4 x Orlando Upper Class reward seats showing for some Summer dates with Virgin Atlantic

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• Dave P says:

  26 May26 May 15:14

  What would the damage be with a 2-4-1 voucher? I have a current PE return booking, possibly holding off for a UC upgrade. However, more than likely to use all my points to pretty much pay the balance of the holiday?

  • Rob says:

    26 May26 May 16:25

    Depends what status you have – a 241 is actually 2-4-1.5 if you’re only Red so you’d only save (115k/2) on the 2nd ticket, not the full 115k.

• Graeme says:

  26 May26 May 15:32

  We are currently on holiday on the Gulf Coast. Gas, food and restaurant prices are exceptionally high. The hotel we occasionally stayed in on Treasure Island has gone from $150 a night to north of $700 and that’s May!
  Apart from Covid we’ve been renting a house down here for over ten years. Even the price of clothing and shoes in the outlets are insane, I kid you not it’s cheaper to buy in the UK.
  Sure it’s good to see some award seats opening up, but you are going to need very deep pockets for a holiday here!! I don’t think we’ll be back for quite some time, and the airlines are going to struggle putting bums on seats this winter.

  • NorthernLass says:

    26 May26 May 15:52

    Sounds like it was a good decision to blow my stashes of Bonvoy and HH points on Xmas and New Year in the Keys this coming winter!

  • Dave P says:

    26 May26 May 16:11

    I found the same in NYC – Yes it has always been relatively expensive, but this time felt crazy.
    Yankees Jersey 150 dollars, or £90 delivered to my door from home
    Didn’t pay less than 14 dollars for a ‘pint’ which was more like a schooner
    Food was expensive, silly things like a bag of doritos from Walgreens was 5 dollars.
    I think my love of US holidays, may have to wait, and go back to Asia

    • Gordon says:

      27 May27 May 06:32

      I agree, Been there done that bought the shirt got ripped off. East is my preferred direction.

  • dougzz99 says:

    26 May26 May 16:31

    I was looking at TI for November, prices typically 80% above normal. I was happy previously in the Bilmar, but their rates have got silly for what is a well located motel.

  • JDB says:

    26 May26 May 16:43

    We found that already in 2019 in New England on our way to Quebec that it was ludicrously expensive and the quality of what is on offer for accommodation, food/wine and service, even before tax & tip has really declined in price/quality terms. A couple of decent but not fancy restaurants in a small town in New Hampshire were over $100/head. As for golf green fees…

    We may go back for work or specific events but as a holiday destination when there are other options we will stick with Mexico/South America and South Africa that offer a totally different price basis (helped by their weak currencies) for exceptional accommodation and food/wine, wonderful people, richer culture, superb affordable golf courses and much more. We used to add China into the mix at least once a year, but that’s probably off the agenda now for a very long time and waiting for Sri Lanka to calm down.

    • meta says:

      26 May26 May 20:32

      Totally agree about South America. Quality and price of food is miles better than anything you’ll get in Europe or US.

  • jj says:

    26 May26 May 20:38

    It varies considerably across the USA. New York in Decber was outrageously expensive for everything; Colorado for a January skiing trip was expensive but manageable; Idaho for a second ski trip was really quite affordable – and was also the most pleasant of the three to visit by a considerable margin.

• Magic Mike says:

  26 May26 May 16:19

  I’m also in the US (Washington state) at the moment and combine inflation with with weakness of the pound and it’s turning out to be a very expensive holiday. An average sit down meal for two is £50+ once tax and tip included. Even breakfast for two in Denny’s was over £30. Hard to find a hotel that isn’t a fleapit for less than £100/night. $7 plus tax plus tip for a US pint of decent beer. At least I found a deal on car rental for £25/day all-in, most places were quoting £50+…

  • qrfan says:

    26 May26 May 20:33

    We just got back from Washington/Oregon and I agree that even ignoring the extremely weak exchange rate (using an icc dollar card) the prices felt very high. Baby stuff was eye watering. $28 for a tin of baby formula half the size of the tins back home we buy for £9. We only needed backup for the flight home fortunately as it was almost the last can left in the Walmart anyway. Makes Tokyo and Singapore look cheap.

    • Junior says:

      26 May26 May 21:32

      You may know this already but there is a very significant formula shortage in the US right now which probably explains this specific example.

      • qrfan says:

        26 May26 May 22:27

        You can’t spend time in the us and not be aware of this.

  • mkcol says:

    27 May27 May 07:43

    I’m confused why you’d expect to pay less than £50 for a dinner for 2, or the general expectation going by the majority of comments that the US should be low cost.

    • Rob says:

      27 May27 May 08:58

      It’s not low cost but – partly driven by the exchange rate more than anything else – it is getting a bit silly as I found last week. Northerners who panic over £5 for a beer in London will have a heart attack at £10++ in NYC. Whilst not representative I also point you to my $38 plus 27% tax and service scrambled egg at the Park Hyatt last week.

