V-Flyer

Hi All,

I'm sure fuel is solely to blame however I'm going to continue my rant anyway.

3 years ago I flew Economy from LHR to MIA for £295 return all in and upgraded online both ways to Premium Economy for only £50 for both legs. BARGAIN.

The following year I flew UC return on the same route for £1000, I did the same last year too. This was just a sale price return ticket.

For the last 18 months this sort of deal just hasn't appeared. Is there any specific reason why?

I'm looking to fly LHR to MIA again at the end of April and cant find a deal anywhere.

Wow, if that's what you paid 2 and 3 years ago, you got the deal of the century.

The "real" prices would have been many many more times them. Well done for grabbing a fantastic bargain.

David

David wrote:Wow, if that's what you paid 2 and 3 years ago, you got the deal of the century.

The "real" prices would have been many many more times them. Well done for grabbing a fantastic bargain.

David

Agreed David! :0 :0 amazing prices, seem more like 10 years ago!!

End of April = Easter = school holidays = busy = no deals.

I can't find any deals full stop

eugegall wrote:3 years ago I flew Economy from LHR to MIA for £295 return all in and upgraded online both ways to Premium Economy for only £50 for both legs. BARGAIN.

Well given that the taxes, fees & surcharges alone for a return trip to MIA in Y cost £357 I think it's a pretty sure bet that you won't see that sort of price ever again.

Last summer it's true there were some very good deals in UC - but I fear we won't see them again either. The economy's picking up and there's a new CEO at VS who's made it clear his priority is to address the losses. Selling tickets at a huge, loss-making discount won't, I suspect, be part of his strategy.

ken54 wrote:I can't find any deals full stop

But if VS are selling seats at normal prices then why would they offer any deals??

You only reduce the price when a product isn't selling.

I've only ever seen 1K upper prices for one small period (christmas 2011) to anywhere (apart from JFK) in the last three years. It seemed to be a one off, price matching BA for an olympics special.

Typically the lowest I've seen the further afield fares apart from that (MIA, LAS, LAX, SFO) was about 1700, and MCO sometimes 1500.

However, I've not even seen the 1700/1400 very often recent, the Virgin sales have been few and far between. But forget about the 1K UC sales...

I do recall the upper sale last year, which basically matched the BA Club World sale, Miami was in the region of £1100 upper class return with good availability! Crazy cheap fare! Doubt we will see those fares again

Link here http://v-flyer.com/forum/index.php?f=13&t=274888&hilit=upper%20class%20sale&rb_v=viewtopic

KLM now has 2100 (EUR!) Deals to YVR in business. If only Virgin would offer something like that for their last run to Vancouver before the winterstop. Right now it's double the price! xx(

itisme wrote:KLM now has 2100 (EUR!) Deals to YVR in business. If only Virgin would offer something like that for their last run to Vancouver before the winterstop. Right now it's double the price! xx(

They are, if you're prepared to go via Brussels. I've just looked on Expedia for outbound on the VS95 on October 3rd, returning on the VS96 a week later and it's less than £1700 for an UC return on exactly the same flight as the one you'd pay £3000 for if you booked direct with VS. Add another £50 or so for a cheap flight or Eurostar from London to Brussels and voila - over £1250 saved just like that.

Those prices from Brussels are so tempting...the biggest fly in the ointment is the extra days needed to tack on to a holiday....

You don't necessarily need an extra day depending on where you want to go. Several VS routes from LHR including JFK, EWR, BOS, LAX, YVR, DXB, JNB and HKG/SYD have flights that leave late enough to connect off the midday BA flight from BRU which means you could get an early flight to BRU the same morning.

Gatwick, unfortunately, is a lot trickier.

Which is the best airport for me, naturally

gumshoe wrote:

eugegall wrote:3 years ago I flew Economy from LHR to MIA for £295 return all in and upgraded online both ways to Premium Economy for only £50 for both legs. BARGAIN.

Well given that the taxes, fees & surcharges alone for a return trip to MIA in Y cost £357 I think it's a pretty sure bet that you won't see that sort of price ever again.

Don't forget that some of those 'surcharges' are an artificial construct of the carrier. They set them. 10 years ago what is now a 'surcharge' was part of the actual fare. In almost every other business, the price is the price and the cost of providing that product is built into the fare charged. Recently it seems in aviation they can seperate out running costs and call them a 'surcharge'. All it does is attempt to make the fare component look more reaosnable.

Last time I took a cab there was no 'fuel surcharge' but I'm pretty sure fuel is a big cost of providing taxi services, too...

I too have noticed huge price rises of late - bigger than at any point in the past even when oil surged to $150 a barrel. My last trip Stateside with VS was into JFK and out of MIA for £399. I'm now paying almost double that for a flight to the West Coast at the same time of year, in Y - various airlines offered tickets to Australia when I booked for the same dates at the same price. They must get free fuel...?

The great summer sale last year came pretty much out of nowhere, so it's not impossible that we might see something similar again, but I fear that it is unlikely. As always, there is a parallel question which is: what is BA doing?

at240 wrote:The great summer sale last year came pretty much out of nowhere, so it's not impossible that we might see something similar again, but I fear that it is unlikely. As always, there is a parallel question which is: what is BA doing?

Watch out on Thursday for a 4 day sale by BA. At least that is what I'm hoping for!!

They did the same last year and the year before. Usually they do one leading up to the Bank Holiday but this August BH was an early one.
If BA offer some good deals, Virgin will follow in hot pursuit.

Looking at Expert flyer and on the 'available seat plans' of the major americian airlines - the currently high priced fares at the peak times are not being sold, well at least there are plane loads of empty seats - which of course is of no surprise

We priced out VS to Orlando Easter April 2014 for 5 adults and one child = £9500+ in economy, seriously!! Although this price is based on the Y fares codes. BA fares are no better at present. I believe it will all change soon y)

BA now has a sale: http://www.britishairways.com/en-nl/off ... tsandholid

Virgin: What are you waiting for

itisme wrote:BA now has a sale: http://www.britishairways.com/en-nl/off ... tsandholid

Virgin: What are you waiting for

Midnight? :w

honey lamb wrote:

itisme wrote:BA now has a sale: http://www.britishairways.com/en-nl/off ... tsandholid

Virgin: What are you waiting for

Midnight? :w

Tssk. 9-5 mentality at Virgin. v( )

Nice as a sale is - that is the Dutch site! Can anyone access it ex-UK?

adjonline wrote:Nice as a sale is - that is the Dutch site! Can anyone access it ex-UK?

Glad to see your comment, thought it was just me who was missing the point. Nothing to get excited about yet

adjonline wrote:Nice as a sale is - that is the Dutch site! Can anyone access it ex-UK?

Just shows that a company will make different offers to different markets - they all do it including BA!

tontybear wrote:Just shows that a company will make different offers to different markets - they all do it including BA!

It makes no sense - on the Dutch site LA is €1876 return in Club World, yet on the Belgian site it's €2066 and on the French site €2465. New York, though, is very similar on all three.

Interesting, nonetheless, that BA seemingly have a sale on across continental Europe but not in the UK. At least not yet.

gumshoe wrote:

tontybear wrote:Just shows that a company will make different offers to different markets - they all do it including BA!

It makes no sense - on the Dutch site LA is €1876 return in Club World, yet on the Belgian site it's €2066 and on the French site €2465. New York, though, is very similar on all three.

Interesting, nonetheless, that BA seemingly have a sale on across continental Europe but not in the UK. At least not yet.

World sale will start for UK customers Thursday