Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2009 part 2

davidmcg2u

September

ferf1223 wrote: »

I personally would not touch a connecting flight without at least 2 hours between...we used to fly via ERW on Continental quite a lot but even if you don't have a terminal change and even if your bags are checked through, 1:10 doesn't give a lot of time for any delays at all...if it all goes to schedule, it's probably fine...but if not it could be a lot of hectic rushing (which I hate)...I suppose that if the inbound flight causes you to miss the connection, they'll have to get you home somehow.

Thanks.

There is 1 which leaves Vegas 90mins earlier so will go for that when the time comes to book - prices still what I want.

In terms of the connection, which I have never done before, once I check my baggage in Vegas will that be me until we get home as they both are Continental & arerive/leave the same terminal?

Froggitt

December ( including Xmas and New Year )

Anyone ever taken kids to Vegas? We have two girls 11 and 12, both going on 14 or 15!!!

What would you do with kids in Vegas?

ferf1223

October , November

davidmcg2u wrote: »

In terms of the connection, which I have never done before, once I check my baggage in Vegas will that be me until we get home as they both are Continental & arerive/leave the same terminal?

You won't see your bags again until you arrive at your final destination...and if you arrive in the same terminal you'll be departing from you will have already cleared security...so in theory 1:10 would be fine...but just that if there's a delay...well, it could go all wrong.

Had a look at flightstats.com and that LAS->EWR on-time info says:

This flight has an average delay of 29.0 minutes with a standard deviation of 42.58 minutes.

Yesterday arrived at gate C94, flight to EDI departed from C126.

http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/travel/airport/maps/ewr.aspx

Sorry, I just realised that that was some random LAS->EWR flight I looked up - not necessarily the one you are looking at so info may be different.

davidmcg2u

September

ferf1223 wrote: »

You won't see your bags again until you arrive at your final destination...and if you arrive in the same terminal you'll be departing from you will have already cleared security...so in theory 1:10 would be fine...but just that if there's a delay...well, it could go all wrong.

Had a look at flightstats.com and that LAS->EWR on-time info says:

This flight has an average delay of 29.0 minutes with a standard deviation of 42.58 minutes.

Yesterday arrived at gate C94, flight to EDI departed from C126.

http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/travel/airport/maps/ewr.aspx

Sorry, I just realised that that was some random LAS->EWR flight I looked up - not necessarily the one you are looking at so info may be different.

Thanks for this - will definitely play it safe then with the earlier connection. That's a bonus with security & baggage - if all goes well will have plenty of time to have browse in shops & bite to eat before we head home.

Any takers on The New Yorker - anyone stayed there before?

little_jem

October , November

Hi,

I am trying to plan our first trip to Las Vegas, well first time to USA actually! and whilst I am trying to read as much as I can I would really do with a little help please. We are looking to fly to vegas in October for two weeks but dont want to spend all that time in vegas as think it would be a bit much for us, we are very keep to explore the surrounding area and besides visiting the grand canyon and hoover dam has anyone got any other suggestions please?

I was thinking 1 night in Fleetstaff and 2 at Grand Canyon so its nice and leisurely, but would love a few more nights out of vegas exploring!

any advice would be greatly appreciated please.
many thanks jemma

trets77

little_jem wrote: »

Hi,

I am trying to plan our first trip to Las Vegas, well first time to USA actually! and whilst I am trying to read as much as I can I would really do with a little help please. We are looking to fly to vegas in October for two weeks but dont want to spend all that time in vegas as think it would be a bit much for us, we are very keep to explore the surrounding area and besides visiting the grand canyon and hoover dam has anyone got any other suggestions please?

I was thinking 1 night in Fleetstaff and 2 at Grand Canyon so its nice and leisurely, but would love a few more nights out of vegas exploring!

any advice would be greatly appreciated please.
many thanks jemma

book your first few night in Vegas , then hire a car and just go . don't book it up , just have a rough idea where you might want to go . we always advise booking Vegas hotels in advance to get the best price , but elsewhere it probably won't make a differnece .

Death Valley is easily do able , and a great place to visit , although there are only 2 hotels in the Valley .

It is likely the Tioga Pass will still be open in October , so you could get Yosemite the quick way , but is still a trek

LA is of course within range . although i would advise researching where you wish to stay in LA in advance , as you don't want to be in a dodgy area .

Zion National park is somewhere i want to go but have yet to visit

ferf1223

October , November

little_jem wrote: »

I was thinking 1 night in Fleetstaff and 2 at Grand Canyon so its nice and leisurely, but would love a few more nights out of vegas exploring!

If you mean Flagstaff, AZ, you could check out the Barringer Crater not too far from there...and possibly on your way back from the GC, you could head back via Oatman, AZ for an old west sort of experience (touristy version, of course)...then perhaps up to Laughlin for a night - hotels there will probably be cheap...on the river...casinos there if you want a little of that (nothing like the scale of Vegas).

Also Zion National Park (in Utah) is meant to be awesome - we keep meaning to go and keep not fitting it in...though not sure if post-Grand Canyon it would be disappointing?

Not sure if a trip to LA would be your thing but certainly doable.

ferf1223

October , November

trets77 wrote: »

Zion National park is somewhere i want to go but have yet to visit

So it's not just us then!

CvPiper

May

Well I did it!!!!

Have just booked BA Direct on May 17th 2010. Only £756 for 2 of us, which we thought was good.

Glad to get it done, now I can sort the planning part of it!

luci

September

I booked the April/May flights direct with BA at 7 o'clock this morning as I was so excited to see a cheap fare from Aberdeen.

At lunchtime I remembered about NetFlights and when I checked they were slightly cheaper than BA so I have put in a Price Promise claim form. I was kicking myself as I could have got Quidco cashback if I had remembered about it and gone with NetFlights.

However............ got home this evening to an email fro NetFlights to say there is a schedule change to my September flights. They now get into LAS 30 mins later than planned and we have the Killers concert which we were already struggling to make on time.

I checked for alternatives on the United website and called them, but they said I had to make the change through the agent. Called NetFlights, who called United, and came back saying the flight I requested wasn't available. I asked if I could call back and I was told that the change had to be made by midnight or it would be too late and that they closed at 6pm.

Called United back, got the same guy and he said it was available, it was just that they would have to modify the booking. Got his name and number to give to NetFlights, called them back and couldn't get to speak to anyone. Held on for half an hour until 6.15. Rang reservations and they couldn't help as they were just a call centre.

So the crux of it is, I wouldn't recommend booking scheduled flights with an agent. When we had a schedule change with American Airlines, I had booked direct so a quick call and I was able to change to flights I wanted rather than the ones they had changed us to.

A lesson learned.