Las Vegas 2007 bargain hunt + tips

trets77

yes you can deselcted it but the actual price does not go down.

seems they make their money on this by the extras. surprise surprise it's DOLLAR car hire who Virgin use , looks very cheap on surface but you must take out add on's which are expensive, and you have to take their crap insurance too. Virgin used have a nasty piece of small print that read like this

"Dollar does not regonize any car hire insurance except the one it sell itself". so they have you in corner , and can charge what they want for a bad insurance product. if the Flight price is good for you , look into elsewhere if you require a car

3rd June for 7 days comes out at £350 after discount and removing meals ect but deselecting the car hire makes no futher savings

even if you have car hire and don,t show up to collect , what can they do ???? stop you flying back when you have a ticket in your hand.....i very very much doubt it !

ferf1223

trets77 wrote: »

i believe AA have at least 2 " MIN extra pitch.

They used to...unfortunately, a couple of years ago they added back in those rows they made a big fuss out of removing several years ago...pretty sure that they're 32" now - same as Virgin...which is unfortunate as that was one of the great things about flying AA (we use them to fly to Chicago to see family)...I loved getting to those seats with the masses of extra leg room...shame that they went back to the old way.

ferf1223

Trets - that surprises me about Dollar...are you talking about the dollar.co.uk site and not dollar.com? Because dollar.com is one of the only US car rental companies that does not automatically require you to take the insurance waivers if you do not have a US licence. I know because my US licence expired several years ago and I hunted high and low for a good deal once I got my UK licence. I don't take the insurance waivers with dollar.com as I have insurance elsewhere and have never had a problem - dollar.com has never required me to take their insurance waivers.

May be worth looking into as they're always way cheaper than the UK sites for US car rentals if you have insurance coverage elsewhere.

trets77

Not sure about using Dollar as completly seperate company to your flights ect or if you have US liscense ect

but it is definatly the case if you book a Virgin fly drive that the prices do not include LDW ( or taxes) for your Dollar car hire.

this is Florida but it is the same for all USA with Virgin

http://www.virginholidays.co.uk/brochures/florida/info/flydrive/costs/additional_costs.aspx

you can drive off without it but i personally could not take the risk

$22-$26 a day on say a 14 night fly drive =$290 say so roughly £150

you can get a far better policy from https://www.insurance4carhire.com for £99 even though it comes with this Warning on Fly drives ( Dollar and Alamo are the companys it consisders problems)

http://www.insurance4carhire.com/index.asp?curID=1&langID=1&refID=100&pID=79&q=31#31. in this link the site kind of contradicts itself by saying first that it is not reccomended it,s USA insurance policy for fly drives and then says it will probably (HA) be okay. your going to be the loser if that probably does not work out i,m afraid

My Travel is pretty much the same deal
https://secure.mytravel.co.uk/AniteNextPage.asp?p=ATOPCARINSURANCE&xml=TOUROPERATORID%205&s=480662317

Basically it adds up to take Dollars insurance if you want the car hire in fly drive package ....or drive pretty much uninsured and we will keep your credit card with a gun to it's Head for the full retail cost of the car....GULP :eek: :eek:

Personally i think this is very sneaky as booking a Package through Travelbag for example you get all your insurance and taxes included in up front price which works out same or cheaper! than Virgin without insurance from my searching. all you need to pay for is some fuel when you arrive. i Know cause i,ve booked through Travelbag for New england fly drive and car hire is with Alamo . Booking clearly states that LDW/CDW ect is included ( although i suppose Virgin and My travel would argue that it cleary states on their booking that it isn,t !!)

I think it is done by virgin ect ...so that you either don,t know about it till A) you get there and are put on the spot or they get almost to the end of your booking with a Agent say and they leave it till last to bring it up by which time your so close to actually booking that you hopefully swallow it.

A travel Agent told me that this was well known about and was how Virgin made a good chunk of their profit on selling fly drives

while we are on the subject of car hire i shall re post this again
http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/your_say/article713476.ece?token=null&offset=0





a bit off the Vegas track all that folks !!! apoligies but might help somebody somewhere i hope

ferf1223

Ah - I think I see what you're saying...what car rental companies and that insurance4carhire link sell are waivers - not insurance itself...so if the car is damaged they waive the right to charge you for it (or to have you deal with it under your own insurance)...so what Dollar says is that they don't recognize waivers sold by other companies...if someone has actual insurance elsewhere that will cover the damage, then that should still be an option for them without any requirement to take the Dollar waivers...though I do know that a lot of people in the UK will buy it for the peace of mind which I can understand...I don't because I have a US credit card with rental car insurance plus a travel insurance policy with car hire coverage and grew up driving in the US so it's not so scary for me.

And you're saying that some packages include the LDW, etc...but Virgin Holidays doesn't. Interesting...certainly something for people to look out for if they're considering a package deal with car hire for Vegas because I totally agree that that can really add up!

And we brought that back around to the topic at hand.

trets77

HARRAHS offer via e mail - from $59 per night... June, July and August

https://www.harrahs.com/AvailabilityCalendar.do?propCode=LAS&showHotDeal=Y&startingMonth=2007-06-01&source=SDM0000034084

Excellent location !! :beer:

trets77

PARIS offer also by e-mail from $99

https://www.harrahs.com/MakeReservation.do?propCode=PLV&packageCode=IPIN7&source=SDM0000032600

Kerry39

Hi,
Could anyone tell me when Nov 2008 flights will begin to show on virgin etc? Also is 4 days to short to enjoy vegas?
And finally please could anyone point mein the right direction at getting good accom in Nov 2008?

Thank you ever so much

Kerry 39.x

Kezza25_2

it's something like 336 days prior to departure, virgin atlantic.com will tell you.

4 days is a good amount of time - you could always do more.

Try reading this thread for accomodation tips - fat wallet etc

fairybird

Hi

I'm not well travelled at all and i'm embarking on an adventure this november to Vegas with around 10 others. Has anyone any tips on "group booking" we'd all like to fly Virgin and stay at the MGM, a couple have been before and we've gone and agreed we'd try it this way. are there any sites that we could benefit from?


Ali