Re: OT - Virgin flights special deals - help please Jane/anyone

[Guest guest]

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OT - Virgin flights special deals - help please Jane/anyone

Hi everyonesorry this is off topic, just trying to book our flights to Growing Minds, I rang Virgin to ask about special deals/concessions amd they say they dont offer any reductions, I know this isnt true, does anyone have any contact info about this please?TIA x

[Guest guest]

They do cheaper flights - and really make an effort to help the flight go as smoothly as possible for you all. We had last on, first off, fruit from first class, our own hostess throughout the flight, bulkhead seats - we couldn't have been looked after better. I have posted the email addy, but we did experience some delays waiting for a reply last time we went to Florida - which was in May this year. We were there over half term and had to juggle our dates to fit in with the flights. Good luck and if you want I will dig out a phone number for the department.

Jane

OT - Virgin flights special deals - help please Jane/anyone

Hi everyonesorry this is off topic, just trying to book our flights to Growing Minds, I rang Virgin to ask about special deals/concessions amd they say they dont offer any reductions, I know this isnt true, does anyone have any contact info about this please?TIA x

[Guest guest]

Thanks Jane yes please if you could email me the phone no that would be

brilliant

x

[Guest guest]

Our contact was Nour Arthur. However, it does take them a long and

nailbiting time to respond and you might find it cheaper to book a

long way ahead, when they do some pretty good deals anyway. We paid

£1400 for 5 of us in NOvember, 2 kids, 3 adults via sponsorship. I

agree with Jane - their special needs assistance (provided you ask for

it) is great, particularly on teh outward bound flight. But remember

to ask for bulk heads early and try and avoid popular flights. We had

a whole section to ourselves with just one other family once! What

dates are you there?

>

> Hi everyone

> sorry this is off topic, just trying to book our flights to Growing

> Minds, I rang Virgin to ask about special deals/concessions amd they

> say they dont offer any reductions, I know this isnt true, does anyone

> have any contact info about this please?

> TIA

> x

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Steph

Thanks for your reply. We are going March 8-15 so dont know if we

have time for nailbiting, I have emailed Nour Arthur (got the same

name from someone else) and will ring him tomorrow. If it takes them

a month or so to deliberate then I think we'll just book anyway

thanks

x-- In Autism-Biomedical-

Europe , " stephaniesirr " wrote:

>

> Our contact was Nour Arthur. However, it does take them a long and

> nailbiting time to respond and you might find it cheaper to book a

> long way ahead, when they do some pretty good deals anyway. We paid

> £1400 for 5 of us in NOvember, 2 kids, 3 adults via sponsorship. I

> agree with Jane - their special needs assistance (provided you ask

for

> it) is great, particularly on teh outward bound flight. But

remember

> to ask for bulk heads early and try and avoid popular flights. We

had

> a whole section to ourselves with just one other family once! What

> dates are you there?

>

>

> >

> > Hi everyone

> > sorry this is off topic, just trying to book our flights to

Growing

> > Minds, I rang Virgin to ask about special deals/concessions amd

they

> > say they dont offer any reductions, I know this isnt true, does

anyone

> > have any contact info about this please?

> > TIA

> > x

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Jane

Yes I got the number from someone else, sorry I should have said

earlier.

Thanks for all your help

x

[Guest guest]

Hi

At the risk of sounding ungrateful, just a word of warning - we tried

for 2 months to get Nour to sort our flights out back in June. To

start with he had said Virgin could help with all 6 tickets, (4

therapists, my son and I) then he said only my son and I and then

finally the discount he offered was dearer than the first quote we

had without discount 2 months earlier.

We ended up going with American and BA at a considerable saving to

Virgin. American was cheaper than the discounted tickets Nour offered

us so be careful and shop around!

Kind regards

Joanne

> > >

> > > Hi everyone

> > > sorry this is off topic, just trying to book our flights to

> Growing

> > > Minds, I rang Virgin to ask about special deals/concessions

amd

> they

> > > say they dont offer any reductions, I know this isnt true,

does

> anyone

> > > have any contact info about this please?

> > > TIA

> > > x

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the warning Joanne, I will see how we get on tomorrow but

wont hang around

x

[Guest guest]

that's useful info - sounds like it's all a bit inconsistent.

We took two teachers, 2 parents and Tom in July 06 for a good saving

and 3 adults, 2 kids for a better discount November 07.

