Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2015

bobbyhibs

19lottie82 wrote: »

bobbyhibs - unfortunately, that's one of the downfalls of flying to the state (and may other places), the flights are long! and I feel your pain especially as I cant sleep sitting up

you say the inflight entertainment was broken? was it fixed for the flight? almost of all long haul flights should have (working) tvs in the back of the seat with movies, tv shows, music, games etc? (an ipad wouldn't do much more than this)

I paid $370 for an upgrade to premium Econony with BA, back from San Francisco to Heathrow. It was nice, don't get me wrong but I'm not sure if it was worth the money? If you want business class you're talking silly money. TBH I think most people who upgrade do it with frequent flyer points, rather than cash.

hi
and thanx for the detailed feedback and i like you cannot sleep on a plane!!
yes the inflight entertainmenet was fixed but i had a little browse of them and zero of the movies,shows had any appeal to me!!

getting an upgrade or paying for them was something i said to my brother when i got off the plane !!
just was in a middle of 3 and the guy at the window seat well, was a big chap and a yank !!(my brother at the isle seat refused to change with me, even half way through the flight, cheeky sod!!)
I sorta understand the idea of air miles,points but I am not a flequent flyer though, once a year at the moment it seems, though travelling more is on thelist of things to do.

were your seats in like in the 2 seats together(im not sure if there is a word to describe it) type seats?

again thank you for the response, as i said im sorta trying to work things out for next year, better planning early, look at different options(looking to win the lotto first though!!:D was 6 numbers out saturday past )

Ratison

Hi Bobby,

I've been to Vegas twice, first time I flew from Manchester via Philadelphia, then the second time direct from Heathrow.

Pros and cons to both ways I suppose, but like someone else on the thread said in their trip review (can't remember who, sorry), there was absolutely no in-flight entertainment on the Philadelphia - Vegas flights. As it was similar in length as the Manchester - Philadelphia one, it was really dull.

In terms of the seats, this time around my OH and I decided to pay extra to pre-book two seats on a row of two (if that makes sense). So there was no-one next to us for the 10 hour flight. Not very money saving I guess, but totally worth the extra £150 (in total, two people, two flights) in my mind, as there were no worries about disturbing others / being disturbed.

I watched a few films, read a book and slept. Neither flight was too laborious as a result of having lots to do.

Lovetotravel

Has anyone ever gone to Vegas alone? I'm going on my 8th trip on 31 August (6 days)- on my own!

I'm not too nervous about travelling alone as I do it all the time, just wary of going to clubs/bars, etc on my own.

Has anyone else done this??

vegasvisitor

bobbyhibs wrote: »

hi

I hope you sont ming the question hijack,It seems you go to vegas alot,how do you find the flights?do you break the flights up?

Last year my brother and i flew direct from glasgow to vegas and found the flights there and back looooong, you got to half way and are thinking gee another 4 and a half odd hours to go:(

This year we went to new york first,to try break the flight up, but even found the flight from newark to vegas long, i think it was 4 and a bit hours.
getting back home to edinburgh was a treck.we went from vegas to chircargo, chircargo to edinburgh, i found the first part okay just 3 hours.as it was a connection (and myself a bit of a worrier to be fair) i wanted to try get to the gat a bit sharpish, but we were like 10mins behind shedule cos of the journey and we only had an 70mins(now 60mins) we got to the gate in plenty of time, got onto plane on, were meant to leave at 6pm (chircargo time) the flight was delayed 30mins due to the entertainement not working so that delayed us 30mins, but we were told we d make up the time no problem.but it was annoying sitting there waiting, waiting and um waiting!!
sorry for going on and on, but what are everyone to do things on the plane ride to vegas?
Im not very tech savvy but i was told to get one of these video players ipads things i think, but i know notihng bout them, but its a thing to consider.
Do people find upgrades to be better?
do people find spliting up there holiday to be best?
im unsure what other cities i d wanna visit, maybe new york again, maybe miami/florida.
any advice welcomed(sorta looking to work on the 2016 holiday already)

I suppose the answer to your question is that yes I find the flights long too. I haven't flown to the West coast direct from Glasgow. Have only done NY etc from Glasgow, which isn't the same. We did do BA one year Gla-Heathrow-Los Angeles and the bit going to LA was long.

To be honest, I don't know which is best, it's swings and roundabouts. Last time we had 5 or 6 hours at Philadelphia so we left the airport, got the train into town, had a walk around and a slice of pizza then a drink in a bar before getting the train back. We then managed to sleep a bit on the plane. Now, that was one long day, however we did stuff so it was fun. When we arrived at our hotel in San Diego around 9pm or so we even managed to go to the pub beside the hotel for an hour.

We've done Vegas direct from Manchester long time ago. And Acapulco from Manchester with a touchdown in Sanford. Long flights. It's a long day whether you stop or not really. Depends if you're happy to get off the plane and stretch your legs, grab a glass of wine etc.

