Oh, for an UC sale....

Just yearning for an UC sale to the US.....

Been a while since a claimed UC sale, and a long time since a decent one...

Weirdly there was a 2 for 1 match BA sale ending up 1K pp Upper last december for christmas and new year. VS didn't publicise it as far as I remember.

So look for a decent BA sale, and then check the VS prices...

Been a while since a claimed UC sale, and a long time since a decent one...

Weirdly there was a 2 for 1 match BA sale ending up 1K pp Upper last december for christmas and new year. VS didn't publicise it as far as I remember.

So look for a decent BA sale, and then check the VS prices...

VS didn't publicise it. It was BA's "two CW tickets for 2014" promo, I was about to book with BA to go to Boston, then thought "check VS" and lo and behold got two UC tickets for the same price...

UC is just so much better than being stuck in a cabin of DYKWIA GGL/GCH/Blue Peter badge holders. There...I said it, I am in trouble now ! Oh hang on, this isn't FT is it ?

Been a while since a claimed UC sale, and a long time since a decent one...

Weirdly there was a 2 for 1 match BA sale ending up 1K pp Upper last december for christmas and new year. VS didn't publicise it as far as I remember.

So look for a decent BA sale, and then check the VS prices...

I've been consistently checking both sites, as I realise from you guys on here that, where one goes, the other will surely follow. But neither is blinking. Prices seem to have hiked a lot in the last couple of months or so, surely there should be one soon?

Or not...

What sort of dates and routes? I'm guessing even the ex-Dub ones to Orlando during school holidays are booked out...

Have you looked at the ex-dub options? 1.2K to Vegas around Christmas time was still there a couple of days ago, so there might be other routes there.

I've been looking at loads of ex-Dub routes and I would query why you'd want a sale when even SFO and LAX are available for around £1,200. Sure you possibly need to factor in an extra day either side but for the savings gained it's worth it.

I've long since abandoned the idea that a straight LHR to LAX or SFO is ever going to be under 2K in a sale, and ex-Dub has solved that issue...

What sort of dates and routes? I'm guessing even the ex-Dub ones to Orlando during school holidays are booked out...

Have you looked at the ex-dub options? 1.2K to Vegas around Christmas time was still there a couple of days ago, so there might be other routes there.

I have couple of weeks booked off from work in the middle of September - and we are quite open which US routes to use.

Ex - Dub - is that Dublin? I know I've seen on here going from Amsterdam for cheaper flights, but aren't airlines getting wise to this and closing the loophole? Can someone talk me through how Iid go about doing this please? Doesn't it also mean there'd be a need to factor in extra travel time????

Just go onto Expedia etc and look for the destination you want but set the departure point to DUB. If possible, select Virgin as your preferred airline and use Business as the class.

Yes, likely to be extra travel time involved as well as a separate booking to get to Dublin in the first place, but well worth it for the savings.

It's not really a "loophole" it is more likely that they're trying to compete in the Irish market and Aer Lingus fly the routes direct a lot cheaper than the carriers who fly out of LHR.

What sort of dates and routes? I'm guessing even the ex-Dub ones to Orlando during school holidays are booked out...

Have you looked at the ex-dub options? 1.2K to Vegas around Christmas time was still there a couple of days ago, so there might be other routes there.

I have couple of weeks booked off from work in the middle of September - and we are quite open which US routes to use.

Ex - Dub - is that Dublin? I know I've seen on here going from Amsterdam for cheaper flights, but aren't airlines getting wise to this and closing the loophole? Can someone talk me through how Iid go about doing this please? Doesn't it also mean there'd be a need to factor in extra travel time????

Both this thread and this thread have lots of "how to" information, including on how to minimise the extra travel time.

Yes, you leave from Dublin. Amsterdam, Brussels, Oslo and Copenhagen seem to be others which work well with BA, which people use for Tier Point runs.

But Dublin seems to be the one VS is doing reasonable matches to. Getting a ryanair across to get to the start even works well for those in the provinces, Dublin is well served by local airports...

It is because Aer Lingus has been cheaply flying to the US, and certain airlines discount to compete with them. It's not really a trick, if they do it, we take advantage of it. It isn't a loophole.

With some planning you might not even have to do the final leg, but have to make sure you have to connect to a different airport, so you get your luggage back.

BA does it too, and it had some amazing offers recently, but VS has been consistently good at the ex-DUB for the last few months.

If you are interested in such variations, and BA is an option, Honolulu is typically flyable for about 1350 quid on them going via LAX or SFO or SEA or some others, ex DUB. It's something we are doing in August, and when I was looking at this flying with VS Upper, it would have cost about 3 times that price....

Thanks to dicky.

http://v-flyer.com/forum/index.php?f=4& ... =viewtopic

The logic is why its cheap is two fold I believe.

1) Duty is avoided.

