Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2010

trets77

stoneman wrote: »

itm2, why are you dead set on Virgin, you know they are going to exploit the situation. As duchy says have a look around, you will have to do an internal transfer but we actually like that. You will find something £500-£600 so will actually make a profit.

Agree . Direct is not be all , end all . i wouldn't pay £200 let alone 2K for a seat on that flying sardine tin . Virgin are charging it cause some desperate people will pay it .

hopefully this strike will be averted . usually the sabre rattling by the union gets a compromise , as strike is more damaging than the thing they are arguing about .

pennylane99

June

itm2 wrote: »

So guess who has a BA flight to Vegas booked on March 27th? (the 2nd of the two BA strike dates announced today). Virgin have predictably hiked their prices to £1874 (return), so BA and Unite are probably going be increasing the cost of my holiday by £1200 (it's a 50th birthday celebration, so there isn't much flexibility on dates).
Does anyone have any ingenious ideas for making the trip without the aid of a mortgage?

Virgin havent hiked the price, checking the loading on March 27th and following few days, the flights are almost full so the cheap fare buckets are gone

ratkarth

ferf1223 wrote: »

Agree with photome - read the T&Cs and don't buy too many - you probably won't use all of them (though when they are 80% off it's hard to resist). Do not do what some do and buy multiple ones thinking you'll use them all at once or different nights during your trip - limit one per party and one per month.

I bought one for Ben & Jerry's - the one I was missing from my stash.

ben+jerrys one only one i used
problem as stated is so many T+C eg not using with set menus etc...can work out not worth using

duchy

March

I fly non direct through choice-not just because I don't like the Virgin older planes/poor seating etc but also because prices are better and I find it healthier to get off half way-get some unprocessed air and stretch my legs. Not to mention clearing immigration before arriving in Vegas so once I'm there -I am out of the airport and on the Strip without standing in line

I'm really looking forward to my flight next week with two stops-2 hours in Atlanta so time to clear customs and immigration and get outside -then an hour's flight to Memphis -another 2 hours on the ground and meeting friends during the layover-one of whom wants to take me for a drive past Graceland -and I'm told it's a law you can't leave Memphis til you've eaten barbeque <yum>-then onto Vegas. It's not a routing I would have chosen (I changed my flight and took what was left for my new date) but it sounds like fun now.

Couple of years ago we were booked onto the STN New York service and on to Vegas but AA stopped flying the route and switched us to Heathrow-this left us with a 5 hour layover in New York -so instead of sitting around for 5 hours-we hopped on a train to Manhattan for lunch -and turned what could have been a bad experience of endless sitting around into a fun part of the trip -it was so much fun we did it again for longer last summer getting to NYC at 9am and leaving at 6pm-had brunch -did the Duck tour and a bit of shopping then back on the train to the airport. There's a lot to be said for non-direct -especially when it's cheaper too

itm2

duchy wrote: »

You still haven't said how long you're going for but based on what you've said so far check out www.aa.com and make sure you scroll down There were FAR cheaper fares on there (£400-500) when I looked earlier this evening.

No particular allegiance to Virgin - pretty much every alternative that I've seen so far has been around the £2k mark (minimum).

It's a 2-part trip. I'm meeting up with the rest of the birthday party from April 2nd-8th. The plan was to spend the week before - March 28th to April 2nd - with family in San Diego, so we have return Vegas-San Diego flights booked with Southwest, departing Vegas on March 28th and back to Vegas April 2nd. We can switch weeks and go to San Diego the following week instead (April 8th-15th), but the Vegas dates aren't flexible and flights to LAS on April 2/3 are not much cheaper. I've just checked the AA site and they have 1-stop flights starting at £1476.

I have a strong preference for direct flights as we go to San Diego a fair amount and the additional leg leaves us completely trashed! Obviously we can't afford to be so choosy under the current circumstances however

gracie10

May

I have always been one to fly direct but after reading some of the above reports esp Duchys it has made me think different a few hours in NY for brunch and shopping sounds fab

ferf1223

April

gracie10 wrote: »

I have always been one to fly direct but after reading some of the above reports esp Duchys it has made me think different a few hours in NY for brunch and shopping sounds fab

I think it does too - unfortunately some people (like me) would be waaaaay too paranoid about issues getting back in time to even try it. I'm not even remotely nervous about flying, but the whole process of the point until we get on the plane causes me so much anxiety as I am always sure there will be hideous delays which will cause us to miss our flight. I would not enjoy a side trip as I would constantly be checking my watch and thinking we should head back.

duchy

March

I would never do that jaunt into NYC by cab btw-we get the train-no traffic jams

Other good cities for doing this -Chicago-station is also built onto the airport and Minneapolis for a jaunt to the Mall of America.

I have yet to miss a flight on one of these side trips -but hey if I did-what's the worst that could happen-I'd get booked onto the next flight

duchy

March

itm2

You're not looking at aa.com right-like I said before scroll down the list
I just hopped on there and found *this*

£670 per person sounds better than 2 K to me


28 March LHR LAX LAS leaves at 10.55 gets to Vegas 17.45

08 April LAS DFW LHR 14.10 arrives 10.45 next day
(you could also do an open jaw on this one and fly back from either SAN or LAX to London for the same money and skip the SW flight back to Vegas altogether. SW will give you credit on that leg usable for a year so you could use it next trip.

If you still can't see these fares PM me and I'll try and work out where you are going wrong

Boa21

January , February

I too am flying indirect, at the end of August. Not sure if anyone has mentioned trying midweek and also leaving the London airport set to London - All when searching?

We fly Delta out of Gatwick on the 25th, to Atlanta. About a four hour layover then onto Vegas.

Return is following Wednesday into Minneapolis, less than two hour layover, then into Heathrow. 4 of us travelling, less than £405 each - which I thought was good for school holiday time, albeit the end of.

I booked with Expedia, but tried Zugu (which was good) and a few other. Only reason I stuck with Expedia is no fee for using a credit card.

Just need to sort-out the hotel now (one of the Harrahs I think, probably Balleys - but no rush yet).

Hope this helps someone:o