The Las Vegas Thread and MSE guide

sew109

November/December

ruthy14 wrote: »

Starting to look at hotels in more detail now, as I am hoping to see some deals starting to appear shortly.
One important factor is that we enjoy fresh air in our hotel room, as opposed to air-conditioning, so we would require rooms with opening windows.
I have checked on trip advisor and the only hotels mentioned there were-
Mirage, Imperial Palace and Excalibur.
Can anybody confirm this fact and/or add to this list ?


hello we had a widescreen view room last april in the excalibur and yes the windows did open but only a little.

Our windows did not open at Mirage, whilst teh windows do not open at Wynn there is a vent accross the top that allows fresh air to come in. Whilst you may get oustide air in at IP it wont be fresh !

ferf1223

March

nzamcdza wrote: »

Decided i will fly out in 6th November and return on 16th. So far the only direct flights that wont cost a couple of grand are the virgin ones but with all the bad reviews on here i dont like the sound of those.

The direct flight can outweigh the other issues with Virgin...the planes are old, poorly configured and not terribly comfortable. But the flight is direct...if that is of the utmost importance to you then at least you will have managed your expectations for the flight itself and maybe it will be better than you expected. We complained about Virgin after our trip in June and already had another trip booked with them for October...said we'd review options after that...but a few weeks later we booked with Virgin again for April next year. So at least for us, while we recognize their negative points, the direct flight is enough of a positive for us to stick with them.

Froggitt

Changing planes/terminals etc at midnight in Chicago or New York after just a couple of hours sleep isnt that much fun.

Aidenr

November/December

Landed yesterday afternoon into Vegas and the flight went smoothly and without any drama's of entertainment, catering issues etc.

I know I work for them and its easy to say, but I have never had any issues with the flight.
I know that we fly on the old configured 747's and that lets us down when you can fly via New York on a younger and newly configured aircraft, but the capacity is so much less. Virgin do have plans to update these aircrafts as soon as possible though.

I know I am going to be battered, but if there was something specific about the crew or services that can be changed, I think it would help. I love working Vegas flights and personally I try and make everyones trip a good one.

A

ferf1223

March

Aidenr wrote: »

I know I am going to be battered, but if there was something specific about the crew or services that can be changed, I think it would help. I love working Vegas flights and personally I try and make everyones trip a good one.

Personally, I have never had a single issue with the crew - they've always been very nice and accomodating and deal with a lot of crap when some of the frequent issues come up (alcohol service being stopped, IFE not working).

If I could have one thing changed it would be NOT to have the controls for the IFE screwed into the armrests. I know I could stand to lose a fair few pounds and the relative width of my bum makes this issue worse for me, but even the skinny folks on the plane have to contort themselves to change channels, etc. That would make a bit of a difference, I think.

Froggitt

Aidenr wrote: »

I know I work for them and its easy to say, but I have never had any issues with the flight.
I know that we fly on the old configured 747's and that lets us down when you can fly via New York on a younger and newly configured aircraft, but the capacity is so much less. Virgin do have plans to update these aircrafts as soon as possible though.

I know I am going to be battered, but if there was something specific about the crew or services that can be changed, I think it would help. I love working Vegas flights and personally I try and make everyones trip a good one.

A

Fantastic that youre putting your head above the parapet......well done.

Now.....those complimentary upgrades to the comfy seats......how do they work

WestHamDaz

I believe that Virgin are going to be upgrading their 747's from Gatwick with new interiors withing the new 12 months.

Hope that is true and that by June next year they have and I can then travel without any fears of inferior service/quality.

Ive got flights on virgin to Shanghai, Tokyo and Miami in the next 6 months (all upper class) so it will be a good yardstick to measure the service on these compared to that offered for their Vegas route.

nzamcdza

November/December

Thanks folks,

after the responses I think ill just go with virgin. They are about £550 so about £300 cheaper than the direct BMI flights. So unless the BMI Flights are worth an extra £300 each? (Which i doubt)

When i flew with Virgin in January to Florida the plane was only about 1/4 full. We could sit where ever we wanted and so leg room wasnt a problem.

So my questions are;

How full are the flights around November? Im leaving on a thursday and back on a Sunday.

Any chance of a cheeky upgrade on the day?

Can I book my seats in advance? Would love emergency exit or end of section seats as im quite tall and would like as much leg room as possible.

trets77

April

Aidenr wrote: »

Landed yesterday afternoon into Vegas and the flight went smoothly and without any drama's of entertainment, catering issues etc.

I know I work for them and its easy to say, but I have never had any issues with the flight.
I know that we fly on the old configured 747's and that lets us down when you can fly via New York on a younger and newly configured aircraft, but the capacity is so much less. Virgin do have plans to update these aircrafts as soon as possible though.

I know I am going to be battered, but if there was something specific about the crew or services that can be changed, I think it would help. I love working Vegas flights and personally I try and make everyones trip a good one.

A

Welcome to thread :hello: . and thanks for posting , your certainly not going to get a battering from me :grouphug:

I do feel you guys are given the short end of the stick with thoose 747's , because people like me know your comnpany can do so much better , and know what a bad product they are being sold on LV route.

Although i have issues with some virgin cabin crew being rude , most are very nice and polite which cannot be easy on that flight. however i doubt the issues i have had would have come up if i was a comfortable plane.

My main issue is the Planes which only the owner of Virgin can do anything about. while Virgin keep using thoose planes , i will not fly with Virgin to LV , it's as simple as that. change the planes and i will happily fly with you guys again.

the other things i have had issues with ( the very long waits at McCarren to check in for example) just make the whole experiance a big negative . and it just really get's me wound up when the IFE does not work but the insulting pre flight video message from Mr Branson always does. Virgin are not getting it "about right" on Las Vegas" flight , i think they could see that if they looked at the feedback on this thread.

I'm glad to hear improvements are in the pipe line though.

so any top Money saving tips from what must be a very regular vegas visitor ???? :beer: :A

ferf1223

March

nzamcdza wrote: »

So my questions are;

How full are the flights around November? Im leaving on a thursday and back on a Sunday.

Any chance of a cheeky upgrade on the day?

Can I book my seats in advance? Would love emergency exit or end of section seats as im quite tall and would like as much leg room as possible.

Almost every LGW to LAS flight we have been on has been full. Once we had a spare seat next to us and it was the only empty seat on the plane. Whether the current economic situation will mean that less people are flying or not I don't know.

People have said that there are normally upgrades available to Premium Economy at check-in if you get there early enough both on the way out and the way back. I can't remember the price by I think they are normally £150-£200 each way. If by cheeky you mean free I'm going to doubt it.

You can make seat reservations in advance, but you cannot book exit row seats in advance (they need to see you at check in to be sure you can do what exit row people would need to do in an emergency) - usually Virgin sells the exit row seats at check-in. On the way back from LAS the exit row was $110 per seat in June - If you are tall, do not take the window seats in the exit row as you will not be able to stretch out both of your legs (lesson learned from last trip)