Virgin Sale Dates 2011

Hi I was wondering if anyone could help me!

I have been looking at booking flights for the past few months now, and was wondering if anyone could help. We are flying for the last two weeks in September, and were wondering if our flights could be included in a future flights sale?

Since October last year the flights have been over £600, and are now at £700 PP, considering two years ago they were only £400 each. Does anyone know if there will be a sale in the future and how are others feeling about flight costs? Do i just bite the bullet and pay the inflated costs now?

Thanks in advance!

[Neil]

Welcome to the site.

You are asking the million dollar question. I guess if we knew when sales would be announced and what dates they would include we would all be a lot richer.

Seriously though, it is really is hard to predict and the final decision on if to wait or not comes down to you. If you wait then you might get your dates in a sale and you could save some money.

The alternative is you wait and either a sale doesn't happen or your dates aren't included. You then run the risk that if you did wait your dates might not be available or the cheaper fare codes sell out meaning it could cost you even more than the current price.

If you want to go at a specific time/date and are happy at the current price, then I would book them. If you can be a bit flexible and saving money is the most important thing, then waiting might just pay off for you.

The decision ultimately though, can only be made by you.

You don't say where you want to travel too!

Some destinations often appear in the sales (when they do happen) yet others don't

It all depends on the route and how popular it is so it would be unlikely to be a sale in UC for MAN/MCO or LGW/MCO as these are popular routes all year and the cabin is only small.

But given the competition on the LHR/JFK route there is more likely to be a sale.

Flight sales are like any other sales. If the full cost product is being bought by people willing to pay then why would any retailer reduce the price?

I don't think that fares are inflated - though obviously we would all like them to be lower! Running an airline is an expensive business and I don't see costs going down only up.

My advice is the same as Neil. If you like the current price then book it otherwise you run the risk of the cost going up or worse the flight sells out and you don't get your holiday.

If you're looking at West Coast USA there hasn't been a sale that has gone beyond 31st May for SFO and LAX all year. I'm pretty certain this has been for all cabins.

I'd hoped they'd have one but as yet nothing. I couldn't wait any long so booked a reward flight to JFK in Sept with a VA internal flight.

As others have so correctly said, predicting sales is a really tricky business. If there were set dates/prices for sales throughout the year, we'd all be on the Phone's at the strike of midnight, desperately trying to grab a bargain, only to be told 5 mins later that they have all gone.

Seriously though, i have done both, and it is very much like a game of deal or no deal, ( well, for me anyway! )in that, even when i've bitten the bullet and booked early, i still can't resist the impulse to keep checking just to make sure i dealt at the right time, and such, beating SRB ( Sir Richard Banker ).

What counts in your favour is that you're travelling in September, which is usually, but not always, pretty good for availability, certainly better than Jul/Aug, Half-term, Easter, xmas etc.

In my experience, sales have been from Christmas day/New Year, for selected dates upto Mar 31st, and early-mid Aug for selected departures upto mid/late Nov- early Dec. However, these are not guaranteed, therefore the buck ultimately stops with you. Good luck whatever you decide to do.

That sAid Elmo there was a sale the royal wedding weekend and this weekend is a bank holiday too so fingers crossed ...



(I'm looking for ORD or IAD myself for July !!)

Tontybear, it just goes to show that sales will appear when demand dictates. Good luck with July lol! I usually do Man/Mco route, so i'm really restricted, as VA is only direct scheduled airline. I have in the past travelled from Lgw, when sales have been really good.

This year is the 1st year in 19 years that i've booked the very day that flights were released. I didn't want to take any chances using M+M, and it paid off. Last year, my bluff was called, and i ended up paying rack rate, but got more reward miles, so it's swings and roundabouts. At least it's fun looking!