Sale Fare Date problem!

Question for you all, I see the current UC sale fares are valid until November 12th, this is 1 day too early for me as I want to fly to MCO next September 26th returning October 15th, due to the flights going on sale 335 days ahead, my return date is not available to book until November 13th which in theory is beyond the sale window.

Having monitored I see that the next day is typically available at exactly 1 minute past midnight UK time, I.E. I checked last night at 23:55 and flights were only available to October 5th but at 00:05 flights were available to October 6th.

My question is this, Will the sale fare disappear instantly at 23:59 on November 12th or is it likely to still be available at 00:01 on November 13th? Meaning I could book my prefered date at the sale fare?

It's an awkward situation as BA are already selling tickets for my prefered date, but I'd rather fly virgin however a return flight on October 14th doesn't suit us at all.

Is it worth the risk, or should I either book ba on the prefered date?

I'm not completely sure of the answer, maybe someone else does know, but when I booked sale fares last year, the prices increases were reloaded pretty quickly after the sale ended. Certainly within 24 hours. But whether VS IT is automated enough to reload fares immediately the clock ticks over or whether it requires a bod to do it, I don't know.

Would it not be worth a phone call to FC to see if there is flexibility on a case by case basis?

[Darren Wheeler]

My understanding is that the sale price will be wiped at midnight and replaced by the regular fare, even if you are halfway through the booking.

I can't say that I have checked down to the minute but sale fares disapear fairly quickly in my experience. I would definitely give them a call and you should be able to sort something out

AS our dates for next year came up on BA we couldn't take the risk of waiting for the Virgin flight dates to be released. It was a good job as if we hadn't got those BA dates they were all gone next time I looked 30 minutes later, even the ones for lated in the month.

So I personally would grab those BA ones, there is no guarantee you will get the flights or seats with Virgin, then you will kick yourself. Linda

Thanks everyone for your input, I think I'll give VS a call and see if there's any way to get around this, guess it depends how keen they are to sell 4 UC seats rather than have us book 4 CW with BA, I'll see what they say!

[honey lamb]

My understanding is that the sale price will be wiped at midnight and replaced by the regular fare, even if you are halfway through the booking.

IIRC, a well-established V-Flyer, who was also a UNIQ had a major issue with this some years ago when, having clicked on the Purchase button (or whatever it says on the VS website) before midnight, the page took 20 minutes to re-load and showed the new and more expensive fares

Sometimes sales go over by a few hours

Let us know how you got on with VS, it would be interesting to know.

Ok so spoke with VS yesterday night, after some discussion they said that if I booked it now they would allow me to change the date for free, BUT that they would reprice the fare when it was re-booked which makes the whole thing totally pointless!!

He said it's possible that the fare may be available a little after midnight if I wanted to risk it, I might try my luck with a different operator today, it seems crazy that for the sake of 10 minutes in time they are willing to lose 4 UC fares to BA.

If I get no luck on the phone today I may book with BA on nov 12th and try to book with virgin just after midnight on the 13th, if the virgin booking works at sale price then I'll cancel the ba flight whilst within the 24 hr cooling off period, if not then I'll stick with the booked ba flights.

[Darren Wheeler]

But it's unlikely they will 'lose' 4 Upper fares. With only 14 seats on a MCO route, they can usually sell them all, and at a higher non-sale price.

But it's unlikely they will 'lose' 4 Upper fares. With only 14 seats on a MCO route, they can usually sell them all, and at a higher non-sale price.

Fair point but i must say I've travelled only twice (return trips) on this route and on none of these 4 legs has the cabin been full, all taken at the same time of year.

Maybe more to the point, they'd rather a loyal Virgin customer who has never flown BA club world before, book with BA for the first time.

Either way it seems petty 23:59 the sale fare is available but the date is not, 00:01 the date is available but the fare is not.

Like I said I will ask again and see if I get a different response if not maybe I'll book with BA maybe I'll just take the inconvenience and come home early!! I'd much rather fly Virgin I really would