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

You may get some resistance especially if the flight to DUB is only a short time after the landing from LAX i.e. if there wouldn't 't enough time to clear immigration and customs and then recheck to the DUB flight - especially as you would be switching terminals as well.

There have been reports on here (only a couple mind) that two v-flyers were charged to short check their luggage at a US outstation. This could have been an error or a change in policy but no one is sure.

I'm not trying to be alarmist or saying this will happen but you need to be prepared for it just in case it does happen.

It is a risk that people need to be prepared to take.

The airlines are starting to really cotton onto the fact that people are dropping the last legs and there will come a point when they really do start to have a crack down - so no short checking on flights scheduled to arrive and depart the same day for example. They could close your miles accounts down, try to charge the 'proper' fare for the route you actually flew or even ban people from flying with them in the future.

There is a long thread on the BA flyer talk board about BA going after a travel agent for the 'lost' fares when people drop the last leg. No evidence of a systematic approach to 'punishing' passengers yet but I'm sure that all airlines are mulling it over in the background.

Ok thanks one other thing do I need to take my luggage to Dublin or can I take them to Heathrow the next day

Yes you can check it in at LHR the next day (i.e. the day of your LAX flight) so no need to take it to DUB with you.

Thanks tony

JFK booked £790 each in J
Beats c£900 in Y from LHR return!

A group of 6 of us are doing Dub-Lgw-Las return arranged for 11/04/16. All was fine untill we have had 3 schedule change notifications. Our 06.50 Dub to Lgw changed to 07.40 landing 09.10 Then the Virgin Vegas changed to 10.10. As a result I spent over an hour on the phone to Opodo arranging an alternative Dub-Lgw flight.
Due to Airlines not guarenteeing flight schedule times, passenger rights are limited. I did eventually get a Dub-Lgw for 10/04/16. The agent had to call Aer Lingus for authorisation, this amongst other hassles using a third party agent certinaly takes the shine off the bargin price.
To save a load of hassle, if you can arrange your first leg for at least a day before. Especially if you have only 2 or 3 hrs between landing and taking off again.
I plan to just take cabin bags, however I hope my friends taking hold luggage dont face the issues tontybear describes above.

My Dublin to lhr is the day before

My Dublin to lhr is the day before

Did exactly the same on 26th Dec LHR-DUB-LHR and then on the 27th Dec LHR-SFO whole thing was a total breeze.

[honey lamb]

A group of 6 of us are doing Dub-Lgw-Las return arranged for 11/04/16. All was fine untill we have had 3 schedule change notifications. Our 06.50 Dub to Lgw changed to 07.40 landing 09.10 Then the Virgin Vegas changed to 10.10. As a result I spent over an hour on the phone to Opodo arranging an alternative Dub-Lgw flight.

Bearing in mind that I always have to fly into London to connect to a VS (or BA) flight going long-haul, it has been my rule of thumb that, for any flight leaving London before noon requires a flight the night before. Apart from schedule changes, it is my experience of many years travel from Ireland, that the early morning flights be they from Dublin, Cork or Shannon, are vulnerable to a range of different circumstances. Some are weather related with conditions (either in Ireland or the UK) curbing departure times from Ireland; others are imposed by ATC. I have often sat in a plane ready for an on-time departure only to be advised by the captain that we cannot take off because of congestion at LHR or over Cardiff which seems to be the M25 of the skies. A snowstorm or other weather-related incident the previous day in the USA delaying flights can have a knock-on effect to arrivals in the London area and it is easier (and cheaper) to keep in-coming short-haul aircraft on the ground than to be managing stacks around London.

I fear exactly the same thing has happened to us as TheHarps.

Flying from Dub-Las on 7/4/16. VS changed to 10: 10 - o.k, tight, but doable given original 7 am flight. But appears it now leaves Dub at 7:40 - at least if it is the BA5900.

We're booked with Expedia, and now in a mild panic as suspect our options may be limited on non-refundable ticket. We'll lose the overnight hotel and Ryanair out, but can deal with that if can change to getting into LGW the day before and overnight there.

Nightmare

We fly out on 21st March, no change on flight times on the outgoing thankfully - we fly DUB 7am then VS43 at 11:20.
Our return on 28th is changed to 15:50.

Keeping our fingers crossed for no delays on our DUB flight

I fear exactly the same thing has happened to us as TheHarps.

Flying from Dub-Las on 7/4/16. VS changed to 10: 10 - o.k, tight, but doable given original 7 am flight. But appears it now leaves Dub at 7:40 - at least if it is the BA5900.

We're booked with Expedia, and now in a mild panic as suspect our options may be limited on non-refundable ticket. We'll lose the overnight hotel and Ryanair out, but can deal with that if can change to getting into LGW the day before and overnight there.

Nightmare

Expedia will have to reticket you as the through sectors are not doable, you're fully protected You're only loss will be needing to book a new positioning flight and new hotel.

Cheers.

Not had any notification yet. 7 am flight still bookable at BA, but first Aer Lingus leaves at 7: 40. Don't think can do anything until receive notification ? Not been in this predicament before - ideally, we'll be moved onto aDub- Lgw the day before.

This, unfortunately, is the main drawback of booking with an OTA. If there's an airline schedule change, or if you need to change your itinerary, you have to deal with them rather than with the airline direct. Which invariably means waiting on hold to speak to someone in an understaffed overseas call centre who then has to liaise with the airline to get it reticketed.

