Simon Calder's Holiday Helpdesk: Flights from Detroit to the UK

Q. Do you know of any airline that flies direct to Detroit from the UK? Who, and from where, please?

Jenni Willows

A. British Airways abandoned the Michigan city some years ago. So today the only UK-Detroit airline is Delta, which flies from Heathrow to Detroit's Metro airport.

However, before you book your flight, I'd like to make a couple of points.

First, the fare you pay for a non-stop flight may be significantly higher than a connecting service on a carrier such as American Airlines or United. In common with any airline with a monopoly on a transatlantic route (eg BA from Heathrow to Seattle), Delta is sometimes able to extract a premium for the non-stop link. In the next couple of months, the fares from London to Detroit are a fairly constant £600 or so, but the non-stops may get more expensive during the peak summer.

Next, if Heathrow is your preferred airport and Detroit is your precise destination, clearly a premium may be worth paying. But if you are starting elsewhere in the UK or aiming elsewhere in Michigan then another gateway may be less expensive or more appropriate. For example, US Airways has good fares from Manchester via Philadelphia. And if price is top of your concerns: Toronto is an intensely competitive destination, served from a range of UK airports, with a six-hour bus connection to Detroit.

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