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

I've got my ex-Dublin flight in 6 days time, with Dub - LHR the evening before my VS19 at midday the day after. The plan is to head home for a sleep.

I have read upthread that we won't need to take our check-in luggage with us to Dublin, and it's fine to check that in at LHR. How will this work with OLCI? Will the OLCI be done for both the DUB to LHR and the VS19 at the same time?

More importantly, can we still use DTCI?

Thanks!

[honey lamb]

I've got my ex-Dublin flight in 6 days time, with Dub - LHR the evening before my VS19 at midday the day after. The plan is to head home for a sleep.

I have read upthread that we won't need to take our check-in luggage with us to Dublin, and it's fine to check that in at LHR. How will this work with OLCI? Will the OLCI be done for both the DUB to LHR and the VS19 at the same time?

More importantly, can we still use DTCI?

Thanks!

I can't answer the question about DTCI but there is no problem about doing OLCI for the VS19, doing the LHR-DUB-LHR and then fetching up at the check-in desk with your bags in LHR. Doing OLCI for the Dublin legs depends on your carrier. If it is on Aer Lingus, you will be able to do so for the trip to Dublin as that is a separate ticket and will have its own PNR. On the return however, you will not be able to do it as Expedia do not give a PNR for Aer Lingus and you will have to check in in Dublin. If it is on BA, then, there is no problem as you will have a PNR for those flights.

Thanks HL! The LHR-DUB-LHR are all on BA so I shall do OLCI for those separately.

Yup you'll still be able to use DTCI without problem. It's my favourite way to rock up to check-in!

[honey lamb]

Thanks HL! The LHR-DUB-LHR are all on BA so I shall do OLCI for those separately.

Great!
The good news is that you will be able to do OLCI for both flights and do not have to change terminals.

The bad news is that you will be using T1, which has probably undergone a major refurb since T2 opened but still can't be as nice as T2 no matter how hard they try. In my working days I used it on a very regular basis, especially the central part (which is what you will probably be using) and was fond of it the way one would be fond of an elderly, cherished relative. It is reminiscent on a miniature T3 in LHR - lots of outlets (some of them very good) on what used to be called the High Street but little natural light until you got to the gates apart from the corridors to the different gate areas. I retired nearly 9 years ago and in those days there were the A. B, C and D areas but these have all been replaced with gate numbers. I think BA flies out from the old part, but don't worry. The newer part is a long trek from the main area and I think is exclusively used by Ryanair.

We did this this weekend. Got the 10 ish BA from LHR to DUB, then got the aircoach into town. Spent about 4 hours in the Guinness a Storehouse including lunch and then headed back to arrive in LHR around 21:30.

We flew economy out and then club back as we are upper for the LHR to SFO. The return was very quiet, only five of us in club. OLCI was not a problem for any of the flights so far, we just tried to do it as close to the start of the 24 hour window as possible. We also booked in for DTCI - it was a breeze, we got asked if we lived in Dublin though! They knew exactly what we were doing.

The Virgin clubhouse was fantastic but the lounge at DUB was not great. The offering was a few drinks, only two alcoholic per adult, a soup and a few cakes. It was quiet but if you need food look elsewhere. The trip advisor reviews for the main restaurants in DUB T1 are not exactly favourable though.

We will be going back in two weeks time, LAX -> LHR -> DUB -> LHR. We were not sure if we were going to do the last leg or not but it is a chance to see the BA lounge at LHR and we quite like the look of Dublin though so thought it warranted a few hours meandering around. It's and overnight stop in London first so hopefully should get the bags and just go home, if not we need to book some baggage for the final leg to LHR.

Hi everyone. We've just returned from LAS using the ex-Dub method. I asked for the bags not to be through-checked to DUB. The agent, unlike our previous LAS journey, seemed reluctant to do this. She turned to a colleague and asked if this was ok? Her colleague (who was actually the agent who had done this for us on our last trip without any hesitation) shrugged her shoulders.
Our agent then said she would do it but it seemed clear that she regarded it as not usual and made it clear she was doing us a favour! It was an uncomfortable couple of minutes, but all was well in the end.
I will, in future, ensure the DUB sectors are a day or two apart from the VS sectors so we don't have any worries about through checking bags.

I will, in future, ensure the DUB sectors are a day or two apart from the VS sectors so we don't have any worries about through checking bags.

How would you do that?

Very simple, book the final DUB sector for the day after your US-UK flight arrives (but still less than 24 hours otherwise it doesn't count as a stopover and the price goes up). They won't check your bags through to DUB if there's an overnight stopover in the UK.

Even better, make sure the final DUB sector leaves from a different airport. So if you're flying in to LGW from LAS, make sure the final sector leaves from LHR. Again, they can't check bags through if you have to transfer between airports.

Did you not offer them a "reason" for needing them in London ? If so, what did they say to that?

Very simple, book the final DUB sector for the day after your US-UK flight arrives (but still less than 24 hours otherwise it doesn't count as a stopover and the price goes up). They won't check your bags through to DUB if there's an overnight stopover in the UK.

