Time for another Vegas TR! Now with fast cars. 21st November to 30th November
Well what a year it has been since my last TR!
However just when I thought my annual November trip would not happen I get a call from a friend saying that his nephew works for McLaren F1 and can get us pit passes for the F1 in Vegas if we wanted to go. Well I am not sure I snap called as quickly in my life. Flights now booked, hotel all sorted and pass from my better half all done!
Going to be a longer stay this time as my friend and I are going for 9 nights.
I am flying for the first time with Virgin Atlantic on the 21st from London
Staying at the Horseshoe (Bally's) for 9 nights. 7 of these are comped which includes the F1 weekend which I have seen have been going for crazy prices. So only had to pay for the last 2 nights we are there. Think it was around $180 in total and that stupid resort fee (will see if I can get that comped when there).
Plan of action for me is to spend the weekend at the F1. I am hoping all this pit pass and stuff provides us with plenty of free food, drink and some fun experiences. I honestly am really looking forward to this part.
Will plan some shopping again as I can get some Christmas presents for the kids and the fact it is Black Friday while out there, hopefully pick up a few cheap deals.
Poker wise as my friend is a tournament player I will be joining him in a few but plan to play cash as much as I can.
Also have to keep my diamond status so I am sure there will be some degen action!
Going to be a longer stay this time as my friend and I are going for 9 nights.
I am flying for the first time with Virgin Atlantic on the 21st from London
Staying at the Horseshoe (Bally's) for 9 nights.
Sounds like a fun trip, and very Tracy Chapman-approved (Fast Car). 9 days is plenty of time for a lot of fun experiences 
I almost always use Virgin Atlantic on my trips to Vegas, and have always found it a very pleasant experience. Can hardly ever remember any significant delays, or any kind of unpleasant encounters while on board.
Horseshoe is also a great hotel selection; awesome location and the rooms are spacious and in decent shape.
Sounds like a fun trip, and very Tracy Chapman-approved (Fast Car). 9 days is plenty of time for a lot of fun experiences
I almost always use Virgin Atlantic on my trips to Vegas, and have always found it a very pleasant experience. Can hardly ever remember any significant delays, or any kind of unpleasant encounters while on board.
Horseshoe is also a great hotel selection; awesome location and the rooms are spacious and in decent shape.
Oh nice, gives me a bit of confidence as I have always flown British Airways to Vegas but Virgin was a good couple of hundred cheaper.
Always wanted to stay at the Horseshoe just for location wise and honestly a hostel would have been better than the Crapwell where I stayed last year!
I'm in, looking forward to interesting stories and pictures from the pit!
Well, both pits.
Oh nice, gives me a bit of confidence as I have always flown British Airways to Vegas but Virgin was a good couple of hundred cheaper.
Always wanted to stay at the Horseshoe just for location wise and honestly a hostel would have been better than the Crapwell where I stayed last year!
Unless you fly business or first class VA is MUCH better than BA. More modern planes, better seats, better service, etc etc.
In. Good luck at the tables and have fun at the races.
Wow, that’s gonna be an AWESOME trip!
Take lots of pictures, and good luck!
An F1 trip report. Sweeeeeeet !
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Oh nice, gives me a bit of confidence as I have always flown British Airways to Vegas but Virgin was a good couple of hundred cheaper.
Always wanted to stay at the Horseshoe just for location wise and honestly a hostel would have been better than the Crapwell where I stayed last year!
Really? Considering how expensive it is I would expect it to be very nice. Although it was a dump when it was the Barbary Coast.
The "hospitality tent" looks huge, should be good eats in there.
If you're a big gambler, look at the Diamond in a Day thread. Diamond people don't pay resort fees.
If you have a powerful flashlight, bring it. In case you feel like walking to the pit area.
Take lots of pictures. I have a nice pic of The Chin (Schumacher) at a kart race.
Really? Considering how expensive it is I would expect it to be very nice. Although it was a dump when it was the Barbary Coast.
The "hospitality tent" looks huge, should be good eats in there.
If you're a big gambler, look at the Diamond in a Day thread. Diamond people don't pay resort fees.
If you have a powerful flashlight, bring it. In case you feel like walking to the pit area.
Take lots of pictures. I have a nice pic of The Chin (Schumacher) at a kart race.
Thank you yeah hopefully lots and lots of pictures on the way!
The Cromwell last year I felt was awful. The walls were paper thin and could pretty much hear every conversation the couple in the room next to me were having. The nightclub at the weekend was also just super loud so my room was practically rattling. Maybe it was luck of the draw with my room being in a terrible place for noise but it was also not as clean as most rooms in Vegas. Out of a group of 13 of us last year 10 complained about their rooms and without hesitation got some form of comped apology.