Your best bet is to call Expedia and ask them to rebook you on a DUB-LGW flight the previous night, if they haven't already.

Well, it's certainly a lesson! I thought that, when booking, allowing 3 + hours was o.k - not happened to me with both schedules changing against me before. Have contacted BA first to double check (it says 7 am on their site, and is available to book at e.g. skyscanner, lastminute, opodo etc), and then onto Expedia: I just don't know if they will make the change yet as there is officially no change to my itinerary (other than the VS move to 10:10 am).

[mitchja]

Just booked another ex-DUB flight here to BOS in J for <£800.

BA flight ex Dub is the previous day so plenty of padding there for any flight time changes. The flight back to DUB on the return is ex-LGW so no worries there either

Hello!
First time I've been on here for a while so bare with me. I am looking at booking an ex-eu flight for november but a few months ago i saw a topic about ex-eu being monitored, does anyone have any more news on this? Secondly i cannot remember some things with the booking if someone could help, how do i get it so my final leg is on the next day so my bags aren't tagged to Dublin? ( booking on Expedia) One last thing it will be on a A330 and was wondering has anybody got any news when the a330's are getting renovated to the original UC suite?

Thanks, Gasmonkey98

Hi mitchja how did you do the flight for the day before and how did you do the return from LGW?

Thanks for the help.

Hi GasMonkey,

Firstly welcome. Hope you enjoy the forums and all the valuable information that is posted here.

There isn't any exEU monitoring per say. If you follow the rules within the ticketing that you've purchased you will be fine. There was a few occasions a while back where check in agents were only willing to tag your bags to your final destination and not to just LHR. There has also instances of Miles accounts being closed but AFAIK, this was on BA and full BA itineraries. This tends to happen if you book the same air carrier and don't have a reasonable excuse like wanting to go to an arrivals lounge or departing your final leg from a different airport :P To stop your bags being tagged, you can only do that upon checking in at the airport on the return leg not anytime before. For 100% guaranteed success, book your final leg from LGW where there is no possible way to transfer your bag between LHR and LGW without returning it to you first.

To make your booking - use Expedia but search through the fares on Google Flights/ITA Matrix to make a list of the actual flights you want to take including the 24 hour stop overs and multiple destinations such as DUB>LHR, LHR>SFO, SFO>LHR, LGW>DUB.

Lastly, I don't think they have announced any time lines for changing back to the original suite. I've heard galley gossip that is will start in April but I wouldn't put any faith or make plans based on that information.

Hope that helps!

There's a lengthy, single, conversation on this here which I see you have found. Probably best to keep the queries in that single conversation rather than starting separate discussions in various places.

[mitchja]

Hi mitchja how did you do the flight for the day before and how did you do the return from LGW?

Thanks for the help.

To get the BA flight the day before, I just booked using Expedia.co.uk. Clicked via the VS Shopping link to earn miles for Expedia bookings (1 miles per £1 spent for flights).

Click the flights tab and just set the airline to VS and the cabin to Business. I then just picked the outbound flight that had a red +1 next to the time (they also have a late evening departure time). Select your outbound flights.

On the next return flight selection screen, if you expand the flight details by clicking on 'Show flight and baggage fee details' that will expand the flight details and display which airport the flight to DUB departs from. I then just selected one that had LGW in it (which a few at the top of the list did).


Be careful with expedia.co.uk if browsing using iPhones or iPads and if you have any content blockers (ad blockers) enabled in Safari as that breaks the Expedia website.

Many of the VS shopping links also don't work when using an iPhone or iPad either (even with ad blocking disabled)

Hope the helps

Expedia won't let me choose Gatwick as my final leg. The option is there but when I select it, either an error pops up or the fare doubles in price!

Has anyone experienced this? It works if I choose Heathrow - Dublin but I really would like to avoid any baggage issues.

Thanks.

The other option to my above post is the final leg Heathrow - Dublin with the longest stopover possible, around 8 hours. Hopefully a short check should be ok for them then; my bag ending up in Dublin would be a concern though!

I'm sure people are much smarter than me and have already considered this, but if you are only going somewhere for 4 or 5 nights, it may actually be possible just to cut some non-essentials out and travel with hand luggage right on the limit in size and weight...It completely takes the stress out of ex-EU travel as you never have to worry about bookings legs the next day/ from another airport etc...

I'm sure people are much smarter than me and have already considered this, but if you are only going somewhere for 4 or 5 nights, it may actually be possible just to cut some non-essentials out and travel with hand luggage right on the limit in size and weight...It completely takes the stress out of ex-EU travel as you never have to worry about bookings legs the next day/ from another airport etc...

Good point seany, and if you're travelling with VS in UC the cabin bag allowance is 2 bags up to 16kg total combined weight plus a handbag / laptop bag / small backpack and your coat etc, so it's very generous. My checked baggage for 2 weeks rarely goes above 12kg. BA's allowance is once handbag / laptop bag and one cabin bag, maximum weight of each bag 23kg which again is generous.

I just visited NYC for 5 days with cabin baggage and backpack - I packed thermals etc too (although didn't need them or the coat I took as it was so warm!). But even for a week or even 2 you could do it with that allowance, especially if you pack smart and do laundry whilst away to be able to take just one case. But it does limit shoes (well for blokes it does, ladies have all sorts of little flimsy shoes they can pack!).