LHR to TPA

[kampta80]

Originally Posted by ITFCAbroad

You’ll know what it is planned to be when you can see the flights for Sunday 26th October 25 to book in the virgin website (so 330 days before then) . Those will be the times loaded in to Virgin’s system for the winter 25 season as airline timetables switch for the season on that day up to end of March. Might be some variation during the week but looking at that full week from the 26th will give you an early indication.

Of course doesn’t stop them tweaking the timetable and changing them 6 months later.

See more...

Amazing - thank you! Is it always from 26th Oct each year that the timetables switch for the season? Also, it is 331 days before or 330?

[stanleycamel]

Originally Posted by kampta80

Amazing - thank you! Is it always from 26th Oct each year that the timetables switch for the season? Also, it is 331 days before or 330?

See more...

No it isn't always the 26th October - as a general rule of thumb it usually corresponds with when the UK clocks change.

[ITFCAbroad]

Summer schedule - begins on the last Sunday of March and ends on the last Saturday of October.

Winter schedule - begins on the last Sunday of October and ends on the last Saturday of March.

Yes you’re right looks like it’s 331

[Disneypls]

Originally Posted by kampta80

I have just booked flights from LHR to TPA in December 2025 through Virgin Holidays

The outward flight time is 11:00 - 16:10 (VS129) which is what we flew in December 2023.

However, I am slightly dubious as although I have booked on pre-release lots of times before with no issues, looking at the released flight times for that route for this year and into next year, all the VS129 LHR to TPA flights seem to leave at 14:50 and land at 19:30/20:00 which is a massive difference.

Does anyone have any idea?

See more...

We had booked this flight at the earlier time but they have now changed to the later time and I’m gutted 😢

[kampta80]

Originally Posted by stanleycamel

No it isn't always the 26th October - as a general rule of thumb it usually corresponds with when the UK clocks change.

See more...

Originally Posted by ITFCAbroad

Summer schedule - begins on the last Sunday of March and ends on the last Saturday of October.

Winter schedule - begins on the last Sunday of October and ends on the last Saturday of March.

Yes you’re right looks like it’s 331

See more...

Thank you both. I have the 29th Nov in my diary now so I'll have a look then, see what the final outcome is (although I know subject to change) and will decide whether to stick with LHR to TPA or swap to LHR to MCO.

I still can't believe Virgin Holidays have potentially (knowingly) sold me a flight which lands at 4:10pm which in fact is likely to land 4 hours later than that! That makes a big difference when travelling from the UK.

When we were booking and they offered me that flight time, I questioned it as I could see that that flight didn't look likely to exist.

Maybe I'll be proved wrong and it will be as booked in the end! ?!

[kampta80]

Originally Posted by Disneypls

We had booked this flight at the earlier time but they have now changed to the later time and I’m gutted 😢

See more...

When are you travelling? Yes I feel gutted too now that I realise ours is likely to also change :-(

EDIT: Ah I can see from your countdown that you are travelling this Christmas. When did you book it?

[Softy]

Originally Posted by kampta80

Thank you both. I have the 29th Nov in my diary now so I'll have a look then, see what the final outcome is (although I know subject to change) and will decide whether to stick with LHR to TPA or swap to LHR to MCO.

I still can't believe Virgin Holidays have potentially (knowingly) sold me a flight which lands at 4:10pm which in fact is likely to land 4 hours later than that! That makes a big difference when travelling from the UK.

When we were booking and they offered me that flight time, I questioned it as I could see that that flight didn't look likely to exist.

Maybe I'll be proved wrong and it will be as booked in the end! ?!

See more...

As I said before. Someone was offered 3 different flight times for a Tampa flight by a TA. They picked their preferred time that never existed and the TA got the booking.

You won’t be proved wrong as confirmed by others in this thread and others that have gone through the exact same thing.

Personally I’d get on the phone to them and complain, cancel, get my deposit back and book it myself. You’ll save lots of money and you’ll never go back to being shafted by a TA.

[Nomis]

Originally Posted by kampta80

Thank you both. I have the 29th Nov in my diary now so I'll have a look then, see what the final outcome is (although I know subject to change) and will decide whether to stick with LHR to TPA or swap to LHR to MCO.

