Value or not?

[dor1]

Please can anyone give me advise as to whether i have a good deal or not.Im booking a flydrive to orlando for october 2005 (half term week)for 2 adults and 2 kids,i only want direct flights to avoid the the hassle.Virgin flights have gone,unless you want upper class(i should be so lucky)so the cheapest we can find are travelcitydirect for around £2100 with car and insurance etc-please direct me to another deal if anyone knows better.
Many Thanks
DOR

 

[tartangirl]

Probably reasonable value.

Most of the scheduled flights stop somewhere on route and as Virgin have already gone and BA will hike their fares up you are unlikely to get anything much cheaper.

I'd book it while it's still available.

 

[allie5]

If you can bear to leave it a little longer, it maybe worth trying Expedia and other cheap flight sites. Unfortunately, they dont sell flights until 11 months out, so for Oct next year, you will have to wait for November. There will be a small allocation of Virgin seats available to book as flight only's, but they will go fast and of course there is no guarantee how much they will be. Oct Half term is supremely popular (we have booked Virgin ourselves for 14th-28th back in April) and the flights sell out quickly. If you can be a little flexible on your dates (by even a day or two) you may get a cheaper deal. If you are bound by strict dates, then maybe stick with the deal you have from TCD. Its not a bad price and you are guaranteed the dates you want.

Good luck.

 

[Cochise]

Virgin flights have gone! Is that booking a flight only?

I have booked with tradewinds for :

14/10/2005 to 28/10/2005
HOJO Plaza inn and suites (Suite upgrade with pool view)
Virgin Economy flights from MAN
Car hire seperately as i can be discounted with a particular company.

That is £2300 for two adults and two kids, its my first time and i am ok for this first visit cause i walked out with no hassle and the max travel agent discount i could haggle (15%)


Yours sounds fine

 

[poet123]

when you say virgin have gone do you mean via an agent or direct? try VA direct they may have seatsleft for their own sales which are not allocated to an agent

 

[Celestine]

Have you tried booking a flydrive (no accommodation). I've found this often works out cheaper than buying just a flight!

 

[gmoor]

We've booked 4 adults, flight only with Virgin (direct) and arranged the car hire through the travel agents, its just as easy as fly - drive. We are going for the first 3 weeks in October and it cost £365 + tax each for the flights and £208/week for fully insured people carrier. I think it might be worth looking at flight only and doing what we did. I can give you details if you need them.

 

[gmoor]

Wait a minute, I've just realised you're going next year! No Virgin flights left - no way. We booked in June this year for October this year! Don't be ringing Virgin direct, they give out seats to certain travel agents at great prices. We checked avaliability for the same flight with Virgin to be told that there were no seats. We then rang the travel agent and no problem - cheap flights!

 

[poet123]

I trawled the net for virgin prices for next july Bon voyage,funway, dila a flight, virgin holidays, you name it I rang them, none could compete with my last port of call VA direct!! I nearly fell off my seat when they gave me a price £1,000 cheaper than any of the above. Only snag is you pay upfront, actually I have my tickets now though for next july!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[gmoor]

It's amazing how different people have such contrasting experiences with the same people. I suppose it depends upon when you catch them and what deals they are doing at the time. Maybe you should just keep ringing round and hope that you "drop on" a good deal.

 

[dor1]

Thanks for all the replies-Can anyone tell me who the travel agents are that virgin release there flights to?
To be fair to virgin when i spoke to them they told me even if i couldnt book with them to get in and book with someone soon as october is becoming increasingly popular

 

[gmoor]

We booked with Charter Travel 01635 861918. Very helpful and very proficient.

 

[gmoor]

Sorry if I've just broken a message board rule by posting a phone number, I'm not a director of the company honest!

 

[poet123]

The company mentioned were much dearer than VIRGIN ATLANTIC DIRECT (not virgin holidays who were also dearer)

 

[sharon-o]

Try direct holidays they always have reasonable priced holidays and they do fly drive

 

[DisneyBB]

I have booked with Funways, Virgin holidays, etc Funways were cheaper for our Dec 05 holiday and VH's were cheaper for our Feb05 holiday. If you pick up brouchers and phone them all direct yourself as they give you the flight cheaper. I know Funways and VH's get allocation of seats. Funways said they get 12 seats a day to florida. Or wait until the 11 month window and book a flight only. Virgin Travel Store I think are still taking bookings and they have their own allocation so maybe worth ringing. I know they are closing down, but they are selling holidays for a bit longer.

 

[Inside Ball]

HI
We have just booked our flights for oct half term 2005 with virgin but thanks to the advice on these boards we found funway about £200 cheaper than booking direct with virgin. That was with our frequent virgin discount. Very surprised you couldn't get seats but my brother is having problems booking from Manchester (we are going from gatwick) but good luck !!!!

 

[UKDEB]

You can only book scheduled flights 333 days out, meaning that you are not yet within the window for October 2005. I'm assuming you have tried booking via Virgin Holidays (where the flights are part of a package and therefore bookable earlier).

I don't claim to understand all the ins and outs as it's very complex, but I do know that there are several fare codes for scheduled flights, many of them discounted. My experience has been that phoning around the various tour operators can reveal big variations in price suggesting that they receive an allocation of the discounted codes and that, once their allocation at a certain level has gone, they will quote a higher price (at the next discounted level, or full fare). That doesn't mean that you won't be able to get that discounted fare from another tour operator (or Virgin itself). The key is to phone around - just because one tour operator was the cheapest this time, it doesn't follow that it will be the next time. Neither does it mean that the flight is 'sold out', although the allocation of the tour operator in question may well have done. My understanding is that Virgin Holidays receives an allocation on each Virgin Atlantic in the same way as other tour operators.

 

[Inside Ball]

We did get our prices from virgin holidays didn't think of trying Virgin Atlantic but all we booked was a flydrive no hotel or passes.
Its all a mystery to as to how they do the allocation