Booked Easter 2013.

[alibeau]

Hi Guys,

Well I have been sweating on VA releasing flights for next Easter as we are always pretty set on our dates with little flexibillity fitting in with school hols and training days etc...

Anyway we had planned to go for the two weeks over Easter and the week after (20 nights) but I couldn't find any M&M flights for our dates and the price for PE for 2 Ad and 2 Ch was £4610 I've always booked when the flights are first released and have never seen our exact dates any cheaper further down the line.......

So this morning I had a change of heart and contacted our villa guy to see if we could change our dates to the Easter fortnight and the week before and we could Used some miles and bagged our flights for £2960 - result Really pleased and £500 less than I paid for our last Easter trip

I can't get my head around why taking the week after Easter would effect the price so much? Is this the preferred option perhaps? We have always gone with the week before as then the girls are just missing the last few days of term rather than the beginning of a new one so I guess I should just stick with what I know best in future

One happy bunny

Ali

 

[wayneg]

Enjoy your planning.

I am looking for Easter next year but looking for flights under £500pp.

 

[alibeau]

I'm afraid we are just too set in our ways Wayne We love the convenience of flying direct from MAN to MCO and as we are so inflexible with dates I like to get everything booked and know that it is sorted.....

I've also just realised that I didn't book M&M last Easter as I didnt have enough miles hence the cost was £500 more

Hope you manage to find flights too - I have a funny feeling you'll find a bargain

Ali

 

[wayneg]

I'm afraid we are just too set in our ways Wayne We love the convenience of flying direct from MAN to MCO and as we are so inflexible with dates I like to get everything booked and know that it is sorted.....

I've also just realised that I didn't book M&M last Easter as I didnt have enough miles hence the cost was £500 more

Hope you manage to find flights too - I have a funny feeling you'll find a bargain

Ali

I dread immigration at MCO now its all 1 line, we can go indirect as quick as direct if you get a bad arrival with other planes. Last year we got thru no problem but then the luggage took forever. We are direct this July but in PE so should be 1st off plane.
If we don't get any reasonable flights we won't go, just wait until summer.

 

[janiebubble]

We booked yesterday for Easter too. You may find that the reason the cost was dearer for the extra week after easter is that some local authorities (including the one I work for) have set Easter as a standard two weeks - the first two weeks in April rather than the actual date of Easter. This means that we finish the day before good Friday and have the two following weeks off. Flight prices were silly this week ... my DSIL booked PE as it was actually cheaper than economy (although the price has since dropped). That was flying two days before we finish though. I've had to stick within my two weeks holiday - but was lucky enough to find some miles plus money PE seats - we've never flown PE before so I'm excited!! Even better, we now need 2 extra days accommodation as the villa is only booked for DSILs 2 weeks, so I've just booked Art of Animation for the last 2 nights. We've paid over the odds for the flights but overall the holiday isn't costing us any more than the week in SSR this year so I'm happy

 

[luke]

Another one stuck to school holidays

Virgin MAN-MCO is £1300 odd each for 29th March - 13th April!

:goodv

 

[juliebro]

Another one stuck to school holidays

Virgin MAN-MCO is £1300 odd each for 29th March - 13th April!

:goodv

Ouch!

It may be worth holding on for a Virgin sale. We'd never flown Virgin before till this year but were lucky enough to see a sale price that was cheaper than indirect.

 

[luke]

I'll definitely be holding off do they have sales often? Couldn't imagine school holiday flights to drop too much. Annoying that Disney actively encourage school holiday bookings with free dining etc, but it can cost so much to actually get there

 

[juliebro]

I'll definitely be holding off do they have sales often? Couldn't imagine school holiday flights to drop too much. Annoying that Disney actively encourage school holiday bookings with free dining etc, but it can cost so much to actually get there

Sorry. Not an expert on Virgin sales. We were just very lucky last year when we booked! Hopefully Wayne will know. He usually does!

 

[wayneg]

Sorry. Not an expert on Virgin sales. We were just very lucky last year when we booked! Hopefully Wayne will know. He usually does!

