V-Flyer

Hi,looking at the prices for early October in PE & UC,it seems better value via the above. Any preference on route/connections or availability for upgrades?

Thanks

I would go via SFO, because I love the city and the Clubhouse. I would also book a stop over in San Francisco.

Don't know which of the routes would be best for an upgrade. LAX is twice a day and both are very popular business routes.

Nick

I would echo Nick completely... having done SFO in Upper a few times it is far more relaxing and much nicer than LAX. Also some good flight connections from SFO to LAS from SFO which connect in with the VA flight.

And the lounge at SFO... much better than LAX

And a ditto from me. Although with V America you do now also have the option of connecting at JFK (see Las Vegas forum).

For all the reasons described: SF is a beautiful city, connecting at SFO is not as awful as many US airports, the clubhouse is ace ...

On upgrades though LAX wins, with two flights per day and usually 346s there are more options - that said SFO flights are reported to be fairly open currently too so why not do a dummy check on VS.com and see? Just make sure you don't coincide with a large conference in SF, when they happen rewards can be very difficult.

San Francisco for me too but you may need to take what you can. UC out to either destination looks OK- returns are a bit more restricted (probably because of half term). PE out to La is pretty good with restricted return availability. PE out and back from San Francisco is limited.

Another vote for SFO. Much better airport and the CH is fantastic

Outbound would be LAX but for the return leg SFO wins every time, the SFO CH is the best, outside of the UK that is ...and you get to fly back on a proper aircraft; a 744!

{Edited following re-reading the OP, note to self: must read not skim posts before hitting the keyboard![:I]}

LAX, but only because of the number of flight options up to Vegas.

LAX out on the later flight to max out on LHR clubhouse time.

Another vote for SFO

SFO, definetely.

LAX for me, done it in April loads of options for onward flight to LAS and i got a miles upgrade no problem

We are doing the same on 1st October and are using SFO and then VX down/up to LAS. One of the reasons for my choice was the fact it would be a 744 operating the flight.

I was checking the reward availabilities not long ago and they were still quite good for October, weekends were pretty much out though.

Neil

LAX for me with the later flights, just for the fact I am more likely to sleep on the return, as that is a more 'natural' time for me - late afternoon departures don't get me ready to sleep in time!

I'd second Bazz - mixing might be a good idea, out to LAX and back from SFO. Even when dates are restricted for advance upgrades, I've never had an issue getting a mileage upgrade at SFO even before the new cabin layout with extra suites. And you are avoiding the Oracle nightmare in late September, which would likely chew up all seats on planes, rooms in hotels, reservations in restaurants ... These days, there is a good chance you will be able to upgrade ahead of time, even if the availability is not there at the moment.

It boils down to whether you want to fly at good times (I'd love to be able to catch a later flight, 6:30 to 7pm, out of SFO), or want the full VS experience. A leisurely lunch in the SFO clubhouse, like many of these folks have already stated, is one of the nicest perks of flying UC out of SFO.

I'm with Bazz also. I travelled to LAS via LAX last year and it was easy peasy and the flight connection time was perfect.

Back via SFO for all the reasons commented.

Iain

SFO is better than LAX for connecting flights, the clubhouse is better and as a city SF is not a bad place to stay for a night or two.
However, flight prices to SF are often more expensive than LAX, this I put down to 2 main reasons, 1 SF is very popular and has a high number of Tech companies in the area and also there is only 1 flight a day.

It is quite common for engineers and managers in my company to fly to LAX and drive or fly up to SFO if they are planning a business trip and a holiday and are taking their family.

I last went to LAX during Easter 07, for £225 each return on revenue tickets. SF would have been 3 times that.

Mark

Mark,

The *usual* pattern for prices is that SF and LA are pretty much identical. What probably hit you there last Easter was either availability (low-end fare buckets sold out on the SF route) or a random LA-only sale.

Any time I've flown LA or SF, the other destination has always been within a few £'s at most, assuming availability is the same.

It is important to be sure you are comparing like for like here. I agree with Paul, when ever I have checked prices LAX v SFO there has generally been pretty much parity fare code for fare code. However you can get wide discrepancies when a particular fare code is sold out and you have to move up a notch or two even though you are still in the same cabin.

I know that Virgin's West Coast prices are typically the same, however, whenever I was looking to go to Denver, PE pricing and availability meant that LAX was miles cheaper than SFO 3 times out of 4, and massively cheaper in Easter 07 in Y. Again, I'm sure it's down to the SFO route being a popular business route for those of us in the tech industry.

Mondays and Fridays are typically the days to avoid VS19 and VS20 in my mind (Mon out and Fri back)

It's always worth checking.

To be honest, I could n't believe my luck getting the family out for £750 at Easter to LAX. It was a bargain.