What 15723 DialAFlight clients thought of USA

Always great service.

Excellent customer service from start to finish!

We were in Florida when Hurricane Ian hit. Philip was fantastic at keeping in touch, answering all my emails and keeping us informed about flight options. A much needed voice of calm amid the madness.

Really helpful when my flight was cancelled due to Hurricane Ian. Resolved the issue quickly and well

A great help when problems happened -always there on the end of the phone. 10 out of 10

I am always recommending this company. Will always go the extra mile !

Service and support from Ewan was great throughout. Ewan Warrin and Lee were incredibly supportive when we were impacted by Hurricane Ian and if it had not been for their help in arranging alternative flights we would stil be in Orlando.

I dealt mostly with Jim and he was very professional at his job. I would definitely use again

Neil Frost was brilliant in rearranging our flight.

Felt really looked after by Riley from start to finish. We had an amazing time. Would use your services again

All our flights and reservations worked out perfectly. We even managed to escape hurricane Ian.

Again Ivor came up trumps

Awesome customer service from Austin and his team yet again

Great experience. Easy, and questions quickly answered by phone… that funny old communication tool.

Every email, every phone call was professional, courteous and helpful. Troy was our agent and I appreciate all he did this time and before

As always, excellent service from the first phone call to returning from our trip. Thanks Jerry and we’ll be calling to book with you again soon.

Fabulous staff kept me totally informed about my flight - great experience as first time solo. Thanks everyone

Always a pleasure to deal with a totally professional company - will only use you in future

COVID USA entry requirements were embedded in gov .UK links, but were easily overlooked. I had my vaccination cards with me but these were not accepted and I nearly didn’t get on the plane.

The level of service we received from Declan and his colleagues was superb as always and we really liked the hotel that he recommended for us in New York. We look forward to booking with you again in the future.

Excellent service and excellent communication. We will use again

Would recommend your service to others

Excellent service

Excellent service again from Teddy. This is my 3rd booking to the USA in the last 12 months and looking forward to booking again. Your staff answer the phone within seconds which is amazing when you hear the stories of people being on the phone for hours. Keep up the great service.

Thank you Adam, once again our trip was organised perfectly.

Excellent service, always available on phone and superb price

Superb start to finish

Danny looked after us brilliantly

Thank you so much Samuel - you never let me down and always find me the best holidays and deals

Helpful when arranging my flights and very good follow up to ensure everything was in order regarding visas

Funk & Jazz

The world's funkiest city: New Orleans

Music by the mile, daiquiris by the gallon and non-stop partying - New Orleans is a one-off says Giles Milton

The evening slams into action with a long blast of brass. Ronell Johnson has swung to his feet and is squeezing every last bit of jazz out of his trombone.

Rickie Monie, meanwhile, is tinkling the ivories at frantic speed. I'd been told the Preservation Hall in New Orleans was the place to see live jazz, but never realised it would be as moody-blues as this.

All the local jazz legends have blown their trumpets here, from Punch Miller and George Lewis to Sweet Emma Barrett and The Humphrey Brothers. The Preservation Hall continues to attract the best acts.

The Avenue Pub in New Orleans- a buzzing old-world pub with fireplaces and tin ceilings

FINDING THE MUSIC

Jazz is everywhere in New Orleans - in the bars, in the streets and in the psyche. This, after all, is the city of Louis Armstrong, who played his way to fame on the paddle-steamers that plied the Mississippi river.

This, too, is where the early jazz legends Buddy Bolden and Jelly Roll Morton once jammed through the night. Their local haunt, the Little Gem Saloon, has recently reopened and serves cocktails and food along with the music. Even those paddle-steamer river excursions still serve up jazz with their Creole cuisine.

The Preservation Hall is an iconic place to watch jazz

PRESERVATION HALL

'Welcome to New Orleans,' whoops the compere at the Preservation Hall in a pause between acts. Welcome indeed. New Orleans has to be the funkiest city on earth, where the

streets are filled with buskers and the back-alleys packed with cocktail bars. They even have drive-thru daiquiri bars where - I kid you not - the daiquiris are sold by the gallon. A visit to Louisiana's most beguiling city ought to begin with a government health warning: this is a place that takes partying very seriously.

The French Colonial style hotel Maison Dupuy

The wildest district is Bourbon Street, the setting for some of America's most outlandish clubs, strip-joints and cocktail bars. It's about as raw as it gets.

Women dressed in knickers and nipple-tassels parade the street touting for photos ($1 a snap) while men hang out in doorways drinking 'hand grenades', a Bourbon Street speciality that will blow your socks off. It comes in a yard-long vessel that's tinted green and shaped like a grenade at the bottom. The recipe is a guarded secret.

FINDING THE CALM

Apart from Bourbon Street's excesses, the rest of the city winds down to a gentler pace at around midnight. Then it's back to the hotel - in my case, the historic Maison DuPuy - where the party continues in the inner courtyard at a more subdued pace.

In 2005 Hurricane Katrina caused catastrophic devastation. More than 1,200 people died and 400,000 left homeless. An excellent (if sobering) exhibition in the city's Presbytère - a branch of Louisiana State Museum - recounts the horror as the levees collapsed and a tidal wave hit the residential quarters.

Visit Jackson Square in the French Quarter

THE FRENCH QUARTER

The only part scarcely touched was the historic French Quarter, home to many of the oldest buildings, jazz clubs and museums. 'New Orleans is not an American city,' explained John, my guide. 'It's half European, half African. It's unique.'

Founded by the French, ceded to the Spanish, sold to the Americans and besieged by the British, it was populated for much of its history by slaves from Africa. Allowed one day off work each week, they would congregate in local parks and improvise the musical riffs of their African forbears. This was how jazz was born.

Jackson Square is home to fine museums: the 1850 Museum, the Cabildo - the old town hall - the Presbytère and nearby Gallier House, with a preserved mid-19th century interior.

In the French Quarter, head to the Gumbo Shop restaurant to sample typical New Orleans fare: shrimp Creole, seafood gumbo (a thick Creole soup) and deep-fried alligator (straight from the swamps surrounding the city).

COCKTAIL HOUR

But I'm in need of a cocktail and take myself back to Bar Tonique, which serves the best sazerac in town (New Orleans's signature cocktail: cognac, absinthe and a shot of local Peychaud's bitters.) As the sun oozes itself into the Mississippi, I down a couple before taking myself back to Preservation Hall.

There's no Ronell Johnson on tonight's programme. But local star Clint Maedgen is on the sax, and that'll do for me.

First published in the Mail Online - April 2018

More articles below...

For more inspiration, read what travel writers have to say...

Bowled over by the Big Apple

England cricket captain Alastair Cook can't get enough of New York's bright lights