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

I've just booked next May ex EU to Las Vegas. I've been checking for weeks and the ex DUB just isn't there any more as an option, my dates are now showing over £3000.

Thankfully ex BRU is coming up a treat at just £1460. I'm positioning to BRU & taking the first sector the day before the VS43 so I can have a chilled evening at Gatwick

Hi
I'm looking at doing the same trip\route timings

1. Did Expedia charge a CC fee? I always like to book direct (to ensure I get FF miles) so would ring Virgin to book this but they charge a huge fee even for their own MBNA Black card

2. I assume it's all the same PNR so what I cannot get my head around is. If you check in at BRU for the first leg with no hold luggage, how does that work when you do the LGW-LAS leg? Do you have to check in again?

Cheers

Hi, there's no credit card fee with Expedia. Additionally you'll notice on your credit card statement that only £20 is billed by Expedia themselves (their handling fee for two tickets). The rest is billed by Virgin Atlantic, so you'll earn not far off 12,000 miles on this level of spend if paying with Virgin MBNA Amex

Sorry just realised I hadn't answered the second part of your question: Yes, it's all one PNR for all four flights. Yes you'll need to go to the Virgin Atlantic Upper Class check-in at Gatwick to check in your luggage. Obviously nothing to stop you having done online check-in 24 hours before & printing your boarding pass.

[honey lamb]

Has anybody found any kind of pattern in terms of how far in advanced these ex-EU fares are released? It seems pretty random, I recently booked an ex-dub to nyc on very short notice, just 2 weeks, but now seems all dates to the USA ex-dub are blacked out until the end of November, I check everyday to see if they release nearer dates on short notice but nothing as of yet.

A lot will depend on the availability of seats in the appropriate fare bucket on either the DUB-LHR leg and/or the NYC-LHR leg. When checking some of the ex-EU fares, there have been messages on Expedia which says "only x fares available at this price" - usually 4 or less. When checking with EI for the same dates, I might get a similar message on their website; alternatively the same message night apply for the VS leg regardless of the time of the ex-EU connecting flight. Even one leg being full can negate the whole dummy booking.

Sorry just realised I hadn't answered the second part of your question: Yes, it's all one PNR for all four flights. Yes you'll need to go to the Virgin Atlantic Upper Class check-in at Gatwick to check in your luggage. Obviously nothing to stop you having done online check-in 24 hours before & printing your boarding pass.

Thanks for the speedy replies.

Thanks to the hints and tips on here, booked my first ex-EU today. CPH-LHR-EWR-JFK-LHR-CPH in UC coming in at £1225 compared to a straight quote of £4800 (!!) on VS's website today. Checked many of the EU starting points and CPH for NYC flights was the cheapest for end Aug / Sept.

Thanks to the hints and tips on here, booked my first ex-EU today. CPH-LHR-EWR-JFK-LHR-CPH in UC coming in at £1225 compared to a straight quote of £4800 (!!) on VS's website today. Checked many of the EU starting points and CPH for NYC flights was the cheapest for end Aug / Sept.

Forgot to say, used ITA Matrix for the price comparisons. Couldn't get the flights to appear on expedia no matter what I tried, but successfully booked through ebookers.com OK. Very happy with the price.

[mitchja]

I've noticed now that if you select VS as the airline on Expedia, it seems to fail. Leave the airline field blank and just select the cabin, the search works and you can then filter all the results by airlines, where VS usually shows up.

Been looking at SFO flights again today and they are coming in at a tidy £1300 for the dates I want next year

I've been following VS's ex-DUB fares to LAX and SFO for some time. I'm particularly interested in booking a ticket that's in M on the VS leg from SFO to LHR on the return.

Having only ever purchased tickets (for itineraries starting at LHR) directly from VS, I was surprised and dismayed to read on V-Flyer recently that one cannot upgrade even an *upgradeable* fare basis (e.g., M) unless one has purchased the original ticket directly from VS.

I once called VS to ask about buying an ex-DUB ticket, and was told politely that they will only sell ex-London fares by phone. Putting the above facts together, it would seem one cannot buy an upgradeable ex-DUB ticket, as VS won't sell them directly, and ones bought from travel agents aren't upgradeable, even if in the right fare basis to upgrade.

