V-Flyer

Seems an eternity since the last significant sale for us non-corporate travellers who rely on Z fares to get us to the West Coast

In fact, I can’t remember when the last one was!

Or am I being too optimistic given the current Balance Sheet reading?

I think they have had a few silent sales where they have matched a BA silent sale but not seen a proper sale. Even the proper BA sales have been a bit of a disappointment.

Yes, the trend at the moment is for silent flash sales on specific routes.

In the last month there’ve been sub-£900 fares to several US destinations as discussed here: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=297149

Doesn’t get much better than that. But they only last a few days so you have to get in there fast.

I don't think it was a mirage but yesterday I looked at some Havana fares using miles in November and two dates for PE fares came up at 35,000 ?? I clicked over to Economy as I have two upgrade vouchers and Econ was coming in at 50,000? I wasn't actually planning to fly this year, just doing research for 2019 but when I went back in they had gone. Am now thinking it is worth doing a check now and again to see if gremlins get into the system and going further through the booking process to test such low fares out.

gumshoe wrote:Yes, the trend at the moment is for silent flash sales on specific routes.

In the last month there’ve been sub-£900 fares to several US destinations as discussed here: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=297149

Doesn’t get much better than that. But they only last a few days so you have to get in there fast.

I did see that thread - but where do you all star looking for those fares? Is it just one favourite place or so you have a range of sites you keep checking?

just spotted UC LHR-SFO for £1666 in January. Not currently matched by BA.

Must say I'm tempted at that price

just spotted UC LHR-SFO for £1666 in January. Not currently matched by BA.

Must say I'm tempted at that price

Nicely spotted, thanks for posting. Thought I'd give it a browse and since you looked it seems like BA have now got some deals - seems to be a silent sale on TATL fares at BA for December 2018 through April 2019 …. lots of destinations in CW in the £1300-1700 price range.

As I lost my BA status and back to paying for BA seat reservations (more than 7 days in advance) on top of the £1453 prices now showing there for CW, the UC LHR-SFO is still worth the extra few hundred quid to have seat choice included and the VS CH / on board experience.

I'm due a Vegas trip again this next winter season so as BA CW fares have dropped to £1651 I'm hoping a few dates in VS UC will pop up soon too so I can go VS as I prefer !

TimCrawley wrote:

just spotted UC LHR-SFO for £1666 in January. Not currently matched by BA.

Must say I'm tempted at that price

Nicely spotted, thanks for posting. Thought I'd give it a browse and since you looked it seems like BA have now got some deals - seems to be a silent sale on TATL fares at BA for December 2018 through April 2019 …. lots of destinations in CW in the £1300-1700 price range.

As I lost my BA status and back to paying for BA seat reservations (more than 7 days in advance) on top of the £1453 prices now showing there for CW, the UC LHR-SFO is still worth the extra few hundred quid to have seat choice included and the VS CH / on board experience.

I'm due a Vegas trip again this next winter season so as BA CW fares have dropped to £1651 I'm hoping a few dates in VS UC will pop up soon too so I can go VS as I prefer !

Have th it CW prices changed? I’ve been checking each day with BA, for March 2019, can’t see their prices are any different. Am I missing something blindingly obvious? (Entirely possible!)

Have th it CW prices changed? I’ve been checking each day with BA, for March 2019, can’t see their prices are any different. Am I missing something blindingly obvious? (Entirely possible!)

I can see the fares either on itamatrix http://matrix.itasoftware.com or, more longwinded, on BA website on the low price finder at https://www.britishairways.com/travel/l ... blic/en_gb. This shows economy fares with 7 night duration by default, listing destinations on the North America tab by default. Just change travel class to Business and click "Find Lowest Price" button …. then play around with the number of nights (only allows day trip to max 14 nights as a range though) and click "Find Lowest Price" button again to see fare price changes by destination. Of course once you then click onto chosen destination you then see the months those fares are available in then click on month to see dates within month - by which time you find only one or two date combinations have flights at that price for that number of nights in that month to that destination ….. which is probably why folks use itamatrix (or Garble/Google Flights) I guess.

As an example - LHR to LAX then BA has March fares at £1669 (or £1653 with American) but they are all leaving on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday in the first three weeks of the month (except Thursday 21st when it's £1679) if you want 14-21 nights away, but all 4 weeks (except last Thursday 28th) leaving on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday if you want 7-14 nights away..... the Friday through Monday departures are more like £2700 in comparison on that route in March. EDIT:LHR-SFO is similar but priced at £1469 on those Tuesday through Thursday March departures.

Good hunting!

BA defo have a silent sale: CW to NYC is around £1300. Virgin was £2700 for quite some time and are now at £1700 for the dates I need (via BOS inbound though)...

There will be another sale especially for winter. I'm just wondering whether to go BA or wait...

TimCrawley wrote:

Have th it CW prices changed? I’ve been checking each day with BA, for March 2019, can’t see their prices are any different. Am I missing something blindingly obvious? (Entirely possible!)

I can see the fares either on itamatrix http://matrix.itasoftware.com or, more longwinded, on BA website on the low price finder at https://www.britishairways.com/travel/l ... blic/en_gb. This shows economy fares with 7 night duration by default, listing destinations on the North America tab by default. Just change travel class to Business and click "Find Lowest Price" button …. then play around with the number of nights (only allows day trip to max 14 nights as a range though) and click "Find Lowest Price" button again to see fare price changes by destination. Of course once you then click onto chosen destination you then see the months those fares are available in then click on month to see dates within month - by which time you find only one or two date combinations have flights at that price for that number of nights in that month to that destination ….. which is probably why folks use itamatrix (or Garble/Google Flights) I guess.

As an example - LHR to LAX then BA has March fares at £1669 (or £1653 with American) but they are all leaving on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday in the first three weeks of the month (except Thursday 21st when it's £1679) if you want 14-21 nights away, but all 4 weeks (except last Thursday 28th) leaving on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday if you want 7-14 nights away..... the Friday through Monday departures are more like £2700 in comparison on that route in March. EDIT:LHR-SFO is similar but priced at £1469 on those Tuesday through Thursday March departures.

Good hunting!

Thanks Tim! I always, always forget about imatrix, and although I did know how to find cheapest fares on BA (but thanks anyway), that is a long-winded way of searching, Imatrix it is then!

Since my earlier post, fare is now £1.5k in UC for Feb 2019.

ITA Flight Matrix shows lowest fare at £2.2k for some reason.