I can't get my head around these figures for next year, Easter 2007 we paid £290, Easter 2008 £410 both Miles & Money.
Next year no M&M yet, full price £1,133, PE only a few £ more at £1,276 with some M&M already available at £994

I just checked what fare codes they were offereing, B & L, these are 2nd and 4th most expensive codes for economy seats, that is why they are so expensive. Looks to me like they have still to reslease the cheaper codes, is it a new tactic, offering more expensive codes on release?

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

Easter is our favourite time to go and yes the prices are always extreme. We are very fortunate this year to be able to go outside of the school holidays as the boys go to a faith school and get 10 days off at the end of September beginning of October so the prices are a little more friendly.

Hope you have a fab time and happy planning

 

[wayneg]

Easter is our favourite time to go and yes the prices are always extreme.

Thankfully indirect deals usually still pop up for Easter, last time it cost us £424 London via Detroit. I think I will be going indirect again next Easter but if nothing comes up under £500 we will wait for summer.

 

[janiebubble]

I can't get my head around these figures for next year, Easter 2007 we paid £290, Easter 2008 £410 both Miles & Money.
Next year no M&M yet, full price £1,133, PE only a few £ more at £1,276 with some M&M already available at £994

I just checked what fare codes they were offereing, B & L, these are 2nd and 4th most expensive codes for economy seats, that is why they are so expensive. Looks to me like they have still to reslease the cheaper codes, is it a new tactic, offering more expensive codes on release?

we got the M&M at £994, over the odds I'm sure.

Ironically you can book a whole holiday including virgin flights on jetsave for £945 each for 29/3-12/4 ... much cheaper than the flight price on Virgin!

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

Thankfully indirect deals usually still pop up for Easter, last time it cost us £424 London via Detroit. I think I will be going indirect again next Easter but if nothing comes up under £500 we will wait for summer.

Unfortunately indirect flights are not an option we can look at as DH is a bad flyer and take off and landings are the worse times so to add an "extra" up and down would just be too cruel

 

[Soozeej]

I am starting to look now at going next Easter ( original plan was 2014 but I am wodnering if we can do it early as I can't wait ) I have been looking at virgin holidays as we have never been to florida before, do most people book flights and villa seperate then? I have seen a quote for £4470 for 5 of us including flights from glasgow staying in a villa.

 

[2Tiggies]

I'll definitely be holding off do they have sales often? Couldn't imagine school holiday flights to drop too much. Annoying that Disney actively encourage school holiday bookings with free dining etc, but it can cost so much to actually get there

I hear you!! This is our last 'term time' trip because I am not going to take DD out of school when she starts high school.

I think though, that this is why Disney is doing FD for UK bookings in the hols now though; when flight prices went through the roof, people just couldn't afford to book and I think UK bookings bring in a fair bit of revenue for them. I think they were trying to make it balance out the sky high prices of getting there and making it possible by making it more affordable to actually stay there

Unfortunately Scottish schools go back mid August which is when flight prices start to drop slightly. So it the good deals are going to be even harder to come by. We are definitely looking at Easter rather than Summer because of that as July and August are still silly prices.

 

[Rachandgarry]

Hiya

Yep, we've booked for Easter next year. We are actually taking the children out of school for one week in advance (they will be 6 and 7), and leaving the UK on Saturday March 16th, stay 18 nights and then arrive back to UK on Thursday 4th April so we have 3 1/2 days to recover before getting them back to school. Probably paid over the odds, but for 4 adults and 2 children we paid £3223. including a massive credit card charge. This is for Virgin flights from LGW - MCO, and not using any miles or anything.

It could probably be less, but we were really stuck on dates and now I'm just mega-excited that we are all booked, woo hooo!!

 

[wayneg]

Hiya

Probably paid over the odds, but for 4 adults and 2 children we paid £3223. including a massive credit card charge. This is for Virgin flights from LGW - MCO, and not using any miles or anything.

Just had a look at VA, cost is £3,170.00 + cc fee. You would have saved about £500 if you had 12,000 miles to use but without miles you won't get much cheaper than you have paid for direct flights.
Cheapest I have found going Easter Sat for 2 weeks is £580 with AA indirect, hope some show under £500.