A question to all ex-DUBers: has *anyone* had any luck upgrading a travel-agent-purchased upgradeable fare basis on VS? Is it possible, e.g., for the travel agent that "owns" the booking to call a travel-agent-only desk at VS and arrange an upgrade (providing that the G is available in UC, of course)?

It seems unduly restrictive that VS would not allow any upgrades on tickets not purchased directly from VS...especially if one pays the greater M or L fare. I guess a follow-up question is whether this is purely a question of which entity "owns" the booking and can make changes to the record in the reservation system, or whether it is VS deliberately disallowing upgrades to tickets purchased from a travel agent.

All reports of experience in this area most appreciated! Thanks.

All reports of experience in this area most appreciated! Thanks.

I think you were not given the correct information by VS (unless this is a new policy). I've bought ex-DUB, ex-BRU, ex-CPH and ex-AMS J tickets over the phone with Virgin as straight revenue fares. I once did this with the tatl sectors on DL, as I wanted to sample DL's BusinessElite, as it was then called. In each case the EU-LON/LON-EU sectors were on BA.

What VS won't do is go through all the flight options with you. You need to phone up with the exact itinerary, which they will then price for you.

And yes, you can buy ex-EU Y flights where the tatl sectors are VS M fares. Again, you need to give the exact flights and classes. The only way for you to price-check this is with ITA Matrix, where you use the multi-city option and force the tatl sectors as VS M buckets.

Sometimes this can be an incredible deal (the cheapest I remember recently, ex-DUB, was something like £650 cash plus 40k miles to upgrade the tatl sectors on VS). The M-G upgrade portion of the total cost is minimal on an ex-EU.

What you might have to do is speak to more than one person at VS, as it's not the simplest thing to explain or get processed. Once I think I spoke with three different people before getting my itinerary ticketed by the third person.

ISTBC but I think bnkarp is correct that he can't buy an M class fare via a travel agent and then upgrade that fare with miles. I'm pretty sure others more experienced than I have posted about this. You can only upgrade with miles on fares booked directly with VS, that's the way it is.

That said, the T&Cs here suggest that tickets bought via a travel agent can be upgraded with miles, scroll down to 4.4.4 http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/fl ... miles.html

Maybe you do need to call again, and again knowing some of the operators - and phone FC not the normal VS booking line.

For bnkarp, the whole point of these ex-DUB / ex-EU fares is that they're better value for money on business class upwards - the difference between an M economy and a Z UC when done ex-EU is £200-£300 or less dependent on the deal secured.

Thanks, Nylon and Bretty.

Nylon: I suppose I just had bad luck the one time I tried to purchase an ex-DUB ticket on the phone with VS. I'll do multiple trials on separate calls if I'm told that again.

Bretty: thanks very much for the pointer to 4.4.4 in the T&C. I may politely point that clause out to the FC Gold agent if I'm told I can't upgrade an M fare basis purchased from a travel agent. For what it's worth, I beg to differ about the price difference between an Economy ticket ex-LHR vs. ex-DUB. I've purchased an ex-DUB itinerary to LAX that is fare basis O outbound, fare basis M return, for GBP 600, when the equivalent fare was over GBP 1100 ex-LHR (same exact fare bases on long-haul legs!). For a family of three, the GBP 1500 savings is significant (both in absolute terms and relatively speaking, at 45%).

Thanks again.

(And if anyone else has managed to upgrade a ticket purchased from a travel agent, I'd be very glad to hear about it.)

(And if anyone else has managed to upgrade a ticket purchased from a travel agent, I'd be very glad to hear about it.)

I should have said this earlier, but, yes I have. The fare was bought for me by a British University through their travel agent, which was called Key Travel. They specialise in what they call 'academic' fares.

In any case, I asked for some quotes in various buckets. M was something very marginal over the cheapest, most restrictive fare (something like £15). So I said, please book that ticket and I'll pay the extra £15 to the university!

I then phoned up FC myself and upgraded the M sectors to G using my miles. So it is definitely possible.