The other thing that makes the world of difference is service and entertainment. We usually fly US Airways and it's pretty backward! Hopefully this will improve as they become part of AA. The plane out of Glasgow doesn't have individual entertainment. It does however have extra legroom seats that you can book for free when you check in. Nice. And we get points, which got us a free flight in June (even if we had to save points for 6 or 7 years to get them!). US Airways now give you a glass of wine (from a carton but I'm not too fussy), with dinner. Dinner is rubbish though to be honest.

BA is a bit higher level. You'll get some drinks on there I think and seatback entertainment. So can make a difference. We also fly with Emirates when we go in the other direction in Winter. We were very lucky to get an upgrade on the A380 from Dubai to Bangkok this year, it was so amazing. Champagne before take off, the seat goes flat but I was determined I wasn't sleeping. Bar at the front and back of the plane where you could go get a real cocktail in a real glass and stand at the bar One time in my life I didn't want to get off the plane!!

I usually just take some magazines with me, they keep me occupied a couple of hours. Unless it's seatback movies I don't tend to watch them. I sometimes play a wee game of solitaire or mah jong on my tablet. Good idea to download a couple of games before travelling. I sometimes do some organising with my guidebook or whatever I have printed.

I would fly direct with Thomas Cook, now that they go from Glasgow, but they are a bit restrictive as only on certain days. I'm sure it will work out at some point. I'd probably want to make sure I had plenty of luggage pre booked though as I like to shop in the US!

vegasvisitor

Ratison wrote: »

Pros and cons to both ways I suppose, but like someone else on the thread said in their trip review (can't remember who, sorry), there was absolutely no in-flight entertainment on the Philadelphia - Vegas flights. As it was similar in length as the Manchester - Philadelphia one, it was really dull.

Could have been me. We do this route most years, or similarly Philly to Phoenix and San Diego the last couple of times, and none of them have any in flight entertainment! Yes, it's very dull.

vegasvisitor

Lovetotravel wrote: »

Has anyone ever gone to Vegas alone? I'm going on my 8th trip on 31 August (6 days)- on my own!

I'm not too nervous about travelling alone as I do it all the time, just wary of going to clubs/bars, etc on my own.

Has anyone else done this??

No, I haven't done this but I think Vegas would be the best place to go on your own, provided you are staying somewhere on the strip or with a shuttle so you get back to your room safely. I wouldn't want to be walking off strip in the dark alone.

You mention clubs/bars, which isn't something I would tend to do on my own either. Perhaps if you play slots and have drinks there if you don't want to sit in a bar alone? That one maybe depends if you're male of female, I think guys would usually quite happily go to a bar themselves, whereas women would often think twice about it. If you feel comfortable though why not.

doodle_bug

I chatted to a woman in the passport queue and helped her fill in the green declaration form so know she was 86. She was on her own, I asked her nearly everything that you would go to Vegas for and she said no, I thought she must be there for some other services you could get for a price, I couldn't ask her that.

duchy

Maybe she was LDS - There's a Mormon temple in Vegas believe it or not

I usually take the ipad and stock up on free books before I fly- watch a couple of movies or TV series (Sky go extra you can download anything on your package to watch off line on the plane) and doze. Unless I hit lucky I never sleep.
Bobby- next time get aisle seats for you both -across the aisle from each other so no-one gets stuck in the middle seat.

Latest ex Euro deal travelling late August out and back to CA is currently £263 return -seems rude not to go !

bobbyhibs

Ratison wrote: »

Hi Bobby,

I've been to Vegas twice, first time I flew from Manchester via Philadelphia, then the second time direct from Heathrow.

In terms of the seats, this time around my OH and I decided to pay extra to pre-book two seats on a row of two (if that makes sense). So there was no-one next to us for the 10 hour flight. Not very money saving I guess, but totally worth the extra £150 (in total, two people, two flights) in my mind, as there were no worries about disturbing others / being disturbed.

I watched a few films, read a book and slept. Neither flight was too laborious as a result of having lots to do.

Ok thanx alot for your feedback !!

No entertaiment happened to us last year when we got our flight vegas-glasgow and it was as dull!!
Its one of the things i can never do it seems is sleep on a plane !!
For next year we are hoping to try get 2 seats in a 2 row sorta thing like you have surggested,glad you felt it was worth it,Just as long as they d be a few more "s legroom that would be good !!.are there many airlines whom do 2 seats on a row sorta thing?

duchy thanks for the advice.i should have thought of that, but of course i didn't., typically me !!!

Lesley74, thank you very much for your detailed feedback, i assume a fellow scot?
Thomas cook was what we did last year since it was direct to vegas and back, just a 45min car journey there and back from the house.
last couple of years i have taken 4-5 books with me and my ipod, which has helped but when i finished one of the books i was like are we there yet? no-another 7hours to go?(a few swear words here sorry:D)
I am looking at a few different options for next year, a bit daft as i ve only been back a week !!
thanx again to everyone whom has given me advice:T

duchy

How about somewhere like Miami with Vegas next year Bobby ? Breaks the journey up a bit and a nice contrast-and lots of beach bars for your brother