Many people on the Hotline have indicated how much they likd to fly Virgin Atlantic. We are going to England in August, and I thought it would be good to fly them. However, in checking, it appeared at the time to be very expensive. I ended up getting United tickets at a very good price. Is Virgin Atlantic always so expensive (about $2300 a ticket)?
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9371 posts
The price, of course, depends on where you fly from and to, the time of year, the route, etc. I wouldn't say it is "always so expensive", though I have only flown them from Chicago to London on a promotional fare when they first started that route. August would be peak time for air travel, and you are several months out from your travel dates. I would just start watching the fares for awhile and see how they are running. Then you will be in a position to recognize a good deal when you see one.
Posted by
West Coast
138 posts
That's interesting. I bought my July LAX-London tickets on Air New Zealand in mid-January for about $1350. At that time it was the lowest fare for a non-stop and I'd been watching fares in the $1400 to 1500 range for a good month at least. About two weeks ago Virgin dropped to $1250, and has now crept up to about $1350. Also non-stop, for the same dates. I of course kicked myself when I saw the $1250 fare. Wish I'd stop looking! (I use Kayak, then check the airline websites. I've also noticed that Kayak sometimes shows one price, but when you click through from their site to the airline, it's cheaper than Kayak listed.) By the way, if you can upgrade to Economy Plus on United, it's well worth it, especially if you have an overnight flight to London. Have fun!
Posted by
OP
Santa Rosa, CA, USA
1446 posts
Thanks, Andrea. Yes, we did upgrade to Economy Plus. It didn't used to bother me to fly Coach but I can no longer, so this does help.
Posted by
Tempe, AZ, USA
1266 posts
Sharon - I booked a dummy flight on VA for Aug 9 - 26 and was shown a economy fare of $1455. The Premium Economy fare was $2623. Were you looking for a economy or premium economy fare ?
Posted by
OP
Santa Rosa, CA, USA
1446 posts
I was looking for economy, but it sounds as if I did something wrong. I do want to fly Virgin at some point - we always fly United because we get miles. I was able to get round trip tickets to London on United for August for $610 - pretty good! So, I went with it.
Posted by
West Coast
138 posts
Sharon -- I wish you hadn't shared that $610 fare. ;-)
Have a great trip anyway!
Posted by
Virginia, USA
5850 posts
Sharon, if it makes you feel better, I flew Virgin Atlantic once and did not think they were anything special. To be fair, it was over the holidays and the flight was absolutely packed and I find most the airlines seem to be at their low point during this time. I fly United the majority of the time and have never had any problems. And $610 is a great price.