Gatwick / Las Vegas travel advice please

Hi,

Going to Vegas in just over a month now, and looking for tips from seasoned travellers. First time I've flown on Virgin. Does that make me a Virgin or something??

Anyway - on line check in. We intend to use this, but have read on trip advisor that that bag drop can be lengthy, so despite getting to Gatwick in good time people weren't able to use the V Room. We have paid for this facility, so will be mightily hacked off if we don't get to use it. I think at the time the comments were left on trip advisor there had been some change to baggage allowances/distribution so that caused the queues. Anyone able to say if the online check in and bag drop facility is running OK at present?

We are in ecomomy, and don't expect to get anything other than the basics. However, are there any freebies or extras that are routinely available if we have the cheek to ask ?

Any tips for Las Vegas airport on the way home? Is there a twilight check in for example, or facility to check in online as we may well have internet access. The main reason for checking in online is to get seated together as a family with reasonable seats - although we have never had a problem with this in the past. Hoping for a slightly easier time at Gatport Airwick by onlne check in though.

Any general advice from you seasoned travellers appreciated!

If you use online check in you can still use the ordinary desks to drop bags off if need be (the EC check in queue may be longer than the bag drop off though).I'm not aware of changes to baggage allowances - Ec is 2x 23kgs (and has been for a long time).We were at LGW a few weeks back and the bag drop seemed to be working OK (admittedly we didn't use it).I'm not sure what 'freebies' you're looking for? Your meals and drinks are provided free.
LAS can be a zoo. No twilight, so my advice would be to check in online, drop the bags as early as possible and then head back to the strip.Have fun.
DL

Hi,

First of all when travel on Virgin I usually tend to do online checkin and then twighlight if im travelling from Gatwick. When I have done bag drop at Gatwic, in my experiance the queues a just as bad as the regular economy queues. My advise would be to get to the Airport as early as possible as the v-room is fantastic especailly travelling with kids.

My only tip would proberly be if seated in economy to try not to sit to near to the back as immigration can be lenghty.

At Las Vegas airport there isnt Twighlight checkin but you can do online checkin and try to reserve seats. Las Vegas airport is pretty basic proberly because Virgin use International terminal 2 which has like one shop and gets extreemly bussy when the Virgin flight departs, also the Vegas flight is always almost late departing Vegas im not sure why though. when we flew LAS-LGW last year we taxied around the runways for about an hour.

Have a great trip

check in at vegas opens around 10am.i would check in and head back to mandalay bay which is close.aslo if the flight is delayed they will tell you at check in.

All good advice above - from my own experience last summer we left the Strip in what we assumed to be plenty time to get to the Airport in time to return the hire car, drop bags etc. Due to traffic on and around the Strip we were left cutting it very close and if not for the [oo]Shuttle Driver[oo] from the Car Hire Center who was meant to go direct to T1 going out of his way and dropping us at T2 first we'd probably have missed the flight [:I] - I wish I'd read the hint about dropping bags at 10 o'clock then heading back to the strip this time last year!!

Last year was our first time with Virgin (E out and PE back) and everything was beyond our expectation - had a small seating issue before the outbound flight but this was resolved pretty quickly. I'm not a seasoned traveller by any streach, have flown with various Airlines and with the exception of Maxjet & Silverjet service levels onboard Virgin (and before the flight) were much higher than most. I don't ask for much nor expect much from the Crew when flying but the crews on our flights seemed to go above and beyond where they could.

We used the Twighlight Bag Drop in LGW which worked well for us having flown in from Scotland the night before.

All in all a good experience, can't wait for the next one. Sit back relax and enjoy the break!

Stewie,

Great source of advice on LGW-LAS flights are the trip reports for the VS043. Just hit the 'trip report index' tab for access to reports posted about previous LAS flights.

If you are close enough to LGW then Twilight Check-In is well worth it. You then just turn up the next morning and make immediate tracks for the V-Room.

Enjoy the buzz in Las Vegas [:D]

Thanks for all the advice

We can't do twilight at Gatwick because we don't live near. Going to get there as early as possible. We have got a 2 hour drive, so we will have to scrum it. However, it's good to know we can get the seats we want online then pick the shorter of the queues to check in the baggage. Do they have several check in desks working, or do they have one open with a 4 mile queue? I guess we aren't too worried about the return journey, but we do want the holiday to start well!

If you live two hours away and driving you're probably going to have to park the car somewhere when you get to LGW. Sometimes a hotel with parking is not much more than parking itself (holidayextras are usually pretty good). Check in will open at 6 so unless you really want to be leaving at stupid o'clock it may be worth considering. The other thing to remember is that whilst on-line check in is usually available isn't not allways, and a number of seats are not available for selection on-line.
DL