Wow august 2007 flight prices!!!!

[cornish pixie]

Hi we have just been given our advance virgin registration and for next August adult flight is £859.00 +60 fuel charge and as we are doing some of our own bits Im informed we have to pay £30.00 for independent stay thats £ 949.00 per adult OMG thats x 2 -plus the 2 children ok there flight is only £299 but then you have to add there fuel fuel charge +£60 + £30 Again for independent stay.
I know they are offering us half price deal for the childrens holidays but my goodness I feel thats a heck of a lot to pay for an adult ticket.
Is it me ?? I admit we haven't travelled in August before generally May time(now I know why!!!) but I really feel they are having a laugh .
Perhaps if something was done about it people like myself would not take our children out of school, Im just worrying as My eldest will be 11 next year and there are very few years of her being a childs price, Tickets for her will already be adults how long before flights etc.
Sorry to moan but I really am in shock.
Mr Branson if you are reading this please reduce your flight prices

chucklechops

 

[JohnnySharp2]

I fully agree, our price is £899 adult price for this August with Virgin.

With accomodation, tickets etc it costs a fortune to go.

 

[Miffy2003]

Hi Tracey,

As someone who travels in August usually believe me I empathize

Those child prices though look very good to me. There may be a better way or ways of doing this though - have you ever looked into Miles plus Money? Or a different flight way - maybe indirect (Bristol airport now fly daily to New York which would be better for you from Cornwall than Gatwick!)

The price we we originally quoted for this August was £2800 for 2 adults and 2 children (same age as yours if I remember correctly!) but we found a better deal by looking hard

Give me a shout if you want any more help and I'm sure other will chip in here as well.


Cheers

Karen

 

[Mumof2]

Gosh that is very expensive. The July and August prices are such a rip off. I simply don't understand how they can justify it - I know they try to but it makes me mad!!!

We're planning an extended family trip next year and was waiting anxiously for the Virgin preview coming out on Thursday. Now I'm not so sure....

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Gosh that is very expensive. The July and August prices are such a rip off. I simply don't understand how they can justify it - I know they try to but it makes me mad!!!

We're planning an extended family trip next year and was waiting anxiously for the Virgin preview coming out on Thursday. Now I'm not so sure....

Virgin and others take advantage of the fact that it's a popular time to go, and they generally fill the planes.
We just go for 3 weeks to make the most of it.

 

[tartangirl]

I notice that the end of July/beginning of August has the child price very high as well.

I was looking at booking for the beginning of July for £559 per adult & £399 per child which was a fair bit more than this year for end of June but I didn't realise it had a fuel supplement on top of that - there's no mention of that on the Supplement section of the Flydrive Costs.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

I notice that the end of July/beginning of August has the child price very high as well.

I was looking at booking for the beginning of July for £559 per adult & £399 per child which was a fair bit more than this year for end of June but I didn't realise it had a fuel supplement on top of that - there's no mention of that on the Supplement section of the Flydrive Costs.

Yes, the 'peak flight' supplement is also cosily hidden away somewhere too, if they are going to charge it why not just quote the whole price?

 

[traceycooper]

I cant believe they are charging for independant stays now aswell as all the other charges they pile on!!! It is getting crazy
I got last years preview book out the other night so i can compare when the new one comes out, & i noticed that the teen prices only get £50 off in school holls yet they half the kids price
I think we will be looking to book with a different company for next year, i think the customer service is going downhill a bit too, makes me sad as i loved travelling with Virgin in the past
Can i ask how you get the advanced registration & what it actually means???

 

[tartangirl]

Yes, the 'peak flight' supplement is also cosily hidden away somewhere too, if they are going to charge it why not just quote the whole price?

Oh no - what's the 'peak flight' supplement?

My DS (12) is paying the teen price this year. In June the teen price is the same as the adult price

Not quite sure when 12yr olds became teenagers but it does account for his attitude

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Oh no - what's the 'peak flight' supplement?

My DS (12) is paying the teen price this year. In June the teen price is the same as the adult price

Not quite sure when 12yr olds became teenagers but it does account for his attitude

On our booking it shows 'peak season flight supplement', ie £829 adult price plus an extra £30 each, we are actually paying £240 for this supplement and the fuel surcharge.
Going to have to put my documents away , making me fee ill all this

 

[cornish pixie]

I cant believe they are charging for independant stays now aswell as all the other charges they pile on!!! It is getting crazy
I got last years preview book out the other night so i can compare when the new one comes out, & i noticed that the teen prices only get £50 off in school holls yet they half the kids price
I think we will be looking to book with a different company for next year, i think the customer service is going downhill a bit too, makes me sad as i loved travelling with Virgin in the past
Can i ask how you get the advanced registration & what it actually means???

