American Airlines, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic big worldwide flight sales

Former_MSE_Natasha

Tuesday 31 August 2010

[title=http://images2.moneysavingexpert.com/images/dp/wtd_underline.gif] What's this about?[/title]
American Airlines, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have launched huge flight sales with an abundance of seats to the US for c.£50-£100 less than the cheapest fares on sale a week or two ago. Departures are mainly from London Heathrow, but some deals do include Gatwick, Manchester and others. Book by 15 Sept for travel until June 2011.

Return journeys to New York start from £331, Boston £361, Miami £396, plus many, many others, including most taxes & charges. And availability is enormous.

Sale prices are similar across all carriers, as they're desperate to compete against each other for business, but hunt them down the right way and you'll find which airline is offering the journey at the very cheapest price.

[title=http://images2.moneysavingexpert.com/images/dp/wtd_underline.gif] But don't search 'em direct...
[/title]
The dates you can travel vary according to airline and destination, but most are available between 7 September and 29 June, with some exclusions over the Christmas, New Year's and Easter periods. For all carriers you have until Tuesday 14 September to book - subject to availability.

• Got a specific date & location in mind?
  
  If you fancy going away to a certain destination on specific dates, don't bother looking at the sales direct, as the results are included in the cheap flight screenscrapers Kayak* and Travelsupermarket* and Skyscanner*.
  
  So use those and it'll show you the sales costs and also the cheapest general cost, so you can see if it's worth it. See Cheap Flights guide for more info.
  
  

• Just browsing for a bargain?
  
  In this case, it's worth looking at the specific sales at the American Airlines, British Airways* and Virgin Atlantic* websites details yourself for available dates and destinations, and seeing if it's worth planning your getaway around them, especially as the latter two have offers worldwide. Then compare them to the best of the screenscrapers above.
  
  

IF YOU SPOT A GOOD DEAL PLEASE CLICK REPLY AND LET OTHER MONEYSAVERS KNOW

Remember, for safety, pay on a credit card to get extra protection, though you may be charged a booking fee between £5 and £10 for doing so. See the Section 75 guide for full info. And of course remember the British Airways strike issue is ongoing - but no one can predict what will happen there.

[title=http://images2.moneysavingexpert.com/images/dp/wtd_underline.gif] £331 return to New York: doesn't sound THAT cheap, does it?[/title]
Some will remember the £160 London to New York returns with Delta in September '06. However fuel costs have rocketed since then, plus taxes and charges, and airlines are scrambling to claw back lost cash during the volcanic ash saga. So currently anything under £350 is very good and under £300 is practically impossible.

The typical cost to New York now stands at around £400 return across the board. So as you can nab 'em for around £330 right now, it's a comfortable saving if you planned to book anyway, especially as taxes alone cost in excess of £200.

Yet the real advantage here is that there is good range of availability for an incredibly large range of dates.

[title=http://images2.moneysavingexpert.com/images/dp/wtd_underline.gif] What if weather issues ground my flight?[/title]
According to the EU Denied Boarding Regulations, if a flight is cancelled, for example, because of severe weather conditions, if the carrier is EU based OR if the flight in question is departing an EU country, the airline has a responsibility to cover reasonable accommodation and food costs until it is able to get you on a flight.

So American Airlines isn't obliged under these regulations to help customers if its flights in the States are cancelled due to circumstances out of its control - whereas BA and Virgin Atlantic must stick to the EU regulations wherever it's flying from. Though some airlines without obligation have shown compassion and helped customers, others have kept a harsh stance, which may be worth bearing in mind. Ensure you check what your travel insurance covers before booking.

For more detailed information see the ABTA website.

[title=http://images2.moneysavingexpert.com/images/dp/wtd_underline.gif] More Travel MoneySaving[/title]

• Cheap Travel Insurance
• Cheap Hotels
• Travel Money Maximiser
• How To Get A Flight Upgrade

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* Using these links helps the site stay ad-free and free to use, as they’re ‘affiliated links’ which invisibly take you via price comparison services like Moneysupermarket or affiliate sites, this then means if you end up getting a product this site gets revenue

You shouldn’t notice any difference, the links don’t impact the product at all and the editorial line (the things we write) is NEVER impacted by the revenue. If it isn’t possible to get an affiliate link for the best product, its still listed in the same way. The following links British Airways, Kayak, Travelsupermarket, Skyscanner, Virgin Atlantic are identical unaffiliated links provided for the sake of transparency. Click on the following link for more details on how this site's financed.

kieron

I wish I had waited
I bought my ticket from london to LAX £499 return and now I see the price is down to as low as £430 boo hooo so much to folk telling me that the prices go up the closer to the departure date
You just cant win

One interesting point
Virgin do not sell their tickets for any less from any other folks web sites and that is a fact.
But you can save another £20 by going through a cash back site
Good luck all

zoe_gee1986

Student Travel Agent (STA) is a fantastic website for not just students but anyone under the age of 26. I booked through them when I went traveling last year around Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Thailand for a fantastic price, and they have travel agencies dotted around the UK and internationally with really nice agents as well as the website. Yesterday I booked a one way flight to Miami on 20th September 2010 for £290 via STA, to book directly via Virgin Atlantic the same flight would have cost me £731 (this is also the price quoted on the travelsupermarket.com flight comparison website). There were cheaper options if I didnt mind changes as well which would have saved me over £100.

So if your under 26 definitly check out STA when booking flights

Zo

blackrat62

Searching for price to Auckland in February - getting prices £150-£200 more than last week - doh!

marko1969

Kieron

I beg to differ. I got a refund from Virgin for flights I purchased from netflights.com £50 cheaper on their won't be beaten price promise.

:T

leew

kieron wrote: »

I wish I had waited
I bought my ticket from london to LAX £499 return and now I see the price is down to as low as £430 boo hooo so much to folk telling me that the prices go up the closer to the departure date
You just cant win

One interesting point
Virgin do not sell their tickets for any less from any other folks web sites and that is a fact.
But you can save another £20 by going through a cash back site
Good luck all

I've seen certain sites undercutting Virgin.

marko1969 wrote: »

Kieron

I beg to differ. I got a refund from Virgin for flights I purchased from netflights.com £50 cheaper on their won't be beaten price promise.

:T

I agree with marko, seen flights cheaper with other websites and that's flying with Virgin! not sure how though but it's true.

rubypeko

i booked return flight for mid Nov earlier this year when Lastminute.com was giving out £20.10 for each transaction (over certain cost of your flight/holiday). Return to New jersey (new york, really) only costed me £290 after the discount! loving it!

cazzie1_2

netflight is doing a deal to new york from £268return.
i bought my flights at the end of july for £230 inc tax return.