Upper class prices - UPDATE

Looking for upper to Orlando end of September through to December and searching with the 5 week option gives me horrendous prices.

Even trying via ATL, MIA or MAN or GLA is averaging out around £3250 for one seat.

Anyone else noticing this dramatic increase in prices or are we maybe getting ready for a sale.

There are odd JFK seats from EDI at sub £2k but everything else seems to have gone up substantially.

Thanks

David

Next April Upper to Havana has shot up to £4200.00 with both Econmy and PE a lot higher too

Have you considered starting in Dublin? I can find odd days where you can do MCO for €2200 from Dublin, less if you’re willing to come back via Manchester to Dublin. When doing this I do Dublin as a day trip the day before, just have a relaxing day in Dublin, go home for the night, and then fly to USA the next day. Need to keep the UK transit to less than 24 hours. Depends on how view the extra flights versus the money, and how accessible airport is to you.
I’m doing this in late October and will do Dublin from London City the day before my LHR MIA flight, LCY being an easy train/DLR ride for me.

Hi Doug, yeah, have done DUB once or twice but was around the €1100 figure.

Found a £1700 flight but a bit of a hurl. EDI - DUB -LHR - MIA - MCO lol.

Would def need a holiday after that one

Don’t know if there has been a capacity cut or if VS are going through a good spell and are selling UC seats easily, but I’ve never seen figures across the board so high for so long.

Thanks

David.

Have you thought about using miles to upgrade. I've just got a really good deal by finding a reasonable price inbound in upper and then paid for an economy seat and upgraded using miles for the outbound. I had to buy some miles but even taking that into account it was still considerably cheaper than booking an upper fare. I was planning to buy a premium fare and then upgrade but it was much cheaper in economy. There will have to be a reward seat available though which is a little difficult to find for orlando but sometimes good availability to Atlanta.

I have been looking at prices to my usual destinations lately as well and have been tempted to create this same thread topic myself. Prices really seem sky high to me at the minute. It's even worse if (like me) your stay doesnt include a Saturday night. VS are coming out very expensive across the board. In some cases I've found the DL site offering the same flights for thousands less than the VS site.

At this rate my employer (who is very reasonable I might add) will understandably force me away from VS :(

Virgin's UC prices have been bonkers for the last months or so; way out of line with everyone even BA.

however their summer sale usually commences in mid August so I am just waiting to buy then but it defeats me to understand why price yourself out of the business market for several months of the year and provide a very limited rout network = double whammy :(

Virgin's UC prices have been bonkers for the last months or so; way out of line with everyone even BA.

however their summer sale usually commences in mid August so I am just waiting to buy then but it defeats me to understand why price yourself out of the business market for several months of the year and provide a very limited rout network = double whammy :(

I believe there’s a flash sale starting today for a few hours. £50 off Upper prices.

Form a queue - ha ! (Insert rolling eyes smillie)

David

£4400 to Shanghai is the lowest rising to over £6000 in mid October - methinks the cuckoos are nesting in Crawley Towers presently.

These are mad. I paid £1200 BFS to MCO for peak July.

There’s some decent ex dub flights at the moment. About £1100 for NYC and £1400 for San Fran if I remember right. Dates up to end of March with some exclusions. Routing the final lhr to dub flight a day later was no extra cost on the dates I checked so you can easily skip last leg and you’ll get your bag back.

There’s some decent ex dub flights at the moment. About £1100 for NYC and £1400 for San Fran if I remember right. Dates up to end of March with some exclusions. Routing the final lhr to dub flight a day later was no extra cost on the dates I checked so you can easily skip last leg and you’ll get your bag back.

hi what flight search site are those prices on? thanks

hi what flight search site are those prices on? thanks

If you browse the site you should find multiple methods folks here use to find flights (plus a lot of hints on methods and the flights to choose on the "ex-eu" threads too).