Hi Tracey,
Advanced registration is available for you if you are in the frequent virgin club.
On Monday they sent us via e-mail all the prices for the dates and accomadation needed that we had sent them previous if you like what you see you can book before the broucher comes out on the thursday.
Gary my hubbie is away at the moment and I don't dare book it.
I will wait until he gets back tommorow and can break it down with all our other bits.
Thank god we have got our cruise booked, By going with Sandie at all seas travel we save a fourtune as it is way cheeper to book with them then over here, so for anyone going on a dis cruise check them out!!! It might actually work out not to bad by the time Gary adds on the cruise, villa and car as we do them independently it might balance out the overall price, saying that I still feel it is a lot of money to ask for those plane tickets!!!
Miffy might be contacting you tommorow after Gary gets back.
Take care and thanks for all your replys I'm glad Im not alone
Chucklechops xx

 

[cornish pixie]

SO SORRY ABOUT THE SPELLING, I'VE JUST READ WHAT I'VE POSTED, TRIED TO CORRECT IT BUT COMPUTER SAID NO!!!!!!!
CHUCKLECHOPS

 

[mark&sue]

Would this mean that VA would not charge you this extra independant fee?

I feel I will need to wait until the 11 months and book with either BA or VA and add a car on later perhaps direct in the US. My boss won't guarantee me August anyway so will go for October half term and take DD out of school for a week. It is still pricey in October but I don't think as much as August.

Thanks for the heads up.


Susan

 

[mkingdon]

I know this is not a like for like comparison as TCD are certainly not VA.

But for this coming August we got a fly drive with them, 2 adults and 2 kids for £2100 all in, including prebooked seats.

I'm hoping not to open up another TCD vs VA debate, as truly I know the difference, but if like me you are limited by school holidays and budget, this could be a way to go.

For the record we've travelled TCD around 7 or 8 times without any trouble at all.

I hope you find the best way for you and your family to go.

Cheers

Craig

 

[TinkTatoo]

We are another family who goes in August and we fly indirect (we have to as there are no direct flights for our dates from Ireland)

I realise that lots of people love Virgin but those prices are sky high - we are flying with Continental this August via Newark for £1,900 2 adults and 2 children and if we had gone with Delta we could have flown even cheaper. We will probably be using Delta for our own 2007 August flights and based on this years prices hope to pay around £1,200 -£1,500

Would you consider an indirect flight? My two children have autism and the flights can be tricky enough for them but at the end of the day it is only a very small part of our holiday and given the choice of flying indirectly or not at all I know which we would choose.

Good luck in finding some decent prices

 

[patdavies]

2 points


1) if you are booking your own accommodation, why not book flights direct with VA - you don't need a 'package' so you don't need VH. Since VA are only in the business of selling flights, they don't have charges for 'independent arrangements'.

2) VA/VH (like any other travel company) will only lower school holiday prices if they can't sell the holidays and fill the aircraft. At the moment, travel companies can find plenty of people to purchase at their hgh season prices; so there is no business case for lowering the prices

 

[mark&sue]

With all these schools threatening to fine parents taking their children out of school things will only get worse. The airlines can sell these flights ten times over - why would they lower the prices during these periods.

When you hear people getting really cheap prices out of season just remember who is actually paying for these cheap prices. The parents of school children.

Until school holidays are staggered it will not get better. I just can't wait until I can have a crack at the cheaper prices. I only have another four years to go.



Susan

 

[Ali and boyz]

we are using MT again this year as we need to do direct travel from Glasgow due to DS so Virgin isn't an option although I did log on to see what it would cost going from Galsgow wich included a connecting flight (I think was £30) AND the total came to £1,200 EACH

this year for going again in July we paid £899 each for the adults and £888 for the child price which to be fair included premair class (last year £799 in economy) don't think I ever remember getting a good deal flying from Glasgow going in July / August apart from about 14 years ago when we flew with the old Caledonian Airways via Bangor and we felt like cattle

 

[patdavies]

When you hear people getting really cheap prices out of season just remember who is actually paying for these cheap prices. The parents of school children.

No they are not. Airlines do not generally fly at a loss, as it would be cheaper to not fly. The low season prices are still profitable, there is no cross-subsidy. The high season prices have a premium added since the market will bear this

Until school holidays are staggered it will not get better.

Susan

Not going to happen to any great extent. It just isn't practically possible to stagger school holidays

 

[daveyoghurt]

"When you hear people getting really cheap prices out of season just remember who is actually paying for these cheap prices. The parents of school children."

High prices are driven by demand, and therefore there is a much higher demand during the school holidays - blame the travel companies for exploiting this, not the people who don't have to travel during this time.