Virgin flight price -advice needed

[Ruth B]

Hello All,
i am hoping to go to Orlando from 13-28th of Aug 06 with my son.( 15 nights. )
I was hoping to book the flight direct and then book hotel etc sepretley( i did it this way last Oct and it worked out much cheaper with only one adult and child)
Virgin only publise their flight cost 11 months ahead, so i cant yet get a price for the flight.
To try and get a guide of price i have entered the 13th of Aug for 1 week(flight only) and the cost seems to be very high( £1429.60 for 1 adult and 1 child) virgin fly drive for 15 nights is £1499 and BA is coming up at £1430. Lat Oct i paid about £900.

Has anyone had experinec of booking flight as soon as they come out? does the price tend to drop? is there any way to get flights cheaper?. i am keen to fly Virgin as i have always found the in-flight service very good.
Any help would be great! thanks
Ruth

 

[Goofyish]

One way to book a flight further in advance than 11 months is to book a flydrive. You don't have to use the car ot take the car insurance.

If you have flown with Virgin before are you a Flying Club member? If not you can join and get points for your previous flights (as long as they were not too long ago!). You then may be able to book a 'points + money' flight and save a little.

 

[jna]

If you have flown with Virgin before are you a Flying Club member? If not you can join and get points for your previous flights (as long as they were not too long ago.

Do you know how far back you can go. Our last visit was 1999!

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Do you know how far back you can go. Our last visit was 1999!

Sorry, no. Six months is the allowed limit.

 

[wicket2005]

I would get it booked up as soon as you possibly can. We wanted to go to the Rosen Centre with Airtours in July next year. When we went in August it was already booked up from 15th June to 15th July. We booked up straight away and now looking on the net the only available dates for the same hotel are the 28th August for a fortnight. Seems like the holidays are being snapped up.

 

[jna]

I would get it booked up as soon as you possibly can.

I agree. When I booked a Virgin FlyDrive for October 2006 about a month ago, certain days' flights were full.

 

[Ruth B]

Thanks to everyone for there help. I booked the flight with Virgin(via Airmiles) last night. It worked out cheper than booking dirct with Vrigin(even without using miles!)
Can't wait to go! best wishes Ruth

 

[happytraveller]

Hi Ruth ,thanks for posting this as i too am in the same predicament:single parent 3 kids and was unsure about how to get the cheapest fare for L.A.I'll look into the flydrives for next october.Thanks

 

[Scottish-Helen]

Hi there, I booked a flydrive with Jetsave on a Virgin flight for my next trip in April. They worked out to be the best price. We are just not going to take the car insurance and book our own car seperately.

 

[mark&sue]

Just out of interest. If Virgin or BA sell all their flydrive holidays beyond the 11 months, will they go into their allocation of flights only before the 11 months start or leave them until 11 months to sell them as flights only?

Surely if they can sell more over a year in advance they would so wouldn't they???




Susan

 

[UKDEB]

Just out of interest. If Virgin or BA sell all their flydrive holidays beyond the 11 months, will they go into their allocation of flights only before the 11 months start or leave them until 11 months to sell them as flights only?

Surely if they can sell more over a year in advance they would so wouldn't they???

A Virgin fly-drive is a Virgin Holidays package. Virgin Holidays only has a certain allocation of seats on each Virgin Atlantic scheduled flight. Just because some Virgin Holidays dates may be sold out, it doesn't follow that flights won't be available once the booking window for scheduled flights opens. In other words, the plane isn't full - Virgin Holidays just doesn't have any more seats to sell. It's still possible to book scheduled flights with Virgin for this October half term and, in fact, there are some Miles Plus Money special offers available (£308 for Economy, £728 PE).

 

[Goofyish]

A Virgin fly-drive is a Virgin Holidays package. Virgin Holidays only has a certain allocation of seats on each Virgin Atlantic scheduled flight. Just because some Virgin Holidays dates may be sold out, it doesn't follow that flights won't be available once the booking window for scheduled flights opens. In other words, the plane isn't full - Virgin Holidays just doesn't have any more seats to sell. It's still possible to book scheduled flights with Virgin for this October half term and, in fact, there are some Miles Plus Money special offers available (£308 for Economy, £728 PE).

There are also a number of other travel companies that use Virgin (Jetsave, Thomas Cook Signatures etc.). These also have an allocation of seats.