View Full Version : who would you fly with???
NadimAshiq
15-01-2004, 16:32
Hi
We are going to Florida in November/December this year
I am toying with the idea of flying with Virgin which costs about £400 or with someone like US airways for about £280
I think the direct flight with Virgin would be better, but it is also more expensive!!
Also what do you think about booking the tickets so far in advance?? as I know that most airlines charge a lot of money to change ticket dates
Is it true that the cheapest fares sell out first, or is that just a myth?
Any tips would be appreciated
Cheapest fares sell first, 99% of the time.
US Airways would probably be via Charlotte. A lovely airport. I travel either direct or indirect, both have advantages. BA is my UK airline of choice and my favourite US carriers are United, American, Delta and USAir (covers a fair few!!)
With direct flights it is just one leg and travel time is shorter.
With indirect flights, it's generally two legs, but you do get to go through immigration at the port of arrival, rather than Orlando, so when you arrive at Orlando it is plane sailing and you get through really quickly!!
Saving GB£120 per person by going indirect with USAirways is well worth it in my opinion. That is almost enough for a 4 day Disney Hopper.
Make sure that you have travel insurance and then if you have to cancel, for valid reasons, you will get your flight money back.
If money were no object, we would always fly Virgin. The baggage allowance is very generous, the level of service is quite high, you can book separate kid's meals for the journey, and if you are flying from Orlando the downtown Disney check-in on the way back is brilliant. If you fly on a regular basis, you can join their frequent flyers club and get points each time you fly, which eventually gives you free flights.
We have had a 24 hour delay with Virgin on the way back, but we received vouchers for 50% off our next flight (which, as we are members of their flying club, we converted 4 x 50% vouchers to 2 free flights). We did write a letter of complaint about other aspects of the delay, and we also received £400 worth of vouchers from Virgin to compensate, to spend on duty free, or another flight.
Lesley
We have always flown with Virgin and have never had a problem, they are very helpful and the Baggage Allowance is great for all that shopping.
As mentioned above some of the cheaper flights are via "somewhere else" which does add to your journey time.
If you know your travel dates, then I would book now rather than leaving it as the cost will only go up.
Unlike some other routes, Orlando is popular 100% of the year and therefore there are very few "special deals".
The only other thing to try is flying into Sandford, which is approx 30 - 40 mins drive north of Orlando, from memory Monarch and maybe Britannia fly direct from the UK and they maybe cheaper.
Any info on the downtown disney check in would be welcome. Is it open to all virgin passengers or those who have booked a package through virgin? How does it work?
huckleberry house
15-01-2004, 20:51
BA are my carrier of choice,largely due to the leg room they offer,the in flight entertainment and because I have never experienced any delays at all with them in either direction.I usually find them cheaper than virgin for the same dates as well,although this will vary from time to time.
Lesley
WE have used Virgin and BA. BA wins for me hands down - we flew to Tampa and motored up to Kissimmee. Plenty of room on the plane - Tampa airport is great and not too busy like Orlando - guess it depends when you go though. But we thought BA had more legroom and better food. I will use them again and go to Tampa.
Lisi x
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
15-01-2004, 23:08
See http://www.flightsflorida.com/DowntownDisneyCheckin.aspx
quote:Originally posted by poet123
Any info on the downtown disney check in would be welcome. Is it open to all virgin passengers or those who have booked a package through virgin? How does it work?
I always fly Virgin, and most times book a fly drive through Virgin Territory as it can work out cheaper than a flight alone(especially for Nov/Dec).
The downtown disney check-in is open to all Virgin Flyers, and as of 2004, if your traveling with Virgin Holidays then it is free to use otherwise I think its $5.00 (I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong)[msntongue]
Matt
Nadim Asiq,
We prefer USair but would definately not go via Philadelphia again! Like Carla says Charlotte is fine. You will add no more than an hour to your time on getting out of Orlando Int. US have larger seat pitch than either Virgin or BA and their in-flight entertainment is by far the best. Choice of 5 or 6 films which you can pause whilst eating or visit the loo and also kids programmes. £120 per person gives you more to spend or save.
Mike
W fly BA as first choice but would certainly fly one of the american airlines for that sort of saving!
Unless you have young children which make a stopover a pain, I would do it. American Airlanes are very good and have loads of leg room.
MrEktion
16-01-2004, 06:14
Is it true that the cheapest fares sell out first, or is that just a myth?
Nadim,
I think it is generally the case with scheduled flights unless you are travelling during a very quiet period. Although I wouldn't be surprised if you couldn't get cheap scheduled flights for November nearer the time but probably not with Virgin.
