When and were do you book your flights

[mrtoffee]

Hi Guys, We are thinking of peacing together our next trip to Disney ourselves to try and save a few quid and wondered were the best place to book our flights is. Im a member of both Virgin and BA's air miles clubs and both seem to run good offers from time to time.

We want dirct flights from gatwich to orlando international, is it only BA and Virgin that offer this?

Thanks for the help with this one guys

Paul

 

[Eliza32]

Last time we went (Sep 10) I tried DIY with seperate flights etc, but couldn't get anywhere near the price travel city direct were offering for a package.
We always fly from manchester, but in the past we have flown Virgin, TCD when they were still Excel and BMI.

The BMI flights were cheapers, but there was a change in washington. If you're willing to do a change, you can save quite a lot. BMI don't do this any more, but Continental, Delta etc do.

Personally though, if you want direct, I don't think you'll beat Virgin. Book as soon as the flights come out for great prices.

 

[2Tiggies]

You can't dismiss any option if you don't want to miss the best price. If you are looking direct from LGW, yes, BA and VA both do this. Also look at codeshares. American airlines codeshare with BA and there are some others too on the direct route although I can't think off the bat which they are. We just booked flights with BA (incidentally they have always come in much more expensive when I checked their prices in previous years) but they were a few hundred pounds per person cheaper than the next best. The reason I mentioned code share is that there will be one aircraft operated by a certain airline, but both airlines will sell tickets for that flight and there can be a huge difference between them. For example on certain dates when I looked at CO/United flights, CO was coming in £180 cheaper per seat than CO on exactly the same flights. Ditto for this year where BA and AA codeshare our flight: BA wanted £500 each while AA wanted 700-odd. You have to keep all your options open. I do agree that indirect can save you a lot of money but you still need to check out direct and get some travel agent quotes too as you never know where and when the bargains are going to turn up.

 

[mrtoffee]

Thanks guys, this whole DIY hoiliday thing is complicated bu could save us a lot of money in the long run if my sums are right.

 

[2Tiggies]

Thanks guys, this whole DIY hoiliday thing is complicated bu could save us a lot of money in the long run if my sums are right.

Your sums are probably spot on DIY can save you a bunch. There are of course always the odd exceptions to the rule here and there, but on the whole, I have not found an all inclusive package coming close to matching the prices I could get for DIY since 2008. Happy flight watching

 

[mrtoffee]

Thanks 2Tiggies

 

[wayneg]

What dates you looking for?
If school hols then a package is usually going to be more expensive, offpeak then they do package deals.
Next year we are going in summer hols again, VH wanted £9,500, Travelcitydirect £8,000 (crazy, £1,500 cheaper for the same company) doing it DIY flying out VA PE, return Delta Preferred, used some airmiles, cost under £5,000
For that route they are your only options but as Lee says don't rule out indirect, it can save a small fortune.

 

[mrtoffee]

were planing going 31 October to 15 November 2012, virgin have quoted £6,200 as have Disney and kenwood £6,000.

We can get AKL and dining for £3,000 flights arn't up yet but Virgin flying club are showing about £1,900 for 2 adlts and 2 children at the start of october so end of the month should hopefully be a similar price. Car hire is £300-£350 so totals approx £5,250 as apposed to £6,000 ish for the package.

 

[Elise79]

Just priced our holiday for Feb up with VH - £900 cheaper including our 10% FVC discount for exactly the same holiday and without our FVC discount it would be £1100 cheaper!

To get the best prices I use Kayak and they send me a daily price alert - so i don't have to keep checking daily.

Also when the BA/VA sales are on someone usually posts a heads up on the boards

 

[dixonsontour]

Those dates include half term dates and Virgin know it!

I booked day flights were released last year (11 months from return date)

This was for manchester to MCO for end Oct 2011.

Virgin wanted £2500 for 2 adults and a child. Same dates indirect with US Airways was £1500. Just back - no complaints with US airways would do the same again.

Prices never fell for Virgin - some dates were sold out others were silly money. They know they can sell school holiday dates hand over fist.

