Las Vegas in 2009

[Chipaccrual]

Would like to join you Neil but can"t afford it - just spent all my money on a new pc  

And I"ve just spent all your PC money on my flights  

Neil, I"m glad you took my advice and booked the first class upgrade.  I know it was another 3k, but I think you"ll find it is worth it.  Don"t forget to toast SirP when you open your first bottle of complimentary champagne.  

[THEGUY84]

Where is the best place to book your flight??

[SirPercival]

Would like to join you Neil but can"t afford it - just spent all my money on a new pc  

And I"ve just spent all your PC money on my flights  

Thanks Blair. I have tried the hotel sites themselves and MGM / MGM Signature, regardless of where I"m looking, are a bit out of our price range. We"re taking Scott (15) this time so I"m looking for more of a family room and happy to slum it in 3+ / 4 star. Ideally something between The Wynn and MGM at the south, with good pool areas.

I"m currently working through the recommendations above and tripres.com . It"s all good stuff.

I"m sure you win back the cost of the hotel in the poker tourneys Neil so just blow the budget and go for it!

[Jon MW]

Something to be aware of:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7822794.stm

There"s a new electronic form to fill in to replace the green form you used to fill in on the plane.

It generally sounds like an improvement, but you will get turned away at customs if you weren"t aware you had to do this beforehand.

[lukybugur]

I booked my flights through Expedia - the same as I did for Vegas last time. We"re;

Glasgow > Philadelphia, Philadelphia > New York for three days

New York > Vegas for 6 days

Vegas > Philadelphia, Philadelphia > Glasgow

We were £562 each (about £230 cheaper than we were able to find elsewhere), US Airways throughout.

[lukybugur]

There"s a new electronic form to fill in to replace the green form you used to fill in on the plane.

Thanks Jon, I was aware of this. The form and more details are available at

http://www.usembassy.org.uk/dhs/esta_info.html

I"m sure you win back the cost of the hotel in the poker tourneys Neil

WTF are you getting the confidence in my play from ... ??

[CrizzyConnor]

Where is the best place to book your flight??

I always book direct with airlines when travelling long haul... I normally do my research on lastminute, expedia, etc, and then when I find a good deal I go to the airline direct and source out that exact flight and usually knock another £20 odd off the price.

Try BMI Kenny, fly from Manchester and get connection for Glasgow to Manchester thrown in for free or small charge. There"s also some flights with Thomas Cook on selected dates that leave from Manchester, fly to Glasgow and pick up some passengers then fly direct to Vegas... there"s only two or three of these in the whole season though so best to phone Thomas Cook find out all the info - then say you"ll think about it and go online and book same thing without the fee to book over phone  

[Jon MW]

If you book direct with the airlines you won"t be covered if they go bust unless you pay with a credit card.

I went to Vegas via Philadelphia.

Be prepared for long delays - I was talking to some more regular travellers while I was there and there"s some problem with Philly (something to do with trying to cram too many flights in to make extra money) which means that it has persistent problems with delays.

[CrizzyConnor]

We"re taking Scott (15) this time so I"m looking for more of a family room and happy to slum it in 3+ / 4 star. Ideally something between The Wynn and MGM at the south, with good pool areas.

Flamingo had a very family vibe when I was there. Pool area had teenagers playing volleyball and loads of kids and families everyday. Only downside I forgot to say about the Flamingo is there was no poker room to my knowledge...

[lukybugur]

No poker rooms in the hotel is no problem. I hear there are one or two places nearby that do have

[THEGUY84]

cool ill have a look into it!

[RioRodent]

Bill"s Ganbling Hall & Saloon is pretty good at the budget end... top location on the Flamingo / Strip intersection (a la Ceasars/Ballagio/Bally"s).

Get a room on the south (Flamingo Rd) side for great views of the south strip and Bellagio fountains.

Their website won"t give prices beyond May at the moment for some reason, but 30 Apr for 6 nights would cost you $535 plus tax (9%)... wouldn"t expect July to be much/any dearer.

[RioRodent]

Where is the best place to book your flight??

If getting to Gatwick isn"t an issue and you are only going to Vegas, then I would strongly recommend flying direct with Virgin. It will most likely be a few pounds dearer, but [IMO] the advantages far outway the extra cost.

No connecting flights to miss, because your first flight was delayed by an hour... no hanging around for 4 hours in some departure lounge waiting for a connecting flight that"s been delayed... you can sit in a $1/$2 NL cash game for a couple of hours and win enough to cover the extra cost before those flying indirect even get there!

The international terminal at McCarran only has a handful of arrivals each day, none of which arrive anywhere near the same time as the Virgin flight... therefore, no delays at immigration / baggage carousels / taxi line. The domestic terminal has flights landing every 5 mins, no immigration (you did that somewhere else) but there can be long waits for bags and a long taxi line.

You arrive in the afternoon, no long queues at the hotel check-in... which can happen in the evening (especially Friday). And you will be there in time for the 7.00pm tourney at Ceasars, to be followed by the 2.00am at Binions and the 9.00am at the Rio!! (Well that"s what we did last time. )

[lukybugur]

We"ve just booked our accommodation in NY and Vegas this morning. In Vegas, we"re staying in the MGM Grand again after getting it down to a heads-up battle with MonteCarlo. As MonteCarlo is next to the construction site that is CityCenter, we"ve gone for the quieter, slightly more expensive option.

Thanks again for all the tips. I tried them all (thoroughly exhausting a lot of them) and in the end found TravelSupermarket to be cheapest, booking through CityandShow who don"t charge Credit Card fees.

[DJKebab]

Nice one Neil, very jealous!

City & Show seem to be one to remember, I also got a good deal from them for Bellagio a couple of years back.

You"ll be counting down the days I expect!