Flight needed from LON to SFO

[designbunny]

Just wondering if any of you UK burners who can't go (very sorry about that, I may be in the same boat at this rate) have booked flights that you need to sell?

I have my Burning Man ticket, but have been holding off on booking the flights because I didn't know if I was able to get early entry or not. Now when I look at flights they have gone up to £780 odd rather than the more reasonable £400 that was advertised - mostly due to the advertised prices apparently not existing when you phone the companies blergh

If anyone can help me out - either with flight tickets to change into my name, or perhaps a gift, it would be very much appreciated. I'm happy to help work off my debt at camps, or perhaps on your farm etc after the event.

It's annoying that if I wasn't a Burner, I could sell my ticket at scalper rates, and then have enough to pay for both flights and a face value ticket!! PLease help me not to have to take this option!

[junglesmacks]

Just curious.. what dates are you trying to fly?

[designbunny]

oops that would help!

To be in SFO for Aug 19/20 to be back in LON Sep 16 - Can leave before this of course, but I don't mind staying to help clean up.

[junglesmacks]

True, £761 was the lowest I could find. I would say to be patient though.. prices will be coming down sharply with the price of oil dropping like a rock. Although.. clock is ticking.

[Cheyenne]

Fly yourself to LA from London - they are super cheap still - our campmate just booked his from Heathrow to LAX for £500 (and that was even with BA). Then get the train to SF if you REALLY need to start your journey from there... the train is $60 last time I checked ... we are travelling from LA to playa from the norf of Engerland...

Flying to SF automatically bumps the price up as it is a regional hub rather than a national one like LAX.

Just a thought...

We paid £600 each to LAX from Manchester via Philly... still more than I would have liked, but our flakey mates who bailed on us left us hanging around to book flights when we could have done so a month earlier and saved a 150 quid...

Ps - just saw your in Northampton, why not try a different airport, like east midlands - sometimes (and I know its a bit wierd) but its cheaper to get a connection by air to the capital and then connect to USA...

[designbunny]

Thanks

Which company / agent / website did you book your flights through?

Just got told by Flight Centre that the cheapest flight to SFO is £859 and LON to NYC is £763... I'll try for LA.

[Cheyenne]

Whoa!

those a rediculous! I went with flight centre - they were super helpful... but that was 2 mths ago when I booked... but looky at this link for BA:

they have gone up a bit, but still under £700

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/fx ... 0809023530

Also look up the Cheapflights.co.uk and the flying eagles deal which is coming in at under £500.

Remember that if you are flexible on days, midweek is always the cheapest time to fly...

If you are coming to LA - hook up with us to say hi before you go to SF

[designbunny]

Not sure why this post has been moved?! I put it in the logical place of tickets, as a lot of UK burners are selling tickets, I thought they might be selling flights as well.

[designbunny]

If you ring Flight Centre they actually know what they are talking about & can help you find the best price!

The flights get cheaper to the USA after Aug 22nd, as this is their cut off date for the summer fares - good to know eh! So a flight LON to LAX gets reduced by about £223 if I fly Aug 23 and not Aug 18.. a few days might not make that much difference - if I can't get early entry, maybe I can stay and help moop swoop or something

[some seeing eye]

Early entry is vanishingly unlikely because those passes are rare and extremely valued. Many international visitors gather in the cool hotels SF, maybe Reno, inbound and outbound. Ridesharing in from SF= instant community.

San Francisco and surrounds, and the wilds of the West within a day's car drive are quite amazing. You might also see if you can line up some consulting in a creative or tech field while visiting to defray costs. Not participating this year, but have found international visitors a great contribution to BM, enjoy!

[Cheyenne]

there you go, result

chances are, if you are flying from Heathrow on the 23rd - you are flying with our RV campmate Doug - hes flying out to LA from Heathrow that day

[theCryptofishist]

"Tickets" pertains to burningman tickets. Plus you don't want to be in that hothouse right now, trust me on this.

[illy dilly]

So a flight LON to LAX gets reduced by about £223 if I fly Aug 23 and not Aug 18.. a few days might not make that much difference -

Thats nuts! Who would have thought that 4 days are worth £223.

