View Full Version : Flights
Hi
This is my first posting. I am planning my first non tour agent arranged trip from UK to orlando ie booking villa, car and flight myself. We are a family of 6 (4 adults and 2 children). I have been looking at villas and there are loads of really good ones from what I have seen. The bit that I am not so confident with is flights. A work colleague of mine says I should wait until last minute and get bargain tickets which are often £200 - £300. It seems a bit of a gamble in terms of being able to travel on day required to make most of villa.
Any advice would be welcome.
regards
Peter
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Rodney
Hi
This is my first posting. I am planning my first non tour agent arranged trip from UK to orlando ie booking villa, car and flight myself. We are a family of 6 (4 adults and 2 children). I have been looking at villas and there are loads of really good ones from what I have seen. The bit that I am not so confident with is flights. A work colleague of mine says I should wait until last minute and get bargain tickets which are often £200 - £300. It seems a bit of a gamble in terms of being able to travel on day required to make most of villa.
Any advice would be welcome.
regards
Peter
[/quote]
If you want to fly peak season I would not wait, I have actualy booked my flights for July/August 2005 already.
Lucy
andrewmckay5
30-08-2004, 21:58
Rodney,
get your flights as soon as possible. See the thread on flights and the excellent comments on the link above.
andrew
Robert5988
30-08-2004, 22:07
It depends what time of the year you wish to go, how long for, and if by scheduled or Chartered airline.
In my experience scheduled airline prices rarely get cheaper nearer the date of travel.
Charter airlines sometimes have last minute bargains. However they are usually outside of school holidays and requiring 6 tickets cuts your chances down again.
On balance, as said above, the safest bet is book early.
I would wait until 6 months prior then book, I have never had a problem of flying to Orlando as so many charter companies have spaces left. I would not leave it to last minute though.
DOM
Hi
Thanks for your help. I was hoping for someone to say 'no problem, wait until nearer time and get a bargain flight easily' but I guess i was hoping for too much.
What sort of price are we likely to have to pay if we wait until 6 months prior to going please?
Also if we wait are we safer waiting to book a villa until then or will we be safe booking a villa now?
regards and thanks to you all
Peter
Hi Peter,
When roughly were you thinking of going?As long as it is not school holiday periods and you are willing to fly from a few different airports you would probably be able to pick up 2 weeks cheaper leaving it till nearer your departure time-we have always done this with no real problem-although when we go for 3 weeks we need to fly scheduled-and as has already been stated-they dont seem to reduce their prices.Before we bought our own villa we used to book the villa before the flights as we found that we didn't have anywhere near the same choice if we left it till later-but it is entirely upto yourself- Hope this helps
Shazbat
heathercobbett
30-08-2004, 23:34
6 years ago we decided on an August trip to Orlando in May and had to go via Glasgow!(we live in Surrey)
Exhausting!
I noticed that there were tickets available on an internet site, price £164 from Manchester to Sanford, on Sept.2nd. If you are prepared to go at such short notice, and take the gamble of maybe not such a good offer coming up, then its a great deal. But basically its a gamble, especially looking for a few seats. Good luck. Chloe
andycoll
31-08-2004, 13:03
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Chloe
I noticed that there were tickets available on an internet site, price £164 from Manchester to Sanford, on Sept.2nd. If you are prepared to go at such short notice, and take the gamble of maybe not such a good offer coming up, then its a great deal. But basically its a gamble, especially looking for a few seats. Good luck. Chloe
[/quote]
What site did you seethem tikets on could you let me know please
pieman790
31-08-2004, 13:34
If your are planning on travel during the kids holidays i would book now. The prices never come down during these periods as they can always sell the flights at top prices.
My 2p worth :D
The last min deals are great if only one or two people going but as their are six of you going I reckon you'd be very very lucky to get seats for all six.
Seven of us are going in March and everything is now booked for what I consider good prices.
Flights with virgin 8th -29th March which covers part of Easter from Manchester £399 adults £299 kids.
Seven seater people carrier £599 all inclusive, good price but can now be beaten by this site.
Villa. 5 bedroom for three weeks inc pool heat a very very very good £1900.
The sooner you book the sooner you'll have peace of mind.
Well done Mick-H. That just shows the value of a holiday in Orlando - none of your prices are bargain basement but I am sure that you have secured a really good holiday - good flights, good car, good villa, good location. You pays your money.....
Drew
We are booking for next July / August and although most companies have not released yet, we are paying around 2362 indirect - Virgin was 2776!!!
Have been told when Virgin release there flights they will be 700+tax which has now gone to 85 per person!
Hello there. Travel City Direct do good flight prices but they only go to Sanford Airport. Ok if you're happy to drive from there. I've done it a few times but just prefer Orlando International as it's a bit nearer.
Personally I'd get the flights booked asap - purely for peace of mind.