Looks like Brussels is the new Dublin I have been pricing up MCO for next summer, and BRU fare says Z for VS @ £1364 using BA from BRU to LHR and vv. Ex DUB is a shocking £2417 in I class. I have looked at a fare display and it is not showing a Z fare from DUB, could it be that VS have finally cottoned on? If I want to DUB (which I prefer) then it may have to be time to go to the 'darkside'

What dates are you looking at, and how flexible are they?

I am managing to get ex-DUb to MCO and the end of next June for £1,069 pp

What dates are you looking at, and how flexible are they?

I am managing to get ex-DUb to MCO and the end of next June for £1,069 pp

Hi Seany

I was using June as a guide, but my actual dates are for July 2016 which are still a few weeks away from booking. Who did you get your quote from?

just using the multi-trip tool on expedia.

just using the multi-trip tool on expedia.

Gave that a try - 200 options - all on BA, LOL. Put VS down as a carrier - Zero options.

Here is the search I put in, just in case you can't get it to work...(price changed to £1,075 now)



Obviously this is only for 3 nights, but the ITA matrix is showing you'll be able to book this same price in July for more nights once those dates become available to book.

It's a little cheaper via LCY according to ITA, but I can't seem to get LCY to work on expedia.

This price is only for 25th June onwards, wont work before that.

Hope this helps.

Here is the search I put in, just in case you can't get it to work...(price changed to £1,075 now)



Obviously this is only for 3 nights, but the ITA matrix is showing you'll be able to book this same price in July for more nights once those dates become available to book.

It's a little cheaper via LCY according to ITA, but I can't seem to get LCY to work on expedia.

This price on only for 25th June onwards, wont work before that.

Hope this helps.

That explains it clearly, the 330 day window for my flights doesnt open for just over 5 weeks but I will keep checking, thanks

Hi All, long-time reader of this great forum and so thanks for all the assistance given by the authors previously However I now need an answer to something I'm struggling with that I've not seen an answer to before.....

Going in September from DUB>LHR>SFO>LHR>DUB using Aer Lingus and VS. This was booked through Lastminute all on 'business class' Obviously this is VS Upper but EI only have one class (though 3 fare pricing structures within 'Low, Plus & Flex'). The issue I am trying to get my head around is baggage allowance. VS is quite clear - 3 checked in bags up to 32kg and 2 carry on but I'm not clear about EI as although their website says one checked in bag up to 20kg and one carry on; my ticketing says the baggage allowance per passenger is 3 pieces on all sectors.

With all those wise heads out there can anyone clarify what allowances they've had if using EI & VS on an Ex-Dub ticket and how strict were they at check-in?

Thank you

I have a question about my ex-DUB (also to SFO in September ), although not directly related to the flights. I've yet to book car parking at Heathrow and I don't know whether I should book it until the day we arrive back at LHR (hoping to short-check) or the following day when we're scheduled to return from DUB (if they refuse to short-check)? The stories about check-in agents sometimes refusing to short-check bags to LHR got me worried enough to book tickets on BA back from DUB just in case (I'd rather lose the relatively small cost by not taking that flight than potentially be stuck at DUB with no flight booked).

But am I best booking the car with the possibility of collecting it either early or late? How easy is it to pick up the car on a day other than the one booked (probably going to use Purple Parking)?

I am about to book two tickets BRU-MAN-MCO-MAN-BRU. our last flight back to BRU leaves the day after we arrive back at MAN, will they only check our bags to MAN as we have a 1 night stopover? or will it be awkward at the check in?

Thanks,

Steve

If your BRU flight is the following day they'll just check them to MAN.

Do I need to do online check in for each sector of flights booked this way? Our upcoming trip (BRU -LHR-MIA and back ) shows booking refs for each flight, but the VS one doesn't show the number of days to departure and check in. It also says it doesn't recognise the booking reference, even though it brings up the right flight! Does this mean the outgoing flight is checked right through when I use the (BA) ref for the first leg? Although that doesn't really make any sense for coming back, as that's VS.

Still struggling with whether to risk luggage in hold for return and trying to short check it - our notional onward flight from LHR -BRU is the same day as the VS flight...

Help! What with the possible extra tube strikes, trouble in Calais (going to Brussels on Eurostar), I'm beginning to think all this extra hassle is not going to be worth it :(