte, Virginia, as I remember back when Moby Dick was a minnow, was merely a "Hick Town" with a bunch of "Good Ole Boys" watching the world go by interrupted by the occassional hunting or fishing exercise. Of course that was well over forty years ago.

Old Salt

[Buenchico]

Thanks for the response. The 'Charlotte' referred to is Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, in North Carolina.

The Newport News Airport website doesn't have a route map but I've never seen it mentioned in the destination list of any UK airport. Additionally, Wikipedia states that it's yet another 'international' airport which only serves domestic flights:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newport_News/Will iamsburg_International_Airport

Looking at that page, the best connecting points for you would be (as previously suggested) either Charlotte or Philadelphia (with US Airways). However, Delta Airlines can get you there via Atlanta, leaving from either Heathrow or Gatwick. The best times and prices I could find were from Heathrow, with a total journey time of around 13 hours and return fares around �510 (including taxes, etc).

http://www.delta.com/home/index.jsp

Chris