booking airline tickets

hi everyone.
I'm in the process of making my holiday up in October.
i will be flying into sfo and out of las Vegas i intend to travel to phoenix from sfo then into las Vegas from phoenix this will require to one way tickets for me and my partner.
would it be cheaper for me to book these myself on the web or let virgin Atlantic book these for me when i trade in my air miles which would also mean less credit card hassle trying to use a British credit card on an American airline web site or will there not be much difference in price .
thanks Andy

[Scrooge]

It would probably be cheaper to book yourself,for the routes you want your best best is America West,however they won't take a british CC (I think and stand to be corrected)the eaiest way would be to use travelocity etc

Andy,

I think it depends on which airline you use, Virgin were cheapest when I was booking delta flights, however I have found that opodo were pretty good for internal flights within the US, and have noticed today they are doing £13 off each flight for Friday the 13th - code: lucky13 - great for me just booked my flights on there last week [:(!] !

Cheers

James

Definitely should be cheaper to book yourself, America West for earning miles or cashing them in. If they give you any problems with a British credit card - try Southwest, They fly the routes you are looking for and they certainly do accept UK plastic.........

Originally posted by jetwet1
It would probably be cheaper to book yourself,for the routes you want your best best is America West,however they won't take a british CC (I think and stand to be corrected)the eaiest way would be to use travelocity etc

You'd be well advised to see what jetBlue could do for you -

You can book tickets with them(jetblue.com)in the UK using a UK Credit Card.

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by andrew.m.wright

Originally posted by jetwet1
It would probably be cheaper to book yourself,for the routes you want your best best is America West,however they won't take a british CC (I think and stand to be corrected)the eaiest way would be to use travelocity etc

You'd be well advised to see what jetBlue could do for you -

You can book tickets with them(jetblue.com)in the UK using a UK Credit Card.

'cept they don't fly thr routes that Andrew wants.

Also Southwest doesn't fly from SFO,they fly from OAK

[ChuckC]

Hi Andy,
Well, I'd say that most of our truly veteran VFlyers tend to book the US segments themselves. If you don't want to deal with that, you could at least check the flights and fares you want on the airline website and then ask your TA to book, realizing, of course, that "lower fares may only be available when your flights are booked online." If you want to view Southwest Airlines options you will need to go directly to its website here; they are currently quoting as low as US87 one-way from OAK to PHX and US49 one-way from PHX-LAS. To access Southwest, as Dave (Jetwet1) says, you would have to fly out of Oakland Intl which is a quick hop across the bay from SFO.

Chuck-

thanks for all the replies folks as ever the forum members have been a valuable font of information to me [y]

One problem with the UK sites for booking US flights is that they don't allow booking within a few hours of the flight.
I was in San Francisco a few months ago and decided to fly to Las Vegas next evening. Even though time differences meant I was technically a day behind then, Expedia, Opodo etc wouldn't allow the booking. Did in the end just phone up the airline (Ted), mention I had a UK credit card and the woman just told me to pay at the airport when I went to collect the ticket...no problem there (well, just the automated airline answer phone, but pressing zero a few times at the start did take me straight to a real live person)

^ Yeah that's what i do. Give a UK credit card to secure the reservation then actually pay when you get to the airport.

Although unfortunately this practise marks you down for SSSS

""SSSS" ?????"

[honey lamb]

Originally posted by sailor99
"SSSS" ?????

The mark on your boarding card which "randomly" selects you for secondary screening in the USA

^ Yeah that's it!

But not random in my case - i fill most of the criteria - one way ticket, bought on day of departure, foreign credit card, and plus i must have one of those faces.

Hi,

On the new HP website, it says you can pay with a UK credit card but when I tried( SFO-PHX) it came back with an error. HP does have an international sales office in the UK but the phone was engaged constantly so I phoned the US intl phone number and got ticketed ( paid with UK Amex) and eticket issued straight away ( no additional charge)

Regards

TBS

hi everyone thanks once again for all the help i have a couple of questions if you could help me with

we will ether fly into lax or sfo we will then be travelling on to phoenix az. directly.
if i book my internal flight myself on the web (a) can virgin Atlantic book my luggage all the way to phoenix if i show them my tickets for the second flight at heathrow or (b)do we have to clear customs at lax/sfo and pick up or luggage then proceed to the second airline desk and recheck in.
equally so if i get virgin Atlantic to purchase my internal ticket to phoenix to connect with the vs flight would they book us all the way to Phoenix then we would just need to clear customs,and hopefully just make our way to the departure gate or would we still need to go to the second airline desk to re book in,
finally how long would you recommend that we leave between connecting flights i was thinking about 3 hrs

all the very best Andy

[buns]

Andy

Glad that you are finding the V-Flyer site useful[^]

(b)do we have to clear customs at lax/sfo and pick up or luggage then proceed to the second airline desk and recheck in.

You have it about right with this option[|:)]

No matter how you book etc you will be required to clear immigration and customs at the international gateway to the US.

Coming back of course is a different matter and you can get your luggage tagged all the way through back to the UK.

finally how long would you recommend that we leave between connecting flights i was thinking about 3 hrs

I would[y][y] But then I am the cautious type[:I][:I]