re: booking flight from Bris to LA

[travelwith4kids]

Pardon my ignorance but hoping anyone with more knowledge then me (so that makes all of you!) can answer a couple of things for me.

I've been told Virgin would be great to fly with, Delta not so much but when it says 'Delta flight, operated by Virgin Australia' does that mean that it will be a Virgin flight?

Also I get good prices when I enter our dates on a site such as helloworld.com.au but the same dates on the Virgin site are more expensive. Is it a bad idea to book on 3rd party sites or is this the done thing?

Also has anyone been to the travel expo and gotten good prices? I believe it started on the 18th somewhere? Flight centre told me that they have the travel expo specials instore so would that mean from the 18th? Are there extra 'special' prices only available at the expo and not instore?

Thanks for any help sorting my scrambled brain

 

[PrincessInOz]

Pardon my ignorance but hoping anyone with more knowledge then me (so that makes all of you!) can answer a couple of things for me.

I've been told Virgin would be great to fly with, Delta not so much but when it says 'Delta flight, operated by Virgin Australia' does that mean that it will be a Virgin flight?

That would be a Delta/Virgin code share flight. The flight would be a Virgin flight.

Also I get good prices when I enter our dates on a site such as helloworld.com.au but the same dates on the Virgin site are more expensive. Is it a bad idea to book on 3rd party sites or is this the done thing?

I personally haven't gone through a 3rd party site; but that doesn't mean its a bad idea. Just check the fine print so that you know what you're getting...especially if there are cancellations and/or missed flights.

Also has anyone been to the travel expo and gotten good prices? I believe it started on the 18th somewhere? Flight centre told me that they have the travel expo specials instore so would that mean from the 18th? Are there extra 'special' prices only available at the expo and not instore?

Thanks for any help sorting my scrambled brain

I think Flight Center offer the same specials instore as they do at the expo when they are run. The instore specials would be offered at the same time as the expo. I think the store managers are advised what the specials are on the night before but they would be placing the bookings through on the day the expo opens. You have to be in a position to book on the day (or before the Monday) in order to get the specials.

I've never done an 'audit' or comparison as to whether the extra special prices are only available at the expo and not instore. The last Flight Center expo that I went to....I do know that there were additional "golden tickets" that Qantas offered at the Qantas booth. You had to be there to get one of those tickets and they entitled the holder to get a further $200 off the price of a Qantas international flight. But that was a Qantas special; not a Flight Center one.


Good luck with getting your flights.

 

[travelwith4kids]

Thank you for that PrincessInOz,
I'm glad to hear that 'operated by virgin' means its a virgin flight. I see that alot out of Brisbane.
I can get flight on our prefered days for the 6 of us for $7000 via helloworld, but like you say would need to check fine print. I'd be worried if something went wrong but its unlikely we'd miss our flight with it being just a direct there and back.
We have been away but I will go into flight centre tomorrow when all the kids are back at school. We are fine to buy the flights as soon as we find them, might be worth us driving to the gold coast for the expo...

 

[aussie shaz]

We booked through Webjet I think, as they were cheaper than Virgin direct.
The only problem we had was when it came to selecting seats. Webjet said they couldn't do it because it was an airline thing, and Virgin said they couldn't do it because we had booked through a travel agent. We finally got Virgin to do it.

 

[travelwith4kids]

thanks aussie shaz,
if we dont select seats but just 'get what we're given' will all 6 seats always be together if they are booked together? I wouldnt even know where to select, its been such a long time since flying OS and back when younger couldnt care less where I sat.

 

[novice101]

We booked those flights last time at flight centre during the expo we got a good price, we flew perth- Brisbane-la-orlando paid 6500 for 2 adults 2 kids 1 infant.

 

[PrincessInOz]

thanks aussie shaz,
if we dont select seats but just 'get what we're given' will all 6 seats always be together if they are booked together? I wouldnt even know where to select, its been such a long time since flying OS and back when younger couldnt care less where I sat.

I wouldn't count on the airlines allocating you 6 seats together.


I'd recommend that you do what AussieShaz suggests and call the airlines direct if you decide to use a flight reseller.

 

[travelwith4kids]

I wouldn't count on the airlines allocating you 6 seats together.


I'd recommend that you do what AussieShaz suggests and call the airlines direct if you decide to use a flight reseller

I will do, thank you.
Whilst we arent overly worried about where we sit it MUST be together... unless of course DH has all 4 kids on the otherside of the plane

 

[aussie shaz]

From memory, when we went in 2011, we were able to select flights free of charge. I had a travel agent book the flights, and she also chose the seats for us.
In 2013, we were told we needed to pay for them. I was ok with that to make sure we sat together. There were 4 of us, so we wanted 3 seats by the window and one across the aisle. You would need to find out what plane you will be on, and decide from that which seats would suit.
In the end, we booked the seats and, after me giving them credit card details, they said they wouldn't charge. No idea why, but I didn't argue. We got the seats we wanted.
You could take a chance, and if you are early to check in you should be ok. Maybe 3 in one row, and then 3 behind?
We have never been seated apart on any of the many trips we've taken.

 

[travelwith4kids]

I went into flight centre today, our local starts their expo sale at the same time as the Gold Coast so this Saturday. She gave me a quote on todays prices and they were $75000 for the 6 of us which I thought was pretty good anyway? Will go back in on Sat.

I have NO idea on the plane layout but would like us to be seated in a way that the kids could swap around where they are seated and either with Mummy/Daddy ocassionally through the trip without disturbing other passengers.
Off to search plane layouts lol.

 

[aussie shaz]

Pretty sure ours was 3/4/3. If you have only 3 of your family in each section (ie the 3 seats from one of the windows in rows one behind the other) no-one has to climb over a stranger to move or go to the toilet. Same as no stranger has to climb over anyone in your family.

 

[travelwith4kids]

Thanks Shaz, that sounds like it would work best! I'd hate for our kids to bother others.