Consolidated thread about Ex-DUB and other Ex-EU travel.

[honey lamb]

Is it definitely the case that you're permitted to "carry on" for your first flight to London and then check baggage only for the Virgin flight?

Last time I did Ex-BRU the BRU-LHR flight was a day before the Virgin flight, but I've just booked another trip and the AMS-LHR flight is the same day as my onward Virgin flight. I'm worried that I'll rock up to the Virgin desk in LHR and be told I should have checked my baggage at AMS - will (or could) that happen? If so, I wouldn't take the risk and would just take my bags with me to AMS and get them checked through, but it'd be easier to leave them at LHR and travel carry-on only on the AMS legs.

I was among one of the first users of the ex-EU flights travelling AMS-LHR-SFO. It was in the days before departures from Ireland became a favoured ex-EU routing and so the day before I had flown ORK-AMS and overnighted there. Checking in to my BA flight, I became aware that the good lady at check-in was about to tag my bags all the way through to SFO. Now, I hadn't expected this as reports at that time were that BA were a bit mardy about checking onward with VS and as I was flying in UC I wasn't convinced my bags would go into the priority bins so I asked for my bags to be tagged to LHR only. There was absolutely no problem about checking in my bags at LHR with VS. No-one said a dicky bird to me about not having checked through from AMS and I know that other V-Flyers who have done the ex-EU option and have travelled LHR-EU-LHR have stored their bags at LHR for the European hop without censure also.

hello all, i've been rather curious about the ex dub thing for a while and as i'm looking to travel to mco in late october for a couple of weeks, and as i live in northern ireland, i thought i would give it a shot....but, i am unable to get a quote in upper from dublin as it does not appear on the departure list on the virgin site, is there a trick to it that i'm missing ?
basically i'm looking to book ex dub via lgw to mco in upper return some time in late october, i have just tried a dummy run on the BA site and hey presto !
got a quote of £1361 in business, then i tried business fare from lgw-mco only and its coming out at over £2000 , result already
i would prefer to fly virgin but if its saving £700- £800 i think i would give ba a try. any info to point me in the direction of a virgin flight would be very helpful.

You can't search ex-EU fares on the VS website.

I use Expedia, selecting VS as my preferred airline.

You may not find any great fares for the end of October though, as it's half term so MCO flights will be rammed. That £1361 may be the best you'll get.

thanks gumshoe, i'll try as you suggest, as for the fare, i kinda thought that was a pretty good price, i have not flown ba business for many years, just wondered how it compares to virgin upper ?

Well that's always a divisive subject! Personally I'd say not a patch, indeed I've seen BA Club World described as a good premium economy with flat bed. The BA lounge at LGW is, frankly, pretty poor (no hot food and always rammed) and the on-board product is consistent but bland. Others, though, will disagree I'm sure.

I'd pipe up as a recent BA convert for 2 for 1 reasons...

When it comes to comparison for business class, well, BA's onboard does compete with VS and lets face it not everyone wants to be on herringbone seat.

But on the ground Virgins p*sses all overs BA's offerings.

I've been travelling regularly on a crappy low cost airline in last 4 months, but the Priority Pass card has got me into a number of lounges across europe. BA's Club lounges are barely above those paid for lounges and from what I've heard (Gatwick), the PP lounges are better....

I'll be travelling to Honololu with BA in august, ex Dub. With VS, I'd be spending a minimum of 4 hours in the VS lounge at heathrow.

I'd be seeking late checkout from the hilton and probably skipping the craphole which is the BA club lounge.

[honey lamb]

i have just tried a dummy run on the BA site and hey presto !
got a quote of £1361 in business, then i tried business fare from lgw-mco only and its coming out at over £2000 , result already
i would prefer to fly virgin but if its saving £700- £800 i think i would give ba a try. any info to point me in the direction of a virgin flight would be very helpful.

BA in recent times have been pretty good on the ex-ROI flights (I fly from Cork) because of the codeshare with Aer Lingus but for Virgin you need to use a site like Expedia or bookers

I guess it is impossible to get BA First fares ex-DUB?

On that note, I had a look at some BA fares today and First was hundreds of pounds cheaper than CW! That was a bit odd - is it because some companies default to always booking CW seats for staff as their expense policies (stupidly) are done by travel class rather than cost?

More likely because the cheapest CW fares have sold out but the cheapest F fares haven't.

And yes, you can book ex-DUB fares in F. Try doing it via the BA website (choose multi stop option) as Expedia often throws a wobbly when it comes to mixed class itineraries.

