Inselaffen

Anyone know if Virgin atlantic usually have a ticket sale between now and Christmas. Thinking of giving them a try for flying home this Christmas.

scrubbedexpat141

Sorry, no idea.

Although like you I've been thinking of different ways of getting home. KLM business class to Schipol and then to Southampton (20mins from Mum) is only marginally more expensive than Emirates economy to Heathrow...

Inselaffen

I'm looking at Virgin business class. had enough of emirates/qantas cattle class.

IKnowNothing

Virgin premium economy is decent.

Inselaffen

might do that on the way and business on the way back. then I know for future trips

scrubbedexpat141

Virgin economy but with the extra leg room (not sure it was premium) was actually alright.

The only thing I didn't like was the entertainment system, but that's where Emirates are in their own league.

Inselaffen

Flew Emirates (booked through Qantas) back from LHR in July in Economy. The plane was incredibly stuffy, food disgusting and service terrible. The flight out on a Qantas plane had been far better.

really tempted to splash out to get more comfort and price wise the best 2 options seem to be BA or Virgin.

scrubbedexpat141

I've had two bad Emirates booked flights. 1 was a Qantas flight to LHR and the service was dog shit. 2 was coming back from KL on Emirates and the service was dog shit. It didn't help that we hit turbulence and were sat near a galley and the hosties were sat SCREAMING a conversation to each other for about 2 hours...

Otherwise I can't complain about Emirates at all, service is normally great and there's plenty of leg room (being over 6ft this is really important).

iggle

I bet they were talking about the 3sum with the captain the previous night

IKnowNothing

Seriously, Virgin premium economy is more than adequate.

Dubaiexile

A friend of mine said Turkish was really good and cheap as a business class option, ok you have to change at Istanbul but worth a look at.

Inselaffen

more expensive than direct with BA or Virgin

iggle

Why not make it your yearly flight home?

jam25mack

Just got an email saying BA have a sale on....

I do like Virgin and Premium Economy used to be great value but when I looked last time there was quite a difference between Cattle Class and Premium economy.

Etihad from AD are also worth a look. Quite often a good chunk cheaper than Emirates. You can check in on SZR and then have a few beers in longs before jumping on the bus. IMO they're better than Emirates too.

Generally I seem to fly KLM these days tho. Mainly because I can get a few days stopover in the dam but also because they're generally cheap and are slightly better than BA and without the 50 something menopausal swamp beasts BA called stewardesses.

Inselaffen

Thanks. Checked BA and their sale price is no better than the price I checked with them last week
Would love to use Etihad but their fare is more than double BA or Virgin.