V-Flyer

Hello and apologies in advance for the long post

I have just found this brilliant site and having never flown Virgin before, It looks like just the place to ask a few questions.

I will be travelling to Orlando with my husband, Daughter and Son In Law for the 5th time next year from 5th to 20th May 2016. Am I right in saying that flights will be released 11 months out? (middle of June(ish)) also:-

1. When is the best time to book?
2. What is a reasonable price for an Economy Flight at this time?
3. If I book directly with VA, will it be easier for me to upgrade to
Premium rather than booking with say VH?
4. Are these flights likely to be full?
5. Will there be any chance of a reasonably priced Upgrade to UC?

I know it's like asking "How long is a piece of string" but any insight would be fab

Well done if you're still here and many, many thanks

I can't answer many of your questions but I wouldn't jump the gun ,I just wanted to give you a warm welcome to V-flyer

Aw, thanks

Hi, welcome to V-flyer.
Unfortunately there's no way of telling when the best time to book is or if there will be a good chance of an upgrade, but at least it's not school holidays. I usually book a couple of days after flights are released. Did you want to upgrade using miles or cash?

If you're looking at cash you may be better booking ex-dublin, you could probably can get an Upperclass fare much cheaper this way.
If you're set on starting your journey in Manchester or London you are better booking direct, VS and VH are totally separate companies and upgrading is always much easier when you've booked direct, especially if you want to use miles.
Personally as you have a bit of time before you need to book, I'd try and get as many miles as I could, through tesco, amex, topcashback etc and try to upgrade at least a couple of flights using miles.

Hi, thanks for your reply,

We'll be flying from Manchester, we're not keen on indirect and don't have any miles so will just be cash.

To be honest, we'll be happy flying out in Economy (exit seats if we can get them) and Premium return (for the extra baggage I just thought maybe there might be a small chance of a cheap upgrade but if not, it's no biggy (I may get my son in law to mention that he works for Virgin Media )

Welcome!

As far as UC is concerned, each flight on the MCO route only has 14 seats and they are very, very popular. So bargains are rare and miles upgrades for 4 people very unlikely.

Sadly it's impossible to predict when the best time to book is - it's not in the airlines' interests to make it easy for us! Personally I'd wait for a sale - they come along pretty regularly these days although of course there's no guarantee that your specific dates and flights will be included. But if you're the type of person who likes to get things locked down asap then book if you're happy with the price and never check back.

It may be worth looking at flying to Orlando via New York JFK or Atlanta, these flights leave LHR and have larger upper class cabins and so more chance of an upgrade or cheaper flight.
Delta airlines have very frequent shuttles from ATL and JFK to Orlando.

Welcome from me too.

In terms of upgrades - the process of upgrading and checking prices etc will probably be easier were you to book direct with VS rather than with VH.

In terms of price - there is little science that can be applied. Probably the best advice would be to work out what you'd be prepared to pay, then check prices regularly (11 months out), and grab a fare when it hits your benchmark.

Bare in mind though, that the lower price tickets won't be directly upgradable due to fare class rules. If you intend flying PE, you may be best checking those prices in the first instance...

Good luck, and post back if you would like further advice.

Personally I book as soon as my return date is released.
I save miles like mad so that I can upgrade.
When I booked last year I was able to upgrade to PE at the time of booking then UC out a few weeks later. A month after that UC seats were being released on dates around mine but not the actual one so we added a day to our holiday and got UC back.
It costs a total of 50000 miles each to upgrade from Economy to Upper.
As far as buying an upgrade I have never seen a cheap one. Last year we flew PE and tried to upgrade and were quoted £900 for one seat from MCO back home.
One of the problems is that the plane only has 14 UC seats so there are not many reward seats in Upper.
That is why we book asap.
There are usually sales around Christmas and it has to be your choice to wait.
Dick D

Thanks, some very useful info

This may seem like a silly question but is VS the same as VA

In light of you answers, I think I will see what the prices are when the flights are released and if they seem ok (anyone have a ballpark figure?| ) book Economy both ways unless Premium is a really good price on release (is it easy to upgrade to premium later?) directly with VA (VS).

Thanks for your patience but it's really a bit daunting when it's your first time

Nickymouse wrote:This may seem like a silly question but is VS the same as VA

VS = Virgin Atlantic
VA = Virgin Australia

Makes sense, not .

Hope you get the flights you want.

It really isn't easy to tell what the prices would be , if you booked now for the same dates this year you would be paying £605 in economy , if you wanted to upgrade the return it would cost an extra £337
As others have advised if when the flights open your happy with the prices then book them and don't look back but personally I'd keep an eye on them for a month or two

Hi and welcome.

May is usually a pretty good month for decent fare to Orlando. You will be able to book sometime in June depending your exact dates, but I would probably advise not to book straight away. There is no real demand in May like there is at Easter/Christmas etc, so the risk of a flight getting sold out quickly is very low.

I think realistically flying out Y and back PE is a good idea, maybe try and grab some seats in the 'Bubble' as this will allow you to be some of the first off at MCO and result in a shorter waiting at immigration.

Unless you are looking for a total package deal, then I would book direct, I have never found VH to be cheaper to Orlando for us.

Neil

Thanks for clearing that up Slinky, I agree

Thank you Blacky1 for the estimates, very helpful

Neil, Thank you for this, as expected, it would be better to book direct with "VS" (see, I'm learning ) even though it means paying up front

Thank you all for your help, I post on another (holiday) forum and I'm sure they are fed up with my endless questions on this subject so I'm very glad to have found you