Excellent Virgin Upper Class Deal Manchester

[tubtruck]

The likes of Wayneg may be interested. Just booked for August next year for myself, DW and Mother in Law. As stated in a previous post a little complicated on how we are traveling on different dates. To cut a long story short Wife and I are traveling from Manchester to Orlando direct with Virgin and returning Virgin to Gatwick then back up to Manchester on BA.

The two transatlantic flights are in Virgin upperclass but are BA ticketed so a codeshare. It cost £1528 each, a saving of £625 each compared with a straight MAN-MCO-MAN flight booked direct through Virgin.

Mother in Law is flying direct both ways, Upper class on the way out with wife and back in economy on her own. Her flights were booked direct with Virgin and cost total of £1256.

 

[burt]

Sounds like an excellent price , who did you book this with?

 

[tubtruck]

Sorry forgot to say, its through Expedia.

 

[2Tiggies]

That is a good deal tubtruck. I am curious though, did you book online? I have never seen the option to fly from and back to different airports so I wondered if you did it over the phone.

 

[wayneg]

Cheapest I see for our dates £1,730 with Delta, not that I am looking, already booked for next year.
What dates you got? not quite understanding the codeshare thing, BA/Virgin don't have an agreement so thought I would have a look.
Virgin are doing some great deals in Upper for next year, Feb half term about £1,300 from Gatwick. Couldn't pay £1,528 myself but its far better than some quotes I have seen.

 

[tubtruck]

It was booked online, we are flying back to the same airport only we are flying back in to Gatwick then getting on another plane to Manchester.

So in effect its direct on the way out and indirect on the way back only the change is in a uk airport where there would be nothing stopping you walking out of the door if you really wanted to and it suited.

 

[tubtruck]

Cheapest I see for our dates £1,730 with Delta, not that I am looking, already booked for next year.
What dates you got? not quite understanding the codeshare thing, BA/Virgin don't have an agreement so thought I would have a look.
Virgin are doing some great deals in Upper for next year, Feb half term about £1,300 from Gatwick. Couldn't pay £1,528 myself but its far better than some quotes I have seen.

They must have now, or at least some agreement. My flights are showing on both the BA and Virgin websites with a different confirmation code for each company. In the same way we had different references with Air France and Delta on those dirt cheap Biz fares two years ago. I was also able to change my the seats on Virgins Website without any problem.
Dates:- Mother in Law 6th - 19th
Wife 6th - 27th
Me 9th - 27th

 

[wayneg]

They must have now, or at least some agreement. My flights are showing on both the BA and Virgin websites with a different confirmation code for each company. In the same way we had different references with Air France and Delta on those dirt cheap Biz fares two years ago. I was also able to change my the seats on Virgins Website without any problem.
Dates:- Mother in Law 6th - 19th
Wife 6th - 27th
Me 9th - 27th

Just found some before you posted dates. Looks good, Gatwick-MCO and back direct is £2,148.
Also can't imagine BA/Virgin doing a codeshare(even if they were the last 2 airlines) something not quite right to me but no worries you have booked and you have it.

 

[2Tiggies]

It was booked online, we are flying back to the same airport only we are flying back in to Gatwick then getting on another plane to Manchester.

So in effect its direct on the way out and indirect on the way back only the change is in a uk airport where there would be nothing stopping you walking out of the door if you really wanted to and it suited.

Right, got it now. I misread your first part of post #1.

I have been getting better prices from Gatwick than Manchester, which isn't really unusual. Manchester is easier for me to get to though. If I was bent on saving money I could take a + 4 hour train trip to MAN - not doing that to Gatwick from Scotland though , which then factors in the cost of a domestic flight. But then getting connections to Gatwick are possible without spending the night at an airport hotel, which also needs to be factored in.

I realised in the last week or so, my pickiness about airlines, airports, connections, etc have gone by the wayside. Now it is almost 100% the most affordable options. I suppose we all have to decide where our compromise point is, if any. For some it's comfort, for others, covenience. When it comes to travel I opt for comfort so a UC fare which is good is still more appealing.

Thank you for sharing.

Mystery about the 'codeshare' thing though. I thought BA and VA were 2 big rivals on this route Glad you got your tickets though. That is one of the big stress factors these days.

 

[Claire L]

I suspect it is a VA flight with a BA dometic flight added on by Expedia as they often do that when pricing the cheapest flights first, if they can give you a cheaper flight with a connection they will.

Claire