V-Flyer

Hi

A year ago I found that by flying from either AMS or DUB I could find much cheaper Virgin fares to the US. So I booked a flight to LAS flying from AMS. I had no intention of taking the first portion of the flight with BA and simply arrived for my LGW to LAS flight without any problems.I recently booked a similar fare via DUB to MCO and was surprised to see that the DUB portion of the flight is now showing on 'my bookings.' Does anyone know if this cheap air fare trick now been closed?

No it hasn't - in fact there was quite a long discussion about it only a few days ago - http://v-flyer.com/forum/index.php?f=4& ... =viewtopic

Nick

I think you were extremely lucky that your ticket had not been cancelled when you arrived in LGW without having taken the flight from AMS, since the rule is, miss the first flight, lose the rest.

Yes I'm so glad I checked here first as I no doubt would have had my booking cancelled. Oh well, a short overnight stay in Dublin won't break the bank and certainly won't dent my initial £700 saving.

The cheapest ex EU combination I've found based on Gatwick - Las Vegas is ex AMS & back to BRU. Wish I'd k known that when I booked my AMS-LGW-LAS--AMS few weeks ago. By swapping out AMS with BRU for the return (the leg you don't actually fly) west coast Upper Class is just £1650 ( as opposed to £1750) if back to AMS! Even in the VS sale you won't see a west coast UC fare for less than £2600! Seriously staggering savings.

honey lamb wrote:I think you were extremely lucky that your ticket had not been cancelled when you arrived in LGW without having taken the flight from AMS, since the rule is, miss the first flight, lose the rest.

The OP raises an interesting point: we're always given dire warnings about not missing the initial leg as doing so invalidates the entire ticket.

But is there actually any evidence that that's the case - particularly if the short haul and long haul legs are on different airlines?

Was the OP just lucky or have they stumbled on a useful loophole?

Anyone care to test it?!!

I'd call it lucky in the extreme and certainly not something I'd ever want to test.

Out of curiosity would stop-overs under 24 hours be fine as well? - as I believe these are not subject to additional taxes.

Ie, have a weekend in AMS, fly to LHR one night, stay over (hotel), fly on next morning.

Just thinking it would be a nice way to extend holiday, maximise clubhouse time (which an early morning AMS or BRU connection may not).

Yes as long as your "stopover" in the UK is less than 24 hours that's perfectly fine.

Indeed in some cases it makes life easier as those who live near LHR or LGW could have a nice day trip to AMS/BRU/wherever without needing to take their luggage, then go home for the night and rock up the following morning for their long-haul flight with their luggage.

Why dont Virgin equalise the fares? This situation is silly. How can it be cheaper to fly from farther away?

Two reasons - firstly departure taxes are much lower (or non-existent) elsewhere - and secondly VS (and BA) want to persuade the Dutch, Belgians, Germans etc to fly long haul with them via London rather than direct from AMS, BRU, FRA etc on airlines like KLM, Lufthansa or Air France.

Yes, VS (and BA) could halve their UK fares. But if people are prepared to pay more, why would they? They're not charities.

starquake wrote:Out of curiosity would stop-overs under 24 hours be fine as well? - as I believe these are not subject to additional taxes.

Ie, have a weekend in AMS, fly to LHR one night, stay over (hotel), fly on next morning.

Just thinking it would be a nice way to extend holiday, maximise clubhouse time (which an early morning AMS or BRU connection may not).

I've frequently overnighted on through tickets. On ex-AMS flights, I am not prepared to take the early morning ORK-AMS flight at 6am which would mean leaving home at 3am and so take the late afternoon flight and on a BA flight leaving LHR at 8.30am I had no option but to overnight so went early and visited cousins in London for the day

Post deleted as somehow became "corrupted"...

Re. the rule change where missing the first leg would not invalidate the rest of the booking.

This a revision that the European Commission are consulting on.
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-203_en.htm

How this would tie in with any IATA 'rules' remains to be seen.

The point made earlier about these "cheaper" oontinental flights to "encourage" the locals to go via London actually can work both ways - last year my sister and her family got some really good prices from NCL to the USA on KLM via AMS, so it always worth checking all the options!

Of course, who wants to fly long haul on KLM or AF?

Dear Hampster, pity you cant spell either. I had a enjoyed a drink or two when posting what's your excuse?

mcpoole wrote:Dear Hampster, pity you cant spell either. I had a enjoyed a drink or two when posting what's your excuse?

OK. Play nice.

Can someone tell me what has happened to my post?

mcpoole wrote:Dear Hampster, pity you cant spell either. I had a enjoyed a drink or two when posting what's your excuse?

I am very confused, the post further up:

Hamster wrote:

mcpoole wrote:The new proposed rules would mean that missing a flight doesn't mean the rest are canceled. (When I last saw, might of changed their proposals again by now!)
Might have, Hamster, might have

Don't they teach grammar in schools any more?

is not what I posted. Someone has edited it. I did not mention spelling or grammar at all, and a lot of what I did say, has gone.

Hamster wrote:

mcpoole wrote:Dear Hampster, pity you cant spell either. I had a enjoyed a drink or two when posting what's your excuse?

I am very confused, the post further up:

Hamster wrote:

mcpoole wrote:The new proposed rules would mean that missing a flight doesn't mean the rest are canceled. (When I last saw, might of changed their proposals again by now!)
Might have, Hamster, might have

Don't they teach grammar in schools any more?

is not what I posted. Someone has edited it. I did not mention spelling or grammar at all, and a lot of what I did say, has gone.

Hamster, I posted the "might have" comment in response to you writing "might of" which I quoted along with the "of" in bold. It posted OK. That post seems to have disappeared and mcpoole seems to have claimed both as his own!

So, after a bit of help on this AMS and others "trick"
I have tried both expedia and others to try and get it to return flights from AMS > LHR then LHR>Whereever, Whereever>LHR and finally LHR>AMS
No matter what dates time, I always get "No flights found"
Can someone tell me where I am being so dumb????

Have you tried searching AMS > Wherever return? I haven't looked for a while, so can't quite remember exactly what to do.

On the Expedia home page, select "Flight" & "Return" (not "Multiple Destinations").

Enter your from & to airports - eg AMS to LAX - and your preferred dates.

Under "Show Additional Options", make sure you don't select "Direct Flights Only" and choose Virgin Atlantic as your preferred airline and Business as your class.

That should do it. If it still comes up with no flights found, there may be no availability.

(Note it won't work if you select Premium Economy because PE isn't available on the short haul legs.)

gumshoe wrote:On the Expedia home page, select "Flight" & "Return" (not "Multiple Destinations").

Enter your from & to airports - eg AMS to LAX - and your preferred dates.

Under "Show Additional Options", make sure you don't select "Direct Flights Only" and choose Virgin Atlantic as your preferred airline and Business as your class.

That should do it. If it still comes up with no flights found, there may be no availability.

Thanks gumshoe,

I made the schoolboy error of selecting multiple Destinations

Glad it works!

Remember although it's called the Amsterdam trick, other European hubs work just as well and may be cheaper. Brussels is often a good one and Dublin, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Oslo and Barcelona can work too. If you've got time, shop around!