However, if you are willing to take the risk you could wait for a while and keep an eye on the charter flight prices as they do tend to price flights on a demand basis and will discount heavily if a flight is not full and the departure date is approaching.
You can find charters in October for November departure around the £99 - £149 region. This is a game of chicken between you and the charter airline and depends a lot on how flexible your departure dates are and how many seats you want. If you need 2-4 it can be worth the risk of waiting but definately not a good idea if 10 of you need flights together.
Benefits of charter are it will be definately be direct and should be cheaper, downside less legroom(unless you fly European/TCD which is the same as Virgin and BA Economy) and you will fly to Sanford which is 30 minutes further away from the villa area.
We travel from Manchester and the Virgin prices here are extortion compared to the ones from Gatwick so I definately favour the US carriers either US Air via Philly or AA via Chicago not so keen on Delta.
Mr Ektion
NadimAshiq
16-01-2004, 12:23
Thanks for all the tips so far
I agree that BA is probably a good flight, but have generally excluded BA on a cost basis, and also because I live in Leeds and prefer to fly out of Manchester than Heathrow/Gatwick
I will however look at the Tampa option
The US Airways flight I had seen had two options, the first was to make two changes for a quicker flight or just make one change but then we had a big delay between connecting flights
I must say that i am a bit concerned about missing connecting flights, has anyone ever experienced this??
Cowboy what is wrong with changing flights at Philadelphia? have you experienced big problems?
Anyway thanks for all the tips so far, i will do a bit more digging around and let you all know what i find out
kay9jess
16-01-2004, 13:32
:Ddear nadim have you tried british midland,we tried all the carriers for oct this year and bm was the cheapest,the flight is via washington.i agree virgin is superb, but from manchester covering the school holidays they are expensive.bm offer the same leg room and they have a superb reputation for there qaulity of service
kay9jess
16-01-2004, 14:50
nadim just checked www,ebookers.co.uk they give bm at £260 plus airport tax for mid nov this year,from m/c via washinton to tampa check it out..:D
tinkerbell
16-01-2004, 15:08
Hi! I have flown Virgin for eight trips to Florida now, and until my last 2 flights I was always singing their praises. However, I have just returned from a xmas trip with them, and again, the outward flight was atrocious. The plane was absolutely filthy, and the staff were totally offhand throughout the flight.
The benefit of flying with an american carrier is that you tend to get a larger seat pitch which can make all the difference to some fliers. I think ou get 34" instead of 32" but don't quote me!
With regards to the connecting flights, I have to say that I had the flukiest connection in LAX (Los Angeles) 18 months ago when I flew from Australia to Florida and back! I arrived from New Zealand (yes, this ws the longest flight ever! I flew from Melbourne via Auckland via LAX to Orlando!!) with only 40 minutes to get from one side of LAX to the other, as well as getting through immigration, customs and all the OTT security!! I don't know if anyone has ever been to LAX, but if you havn't, it's the largest airport in the world, so it's a good 30 minute walk at the best of times! Anyway, I was beginning to panic as I stood in line for immigration, so I grabbed a security guard (not literally of course! I value my freedom!), explained my predicament, and he kindly ushered me to the front of the line where I had to keep my head down as I could feel the laser beams from the angry people bearing into me! I rushed through immigration and made the long dash to baggage reclaim. My bags were of course last off, and by this time the line for customs and security checks were rediculously long! Again, I tried the fluttering eyelashes approach with security, but no such luck this time! I had to wait in line, and I must have been walking miles in my little patch as I was so anxious, I was pacing in circles around my luggage!
I made it through without being searched thank goodness, and once all the cafuffle was over, I literally ran to the gate where I was the last passenger on board! They actually closed the door before I reached my seat, and they ahd apparently been calling me for ages! Oops! Aussie travel agents, it's all their fault!
Generally speaking (after that long story!), british agents will allow transfer times long enough for you not to panic!
Don't worry about booking far in advance, the flights we just had this xmas, we booked 18 months ahead!
Nostromo
16-01-2004, 18:01
We use Virgin whenever possible, certainly for Orlando. They are good, efficient and courteous, which is what most of us after. The food on board is nothing special, but that is a small price to pay for an otherwise excellent package. Virgin are especially good with the kids, and if you are going as a large family group, I thoroughly recommend them.
We have had a lot of problems with BA both at Heathrow & Gatwick, particularly the latter for the American trips. The staff are often indifferent and have a 'don't care' air about them. The BA check-ins at Gatwick seem to be the worst. My wife's diabetic cousin, who travels very extensively between US and UK, has sworn never to fly BA again after a particularly humiliating experience which, for the sake of her privacy, I cannot discuss here in detail.
I have not used US Airways, but I have heard that they're good.