Looking at flights in general it seems cheaper to do cheap package and

then ditch the accommodation! HOwever, we went with Virgin because

Tom's behaviour can be so extreme and we wanted some assurance of

Special Needs services, which we got. We found BA pretty average on

special needs - very dependent upon the individual air crew. Have

never flown with American - how did you rate them for extra help?

you can get a cheap package, flying into Miami in March, try

Googling. Monarch do loads of packages and charters as do people like

Airtours.

Steph

> > > >

> > > > Hi everyone

> > > > sorry this is off topic, just trying to book our flights to

> > Growing

> > > > Minds, I rang Virgin to ask about special deals/concessions

> amd

> > they

> > > > say they dont offer any reductions, I know this isnt true,

> does

> > anyone

> > > > have any contact info about this please?

> > > > TIA

> > > > x

> > > >

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Hi

I think you are right - Virgins policy is inconsistent and Nour just

seemed so overwhelmed with cases to deal with. The only matrix used

to make the decision on what discount to give appeared to be location

and how popular the flights were, rather than the child's individual

case/needs. However, at least they offer something!

Due to the hassle we had with Virgin i.e. changing their mind on

discounted seat's for Joe's therapist, I ended up travelling with Joe

alone on American and the therapists went BA. We were flying to New

York as the first clinic we went to was there. I had submitted a

business case which had been the initial reason for the agreement to

fund all seats.

We wasted so much time in discussion with Virgin that we actually

ended up paying more for the seats than we had been originally quoted

by American and BA.

American have been very good each time we have flown with them,

arranging appropriate GF food, even though we took our own just in

case as Joe is CF/SCD too, primed to deal with behaviour etc.

The American cabin and ground crew were excellent, great seats, we

were seated early.

I amazingly only had one behaviour burst from Joe when he did not

want to fasten his seatbelt when we experienced some turbulence. The

crew kept coming to chat to us and positively reinforced his good

behaviour and told me what a great job I was doing! There are

certainly no frills with American but I saved hundreds of pounds by

flying with them.

Virgin are very good with Special Needs kids, but not that good, in

my humble opinion, to warrant the hundreds of pounds difference. It

all seems to come down to how you communicate with any airline in

advance of departure, backed up with written confirmation of needs.

The worst thing about the whole experience with Nour was that the day

before we were due to fly with American I received an automated email

from Virgin confirming our flight number and 6 seats etc, Nour had

booked the seats but had forgot to release them when I found a

cheaper alternative!

If anyone is contemplating air travel within the US, check the Jet

Blue prices. www.jetblue.com They are very similar to an Easy Jet

type set up (only much better!) and the crew were great with Joe.

Joanne.

> > > > >

> > > > > Hi everyone

> > > > > sorry this is off topic, just trying to book our flights

to

> > > Growing

> > > > > Minds, I rang Virgin to ask about special

deals/concessions

> > amd

> > > they

> > > > > say they dont offer any reductions, I know this isnt

true,

> > does

> > > anyone

> > > > > have any contact info about this please?

> > > > > TIA

> > > > > x

> > > > >

> > > >

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Hi everyone

> > > > > > sorry this is off topic, just trying to book our

flights

> to

> > > > Growing

> > > > > > Minds, I rang Virgin to ask about special

> deals/concessions

> > > amd

> > > > they

> > > > > > say they dont offer any reductions, I know this isnt

> true,

> > > does

> > > > anyone

> > > > > > have any contact info about this please?

> > > > > > TIA

> > > > > > x

> > > > > >

> > > > >

> > > >

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

that's very helpful, thanks. Will try American for good rates. We've

just got a good deal with Virgin off the web, weirdly and for flights

that Nour couldn't discount. So, swings and roundabouts!

It's a minefield!

S x

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Hi everyone

> > > > > > sorry this is off topic, just trying to book our flights

> to

> > > > Growing

> > > > > > Minds, I rang Virgin to ask about special

> deals/concessions

> > > amd

> > > > they

> > > > > > say they dont offer any reductions, I know this isnt

> true,

> > > does

> > > > anyone

> > > > > > have any contact info about this please?

> > > > > > TIA

> > > > > > x

> > > > > >

> > > > >

> > > >

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Just to update, I emailed Nour yesterday, got a reply today, offering

approx £100 off the current internet price, in total, for the flights

we wanted. I'm happy with that!

Thanks everyone for your help