If I was booking with a scheduled airline, I'd go BA. After flying with Virgin a few times now I find they are over-rated and expensive.
[:I]
TCD quoted me £2672 because I did not want anything else from them.
we never wait - it's not worth it
I find the bigger the party the earlier I start. When we all go, I need 8 tickets and I can't even do that in one purchase! Most sites only take up to 7 and some restrict the number of children to adult ratio, so if we are going next July- I do start looking now.
I just need my hubby to pick when he wants to go! Buying tickets is much easier then negiotating with him!
Good LUCK!
Hi
Thanks for your help. I'm still not sure though. Tempted to wait a little and see what is available. I was hoping for prices more like the £399 that Mick H quotes rather than the £600 plus.
regards
Peter
Hi
Thanks for your response. We are planning for August. Have you left it until 6 months before to book for this time?
regards
Peter
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by domster
I would wait until 6 months prior then book, I have never had a problem of flying to Orlando as so many charter companies have spaces left. I would not leave it to last minute though.
DOM
[/quote]
KirstieLou
01-09-2004, 18:16
I ALWAYS book my scheduled flights 11 months in advance. The cheapest offers sell out really quickly
Madabouttigger
01-09-2004, 20:05
Hi Rodney and welcolme to the site. As you can see from the above there is always lots of advice available here if you ask for it. In my oppinion, ticket prices tend to go up the closer you get to the departure date. If there are only 2 of you you may grab a last minuet bargain, but as you are looking for tickets for 6 seats is it worth taking the risk?
After spending many hours surfing the web looking for a good price for flights I found the link at the top of this page the best deal around. I got 2 flights with Virgin from Manchester to Orlando International, plus the hire car, full insurance for 2 drivers, and an upgrade to an Intermediate car for £548 each. The flights came out at £358 each.
I also spent a lot of time looking for the best deal on Park tickets and again found the link on this page gave the best deal and an excellent level of service.
I hope you have a hassel free holiday, and any more questions, just ask, some one always has the answer.
Diane.[msncool]
One thing we found when looking at prices in Dec 2002 when there were 7 of us was the "Bargain" charter flight prices were usually only good for 2 people, every extra 2 people added more to the prices.
We were quoted 2 @ £129, 2 @ £179, 2 @ £199, and a child @ £159, these prices were conditional on us taking their very overpriced car hire, in the end it was cheaper to book a scheduled flight and DIY car hire.
Hi
Thanks for your response. I have emailed the link a few days ago but am waiting for a response. The price you quoted seems reasonable. When is it for? We are travelling in August.
Thanks
Rodney
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Madabouttigger
Hi Rodney and welcolme to the site. As you can see from the above there is always lots of advice available here if you ask for it. In my oppinion, ticket prices tend to go up the closer you get to the departure date. If there are only 2 of you you may grab a last minuet bargain, but as you are looking for tickets for 6 seats is it worth taking the risk?
After spending many hours surfing the web looking for a good price for flights I found the link at the top of this page the best deal around. I got 2 flights with Virgin from Manchester to Orlando International, plus the hire car, full insurance for 2 drivers, and an upgrade to an Intermediate car for £548 each. The flights came out at £358 each.
I also spent a lot of time looking for the best deal on Park tickets and again found the link on this page gave the best deal and an excellent level of service.
I hope you have a hassel free holiday, and any more questions, just ask, some one always has the answer.
Diane.[msncool]
[/quote]
heathercobbett
01-09-2004, 23:05
Rodney, I would definitely not leave it any longer for August. book now and you can settle down and enjoy the anticipation.
Also, you are going to save masses of money preparing a few simple meals in your villa (to eat round the pool) and even more money on bargain jeans trainers etc. Dont buy any leisure clothes from now until you go and take half empty suitcases
If you do book your flights now,resist the temptation to keep checking prices,it is done,let it go
Madabouttigger
01-09-2004, 23:30
Hi Rodney
We fly out on 3rd March, so your flights in August are going to be more expensive, if you have had no reply from the link at the top of the page, try ringing 1st thing in the morning, 9ish, I got through no problem. Good luck,
Diane.;)
Hi we have booked from the link and it took me a while to make contact as they are very busy working 9 to 9.
We have booked for the 27th July and returning on the 18th August, we are going indirect for the first time (one stop) and the price is 2362 for 3 ads and 1 ch, Virgin was 416 dearer and that is without releasing the tickets yet and have been told will be 700 + tax, and after flying with them this time I don't think that that was worth it, so if I were you I would get onto it, I tried loads of places and these were the cheapest.
I have booked my Virgin Flydrive going Premium for next July/August for 2 adults and 3 children. Its not the cheapest by a long shot!!
But I choose to book it early so its sorted, I can fly scheduled direct Premium and I can book my villa early and sit back and relax but not have to pay the final bill until 8 weeks before.
Lucy