V-Flyer

Furtherv to the posts all over the interweb about VS service going down, which may or may not be true.
I priced up a trip to Orlando, complete with villa at Windsor Hills, in Upper class, Vs same villas, and Club World with BA.

Same dates, (30th Nov to 14th Dec)same amount of people (2 adults and 1 child aged 11)both journeys LGW-MCO and back again.

BA is coming out at £6,643 complete

Virgin Holidays, an eye watering £10,456!!!!!
I rang up VH and checked. Even the travel consultant could not believe that price, but she checked and it was correct

So sorry Virgin, but £4K extra? you have got to be kidding!

Looks like some other airline is getting my business (waiting for Aer Lingus to open up their date is 330 days in advance)

Should also say, a quick look at flight only

BA Club World, for same people same dates total £3,101.82

VS UC £6870.70!!

The simple reason for that is likely that VS's lowest fare buckets have been sold whereas BA's haven't. That said such comparisons to MCO come up frequently and the rub is that VS often does not need to put MCO or TPA in its sales, whereas BA does - one reading of that is that VS wants plenty of peoples' money and gets it, whereas BA doesn't.

It's not personal by the way - VS probably really does want your money, but may be getting more elsewhere.

It would be interesting Slinky, if someone could check takeup levels on those flights, I bet VS are not out of Z fares, not for that time of the year.

The fact is that BA are sadly, more competitive (but with a bigger CW cabin in terms of seats I guess):-(

AlanA wrote:
VS UC £6870.70!!

We have an old saying in Yorkshire "A fool and his money are soon parted"

It is actually right on the start date for your return flight to be released, so it is very unlikely that VS have actually released their lowest fare code just yet. They usually leave it a couple of days after the 11 month mark, so I imagine you will find them very similar once that happens.

I personally find VH expensive, but prefer booking each thing individually as I can usually get it much cheaper than even the lowest agent.

48 club seats on a BA 777 v 14 UC seats on a VS 747.

There seems to be just 2 x 330's to MCO today, first time of a 330 on the 015?

Must be very low season at the moment...

Strange.
When airline fares are identical, it's price matching.
When there's a disparity, it's "they don't want my money".

No offense intended to OP, it's just an observation based on my own behavior too!

Forgive me for perhaps wandering slightly off topic but maybe you good folks could clarify something for me. I have seen a few comparisons in these Forums comparing VS UC with BA CW. Take it that is comparing like with like as opposed to VS UC and BA FC.
Since i retired a few years ago Mrs and I have taken to travelling PE to the Carribean each year with VS(VH). This year costs were up £1500 (total) upon last mostly due to seats. Reluctantly may give BA a bid next year for the first time. PS spent half of my 20s flying BA CW on GFs BA Concessions.(thinking it might be safe to venture back now B) :w )

I certainly was basing my comparison on CW v UC, rather than FC v UC. I've flown FC with BA a few times and it really was another world....

For the first time in 3 years VH have beat BA and kuoni on price for the same holiday and that is without any pricematch well done VH

ken54 wrote:For the first time in 3 years VH have beat BA and kuoni on price for the same holiday and that is without any pricematch well done VH

We have just had the same, we actually had a holiday booked with Kuoni and then cancelled it.

We had booked a package with Kuoni (to Dubai, flights with Emirates Eco from LGW) then they informed us that there was working going on next to the hotel and we could move free of charge or cancel. Once we got a price for the new choice of hotel it was 1k more than the original holiday and more than we wanted to pay. Kuoni then backtracked and said that we couldn't cancel. This was all in store at Westfield. So I get on the phone to their head office there and then and 20 minutes later we are refunded.

In the mean time we had priced the same hotel on a package with VH online and it was £1300 cheaper. Once we got home we booked with VH managed to get PE both ways and a free half board upgrade in the hotel all for £400 more then our original booking with Kuoni (£900 less than Kuoni's quote for the new hotel without HB).

y) y)

Well, gone and done the dirty deed

In the end it was a no brainers.
VH two adults and one 11 year old in UC and 14 nights in a river view room at Disneys Port Orleans Riverside came to £9,177.83

BA Club World at same resort with river view £6,749

WDW Travel had the exact same price for the resort, but did not have any Buisness or UC available, just PE with a price of 6,743!

So I have done the dirty deed and booked flights and accommodation with the dark side.

Now, if I can only get through to the customer service to book my seat, but with the delays on flights etc, think that's going to be a while yet.

Will be interesting to see what the differences are between the UC experience and CW..

AlanA wrote:Now, if I can only get through to the customer service to book my seat, but with the delays on flights etc, think that's going to be a while yet.

I thought you could do this online via Manage Booking?

I am also finding VS charging more, and offering less, than others.
Business flights to Auckland were over £1000pp cheaper by Emirates - and I fly from NCL.

My annual Oct - Dec snowbird flights to Florida - MAN-MCO is £4,700 for 2 UC.
BA will fly us from NCL to TPA rtn for £3,230 and the BA lounges are far better than MAN.

If VS were offering the same service we used to expect, I probably would not even have looked at alternatives. Having experienced the current 333 UC offering, we would be looking at alternatives even if the cost was the same.

Now I am beginning to wonder if it is even worth looking at VS for future flights.

just to add my opinion to the rest of them.
i have done a VH holiday with the mrs and two kids for the last 5 years. and always VH are cheaper. however this time our trip to mexcio this year is with BA in CW.
purely because the exact holiday with VH is £2500 more.

regards jason

clarkeysntfc wrote:

AlanA wrote:Now, if I can only get through to the customer service to book my seat, but with the delays on flights etc, think that's going to be a while yet.

I thought you could do this online via Manage Booking?

You can, but have to pay £65 each for the pleasure, however as I am now disabled (until PIP comes in and miraculously my disability is "cured" as far as the Govt is concerned) you can book your seats for free and arrange wheelchair services for the airport.