Flight to USA-Book now or last minute?
Discussion
I've seen some daft prices last minute (as in hours before) at the airport, my friend got Oslo to Phuket return for 200 quid, and I saw a woman today get Oslo to Prague Business return 1 hour before for 100 quid. I had nothing but full flights just after New Year, but everything is empty in Europe now. Trans-Atlantic seems to be a different story, I've seen Continental OSL-EWR oversold in cattle for a week solid and people checking in with BA OSL-LHR-Various US getting standby boarding cards for the second leg.
If I had kids involved I wouldn't risk last minute, if it comes to involantary offloads then the folk who've paid less are off first.
A word of warning, I've had on a weekly basis people flying long haul with '.com last minute' companies. They pay the third party for the ticket 48 hours before, but the third party doesn't get the monies to the airline itself in time. Result is customer paying for an actual ticket with the airline.
If I had kids involved I wouldn't risk last minute, if it comes to involantary offloads then the folk who've paid less are off first.
A word of warning, I've had on a weekly basis people flying long haul with '.com last minute' companies. They pay the third party for the ticket 48 hours before, but the third party doesn't get the monies to the airline itself in time. Result is customer paying for an actual ticket with the airline.
Its a significant time factor in going from the S.E. to Manchester its quite a drive & if traffic is bad it can easily turn into a 5hr one way trip when it should be 3-3.5hrs.
I'd much rather have the least travel time from home to airport (lucky for me as T5 Heathrow is the closest & IMHO the best & what I will be using from now on) some time to enjoy the start of the holiday in the departure lounge or if club class enjoy the exclusive lounge (never done it but have friends who have and rate it very highly).
I'd much rather have the least travel time from home to airport (lucky for me as T5 Heathrow is the closest & IMHO the best & what I will be using from now on) some time to enjoy the start of the holiday in the departure lounge or if club class enjoy the exclusive lounge (never done it but have friends who have and rate it very highly).
Little tip you guys may or may not know about- in the spirit of forum goodwill i will reveal it 
Virgin do a thing called twilight check in. This enables you to arrive the day before -only suitable for those who live close are going to stay overnight anyway.
It starts at 12pm the day before iirc and when you arrive you can pick your seat. For £50 (to the usa at least) you can get the emergency exit seats which unless your really fat and need the extra widtch are perfect
if your polite and arrive literally first you will get them.
I even got them on the way home too, just by being polite i believe to a virgin lady, i asked if any were left after chatting for a few minutes, she went off and ten minutes later came back and said yes, she pulled us out the 'line' and took us straight to the upper class bit, paid me £50 got me seat and went and sat outside the airport in the sun for a couple of hours which beat standing in the 'line'
sorry if i,m stating the obvious but it seems not many know about this.
Virgin do a thing called twilight check in. This enables you to arrive the day before -only suitable for those who live close are going to stay overnight anyway.
It starts at 12pm the day before iirc and when you arrive you can pick your seat. For £50 (to the usa at least) you can get the emergency exit seats which unless your really fat and need the extra widtch are perfect
if your polite and arrive literally first you will get them.I even got them on the way home too, just by being polite i believe to a virgin lady, i asked if any were left after chatting for a few minutes, she went off and ten minutes later came back and said yes, she pulled us out the 'line' and took us straight to the upper class bit, paid me £50 got me seat and went and sat outside the airport in the sun for a couple of hours which beat standing in the 'line'
sorry if i,m stating the obvious but it seems not many know about this.
Welshbeef said:
Quite - also just booked 2 adults rtn to New York £239 each (but might be upgrading to premium economy for £200 each extra.... hmmm 7hrs is it worth it?? I might manage one way premium one economy will see).
If you are going to do it just the one way, I'd do it going eastboaund, this way you can sleep in some semblance of comfort.Battenburg Bob said:
I'm going to Atlanta (and want a direct flight) so that's Virgin out. What other airlines fly direct from the UK.
Delta, BA and United (I think) all fly direct to Atlanta from the UK. IMHO, BA are the best airline of the three and Delta are the worst.Have fun traversing Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport, the only airport I've been to where you have to collect your luggage twice after you land
branflakes said:
Battenburg Bob said:
I'm going to Atlanta (and want a direct flight) so that's Virgin out. What other airlines fly direct from the UK.
Delta, BA and United (I think) all fly direct to Atlanta from the UK. IMHO, BA are the best airline of the three and Delta are the worst.Have fun traversing Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport, the only airport I've been to where you have to collect your luggage twice after you land
I'm flying to Atlanta again in March with Delta. First time it'll be direct from Gatwick so that should make life easier. Used to have to go either though Detroit, which wasn't too bad or Amsterdam, which is a nightmare for transfers!
Captain Cadillac said:
Welshbeef said:
Quite - also just booked 2 adults rtn to New York £239 each (but might be upgrading to premium economy for £200 each extra.... hmmm 7hrs is it worth it?? I might manage one way premium one economy will see).
If you are going to do it just the one way, I'd do it going eastboaund, this way you can sleep in some semblance of comfort.Couldn't believe my luck
ExChrispy Porker said:
Captain Cadillac said:
Welshbeef said:
Quite - also just booked 2 adults rtn to New York £239 each (but might be upgrading to premium economy for £200 each extra.... hmmm 7hrs is it worth it?? I might manage one way premium one economy will see).
If you are going to do it just the one way, I'd do it going eastboaund, this way you can sleep in some semblance of comfort.Couldn't believe my luck
Mojocvh said:
ExChrispy Porker said:
Captain Cadillac said:
Welshbeef said:
Quite - also just booked 2 adults rtn to New York £239 each (but might be upgrading to premium economy for £200 each extra.... hmmm 7hrs is it worth it?? I might manage one way premium one economy will see).
If you are going to do it just the one way, I'd do it going eastboaund, this way you can sleep in some semblance of comfort.Couldn't believe my luck
Ravell said:
Mojocvh said:
ExChrispy Porker said:
Captain Cadillac said:
Welshbeef said:
Quite - also just booked 2 adults rtn to New York £239 each (but might be upgrading to premium economy for £200 each extra.... hmmm 7hrs is it worth it?? I might manage one way premium one economy will see).
If you are going to do it just the one way, I'd do it going eastboaund, this way you can sleep in some semblance of comfort.Couldn't believe my luck
I checked in online, went to the desk to drop the luggage off, and on each occasion the clerk said that they were giving us better seats. On the boarding passes it mentioned overbooking as the reason, what ever that means. Still it would have cost us about £11000 if we had paid, so I am not complaining
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