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Boston to London on Delta


bakersdozen12
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Hoping people with more experience flying to Europe, and also those that fly Delta often, can help me with a couple of questions. This is only my second time purchasing an international flight. 

 

I need to purchase tickets for June 15th to June 28th of next year (2020). We live very close to Logan Airport in Boston, and I would prefer something nonstop. I’ve been looking at British Airways and also Delta, and Delta seems cheaper. The flights I am looking at right now are $603 per person, round-trip. Does that seem like a good price? I know it’s very early, since they just opened up flights for that time period. I’m not someone that likes to gamble and book last-minute in an attempt to get the best deal possible, but I also don’t want to overpay. 

 

Also, the rate is a Main (not Basic) rate, so we are supposed to be able to choose our seats. However, when I click on the part to choose the seats I get a message saying that I cannot select seats now and to check back later. Is this because it’s too early to choose? Or do I need to pay for the flights first? It’s been awhile since I booked a Delta flight, so I can’t remember. 

 

Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide. 

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53 minutes ago, bakersdozen12 said:

 

Also, the rate is a Main (not Basic) rate, so we are supposed to be able to choose our seats. However, when I click on the part to choose the seats I get a message saying that I cannot select seats now and to check back later. Is this because it’s too early to choose? Or do I need to pay for the flights first? It’s been awhile since I booked a Delta flight, so I can’t remember. 

 

 

It's a decent price and I'd buy at this time because I'm risk-adverse.

 

As for seat selection, Delta often has Schedule Change Saturday where they will be doing live work on the reservations database and it's common for airline IT to remove the ability to select or change seats on Saturdays in the name of reducing computer processor use in the system as a whole, even if the flight you're buying or checking is not impacted by any of the schedule changes or equipment swaps they're working on. 

 

I've encountered it multiple times myself and when I go into my Skymiles account the Monday after I'll typically get some flashing red message about how my flight schedule has changed and my Atlanta to London fight is now departing at 6:38 instead of 6:35 and then have the ability to select or change seats in a perfectly normal way. 

 

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I started a dummy booking on Delta for the OP’s dates and noticed something that seems to be a bit unusual. There are 2 non stops that date at the price the OP quoted. Looking at the available seats shows that on both flights exactly the same seats are no longer available. A coincidence-maybe but it does seem strange to me.   Maybe someone with more knowledge has an explanation for this. I fly Delta frequently and have never had a problem selecting seats. 

 

To the OP,  if you haven’t done so already, download Delta’s app and make sure you select the notification option. You will then receive alerts about your flights. You also can track checked baggage. Nice to know that it has been loaded onto your flight.

 

BTW i feel that Delta’s service in Main on International flights is just a cut above other US carriers. 

Edited by purduemom1
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6 hours ago, bakersdozen12 said:

...

I need to purchase tickets for June 15th to June 28th of next year (2020). We live very close to Logan Airport in Boston, and I would prefer something nonstop. I’ve been looking at British Airways and also Delta, and Delta seems cheaper. The flights I am looking at right now are $603 per person, round-trip. Does that seem like a good price? ....

 

 

Be aware the $603 flights are operated by Virgin Atlantic airlines, using a Delta flight number. It may not make any difference to you on this relatively short flight.

I prefer to avoid buying tickets right after the flights become available since the fares are often high as the airlines "test the market" and see how many people are willing to pay those fares. Generally the fares may come down a bit if needed to sell tickets, and then increase again as the travel date approaches. But, none of us has a crystal ball. The decision is yours, but $603 is not a horrible fare.

As far as seat selection, I suspect the airline will not allow you to select a seat until after you purchase your ticket. You can look at the seat map in advance to see what's available. 

Edited by SFCAcruiser
typo
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1 hour ago, purduemom1 said:

I started a dummy booking on Delta for the OP’s dates and noticed something that seems to be a bit unusual. There are 2 non stops that date at the price the OP quoted. Looking at the available seats shows that on both flights exactly the same seats are no longer available. A coincidence-maybe but it does seem strange to me.   Maybe someone with more knowledge has an explanation for this. I fly Delta frequently and have never had a problem selecting seats. 

