Virgin Atlantic prices, September 2011

[disney_princess_85]

I've just been perusing VA's prices for September next year. At the moment, it looks like we'd have to pay around £600 each for economy flights, which is a bit of a blow having only paid £420 each this year! This is the middle of September I'm talking about too- you'd expect the prices to have calmed down a little by then. Might have to check out some different airlines, although I suspect the prices will be similar across the board.

Oh well. Whatever the prices are, we'll be going. It's just a bit annoying!

 

[wayneg]

Virgin have no competition for scheduled flights from Manchester, dates I just checked were £645, same dates from Gatwick £498, just undercutting BA at £520.
Plenty indirect from Man from £500 or Charter direct into Sanford from £488.
When you have set your dates let me know if you want help searching.

 

[wideeyes]

They have generally gone up, I used to see flights for £750 for me and my daughter and now rarely see any less than a £1000 for September

 

[sullyandsid]

If you have Virgin Miles you might want to consider using some of these to bring the cost down a little - we did this September and got £80 off each - using 2000 points per person.

 

[2Tiggies]

What a timely thread! I have just been looking at flights for September as well. I am putting in mid September dates whilst playing around because the later ones haven't been released yet.

I didn't look for direct flights though as I don't want to do VA again from Glasgow. I really didn't enjoy the flights or the check in mess we all had there. Unless VA offer some brilliant special, it is unlikely that I will be using them

Continental indirect is coming up at around £575 per person - that's the cheapest of them all. I haven't looked at charters, but I think Lauren is like me and won't have a car so Sanford throws a spanner in the works.

I want to book my accommodation, but I think it may be best to get flights first. Oh the juggling. This is how I have always ended up booking a package . Don't let me do it!

 

[Chilly]

The prices are def going up each year. We paid £550 for the end of September just gone.

 

[2Tiggies]

The prices are def going up each year. We paid £550 for the end of September just gone.

There are the odd ones going indirect for just over £500 for September next year, but it depends how flexible you can be not only on your dates, but your length of stay. Ha, looks like we may be going by boat

 

[Chilly]

There are the odd ones going indirect for just over £500 for September next year, but it depends how flexible you can be not only on your dates, but your length of stay. Ha, looks like we may be going by boat

yeah we had to go on a Saturday this year and got stuck with an £80 weekend supplement

 

[2Tiggies]

yeah we had to go on a Saturday this year and got stuck with an £80 weekend supplement

So did we - but on top of that we were hit for £120 each for a Glasgow departure with VA I won't do that again in a hurry. It was also one of the most unpleasant flights I have had with VA. Actually, no .... as far as VA goes, it was the worst!

 

[Kath2003]

Flight prices this year are nuts. We are looking to go at Easter and are willing to connect & cut down from 14 nights to 11, 10 or even 9 to find reasonable flight prices but we can't find anything that isn't £160 MORE than we paid last year! I am willing to pay £60 per person extra on last year (which is basically an extra 20% - more than fair) but NOT £160.

Unlike the OP we won't be going unless the airlines are more realistic about their annual price increase. It's that simple.

BTW if anyone finds flights to Orlando from London (or Bristol/Birmingham) for £400 or less in the Easter holidays, let me know

 

[Goofy68]

Isn't there yet another new flight tax that is being applied for next year and it is primarily this, not the airlines that is driving the prices up.

 

[2Tiggies]

Isn't there yet another new flight tax that is being applied for next year and it is primarily this, not the airlines that is driving the prices up.

Yes, it is the taxes. If you can find a quote where they display the breakdown you will see that the taxes on the better fares are actually more in some cases than the ticket itself. I ran a quote the other night and the price p/p was about £550. The actual ticket (i.e. money the airline gets) was about £285.

 

[disney_princess_85]

Thanks for all the replies.

Virgin have no competition for scheduled flights from Manchester, dates I just checked were £645, same dates from Gatwick £498, just undercutting BA at £520.
Plenty indirect from Man from £500 or Charter direct into Sanford from £488.
When you have set your dates let me know if you want help searching.

Thanks Wayne. We're at that 'browsing' stage at the moment, i.e. no set dates in mind. After seeing the prices for August 2011, I did say to Andrew that £600 would be my limit for a direct economy flight. We'll just have to see. VA from Gatwick could be an option.

If you have Virgin Miles you might want to consider using some of these to bring the cost down a little - we did this September and got £80 off each - using 2000 points per person.

There weren't any M+M fares available for the dates I was looking at. I wonder if the allocated M+M seats have already been sold?

I haven't looked at charters, but I think Lauren is like me and won't have a car so Sanford throws a spanner in the works.

That's right.

I want to book my accommodation, but I think it may be best to get flights first. Oh the juggling. This is how I have always ended up booking a package . Don't let me do it!