I still can't believe Virgin Holidays have potentially (knowingly) sold me a flight which lands at 4:10pm which in fact is likely to land 4 hours later than that! That makes a big difference when travelling from the UK.

When we were booking and they offered me that flight time, I questioned it as I could see that that flight didn't look likely to exist.

Maybe I'll be proved wrong and it will be as booked in the end! ?!

See more...

You can not expect any accuracy on flight times if you book them before they are released, it’s not a case of virgin holidays bein dishonest they have an idea based on previous years but don’t know.

I think it’s a far better (and usually cheaper) option not to book flights before they are released, I can see absolutely no advantage in booking before this.

[kampta80]

Originally Posted by Nomis

You can not expect any accuracy on flight times if you book them before they are released, it’s not a case of virgin holidays bein dishonest they have an idea based on previous years but don’t know.

I think it’s a far better (and usually cheaper) option not to book flights before they are released, I can see absolutely no advantage in booking before this.

See more...

You are probably right. I am just going on my own personal previous experience. This is my 10th visit to Orlando and we have booked on pre-release almost every time without having our flight times change from what we booked (not by anything significant anyway).

In terms of the cost, I have never felt that we have paid over the odds by booking this way and have often looked at the prices once the flights are released out of curiosity and have never regretted having booked early.

Isn’t it generally considered to be better to book as a package because you get more protection if things go wrong? Although TBH I’ve never been 100% clear on how that works as we would always have travel insurance anyway.

In terms of there being no advantage in booking this way - I have to say that this time round I have seen a big advantage in being able to book all our attraction tickets in the Black Friday sales the year before travel. We are visiting in December 2025 but I’ve been able to take advantage of the November 2024 offers and in some cases have paid less than we did for our visit two years before.

In the future we may think again about booking on pre-release, but I did it on this occasion based on all our previous experiences, so had no reason to think it would go differently this time. But I know differently now.

[Softy]

Originally Posted by kampta80

You are probably right. I am just going on my own personal previous experience. This is my 10th visit to Orlando and we have booked on pre-release almost every time without having our flight times change from what we booked (not by anything significant anyway).

In terms of the cost, I have never felt that we have paid over the odds by booking this way and have often looked at the prices once the flights are released out of curiosity and have never regretted having booked early.

Isn’t it generally considered to be better to book as a package because you get more protection if things go wrong? Although TBH I’ve never been 100% clear on how that works as we would always have travel insurance anyway.

In terms of there being no advantage in booking this way - I have to say that this time round I have seen a big advantage in being able to book all our attraction tickets in the Black Friday sales the year before travel. We are visiting in December 2025 but I’ve been able to take advantage of the November 2024 offers and in some cases have paid less than we did for our visit two years before.

In the future we may think again about booking on pre-release, but I did it on this occasion based on all our previous experiences, so had no reason to think it would go differently this time. But I know differently now.

See more...

If a TA goes under you lose your whole trip and have to rebook everything once you get your money back. If you book separately and one part goes under then it’s only a case of rebooking that 1 part.
If you book using a credit card and something went under you'd have your money back a lot quicker than through abta/atol, whatever it is.

If something went wrong with the flights (cancellations/changes) then booking direct and not having to go through a middle man(TA) would get it resolved within 1 phonecall.

If you’re comparing your previous prices with prices on release, then yes there may not be much in it. No one books Virgin Atlantic flights on release though, as is always recommended on here. But if you have an idea on what the flights/hotels should cost through experience/advice on here, then you’ve almost certainly overpaid a lot. Virgin holidays are notoriously expensive.

An extreme example I like to give on here, from a poster on here in a similar situation to yours. They said they used Virgin holidays every year and always got a good deal. Their current one was flights and hotel for £8k. A 1 minute search found the exact same flight and hotel for £4K total. Booking the flight direct and hotel through a reputable company. An extreme example for sure but a genuine one. My dad used to book Virgin holidays every year when we were kids. First year we made use of the internet and booked it all ourselves, saved an absolute fortune.