Keep an eye on all flights - direct and indirect for your dates.

 

[mrtoffee]

Thanks for the help guys it very much appreciated

 

[Kath2003]

Personally we set a price we're willing to pay for flights, and see what comes up. Last year, nothing came up. This year, we got what we wanted by booking 6 months out. We have booked 3 months in advance in the past. The closest I've done is 6 weeks when I happened to find the flight at the right price. We keep an eye out for sale fares on all airlines which fly direct and indirect from all UK airports. For us, price is the determining factor.

Virgin wanted more than three times the price that we paid this year. Bonkers, but someone must be paying it

 

[2Tiggies]

Virgin wanted more than three times the price that we paid this year. Bonkers, but someone must be paying it

That's what I don't get. I remember looking last year and thinking the same thing - VA wanted £1300 odd per person for economy plus we still had to get to MAN. Booked indirect on the same dates and no need for domestic flights for under £500. I just don't get it, but as you say, they do it if they know they can.

Incidentally, we paid around the same for flights this year again and out of interest I rang Disney UK to get a quote. They offered me flights (best price from MAN again apparently ). So I would still have needed an overnight at MAN airport due to connecting times plus domestic flights to get there. Get this: the CM was so excited about it "not being a bad deal at all. " She had quoted me for the room/ticket/DDP so I knew what to deduct to work out the total. Flights came in at 947 each This being the day our dates were released! Madness.

 

[2Tiggies]

VH is having a 5 day sale. I am not a fan but for interest, I have just run up a dummy quote with flights and an identical package and same dates as what we have booked. It is coming in at circa £670 more than we paid and appears not to include park tickets

 

[Kath2003]

That's what I don't get. I remember looking last year and thinking the same thing - VA wanted £1300 odd per person for economy plus we still had to get to MAN. Booked indirect on the same dates and no need for domestic flights for under £500. I just don't get it, but as you say, they do it if they know they can.

Yeah, they want £1500 per adult in economy for ours
We paid £420 - indirect - 1 stop.

 

[2Tiggies]

Yeah, they want £1500 per adult in economy for ours
We paid £420 - indirect - 1 stop.

And we love the stops. It adds a bit of variety to the trip and breaks it up. Double bonus for us then

 

[tinkerpea]

Right now I'm saving like crazy to be able to get the best deal on our flights for next October we are booked at SSR from the 1st October for 15 nights but have every intention of being there 6 nights before so we can do 3 days at universal/island adventures and seaworld before we go to SSR we have to get 3 adults & 3 kids OUCH lol so that's alot of penny's in advance and we are only £1000 in the flight kitty boy is this the downside to DIY oh well we will get there I'm willing to do indirect as long as we have seat bk Tvs could not do a flight that long without them I've tried when Excel was still going and never again!!! Not with twins of 7 and a 9/10 at travel yr olds they will each have Nintendo Ds by Xmas but I will still need the TV do flight prices rocket each wk/month after they have been announced???? We think we will have around £3000 for the flights by January!

 

[mrtoffee]

VH is having a 5 day sale. I am not a fan but for interest, I have just run up a dummy quote with flights and an identical package and same dates as what we have booked. It is coming in at circa £670 more than we paid and appears not to include park tickets

VH had a 4 days sale last week to, i guess their are struggling to shift holidays.

 

[mrtoffee]

So much for the sale they claim to be having as the prive I just got today is higher that the none sale quote I got yesterday it's another advertising gimic sadly

 

[wayneg]

So much for the sale they claim to be having as the prive I just got today is higher that the none sale quote I got yesterday it's another advertising gimic sadly

Never known a genuine VH sale yet. Up almost £200 to £9618.62 for 21 nights at OKW next summer. I am sure they have some offers on their site somewhere to cover themselves legally but I have never found them.
Last time I used them (4-5 years ago) I booked with no sale, 2-3 days later they started a 15% off sale I was gutted til I checked the new price, more than the pre-sale price.
Who pays almost £10k(£3,200pp) for a 3 week holiday in economy seats? not me.