2) Historically, some airlines, such as KLM from Amsterdam, United from Brussels and Aer Lingus from Dublin have decided to discount to steal business from other airports and national airlines. The national airlines compete by discounting from their local airport back to their national airport to get the business back. Those who want to fly direct will pay, but those willing to travel further afield to get the discount, will not be lost to the likes of BA or VS, Air France etc.

Thanks to dicky.

http://v-flyer.com/forum/index.php?f=4& ... =viewtopic

WT and WT+ only....

Thanks to dicky.

http://v-flyer.com/forum/index.php?f=4& ... =viewtopic

WT and WT+ only....

Thanks, just saw that. I still can't get the BA site to load. I took the BA WORLD to mean BACW. Wishful thinking on my part.

Many thanks to all of you!!!!

Just done some dummy bookings - goodness, impressive savings to be had! Can I ask how easy or difficult it is to get back to Dublin airport if you have to overnight? How far is it, is it a cab ride or is there good public transport? Or how about hotels at the airport? Sorry, so many questions, but new territory for me!

Rexpeida site has just crashed. Is this my doing?????

[honey lamb]

[quote="abraxias"It's not really a "loophole" it is more likely that they're trying to compete in the Irish market and Aer Lingus fly the routes direct a lot cheaper than the carriers who fly out of LHR.[/quote]
Actually, they don't! I've priced them time and time again and before the ex-EU (including DUB) cheap fares came on to the market it was always cheaper for me to fly from LHR and with a separate booking on Aer Lingus. Until ex-DUB (and indeed ex-ORK and presumably-SNN) joined the ex-EU bandwagon (for want of a better word) EI always charged a fully flexible economy ticket of roughly €200 each way in addition to the VS fare. I always booked separate tickets!!

With the ex-EU fares, flights to and from the USA are still more expensive on Aer Lingus (and possibly the US carriers that use DUB and SNN because they know they can. For most people it is enough of a hassle getting to Dublin or Shannon without having the added inconvenience of LHR. OK, it suits me to fly to LHR as my nearest airport is Cork which only serves Europe. I'd rather fly to LHR simply because a) Cork is only 40 minutes from my home and b) I'm familiar with LHR and know my way around it so it is not daunting to me. Earlier this year, I flew DUB-SFO and loved it but the downside was having to drive to Dublin (and drive back after an overnight flight) as well as having to overnight in DUB before the outbound which was roughly about the cost of a return flight to LHR. The DUB-SFO was dearer than the ex-DUB fare for those of us in the Irish market and more so when one has to factor in a potential overnight stay and/or a rail or bus service to get to the airport.

To give an example - my boss goes to New York every year for roughly 10 days. Most of the time he books when the cheap buckets are gone because, unless he goes for a specific event as he is doing this year, he gauges when things are likely to be quiet work-wise. I mentioned to him the ex-EU fares (almost knowing what his response would be) It was as I expected; his brother lives in Ennis, a few miles from SNN so he can go the night before if he so chooses; the 9am flight on UA gets him into JFK at a time that suits him, especially if he is travelling on a Sunday; convenience rather than price is paramount - he doesn't have the time to go over to LHR even for an early morning flight to JFK. In other words, price is the secondary consideration with regard to flights going to USA destinations.

OK, so have bitten the bullet and booked to Miami, originating from Brussels. Huge savings. I could have done even better, had I chosen Dublin at starting point, but, for me, Brussels seemed a better option as I can use Eurostar to get there.

As I mentioned, still a new adventure for us! Questions...

As the initial bit, from Brussels to LHR, is within the Euro zone, how does that work for checking in? I always assume 3 hours prior to a flight for the US, but this is essentially within the EU, so is that different?

Also - I assume bags will be checked through for connecting flights? Someone mentioned the possibility of getting bags off at LHR on the return leg, and not actually going back to Brussels. How viable an option is this, does it actually work and how would I go about it?

Any help much appreciated! I just know someone will know....

Check the main thread on ex-dub and the thread and the one about being monitored.

http://v-flyer.com/forum/index.php?f=4& ... =viewtopic

http://v-flyer.com/forum/index.php?f=4& ... =viewtopic

You used to be able to ask for a bag to be "short checked", so you get it back in London and not take the final leg. It sounds as if some staff will not allow this any more.

To avoid this you can try and change airports when booking final leg, fly into lhr and out lgw. They'll give you your bag back in the london airport you arrive in.

As for getting to DUB, its pretty well served from most airports by both aer lingus and ryanair. In some ways it is ideal, I'm hard pressed to find a better served non uk airport for flights. I can get a 20 quid return fare before luggage from birmignham for instance. Brussels or Paris might have been as good back in the day, but those are now eurostar territory, and involve a bit further to get to the airport...

VS now have a decent Upper Class sale to the Caribbean.

@catsilversword - of course, we need to know how much you saved !

It was £1414 each. A thoroughly decent saving