We flew with US Airways to Tampa (via Philadelphia) in November. Flight was fine, plenty of legroom and very good entertainment system. However, Philly Airport was a nightmare for getting through immigration etc. All the flights from Europe arrive at the same time and hence very long lines. Although we made the connecting flight with about 20 minutes to spare we had dropped the luggage back off on a mountain of suitcases and in the vain hope we might see it again at Tampa. The lost luggage staff at Tampa admitted that the airline had made the conscious decision to hold back the bags from all European connecting flights into Tampa so they could deal with the backlog. It might have been nice if they'd announced that on the flight as everyone wasted time watching an ever emptying carousel. So no luggage until the next morning, not so much of a problem but we could have done without the phone call from the driver at 3am to ask for directions to the villa!!
We've been using Delta for about 3 years now, via Atlanta + Cincinatti, mainly on price and we always fly from Gatwick (free parking :)). We had a one off with BA last year, thanx to business airmiles, and we will stick with US carriers thanx as the BA staff were so miserable.
hi flew with BM from manchester you have to change but if you time it right you only have 2 hours to kill both ways.. so the times are not to bad..
best flight for me is direct so that only leaves virgin from manchester unless you go charter...
had nice times with AA from london lots of leg room etc..
best of luck getting bargains...
villainthesun
18-01-2004, 03:37
I would definitely recommend US Airways - generous legroom, the best IFE in the skies and all at a reasonable price. However I would certainly try and route via CLT rather than PHL. PHL has quite a reputation as the Bermuda Triangle for airline luggage, a reputation I can vouch for in the light of multiple personal experiences! Also if you're flying in the winter months, PHL is more likely to be affected by adverse weather than CLT.
allyjack
19-01-2004, 13:42
Flew with B Midland via Chicago to Las Vegas last week. Superb service- rivalled Virgin and had Gameboy. Only thing is luggage reclaim was a bit of a mess handing it back in. No problem with Immigration but go there in first batch of people.
Flying BA in summer as prefer direct flight with the kids. Got it from Dublin for £300 including taxes for end June with travelocity. Seemed cheaper than booking from LGW.
Another vote for US Airways, 3" more legroom than BA or Virgin, best in-flight entertainment system on the Airbus 333 and really helpful staff.
Haven't been via Philly but we did Newcastle-Gatwick-Charlotte-Orlando in November/December and it was fine, a couple of hours longer all in but it also gives the kids a chance to have break and the McDonalds etc. at Charlotte were no more expensive than the normal ones. Immigration at Charlotte were quite friendly and chatted to my daughter for about 10 mins as her name is Charlotte as well.
NadimAshiq
19-01-2004, 16:26
Thanks!
All the advice has been of great use
I have been looking at flights over the weekend and the price if you book directly with Virgin has shot up from £388 to about £445 in the course of about three days!
It is still possible to get flights with Virgin if you book through various travel agents etc for about £390
It seems crazy to me that if you book direct with Virgin it costs more
than going to a travel agent
Like a lot of people have said it all comes down to two things, direct for a faster flight, or indirect for savings!
All the flights I have been able to find with US Airways have been via Philly and at the moment the other US flights such as AA and Delta are expensive
I think that I will wait nearer the time to see if i can get a bargain!
The problem with booking 11 months in advance is that you never know what is going to happen between now and then. With the cheaper tickets they have no flexibility so you can't change dates.
I know travel insurance can be used if you cancel your holiday but only if you are ill etc
I have come across a firm called the Flight Centre Tel 0870 499 0040 or 08708 908 099, they gaurantee to BEAT any flight price you obtain elsewhere even if its from the internet, which sounds good.
Has anybody got tips on getting late minute flight only deals!!
villainthesun
19-01-2004, 17:37
quote:Originally posted by NadimAshiq
All the flights I have been able to find with US Airways have been via Philly and at the moment the other US flights such as AA and Delta are expensive
Have you tried calling US Airways direct? - 0845 600 3300
When we first looked last June/July for November flights they were all over £400, we left it and tried again in October, we got the same flights for £1300 for 4 adults & 1 child using Airline Network.
Just had a look and can see no problem with flights from Gatwick to MCO via Charlotte using US Airways, I checked a few different dates from early November to mid December.
As an example I got these prices for November 10th to 24th
Adult Fare 4@£265.00 = £1060.00
Child Fare 1@£146.00 = £146.00
Airline Failure Protection £20.00
Insurance £178.00
Insurance Premium Tax £31.14
Child Paper Ticket 1@£10.00 = £10.00
Adult Paper Ticket 4@£10.00 = £40.00
Adult Tax & Airline Fees £216.00
Child Tax & Airline Fees £54.00
Total Fare £1705.14
Total Fare £1496.00 :D