I know what you mean. It's a toughie!! (P.S. I haven't had the chance to read your TR yet- I'll start on it when I get a minute to sit down and take it all in properly! )

Isn't there yet another new flight tax that is being applied for next year and it is primarily this, not the airlines that is driving the prices up.

Yes, it is the taxes. If you can find a quote where they display the breakdown you will see that the taxes on the better fares are actually more in some cases than the ticket itself. I ran a quote the other night and the price p/p was about £550. The actual ticket (i.e. money the airline gets) was about £285.

Yikes! Madness.

 

[Kath2003]

Yes, it is the taxes. If you can find a quote where they display the breakdown you will see that the taxes on the better fares are actually more in some cases than the ticket itself. I ran a quote the other night and the price p/p was about £550. The actual ticket (i.e. money the airline gets) was about £285.

It's true that taxes have increased, but not by the volume that flight prices have.

Last year I paid £103 in tax for a return trip to Orlando (1 adult).
This year, the tax on the same flight is £131 (1 adult).

Yes, this is a £28 increase in tax - I accept that the airlines have no control over this.

However, even without that £28, the same airline for the same flights on the "same" dates (i.e.the same days within the 2 week school holiday) want an additional £175 per adult to fly the same route (yes, these are the cheapest flights available!).

So yes, I'm willing to pay £28 more in tax, PLUS an extra £32 in extra airline fees (14% increase on what I paid last year).

What I'm NOT willing to pay is £28 more in tax PLUS an extra £175 in extra airline fees (74% increase on last year).

 

[wayneg]

Personally I would rather go indirect from Manchester than direct from London. Take into account travelling to and from London and the bonus of doing immigration at 1st airport we find it a far better option.

Doubt M&M are gone yet, I have only just booked them for August (For this August some were not released until Feb/Mar) M&M could come and go anytime between now and you flying, no pattern to them releasing them.

 

[disney_princess_85]

Personally I would rather go indirect from Manchester than direct from London. Take into account travelling to and from London and the bonus of doing immigration at 1st airport we find it a far better option.

Having thought about it, I think I'd rather fly indirect from Manchester too. I agree that it would be a bonus to have already done the immigration stuff when we arrive at MCO.

We might look at Air France prices too, as they now fly from Manchester to Orlando (via Paris). We flew to New York with them in April and they were quite good (apart from the food!).

Doubt M&M are gone yet, I have only just booked them for August (For this August some were not released until Feb/Mar) M&M could come and go anytime between now and you flying, no pattern to them releasing them.

Ah, ok. I'll keep looking then.

 

[2Tiggies]

Personally I would rather go indirect from Manchester than direct from London. Take into account travelling to and from London and the bonus of doing immigration at 1st airport we find it a far better option.

After this year's flights it is not only from a cost perspective but primarily a preference one whereby I want indirect for the reasons you have noted above. Put it this way, given the option of direct of indirect at the same price I would go indirect unless there was some ridiculous layover or anything very extreme to make it impractical. I saw the value of breaking your flight up on this last trip.

Doubt M&M are gone yet, I have only just booked them for August (For this August some were not released until Feb/Mar) M&M could come and go anytime between now and you flying, no pattern to them releasing them.

Does anyone know roughly how many miles equate to what discount doing it this way?

 

[wayneg]

Does anyone know roughly how many miles equate to what discount doing it this way?

Amount of miles you can use is fixed but the savings vary. Going back 2-3 years we had great savings in school hols of around £200-300pp for using 2,000 miles. These days its very difficult to use the miles in school hols and the savings are a lot smaller.
We have booked for next August (Out economy, in Premium) without miles £1,001.79 using 4,750 miles(1,000 out, 3,750 in) £880.79. Makes saving of £121pp but I am losing 7,392 miles + 5 tier point I would have earned at full price and the 4,750 I used.

These are amount of miles you use for M&M fares.

2,000 Flying Club miles for an Economy fare

7,500 Flying Club miles for a Premium Economy fare

15,000 Flying Club miles for an Upper Class fare

Even though we are coming home PE £880 is more than we would usually spend but as I have said in other threads we are going with relatives who have a 3 year old so decided on direct this time.

 

[2Tiggies]

Thanks Wayne. I looked on the website but got rather busy later on today and have never really looked into it properly. I have just over 4000 miles. It may be an option. I am not going in school holidays, or at least will be leaving a week before Scottish schools close and back before England takes an October break so I was hoping I would have a better chance of getting a reasonable fare. Another option for me, if I use VA, is to go from Gatwick. VA's website used to let you run a quote from your local airport and they would give the option of connections to link up with the VA departure from one of the other major airports but either I am not seeing it or they have removed this feature from the website. I may send an email to ask about it.

 

[Netty]

i have been looking at flight prices every day as we were going on the 21st sept next yr