 

Saturday Delta IT weirdness is probably causing some sort of flight duplication in the system. I probably would wait until Monday when the schedule change issues have generally resolved themselves in order to book

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1 hour ago, SFCAcruiser said:

 

Be aware the $603 flights are operated by Virgin Atlantic airlines, using a Delta flight number. It may not make any difference to you on this relatively short flight.

I prefer to avoid buying tickets right after the flights become available since the fares are often high as the airlines "test the market" and see how many people are willing to pay those fares. Generally the fares may come down a bit if needed to sell tickets, and then increase again as the travel date approaches. But, none of us has a crystal ball. The decision is yours, but $603 is not a horrible fare.

As far as seat selection, I suspect the airline will not allow you to select a seat until after you purchase your ticket. You can look at the seat map in advance to see what's available. 

 

Yes, you are correct. I ended up calling Delta and after a 25 min hold found out that it was because they were actually Virgin Atlantic flights. Which means you have to then contact VA to select the seats. So, I ended up skipping the hassle and booked the flights directly through Virgin Atlantic. 

 

They might very well come down in price, but I decided to just go ahead and book them now so I can start making other travel plans. Like finding a hotel and transportation. I feel like the price was ok for a nonstop flight. If it had a connection, I probably wouldn’t have felt the same way. 

 

Thanks everyone!

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Strange, I was going to mention that it might be VA but that’s not usually the error you get when you try to reserve seats.  If you can’t book the seats, the Delta site will tell you they are with Virgin and to contact them.  I have IAD to MAN for this October.  Delta allowed me to reserve the VA seats but I logged into VA to be sure they were there.  They were reserved for the return but not for the outward bound so I fixed the omission.

 

If you can get a good price on Premium Economy it is definitely worth it on VA.  Have a great trip!

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2 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

Strange, I was going to mention that it might be VA but that’s not usually the error you get when you try to reserve seats.  If you can’t book the seats, the Delta site will tell you they are with Virgin and to contact them.  I have IAD to MAN for this October.  Delta allowed me to reserve the VA seats but I logged into VA to be sure they were there.  They were reserved for the return but not for the outward bound so I fixed the omission.

 

If you can get a good price on Premium Economy it is definitely worth it on VA.  Have a great trip!

 

I doubt if those flights are on VA - that's Virgin Australia.

 

Virgin Atlantic is VS.

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14 hours ago, bakersdozen12 said:

 

They might very well come down in price, but I decided to just go ahead and book them now so I can start making other travel plans.

 

I think $603 is a really good price, especially for a nonstop during the summer travel season AND to be flying in main cabin rather than on a basic economy ticket.  Sure they might go lower, but summer tickets to Europe can easily run double what you paid so I wouldn't sweat the fact that "maybe" at some point they'll be $500.  You got a good price, be happy with it.

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2 hours ago, waterbug123 said:

 

I think $603 is a really good price, especially for a nonstop during the summer travel season AND to be flying in main cabin rather than on a basic economy ticket.  Sure they might go lower, but summer tickets to Europe can easily run double what you paid so I wouldn't sweat the fact that "maybe" at some point they'll be $500.  You got a good price, be happy with it.

 

Yup, exactly how I feel. I’m not a gambler. I watched the prices for this past June and they were definitely higher. Maybe at some point lower, but not having to monitor prices constantly and having to stress about them going up is worth possibly paying a hundred dollars or so more per ticket. I’m good with it, and glad that’s one thing out of the way. I was also able to book our hotel last night and our car rental. Now, just have to figure about about excursions and transportation back to the airport after the cruise. 😊

Edited by bakersdozen12
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  • 2 weeks later...

I would book it at $603 in the main Cabin. Always remember its usually best to buy the tickets on the operating carrier rather than the codeshare as sometimes the codeshare like booking Lufthansa on a United Codeshare would result in a fee to select seats unless Lufthansa charges for it now.

 

 

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