Which Virgin flight-11:15 or 1:15??

[Ruth B]

Hi all,
Which virgin flight do you tend to prefer? I'm thinking of going with the earlier one due to young children but not sure if immigration tends to be busier at this time?( or is it busy all the time)

Also do you pay extra to select seats(£50 pp)? Will they sit us with the kids if we don't pay the extra?
Thank you!
Ruth

 

[scoobydooby]

Unless you pay to sit together don't rely on it happening. They don't separate toddlers and babies from parents of course. I think it's a disgrace they charge for this now. But they do so if you must sit together, pay. As for which flight. I prefer the early one but will always choose the cheapest if there's a decent price difference. We don't do much the day we arrive either way. The younger your kids the more critical it is to get them to bed quicker if you get the later flight as by the time you get to the hotel it will be really late to their bodies. That said its the return flight that's the real killer. You'll manage either way on the outbound flight.

 

[Kath2003]

Read the policy about sitting with kids closely. They will sit an adult (read: not necessarily both of you) with a child/the children, but their definition of "with" is quite broad, including in the seat behind. If you're happy with it, don't pay. If you're not, or you want a particular part of the aircraft, you need to pay. (Or fly with an airline which doesn't have this nonsense).

We actively try to avoid airlines with the last for seating policy but sometimes the price makes it with traveling with them even after paying for seat selection. If we fly BA/VA we pay extra to sit together because we DON'T have kids but DO travel at peak times, so trying to get seats together after the families have been seated is too much of a gamble for us. We don't like it, and try not to fly these airlines, but if it's cost neutral we will do so.

I'd always take the earlier flight unless there was a cost difference.

 

[Elise79]

I am in the minority probably and usually take the later flight as immigration is usually less busy when that arrives. We have done it with DD since she was a toddler and find it makes no difference to arrival day as the earlier flight only gains about an hour on average.

I would never pay extra for the early flight and will always book the cheaper one.

As for seats - pay for them if you want to be altogether otherwise you may or may not be lucky when the seat booking opens for free (72 hours for red flying club).

 

[saintrob]

We too always take the later flight. We fly from Manchester and occasionally the flight departs at 1.45pm which we love as it means we can have a leisurely start in the morning! The only time we take the early flight is when it's offered for miles. We normally head to MK on our first night even when we're on the later flight so it makes little difference to us. The 12.35pm flight usually lands just behind the flight from Gatwick so it's a race to immigration!!

 

[dixonsontour]

We did the later flight this time from Manchester 1.45 ,earlier one was much dearer. Meant we could leave home after rush hour. Terminal 2 was v quiet. We still landed same time as two other flights and were advised to rush to immigration which we did.

 

[Minniesgal]

We always do the earlier flight. I have seen situations where immigration was so busy the later flight was in and in line behind the earlier flight so they had ages to wait after landing. We also prefer to get to the resort earlier.

Frankly I'd always either pay for seats or upgrade to PE. It would be a bad start to a trip to not be seated together and it happens so i'd pay to avoid it.

 

[Jon84]

We did the later VS15 last time, there was only our flight at immigration.

If you go on the MCO website, you can download and Excel doc of the schedule and work out who will be at your gate section when you land. From memory, earlier n the day the Thomas Cook gets in first. Then the early VA Flights from MAN and LGW land within about half hour of each other, the BA flights shouldn't clash, but they are often delayed which can make it messy. The late LGW Flight is last, so it should be pretty quite

 

[BudgieMama]

We had the same kind of choice with the BA flights. We live pretty close to Gatwick (direct train gets us there in 50 minutes or so) and last time we flew on the later flight as it was a couple of hundred pounds cheaper. This time, the early flight was cheaper, and saved us around £100 by picking it over the late one. We were keen to try it, as we'd been sat in the terminal waiting when the earlier flight was called last time, and had said it'd be just as easy to take the earlier one.

Cost would be my biggest deciding factor, and we'll be paying for our seats: as a couple (who have to travel during school holiday) we're no-one's priority but our own. I'm not good with take off or landing, so need a hand to hold!

 

[jon18uk]

If you decide to pay for seats it isn't much more to pay for the extra leg room economy seats. Although of course children can't go in the exit row. We've just booked flights for Sept 2016 and got the front (exit) row of economy on the upper deck! Best economy seats on the plain for £35 extra each way.

Also if the price is the same, personally I always go for the earlier flight as we then go to Epcot for the evening to watch IllumiNations. But if you have kids you might find the later one easier if you aren't planning park time on the first day.

 

[tinkerpea]

W

If you decide to pay for seats it isn't much more to pay for the extra leg room economy seats. Although of course children can't go in the exit row. We've just booked flights for Sept 2016 and got the front (exit) row of economy on the upper deck! Best economy seats on the plain for £35 extra each way.

Also if the price is the same, personally I always go for the earlier flight as we then go to Epcot for the evening to watch IllumiNations. But if you have kids you might find the later one easier if you aren't planning park time on the first day.

We paid for that row in may,on the way back and was gutted to find the plane was pretty much empty so instead we got a whole row to ourselves lol!

I just wish the seats didn't have the arm rests that don't go up! I find the seats to be far more uncomfortable

 

[Ruth B]

Thanks all. We have gone with the earlier one. Not a huge price difference( given what the holiday is costing!!?)
Think we will try to book extra leg room seats once we get flight ref- any idea if they have 4 together? Don't think 3 year old is able to sit in front row( of economy??)

Think we are resigned to paying more for bits to make life less stressfull( direct flight/ town car etc) with 3 year old in tow. The next time she will be bigger and we can cut cost as she will be moe flexible( I hope.....)

 

[Jon84]

Extra Legroom is only on the rows of 3 either side if I remember rightly.

You can get 4 row bulkhead seats I think, but that are not actually extra legroom

 

[catherine]

We just got back and we had my 2.5 year old Granddaughter with us. I would book the earlier flight. It took us 3 hrs to get from MCO to OKW arriving at 7pm, so you can imagine she was really tired. We also booked the seats with more legroom which made a big difference when having to deal with getting stuff out of her carry on to entertain her!