The Las Vegas Thread and MSE guide

tingtong

nvh wrote: »

it seems you are sorted but thought i'd mention that the Xanterra online booking system is a bit naff, and they seem to have more availability if you phone up...

when i last tried, every single night was booked up @ Bright Angel for about 3 months, but phoned and they had some rooms with rim-view available for exactly the night we wanted...

I can also vouch for this. We stayed at El Tovar last year, online showed no availability but I phoned them up and bingo, rooms available !

nvh

May

thought this deserved its own seperate 'post' - just a reminder the online claim form is now available if you got diddled by BA and Virgin for fuel charges between 08/2004 and 03/2006 - more info here:
https://www.airpassengerrefund.co.uk

if you're amember of the frequent flyer clubs, you can just put in your membership number and a couple of other details

tingtong

VickyHurn wrote: »

Long Shot Here

Anyone going out to Las Vegas on July 22nd From Manchester on BMI

If anyone is we can guest 2 people into the BMI Lounge before the flight (Free Drinks and sncks plus a nice place to wait away from the crowds)

If its any use to anyone let me know and I will arrange with you.

Any chance you can make it 29th July instead ?? Ah well, only 2 weeks to go !

c_l_a_i_r_e

November/December

nvh wrote: »

I know some people have made up their mind about Virgin (Trets ), but nice to see they appear to be making some changes:


ok, not brilliant news and there's still plenty to complain about but it's something i guess

(assuming it's a 747 that goes to Vegas i'm not very into the old plane types i'm afraid... think it is though )

I think i read on v-flyer that the rows of two at the plane are among those that will attract this extra charge, bad news for those of us that try and bag these seats early on to try and make the flight more bearable:mad: Anyone who has already selected their seats on upcoming flights should log in and check they still have them- lots of disgruntled peeps on the florida forum who had their seats reallocated (not sure if its happened on the vegas route yet).

Baz_2

trets77 wrote: »

doable sure , but i would still have recommended a single ticket/ref booking , but never mind.

we queued for a hour at LAX immigration , and the officer who did our entry admitted there was often a 2 hour wait at busy times , so leave a bit of time for the outward connection .

Seriously the LHR - LAX tickets were £325 for both of us. Its worth a little pain.

sew109

November/December

Baz wrote: »

Seriously the LHR - LAX tickets were £325 for both of us. Its worth a little pain.

Blimey for that I would walk to Vegas

franklally

nvh wrote: »

it seems you are sorted but thought i'd mention that the Xanterra online booking system is a bit naff, and they seem to have more availability if you phone up...

Yes I agree - they have far more availability if you call them:T

nvh

May

c_l_a_i_r_e wrote: »

I think i read on v-flyer that the rows of two at the plane are among those that will attract this extra charge, bad news for those of us that try and bag these seats early on to try and make the flight more bearable:mad: Anyone who has already selected their seats on upcoming flights should log in and check they still have them- lots of disgruntled peeps on the florida forum who had their seats reallocated (not sure if its happened on the vegas route yet).

oh crikey - that's awful... oh well, that would be the final nail in the coffin for me and i'd look elsewhere if they start to charge for them

(also , they goosed me last time anyways and i ended up not getting my allocated seats there anyways).... may start looking at the manchester direct option

c_l_a_i_r_e

November/December

nvh wrote: »

oh crikey - that's awful... oh well, that would be the final nail in the coffin for me and i'd look elsewhere if they start to charge for them

(also , they goosed me last time anyways and i ended up not getting my allocated seats there anyways).... may start looking at the manchester direct option

I'm not 100% sure if it will be the same on the vegas route but i'm not holding my breath. TBH the rows of two were the only thing that made the virgin flight appealing, and i'd not be best pleased to have to pay for it. The only thing that would make me fly with them again is if i get a good sale fare- i'm looking at going in december and they want £560 (or £460 M&M) which i can't bring myself to pay so i may just have to look elsewhere. Its such a shame how the standard on virgin has deteriorated, as i have fond memories of my first flight with them and used to think they were worth paying the extra money for.

bafty_crastard

ferf1223 wrote: »

Questions for those who have done the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and stayed at one of the lodges at the rim -

Did you park your car when you arrived and take the shuttle buses around? were you happy with that way of getting around? This is what we're planning to do I think but...

or did you drive around instead? Did that work better?

I'm just trying to prepare myself for what to expect. I've read over and over that parking for each of the lodges is limited and many complained that they had to park a way away and walk - but I'm prepared for that and that's fine (if I weren't prepared, it would have made me cranky - I do not deal well with the unknown).

Also - after dark, is there much to do/see? I really have no idea what to expect and sunset is about 5:45pm the night we're there - I assume that once the sun goes down the canyon itself is not really visible but maybe I'm wrong - trying to figure out if we should plan to find a way to amuse ourselves or if there's plenty to do...I've read that the restaurants get crowded and so going early is best.

If this is too OT please feel free to PM me and I appreciate any guidance!

I know this question is a week old but we just got back from vegas yesterday
We went to the grand canyon on our way to vegas(flew into san francisco and visited yosemite, death valley, monument valley and grand canyon before getting to vegas) We stayed at the thunderbird lodge which is next door to bright angel lodge. We parked around 1 pm right outside our lodge. We figured everyone leaving would have checked out by then and people arriving may not have arrived yet as check in isn't till 4 pm. I don't know if that works every day but it certainly worked for us. We then used the shuttle buses to get around.
Sunset was awesome. The colours of the canyon really changed. Being July sunset wasn't till 8-40pm so we ate before going to see it. At night you can't see the canyon but can still walk the paths if you want. There wasn't much to do at night other than visiting the bar.