Virgin flights

[bobcat]

Hi

Just a query regarding booking flights for November 2011. We have decided to go with Virgin as we are travelling with two young children so a direct flight will be much easier.

I have looked at the Virgin website which does not quote for November 2011 until Dec this year, but it looks like the cheapest flight price with virgin is £498 per adult

Based on other peoples experience would you suggest that I:

1) Book direct with Virgin or use another agent if its possible that they have discounted tickets (my initial research shows that Virgin have the cheapest fares on the virgin website)

2) Should we book as soon as the fares are released (we are flexible on dates in November)

3) Is it likely that virgin may have a sale on fares from manchester to orlando

4) I have read about the Virgin club miles scheme, but some comments on the internet suggest that it is fairly restrictive and you do not often get the flight dates that you want. Has anyone else bothered getting a Virgin credit card to accumulate the club miles?

Thanks very much
Nadim

[gpullan]

Hi,

From experience i buy Virgin tickets pretty much as soon as they are released but for you there should be a sale starting in January so it 'might' be better to wait.

Booking direct with Virgin for flight only is the cheapest way, they say on their website that you won't find their flight prices cheaper anywhere else.

I find that if you're happy with the price then book them, if they go up then great and if they go down then as long as you're happy with the price you paid then that should be ok for you.

We have just used miles plus money to book our flights for April 2011, we saved around £600 for 9 passengers and got the exact flights we wanted. I would say get the miles (2000 per passenger) and use them as approx £50 saving per person makes Virgin very reasonable (if your desired flights are available).

We have just paid £3480 for 5 adults and 4 children, making it an average of £387 each fully inclusive. To me that;s a good deal for April.

Good Luck!!

[gail and david roberts]

Hiya Nadim
we are also thinking of going in November 2010 just for 10 days
Im keeping a eye on the virgin flights price which can change daily ,at the moment,£448 each with points
just waiting to get teenager back to college to see if she can come too[msnscared]

we do book our flights using our Virgin credit card you get 3000 points when you join.
myself and hubby have one each we was given 6000 points.
we also join the Virgin club members which is free, and we did this for all family members including teenagers [msnsmile2]

we do not use this card for anything else only virgin flights and the odd buy on the Internet, reason is its a American express card a lot of shops here in the UK will not take it, and we did have trouble with it in Orlando this year too.
we always pay it off in full each month ,the points do save around £50 person on flights , and if you do buy everything with the card you get points as you buy.

you will need 2000 for each person . we will be use my hubby points if we go in Novemebr as he has lots more than me
yes some dates will be block out as was the November ones I wanted,
but this week they have unblock them [msnwink][msnwink]
you just have to play the waiting game if you dare [msnscared]

[SteveandJan]

BA also fly direct and also have a sale in January. We booked our august 2010 flights for £600 inclusive of taxes which was good.

[Katys Grandad]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by SteveandJan
BA also fly direct and also have a sale in January. We booked our august 2010 flights for £600 inclusive of taxes which was good.
[/quote]

Actually BA have a sale starting tomorrow for travel up to June 2011 but some of the fares are already loaded if you want to jump the queue.

[karenk]

We've booked for November 2010 with Virgin, 388 per person with points going out on 21st November from Gatwick. I did take my time to book this and the flight prices did fluctuate but that's not always the case.

[sammibabe]

Steve and jan, did you book your flights in the January sale for August and how many were you booking for? Booking for 5 and needing specific dates I don't know whether I can play the waiting game or not[msnscared]

[bobcat]

Hello

Thanks for all the top tips!

I have been accepted for the virgin credit card so will receive 3000 bonus points, and as suggested I will look at buying extra points as well. How much do 2000 points cost to buy?

Also no harm in waiting till january for the sale, is this a regular thing for Virgin and BA to have a sale every January?

Garry if I can get our flights for £387 each I will be a happy man!

When I book the four tickets and receive miles for those can they all go into my club miles account as I have only registered with Virgin, or do I need to register Farzana and the kids for them to receive points for their tickets?

Nadim