As a 'live' example take a look via thematrix.itasoftware.com for flights to LAS:

Put DUB as "Departing from", LAS as "Destination", click on advanced controls and type LON in both routing codes boxes to route via London airports, click "See calendar of lowest fares" and put, say, 11/01/2018 to choose from 1st November 2018 (and a month later), put 6-13 for "Length of stay" or any range spanning maximum of 7 nights between least and most, change "Cabin" to business class or higher, change "Stops" to up to 1 stop and make sure you check "Allow airport changes" & probably easiest for comparison to change "Currency" to GBP before clicking on "Search".

This brings up a nice calendar month with lowest fares from Dublin to LAS (via London) with stays of between 6 and 13 nights …. if you scroll over a particular date you'll see prices for that day for each number of nights. Let's say you choose/click 13th November for 12 nights (at indicated price of £1368) … this brings up a list of options at that and at higher prices. Now you'll see that the early entries at £1368 are all using BA Business DUB/LHR-VS Upper LGW/LAS -VS Upper LAS/LGW -AerLingus Economy LGW/DUB and because the 'last leg' does NOT involve an airport change your luggage will normally get through checked LAS/DUB. However if you look a bit further down you'll see at £1373 the options for BA Business DUB/LHR-VS Upper LGW/LAS -VS Upper LAS/LGW - BA Business LHR/DUB so you can complete the 'last leg' or not pretty much as you choose as you collect your luggage at LGW on the way back!

To book then click on the £1373 box next to the fare you've chosen and this opens up a more detailed screen with fare rules etcetera. If you then do ctrl-A to select all and ctrl-C to copy then in another browser window open bookwithmatrix.com and do ctrl-V to paste the information in …. bookwithmatrix then checks availability on Flight Network (and others) - don't worry if, in this example, it comes back with a box "Book with flight network at £2924" as real price will show once you click that button and it takes you to their site and comes up with the £1369.36 fare as below …. note, this was a "safety first" booking where you would have popped out to Dublin on a cheapo fare on the Tuesday and maybe spent the day or afternoon relaxing there, started your first leg on BA back from Dublin to LHR on Tuesday night to overnight at LGW or wherever before grabbing the VS43 the next morning after a small CH visit!



Departs:
Dublin, Ireland (DUB)toDublin, Ireland (DUB)
Trip Duration:42h 00m

British Airways
Flight 829
Departs:
Tue, Nov 13 8:40 PM

Dublin (DUB)
Arrives:
Tue, Nov 13 9:55 PM

London (LHR)
BusinessDuration:1h 15m Connection Time:12h 15m Requires overnight stay

Virgin Atlantic Airways
Flight 43
Departs:
Wed, Nov 14 10:10 AM+1

London (LGW)
Arrives:
Wed, Nov 14 1:00 PM

Las Vegas (LAS)
BusinessDuration:10h 50m Connection Time:290h 30m Requires overnight stay

Virgin Atlantic Airways
Flight 44
Departs:
Mon, Nov 26 3:30 PM+1

Las Vegas (LAS)
Arrives:
Tue, Nov 27 9:25 AM+1

London (LGW)
BusinessDuration: 9h 55m Connection Time:3h 50m

British Airways
Flight 836
Departs:
Tue, Nov 27 1:15 PM

London (LHR)
Arrives:
Tue, Nov 27 2:40 PM

Dublin (DUB)
BusinessDuration:1h 25m

Ticket Price Details
Adult x 1
[+]
Air transportation charges
£1,277.15
[+]
Adult taxes, fees & charges
£92.21
Adult Subtotal£1,369.36
Total:
£1,369.36
Includes Taxes & Fees
Prices quoted are in GBP

A very thorough description of how to do it above.

You can also use Google flights which is a bit more user friendly. A business return from DUB to SFO, select your dates and it should appear. You can filter out all airlines other than BA, Aer Lingus and virgin to make things easier.

If you want to split the trip so the flights are on different days you select "multi city" and put each leg in separately.

