Consolidated thread about Ex-DUB and other Ex-EU travel.

just wanted to say thanks to the people on here. I managed to get BGI over xmas ex Dub for under 3K. Current prices for ex-LGW are 8K and given the timing/availability I can't see them being available as a sale fare.

Is the Expedia link broken? It just keeps saying flights unavailable once I select outbound and inbound? Any advise much appreciated?!

Try a different browser. Fine here.

clear your cookies?

Is the Expedia link broken? It just keeps saying flights unavailable once I select outbound and inbound? Any advise much appreciated?!

Had a similar problem a few weeks ago, seemed to be when Aer Lingus flights were involved. Try ebookers instead.

[honey lamb]

Had a similar problem a few weeks ago, seemed to be when Air Lingus flights were involved. Try ebookers instead.

Aer Lingus, Aer Lingus

Had a similar problem a few weeks ago, seemed to be when Air Lingus flights were involved. Try ebookers instead.

Aer Lingus, Aer Lingus

Apologies Honey Lamb, I could blame auto correct but that would be a fib! All fixed now.

Hi, I am new to this ex-EU flying as only heard about it a few days ago.

I am wanting to fly to Las Vegas in Sept from Manchester and the current fare in Economy is £1172.00 each, I would never dream of paying that but I have missed the boat for booking in advance to get the decent fares.

Looking at doing this from Dublin via Manchester it comes up at £552 each, also in Economy. I am all for travelling to Dublin on the way out, but is it possible to check my luggage at Manchester still the day before?

Also, how easy is it on the way back to miss the last leg to Dublin and reclaim your luggage in Manchester, can you request this when checking in at Vegas?

Thanks, any info would be appreciated.

So I'm looking to book flights to SFO from DUB. I was always under the impression that flights booked entirely in one transaction were covered for delays, issues etc however on the Virgin Flight connector it says:

We will not be liable if a passenger is late arriving for a Virgin Atlantic flight due to delay from an inbound connecting flight. The onward carrier will apply the conditions of sale of the original ticket booked on their service which can include no-show fees, cancellation charges, penalty fees or the need to pay for an upgrade on the next flight if a lower class is not available

This seems bizarre and harsh, no other airline I know of forces you to pay for an upgrade if your connecting flight is late? Is this just a badly written part of the website?

Essentially, is there protection for this eventuality if your flight from Dub is delayed? I'm aware that the positioning flight is entirely separate.

There is protection if it all on one pnr / ticket. This is not necessarialy the same as booking in the same transaction.

The flight connector makes it clear you are buying separate flights that are not connected so no protection.

But I'd book using expedia etc and not the VS flight connector (which is IMHO wrongly named)

... but is it possible to check my luggage at Manchester still the day before? No you can't check in your luggage with VS the day before. You'd have to use left luggage or leave it at home then go and collect it

Also, how easy is it on the way back to miss the last leg to Dublin and reclaim your luggage in Manchester, can you request this when checking in at Vegas? You can ask but some airlines are cracking down on short checking. Try and book the flight to DUB for the next day (but within 24 hours of the scheduled arrival of the VS flight to MAN as you'd have to collect your luggage anyway as they won't store it over night

Hi, I am new to this ex-EU flying as only heard about it a few days ago.

I am wanting to fly to Las Vegas in Sept from Manchester and the current fare in Economy is £1172.00 each, I would never dream of paying that but I have missed the boat for booking in advance to get the decent fares.

Looking at doing this from Dublin via Manchester it comes up at £552 each, also in Economy. I am all for travelling to Dublin on the way out, but is it possible to check my luggage at Manchester still the day before?

Also, how easy is it on the way back to miss the last leg to Dublin and reclaim your luggage in Manchester, can you request this when checking in at Vegas?

Thanks, any info would be appreciated.

You could book the first leg of your ticket from Dublin to Manchester the day before your Las Vegas flight, as long as you leave less than 24 hours between landing at Manchester and leaving for Las Vegas it should still price up at the cheaper price.
For example you could book the first leg DUB-MAN on say the evening of 2nd September and the MAN-LAS flight on the 3rd September. You could then buy a cheap Ryan air flight to Dublin on the morning of the 2nd, without luggage, spend a few hours in Dublin and take the evening flight back as the first leg of your LAS ticket. Depending on how close to Manchester you live you could then spend the night at home before turning up for the second MAN-LAS flight, this time with your luggage or stay at a Manchester airport hotel (you could leave your luggage at the hotel before your Dublin flight in the morning even if you were unable to check in).