      • dougzz99 says:

        27 May27 May 09:10

        Food and drink always been expensive, and poor, at sporting events. In California recently a large can of industrial slop beer was $18 + tax + tip. So $23 to $25 depending on tip for a 25 fl oz can.
        On a positive note they seem to have solved large scale drink driving after sporting events.

      • JDB says:

        27 May27 May 09:33

        And if they survive the heart attack at NYC prices, they need to try Reykjavík or Zurich.

      • mkcol says:

        27 May27 May 09:38

        £5 for a beer in London? You been at Wetherspoons again 😉

        • Gordon says:

          27 May27 May 11:56

          £5…. The last beer I had in London was about 18 months ago in the Punch and Judy in Covent Garden.That was almost £8

    • JDB says:

      27 May27 May 09:35

      Indeed, it’s not difficult to spend £50 for 2 at Pizza Express, so not sure why US should cost any less.

• pureshtuyot says:

  26 May26 May 17:48

  like I commented on the other Virgin article, they did last week release loads of South Africa reward seats for May June

• Dace says:

  26 May26 May 17:58

  States started to become crazy expensive from around 2018. Personally I have no desire to return to the States soon, except for maybe New Orleans.

  • ianM says:

    27 May27 May 16:56

    I’m not sure that’s true as a regular traveller, but since November 21 I have noticed a big jump in prices (in Atlanta right now) but the biggest driver of low value has been Brexit which has tanked the UK economy and caused the pound to sink from the normal $1.60 per pound pre Brexit to $1.2 this week.

• Linda P says:

  27 May27 May 06:26

  I am planning our Colorado/Idaho/Utah trip for September at the moment.

  The hotel prices for a mid budget are crazy and if I want to add on refundable they go up by another 25%. When we were in Nevada/Arizona in March/April this year the fuel prices have gone through the roof like here and the restaurants the same.

  We are now in our 70’s so trying to do as much as we can while we can, money and health permitting.

  Also another thing have some Virgin miles and have looked at all the West coast routes and there is absolutely nothing for next year, keep checking regularly but have exceeded my seat spy limit so its very time consuming any other suggestions.

  • Gordon says:

    27 May27 May 08:04

    I am booking hotels with Emyr for November in Los Angeles, San Francisco, California, Las Vegas etc Driving Route 66.
    You get all the benefits for the same price as the same refundable rate as hotel direct…. https://www.headforpoints.com/virtuoso-agent-london/

    • Gordon says:

      27 May27 May 11:57

      Thanks for the edit Rob 😉

• Concerto says:

  27 May27 May 06:28

  I have boycotted the US since 2016. There are so many places to go which are nicer as well as cheaper.

• Gordon says:

  27 May27 May 07:02

  Flying to Orlando next year Disney world…. (Treating the granddaughters). If your Staying in a resort hotel which we were going to but read that they have stopped the hotels meal service and are offering a food voucher for $1,200 per room (not per person) for a 2 week stay.That’s not going to go far. A large 4 bed 4 bath villa on a gated community with private pool 10 to 15 mins drive to parks is around 2k to 2.5k for 2 weeks.Factoring in the $25 a day parking at parks the latter still wins. That will be my last flight west for some Considerable time there’s so many fantastic places to visit flying East….

  • pauldb says:

    27 May27 May 07:39

    Did you price up a hire car yet?! But yes we did the same this Easter and I think it’s the best option, especially if you have a few meals at home. Disney quick service dining is actually pretty decent.

    • Gordon says:

      27 May27 May 11:28

      Not really looked at car hire yet as not planning going until Oct 2023. So looking nearer the time and tie it all up.
      I have looked at car hire for the US west coast for November this year and Lax airport is a rip off as are most airports because of their fees charged by the airport. But a rental in Los Angelas is almost half the price of the airport cost….

  • The Savage Squirrel says:

    27 May27 May 13:46

    Yes, Orlando is the most extreme example of a location with price mismatch between hotels and rental housing, an entire 4-5 bed villa often pricing cheaper than a single mid hotel room, while a villa plus rental car will be massively cheaper than two rooms (a fairer comparison), even at current prices. The fact that these houses are often in gated villa communities with individual pools AND resort-level central pool facilities and other services only makes the price discrepancy all the more glaring. A family staying in a hotel in Orlando for cash is, frankly, bonkers. They don’t even pass the convenience test as with so many different parks to visit over such a wide area, a hotel simply cannot be convenient for more than one or two anyway.

    • Gordon says:

      27 May27 May 14:16

      Exactly. We had a property in almería Spain a few years back and spent a lot of time out there. Talking to the locals they said that the government were cracking down on people renting their properties out to holiday makers because hotels were complaining about loosing business. Apparently the powers that be were going to check with energy and water companies for meter readings of properties that were not lived in. IE High readings for 1 or 2 weeks then no usage for a period of time.
      I’m not sure if it even took off. As the logistics would have been a nightmare.
      That was long before Airbnb came along….

    • ianM says:

      27 May27 May 16:59

      There are sweet spots with reward stays, last week I was in the Crowne Plaza Lake Buena Vista for about 15000 points a night, including a nice buffet breakfast as Diamond. If you are buying points at 100% bonus that works out about $75 a night

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