HFP is reporting a sale in the low £1000’s for Upper fares - quick look looks like most are Delta flights but definitely worth a browse

Atlanta – £1264

Boston – £1304

Chicago – £1068

Detroit – £1264

Los Angeles – £1404

Miami – £1334

Nashville – £1214

New York – £1294

San Francisco – £1454

Washington – £1064

Canada:

Calgary – £1247

Montreal – £1053

Toronto – £1099

Winnipeg – £1253

Other destinations are available if you have a play around on the site.

David

March looks to be a great month. Especially if you're happy to travel midweek and include a Saturday night stay.

have just looked at UC in mid October to PVG and some algorithm is seeking a price of £6500+
Sorry VS , i'd love to know whether any idiot (ex- premier league footballers transferring to China excepted) buys a seat at this price when the normal business price varies from £2250- £2750
in the past Virgin lovers boasted their sequence numbers at check in; perhaps the new game is to find the most stupid website published ridiculous price - first to £10,000 return should win a bottle of champagne from Sir Richard!!

[mitchja]

There are some good fares available in Premium as well. Just booked a long weekend to FLL (via JFK) from LHR in November for <£700 return.

A couple of weeks ago the same fares where approx £300 more expensive and flights from MAN are still approx double the price!

None of the Upper Class sale fares look to be available from MAN either.

Booked via Delta.com again as they where approx ~£80 cheaper then VS. The TATL flights are both on VS metal.

I've seen plenty of £701 fares (in premium) to LAX recently too for October/November time - which I thought was half decent.

MpM allowed too, so can be reduced further if you have a stack of miles to burn.

hi what flight search site are those prices on? thanks

If you browse the site you should find multiple methods folks here use to find flights (plus a lot of hints on methods and the flights to choose on the "ex-eu" threads too).

As a 'live' example take a look via thematrix.itasoftware.com for flights to LAS:

Put DUB as "Departing from", LAS as "Destination", click on advanced controls and type LON in both routing codes boxes to route via London airports, click "See calendar of lowest fares" and put, say, 11/01/2018 to choose from 1st November 2018 (and a month later), put 6-13 for "Length of stay" or any range spanning maximum of 7 nights between least and most, change "Cabin" to business class or higher, change "Stops" to up to 1 stop and make sure you check "Allow airport changes" & probably easiest for comparison to change "Currency" to GBP before clicking on "Search".

This brings up a nice calendar month with lowest fares from Dublin to LAS (via London) with stays of between 6 and 13 nights …. if you scroll over a particular date you'll see prices for that day for each number of nights. Let's say you choose/click 13th November for 12 nights (at indicated price of £1368) … this brings up a list of options at that and at higher prices. Now you'll see that the early entries at £1368 are all using BA Business DUB/LHR-VS Upper LGW/LAS -VS Upper LAS/LGW -AerLingus Economy LGW/DUB and because the 'last leg' does NOT involve an airport change your luggage will normally get through checked LAS/DUB. However if you look a bit further down you'll see at £1373 the options for BA Business DUB/LHR-VS Upper LGW/LAS -VS Upper LAS/LGW - BA Business LHR/DUB so you can complete the 'last leg' or not pretty much as you choose as you collect your luggage at LGW on the way back!

To book then click on the £1373 box next to the fare you've chosen and this opens up a more detailed screen with fare rules etcetera. If you then do ctrl-A to select all and ctrl-C to copy then in another browser window open bookwithmatrix.com and do ctrl-V to paste the information in …. bookwithmatrix then checks availability on Flight Network (and others) - don't worry if, in this example, it comes back with a box "Book with flight network at £2924" as real price will show once you click that button and it takes you to their site and comes up with the £1369.36 fare as below …. note, this was a "safety first" booking where you would have popped out to Dublin on a cheapo fare on the Tuesday and maybe spent the day or afternoon relaxing there, started your first leg on BA back from Dublin to LHR on Tuesday night to overnight at LGW or wherever before grabbing the VS43 the next morning after a small CH visit!