With out Early Entry Pass, it would be silly to fly in before the 23rd. It just means that many more days you would need to get a hotel, get around in taxis, and buy restaurant food. If you get to SFO on the 23rd you will have 5 days to gather the remaining supplies you need, and a lot more money saved!

[Cheyenne]

Absolutely lots more money saved... we fly back on the 8th September - I can't afford to stay in California any longer than I have to - and I have a business to run - I'd love to, but I can't

[designbunny]

Just a quick update... I managed to book my flights! Persistence pays off! Had to email a few screen grabs of deals to Flight Centre, but since they price match, I'm now sorted! Shows it's good to shop around & do a bit of leg work..

See you on the playa!

[junglesmacks]

Just a quick update... I managed to book my flights! Persistence pays off! Had to email a few screen grabs of deals to Flight Centre, but since they price match, I'm now sorted! Shows it's good to shop around & do a bit of leg work..

See you on the playa!

Just curious.. what did you end up paying for which dates?

[designbunny]

Paid £456 for LON to LAX Aug 24-Sep 13

It's about £40 for a flight to SFO, or maybe I can find a rideshare, but still, way cheaper than the £700/800 they were quoting to SFO!

[swampdog]

Just for curiousity I did some searching on kayak.com, which is some sort of meta-search tool for airline rates. I don't know if it works from teh UK. It's got some interesting features like tools that show which days have the cheaper flights. You can save a bit by flying Monday Aug 22 rather than Friday Aug 19. And Gatwick seems cheaper than LHR.

[Cheyenne]

Thats mental that you got it for that cheap - I couldn't find ANYTHING going from Manchester for that small price!! Maybe next time, I'll do the screenshot thing... I didn't know they price matched - but to be honest, when I checked - £600 was the cheapest price.... Maybe you were very lucky that there were some cheap seats left

Good on you!

[designbunny]

Yeah booking flights is a pain the ass! The prices you see advertised on websites like kayak and skyscanner only existed at one time, say 6 months ago, they can still advertise the flight at that price because they write 'from' in small letters at the side of it! It doesn't seem to matter that the price they are quoting doesn't actually exist anymore. Some places add the extras at checkout like tax, booking fees, admin costs & baggage allowance.
Flight Centre are good because they can see and tell you the real prices, in real time, for all flights/airlines. Also, if you ring up and they give you a price, you can have them hold it for a few hours, booked under your name, whilst you make your decision.

When I booked, the flight I was looking at was changing constantly from £457 to £539+ the booking agent said when more people search for the same flight online, the price moves according to demand, so it's best to ring up and get a live price. I'm sure I drove the booking agent a bit mad, I kept sending screen grabs going 'look, it's changed again!'

Also it is good to check the airline's website for their price - it gives a better indication of how much the flight actually is.

[BBadger]

Radical self-reliance at its best.

[Cheyenne]

Indeed... my flagolation style 'radical self reliance' was spending 10 solid hours a day for 2 weeks tweaking deals for a campervan for the burn - It paid off however, we got one for 10 days for £1100 including everything - mileage, bedding, kitchen stuff, suppl insurance etc..

But I think I paid way too much for the flight

[junglesmacks]

Yeah booking flights is a pain the ass! The prices you see advertised on websites like kayak and skyscanner only existed at one time, say 6 months ago, they can still advertise the flight at that price because they write 'from' in small letters at the side of it! It doesn't seem to matter that the price they are quoting doesn't actually exist anymore.

Hmm.. I travel 5-10 times a year, and live by Kayak. At least here with our US domestic airlines, it's a live search and the price quoted is always spot on with all taxes and fees included. I've never had it tell me once that it's not available or the price change after it searches. Maybe different for UK flights? In any case, nice work!

[designbunny]

Pleased that Kayak works well in the States, maybe it was just having a bad day when I searched on it!

Wow great price for the campervan!

[Cheyenne]

Yea, Kayak is great for the states.. but a bit wank for over here..

We used flight centre, and the agent was really good at getting us some extra requests, like exit seats n all that... my bloke is really tall and becomes unbearably whingey on long haul flights as he gets back trouble

[designbunny]

hmm good idea! I didn't know about asking Flight Centre for exit rows... i'm 6ft 2" so that would be great.