Even better, make sure the final DUB sector leaves from a different airport. So if you're flying in to LGW from LAS, make sure the final sector leaves from LHR. Again, they can't check bags through if you have to transfer between airports.

I don't think I was very clear - I understand this bit

In terms of booking this - in my experience of looking so far, I am only given the options that expedia presents me with. I wondered if there was a way to force a longer stopover for example?

What you should get on Expedia is a fairly long list of options and you should find as you scroll down that options for longer stopovers on the return leg are nearer the bottom of the list. If you're having trouble give us your dates and destination and I'll gladly have a look for you.

It took me an age to get the right combination of dates to get my next ex-DUB to SFO booked, but I did it. And I've got a 2 night stopover on the return without too much impact on price.

I don't think I was very clear - I understand this bit

In terms of booking this - in my experience of looking so far, I am only given the options that expedia presents me with. I wondered if there was a way to force a longer stopover for example?

You have to use the multi trip / city option rather than the return trip option.

How would one go about making a change to their itinerary? Tempted to extend the trip by a day but I'm guessing this will not be easy...

I don't think I was very clear - I understand this bit

In terms of booking this - in my experience of looking so far, I am only given the options that expedia presents me with. I wondered if there was a way to force a longer stopover for example?

You have to use the multi trip / city option rather than the return trip option.

I just booked an ex-DUB to Miami the other day and bizarrely this simply was not possible on this occasion. No matter the website, I could get the 1,079 price (as seen on the ITA matrix) to come up just by entering DUB to MIA return, specify VS and business, but this doesn't generate any itinerary with the LHR-DUB sector on the day after arrival from MIA.

Using multi-city for the exact same flights, as the £1,079 price , came out as £300 extra every time, very odd. Tried multiple dates and flight combos. So generating it via multi-city simply wasn't an option for me, so on this occasion I had to settle for the LHR-DUB on the same day as arrival.

Tried phoning the expedia and ebookers helpline, but the person on the other end of the phone was just having the same problem as me

On previous occasions Ive had no problems using the multi-city option, This was really the first time I've run into problems booking an ex-DUB to my exact specifications, but hey still can't complain with the savings.

Funny old game sometimes this ex-DUB business.

Try an actual travel agent if Expedia, ebookers etc won't come up with the exact itinerary you want.

@seany I had exactly the same problem as you for my last ex-DUB booking a couple of weeks ago. For the first time Expedia and ebookers just weren't playing ball. So I tried STA whose website actually came up cheapest and whose multi city option did let me specify times of day for individual legs - thus forcing the final leg to be the day after.

But it still wouldn't give me the exact outbound flight I wanted (VS23 to LAX rather than VS7). So I asked in a branch and they sorted it, no problem, same price.

Having a brain fade moment - what is STA referred to above?

Think STA is the Student Travel Association I may be wrong but it also operates under the name of Bridge Travel. I only know as you can convert Tesco vouchers to Bridge Travel. Linda

STA is traditionally thought of (and started out) as a student travel agency but happily now serves anyone as my student days are long gone! It has several high street branches, mainly in university towns I think.

I used their Edinburgh Princes St branch the other week and found them very helpful - didn't bat an eyelid when I asked them to price up an ex-DUB itinerary, and booked the exact flight combination I wanted which no website seemed able to do.

FWIW I got DUB-LHR-LAX and LAS-LGW/LCY-DUB in UC next March for £1210.

Should this work for all VA flights, so from Manchester to Barbados for example? Or does it work much better if you go via one of the London airports and mainly to the US?

Thanks.

Give it a go! I haven't tried Barbados but it certainly works on the Manchester to Orlando route I've been looking at. The only problem I've found is that the Orlando flights arrive back in Manchester early and the flights to Dublin leave later so you can't have the final stopover overnight but within 24 hours (hope that makes sense!). If you try booking the final leg for the following day (which is 2 days after the flight leaves Orlando) the price goes up (although it's still much much cheaper than the normal MAN -> MCO return).

Also with Manchester I've tried using a different airport for the final leg to Dublin (BHX, EMA) but again the price goes up.

Final point - these itineraries can also be priced up on Skyscanner although it always seems to use eBookers.

How would one go about making a change to their itinerary? Tempted to extend the trip by a day but I'm guessing this will not be easy...

You'd be subject to a €350 euro change fee and any difference in fare.

I just secured my first Ex-EU Upper flights for next easter!
We are flying DUB- LGW- LAS 21st March and returning 28 March LAS-LGW -DUB. £1183 including CC and booking fees with Opodo. Couldn't seem to get the same flights up with expedia?
We wont be checking in bags on the return, just making use of the hand luggage allowance of two bags each in Upper. So we dont have to do the last flight back to DUB.
Will be in Dublin visiting family from the 19th so all ties in well Just hope no issues with the 07:00 Aer Lingus flight from DUB on the 21st!

That is a tight connection. I don't think my heart could stand it !

Well looking at flight stats the EI230 seems quite good on the delay front, but yes i would rather have longer in the clubhouse official stopover time is 02:55