Orlando flights sold out already for next Easter

[ihatethecold]

I have been waiting to book a holiday to florida next Easter.
The flights to go out just as the kids break up
The 26,27,28,29,30th march are sold out already!
With virgin!
Not sure what to do now.
The return flights haven't even been released yet and my plan is scuppered.

Virgin can be slow in putting up the return flights so this may well be why there is no availabilty showing.

Check BAs website as well because they also fly direct into Orlando. Their schedule for next year goes up to mid April.

Have you rung up and talked to the customer service centre? Not all seats have been released yet on the dates I want to go (been checking 27th, 28th, 29th, but to a different destination) - they said the cheaper seats and the 'reward' (Airmiles) tickets aren't out yet. I am ringing them every day!

Where are you flying from? The charter flights are on sale with Thomas Cook and Thomson but only as part of a package at the moment. It shouldn't be too much longer before flight only is released.

We had the same problem for our holiday last year. I had the Virgin flights on my screen ready to book. I was gone for no more than a minute and the page had refreshed and they were sold out.
We ended up with a fly drive package from Thomas Cook as they were the only ones with flights. It was fine except that they only fly to Sanford.

The virgin rep is very close to my work place so I pop in regularly.
She said that all the outbound are gone on chosen dates. I could fly on Easter Sunday but at the moment I would have to book to fly back from Miami to secure my outbound. Not ideal.
Ba flights ATM are near 1k each
Had a look at Thomas cook. There are not much better!

The flights are not out yet for return after 3rd april 2013. Generally they are released 336 days in advance, but you can blatantly see thats why theyre nit showing.
There are flights on 25/26/27 march on their webite, not cheap but they are there.
Dont panic

Is the virgin rep having me over ??
I haven't looked on their website yet. Might take a look.
So if I want to return on the 12th April when do you think they will be released?
( lazy emoticon)

If you keep an eye on it you can see what dates are released, when i looked tonight i think it was only 3rd. When you look tomorrw the 4th should be released.
No way that all flights will sell out, when i was looking for this easter you could still get a BA flight for £562 two weeks before easter.
it is always worth checking websites and not just the company, people like ebookers, travelbag, trailfinders etc often bulk buy from airlines and can therefore sell the seats cheaper.
As with everything travel related though you have to guess when to buy, when to hang back etc

Hth

If the return dates are not released yet (normally 11 months in advance) then I don't see how the outbound can be booked yet. We go to Florida regularly and have often had to play the wait til 11 months before game.
We were going to go Christmas and waited until the day the flights were released but the prices were so ridiculous we decided to go in the summer.

We normally fly BA and decided to fly into Tampa instead of Orlando and it was over 1.5k cheaper (for 6 of us). Where we stay in Orlando (close to Disney) it is only about 15 mins drive further than from Orlando International airport. Well worth a look

yes i was thinking of tampa, we will spend our second week at clearwater so the journey home will be quicker to the airport,

i thought it odd that the outbound was full! when you cant book the inbound yet!

I don't think they can be full ihatethecold.
Where are you staying for the first week? I can highly recommend this place www.ownersdirect.co.uk/usa/F1895.htm
shameless plug

Also BA fly direct to Tampa (its much nicer to travel through than Orlando) so if you are going to spend time in that area, then its a better option than flying into and out of Orlando.

we will stay at the Hilton in bonnet creek. stayed there last year. it was amazing! will take a look at your link though! then not sure yet for clear water. stayed at the marriot last time. great views.
any recommendations for somewhere to stay on the gulf. anyone have a villa

I think there was another thread a while ago where someone recommended villas down that way. Will have a look. If not, have a look on owners direct for villas there.

have had a look at the link. your place looks lovely but a bit too big for us.
there is only 4 of us.
i did look at gulf coast villas also on that link.
thanks

Have you tried going via Virgin Holidays and getting a fly drive? This is what we did last year as we booked more than a year in advance and they get the flight dates sooner than the normal Virgin flight only website.

Plus I also found that availability came back up for dates peviously unavailable.

It definitely isn't cheap though. We paid £3,100 for 2 adults and 2 children plus a compact car for 2 weeks.

thanks bingandbear. where did you go?
how many nights did you have in each place?

They will release more flights. Check Expedia every few we days, too. The availability of flights to Orlando (with all airlines, not just Virgin) changes all the time. The Amerivan Airlines often come up cheaper, although they are a bit crap.

We tend not to fly directly to Orlando because it always seems more expensive. Last year we flew in to to Tampa for £399 each andd had a weekend in Clearwater before getting a coach down to Orlando (not far at all).

This year we are flying in to Miami for £420 each and spending a few days there, then hiring a car and driving up to Orlando (a good 4/5 hour drive, though).

When I last checked, Virgin to Orlando was £580.

Just a quick aside, have you been to Disney before? Easter is very, very packed.

I went last yr in may half term.
We won't be going back to Disney.
We will do the water parks again and universal.
Then a week in Clearwater

I have heard Easter is packed but no other school hol is long enough.
Xmas might not be warm enough and August is frigging boiling.

Set up a kayak alert for good fares for the dates you want, you'll get all the prices direct to your inbox and won't have all the messing around searching multiple websites.

We went last Easter, and as we didn't book until the July before we found all direct flights were long sold out (apart from first/ business class). Our solution was to fly out via Toronto (Air Canada) and back via New Jersey (Continental).

While I wouldn't wish a Continental flight on my worst enemy, Air Canada were fab (v spacious seats) and flying indirect wasn't too much hassle. In fact it was probably easier on the way there as we went through all the customs etc in Toronto so breezed past all the humungous queues at Orlando!

The flights were 'only' £500 each too

Btw I was v scared of how busy the parks would be at Easter but it was perfectly doable (queues move v fast). Only downer was that we got the precise weather we'd hoped to avoid....35/ 36 degrees every single day!

Brill thanks. I would be happy to use air canada.
The rep called me again today from virgin. The price has gone up by 1.5k since i started this thread.
I told her there is no way im spending the money she is quoting. I said i will take my chances and book later or go indirect.
I know its gonna be exp but its starting to get silly

Have done this process via AC in Toronto and you need a lot of time.

If you do go indirect via Toronto do give yourselves enough time to be able to collect bags (you may have to directly recheck them), clear both Canadian customs and immigration and the separate based US immigration. If you fly via Toronto I would give myself a clear 3 hour slot before boarding the next US bound flight as lines to clear US immigration there can be very long indeed. That clock starts ticking on you as soon as the plane from the UK lands; this is also something that people do not fully factor in when doing a same day transfer.

Do not forget either to apply for the ESTA for all of you well once you've booked the holiday.

ihatethecold we did 3 nights in Animal Kingdom Lodge, 6 nights in a villa in Kissimmee and then 5 nights on a Disney Bahamian Cruise.

To be honest, I was really disappointed with Virgin this time round and I commented on this on an earlier thread. The air stewards were uninterested, the food was diabolical and I think the breakfast was the worst meal I have ever seen served up on an airline in my like (and I've seen some pretty rotten meals in my time).

If you can avoid Virgin, I would do. As regards prices, we only booked Virgin because with the fly drive we had the availability when we wanted it and more thatn 365 days before we wanted to fly. However when I looked later, BA were broadly the same price.

It is a very expensive holiday.