And yes, booking the final MAN-DUB flight the day after would give you the perfect excuse to ask for your luggage short checked to Manchester.

polb74 thanks for the response. This is definitely something I am going to look in to!!

Hi guys

Aiming to get my first ex-DUB UC flight booked in next day or two.

Going to do last / throwaway leg from LCY which I understand should negate any baggage lining issues?

In order to do this, seems on Expedia I have to add each flight segment in under the multi city option - this results in me getting the 'right' price - just want to check doing so doesn't affect the ticketing at all? I.e. rather than if I just input DUB-SFO return if that makes sense?

thanks all

Using the multi-city option was how I did it. All flights show up when I log into the booking either through VS (LHR-SFO flights) or BA (DUB-LHR flights).

You can do both.

Initially just try a simple search for DUB-SFO, ensuring you select Virgin Atlantic as your preferred airline which will force it to route you via LHR. However if it doesn't return any options that involve flying ex-LCY for the final leg, you might need to use the multi city option and specify LCY.

thanks both, much appreciated

2xSFO UC booked last night and confirmed.
Many thanks for all the info and advice on this thread!

Will be the wife's first time in the USA and first time in a J cabin - think she's a bit excited

2 Cancun tickets bagged for next Feb for £1100 each! Thanks for all the hints and tips!

I can't be bothered to trawl through all the posts for this question, so just wondered, as I have an ex-DUB booking in June mixing BA / VS - is it worth me linking my BAEC account to the BA flights for the avios, or will this likely throw up any problems from the point of tracking a no-show for the final leg?

I've just decided to start collecting avios but don't want to give BA any reason to suspend my account over a single flight.

Thanks

It's unlikely given you don't do it regularly and your entire itinerary isn't on BA.

But it's certainly not 100% risk-free. Depends how much you need the BA TPs I guess - I wouldn't lose sleep about losing the Avios on a single DUB leg.

It's unlikely given you don't do it regularly and your entire itinerary isn't on BA.

But it's certainly not 100% risk-free. Depends how much you need the BA TPs I guess - I wouldn't lose sleep about losing the Avios on a single DUB leg.

Thanks, it's my first BA flight in approx 6 years so I've no TPs to be worried about and no Avios of any great figure to be concerned about yet.

I tend to use Google flights for booking multi-leg tickets. I did use the ITA matrix once but have found the former to be far more user friendly. It will price each segment up for you, add it all together, then link you to the site to purchase with everything already typed in.
I did BHX/DUB/LCY/JFK/LAX/LIH/LAX/JFK/LCY/DUB/EMA a couple of weeks ago in F in 4 days!! Booked all through Google flights

Is it definitely the case that you're permitted to "carry on" for your first flight to London and then check baggage only for the Virgin flight?

Last time I did Ex-BRU the BRU-LHR flight was a day before the Virgin flight, but I've just booked another trip and the AMS-LHR flight is the same day as my onward Virgin flight. I'm worried that I'll rock up to the Virgin desk in LHR and be told I should have checked my baggage at AMS - will (or could) that happen? If so, I wouldn't take the risk and would just take my bags with me to AMS and get them checked through, but it'd be easier to leave them at LHR and travel carry-on only on the AMS legs.

Is it definitely the case that you're permitted to "carry on" for your first flight to London and then check baggage only for the Virgin flight?

Last time I did Ex-BRU the BRU-LHR flight was a day before the Virgin flight, but I've just booked another trip and the AMS-LHR flight is the same day as my onward Virgin flight. I'm worried that I'll rock up to the Virgin desk in LHR and be told I should have checked my baggage at AMS - will (or could) that happen? If so, I wouldn't take the risk and would just take my bags with me to AMS and get them checked through, but it'd be easier to leave them at LHR and travel carry-on only on the AMS legs.

I can't answer this for sure, but I'd be surprised if this was a problem.

I flew BRU-LHR-SFO yesterday. I did take my luggage with me (Eurostar worked out easier for positioning to Brussels, and it was as easy to take it along) but I opted to check it only to London, and to then collect, make my own way to T3 (rather than going through connections) and re-check it in with Virgin. I had greater faith it would be on the flight that way, and had a 4 hour connection time so no concern with the increased hassle. BA checkin agent at Brussels was fine with this, as was the VS checkin agent in London (who made no reference to the inbound Brussels flight).