Departs:
Dublin, Ireland (DUB)toDublin, Ireland (DUB)
Trip Duration:42h 00m

British Airways
Flight 829
Departs:
Tue, Nov 13 8:40 PM

Dublin (DUB)
Arrives:
Tue, Nov 13 9:55 PM

London (LHR)
BusinessDuration:1h 15m Connection Time:12h 15m Requires overnight stay

Virgin Atlantic Airways
Flight 43
Departs:
Wed, Nov 14 10:10 AM+1

London (LGW)
Arrives:
Wed, Nov 14 1:00 PM

Las Vegas (LAS)
BusinessDuration:10h 50m Connection Time:290h 30m Requires overnight stay

Virgin Atlantic Airways
Flight 44
Departs:
Mon, Nov 26 3:30 PM+1

Las Vegas (LAS)
Arrives:
Tue, Nov 27 9:25 AM+1

London (LGW)
BusinessDuration: 9h 55m Connection Time:3h 50m

British Airways
Flight 836
Departs:
Tue, Nov 27 1:15 PM

London (LHR)
Arrives:
Tue, Nov 27 2:40 PM

Dublin (DUB)
BusinessDuration:1h 25m

Ticket Price Details
Adult x 1
[+]
Air transportation charges
£1,277.15
[+]
Adult taxes, fees & charges
£92.21
Adult Subtotal£1,369.36
Total:
£1,369.36
Includes Taxes & Fees
Prices quoted are in GBP

many thanks for the detail, great post. many thanks

I have just managed to get one of these fares booked through Virgin Holidays although I couldn't book in online. The dates I wanted the fare on VS was coming out at £1380 to ORD, but I couldn't replicate a similar deal with VH on their website. Popped in store and it was all booked in a few minutes with the Sofitel Magnificent Mile being the hotel of choice for a week!

There are a few decent VS UC fares to Jamaica MBJ direct from LGW on selected dates in 2019 if anyone interested.

Earliest couple are for departures on 22 or 24/3 with return on 9 or 11/4 at the £1750 mark - these are looking like effectively more MBJ-LGW leg UC availability with the 747 to A330 switch that starts in April so they have some extra seats available. There are a few more at around £1766 leaving 30 April for 14-16-18 nights at £1766 and then a lot of availability in May and June at £1766 also. Starts to tail off into July as the switch back to 747 from A330 is currently showing (but I guess this could change).

Unfortunately I needed November, December or January dates so looked into the DUB-LHR BA, LGW-MBJ/MBJ-LGW VS, LHR-DUB BA (that last leg I might be too late to catch for some reason!) where even with a positioning LHR-DUB, a bit of LHR day parking at LHR while I did the LHR-DUB and first leg DUB-LHR came in at decent enough prices of around £1800 mark on several dates/durations.

I nearly hit pay-dirt but in the end the ideal dates sold just between finding, checking dates with friends and then going back to book. I still got a nice deal in December at £1679 pp on Air Canada LHR-YYZ-MBJ where we do overnight "recharges" (hic) in YYZ.

Normally I have found carib stuff is best booked as a flight & hotel package for the best overall deal (unless a really special promo on their own website at the hotel you want) but on this occasion I'm taking advantage of a nice promo on Voyage Prive for Breathless Montego Bay (where if you're in Xhale rooms you also get Preferred Club access to both Secrets Wild Orchid & St James which are just over the 'bridge' between the resorts) and tagging on a couple of nights on the Amresorts website on their own promo prices as the Voyage Prive promo is 7, 10, 12 or 14 nights and we wanted different number of nights that just couldn't easily do all with them even by, say, booking a 10+7 or 12+7 etc.

Both BA and VS have launched their sales today …..

Both BA and VS have launched their sales today …..

Some good prices now eventually appearing Oct/Nov to Orlando from £1677 - time to get some flights booked methinks.

David

hi David what site did you get those prices on, that is route I'm looking orlando, oct/Nov.thanks