If booking via the multi city option on ba.com, and you intend to drop the final leg back to DUB, try searching for three legs:

Leg 1 - DUB-destination
Leg 2 - destination-LHR
Leg 3 - London-DUB.

That way it should give you the option of the LCY-DUB flight for Leg 3. By choosing that instead of one of the LHR flights, you're guaranteed to have your luggage checked only to LHR and not face the risk of arguing/being charged extra to short check.

I saw some BA F ex-dub the other day on Expedia. Also some AA codeshares of the same BA flights.


As to F being cheaper than CW yes it sometimes does happen when the cheaper CW buckets have gone leaving only the expensive ones which are more expensive than the 'cheap' F tickets.

Happens on VS where Economy can be more expensive that PE and PE dearer than UC.

[honey lamb]

I guess it is impossible to get BA First fares ex-DUB?

On that note, I had a look at some BA fares today and First was hundreds of pounds cheaper than CW! That was a bit odd - is it because some companies default to always booking CW seats for staff as their expense policies (stupidly) are done by travel class rather than cost?

No it's not. Last year I got BA First ORK-LAS and the fare was cheaper than CW than First. A few days later there was a sale in F and CW and the fare in First was cheaper again. I booked this on the BA website. The fare would presumably have been similar from DUB but Cork is my nearer airport.

I guess it is impossible to get BA First fares ex-DUB?

On that note, I had a look at some BA fares today and First was hundreds of pounds cheaper than CW! That was a bit odd - is it because some companies default to always booking CW seats for staff as their expense policies (stupidly) are done by travel class rather than cost?

You can do Ex-EU BA F flights, and AA F. Sometimes at very low prices.

I'll be travelling to Honololu with BA in august, ex Dub. With VS, I'd be spending a minimum of 4 hours in the VS lounge at heathrow.
.

How will you get access to the VS Lounge? its not part of Priority Pass

I'll be travelling to Honololu with BA in august, ex Dub. With VS, I'd be spending a minimum of 4 hours in the VS lounge at heathrow.
.

How will you get access to the VS Lounge? its not part of Priority Pass

Smid was saying that if they were flying VS they would get to the long 4 hours early, but because they are flying BA they are going to try and arrive later to the airport to skip the BA lounge.

Awesome, thanks. Feel the need to sample the CCR and F cabin on BA at least once.

Oh and the DUB leg is fine for me as it is easy and cheap to get from there to AGP, rather than mess about with the lousy timings of directs to GIB.

So anyone else done the ex-dub thing recently? I'm planning to do it in October, booked flight through the flight centre. Flight back is 22 hours after the inbound to LHR arrives... Night stop *cough* before my final flight to Dublin.

Anyone else done this recently? Any flak from the check in agent about collecting bags in LHR?

I came back three weeks ago. No problems. What also helped was that BA actually cancelled my LHR>DUB leg!

Some good fare at the moment a friend has decided to join me for the Miami leg of my trip in September and got UC ex Dublin for £1080 on Oppodo, are they matching the BA CW and F sale?

Well, if they were matching that, it was more 850 quid Club return to Miami...

i am tempted to try the ex dub route for my next trip to mco, i just did a dummy booking on skyscanner that came up with a price of £996 dub-mco return via gatwick in business class, my question is is how do these sites define business class on va ? at this price surely this is not upper ?
the quote for lgw-mco on the same dates on the virgin site is £1697

Yes, business class equates to Upper Class on VS. Check the fare code if you're unsure - it'll probably be Z which is discounted UC. But that fare sounds about right given there's an UC sale on at the moment.

thanks again gumshoe, i will be one very happy flyer to bag an upper fare at that price, but also a bit peeved to think that i paid 3k plus for the same flight in january !

I think that's the number one rule of low fares club... Don't ever ask the person next you what they paid or think about what you paid last time v this time!

I think that's the number one rule of low fares club... Don't ever ask the person next you what they paid or think about what you paid last time v this time!

That's been my rule too not to tell nor ask but on my last trip to NYC on the BA Baby Bus the woman sat next to me did ask and because she'd been a tad annoying I broke my own rule and told her.

She was not pleased because she'd paid more than twice (closer to 3 times) I had. She even tried to tell me that the CWLCY service never appeared in a BA Sale (which was incorrect) and that somehow I'd got some sort of special deal.

Her jaw was only prevented from hitting the floor because she was botoxed up to the hilt!


Anyway safe to say my trip next month is even cheaper than the last one!

I would just like to say a great big thank you to you guys on here for the inspiration of the ex DUB Trick!!

For a smidge over £1400 I have bagged this:

10808185_10152592576787663_1067373383_n.jpg

First time in UpperClass!! Even get a 747 on the return!!

What a deal, well done