I thought Diamond did not pay resort fees and I thought I was diamond, but I checked and it looks like I am platinum instead. Will check for offers as I am sure last year if you got 1000 points in a day they topped you up a bonus 500. Whatever happens I want to keep platinum status for next year as it seems to get me a week comped room.
Thank you yeah hopefully lots and lots of pictures on the way!
The Cromwell last year I felt was awful. The walls were paper thin and could pretty much hear every conversation the couple in the room next to me were having. The nightclub at the weekend was also just super loud so my room was practically rattling. Maybe it was luck of the draw with my room being in a terrible place for noise but it was also not as clean as most rooms in Vegas. Out of a group of 13 of us last year 10 complained
unbearable noise is a very consistent comment about Cromwell
Unless you fly business or first class VA is MUCH better than BA. More modern planes, better seats, better service, etc etc.
+1
Flew Upper Class (out) and Premium Economy (back) from Manchester to Vegas in September.
Sounds like OP won't be able to do what I did and use airmiles to help upgrade, but worth exploring using cash instead IMHO
+1
Flew Upper Class (out) and Premium Economy (back) from Manchester to Vegas in September.
Sounds like OP won't be able to do what I did and use airmiles to help upgrade, but worth exploring using cash instead IMHO
They are currently wanting £7,253 extra just to upgrade to Upper Class for the outbound journey which I am sure no one with any sense can justify, Premium is only £500odd more which is tempting.
Probably will wait till I get to the airport and ask then. Last year I got a really decent upgrade to Business Class on BA just waiting till the last minute.
They are currently wanting £7,253 extra just to upgrade to Upper Class for the outbound journey which I am sure no one with any sense can justify, Premium is only £500odd more which is tempting.
Probably will wait till I get to the airport and ask then. Last year I got a really decent upgrade to Business Class on BA just waiting till the last minute.
£7,253? Yikes!!!
Reminds me of the scene in Star Wars where Luke and Obi-wan are negotiating with Han Solo for the trip to Alderaan.
"10,000 - all in advance"
"10,000? We could almost buy our own ship for that"
"Yeah, but who's gonna fly it kid. You?"
One of my poker buds who flies a lot for business says look at upgrades 1-2 days before departure. If there's something available, can often get it for cheap.
Of course, that's USA#n domestic, international may not be similar.
Looking forward to some feedback on your trip as I have the Vegas Grand Prix planned for next year.
I think the tickets you’ve been offered are almost a money can’t buy experience if you have access to the McLaren hospitality unit. Not sure if you’re aware but a weekend paddock club ticket currently costs £13,905 for the Vegas weekend and it seems as if you have 1 better than that if you have access to the pits and the McLaren hospitality.
On the food and drink I’m sure the quality will be very good. I was lucky enough to attend the Montreal GP in the paddock and the food was unbelievable - I think the paddock club uses the same catering company for every Grand Prix they go to.
Upper Class is (I assume) pretty sick; can I ask how you managed to afford that? Did you have a sh*t ton of points from previous flights, or?
Upper class is what BA call Business class from what I can see. Same fold out bed etc.
I have stuck a bid in for an upgrade of £700 as I think that is as much as I am willing to spend extra (which would have been the cost of the hotel if it was not comped). Who knows if I do not get it I might have to give someone a reach around at the airport for one.
Looking forward to some feedback on your trip as I have the Vegas Grand Prix planned for next year.
I think the tickets you’ve been offered are almost a money can’t buy experience if you have access to the McLaren hospitality unit. Not sure if you’re aware but a weekend paddock club ticket currently costs £13,905 for the Vegas weekend and it seems as if you have 1 better than that if you have access to the pits and the McLaren hospitality.
On the food and drink I’m sure the quality will be very go
The scary thing about this is that the last time I ever went to a GP was when I was little in the late 80s when McLaren had the red and white livery. My parents were given a pit pass by them for the Silverstone GP and I still have the photos of the pits and the car inside it. Think it will be cool to get some comparison photos to the late 80s to now. Honestly my excitement levels are at an all time high!
Plus from Sunday I have a full week to relax and degen. It looks like there is a WSOP circuit event on where I am staying at the Horseshoe that week so I may try and bring home a ring which would be a rather sick ending to the 9 nights.
The cars certainly won’t sound as good as they did in the 80/90s!
Enjoy, I’m sure you’ll have a great time.
Thank you yeah hopefully lots and lots of pictures on the way!
The Cromwell last year I felt was awful. The walls were paper thin and could pretty much hear every conversation the couple in the room next to me were having. The nightclub at the weekend was also just super loud so my room was practically rattling. Maybe it was luck of the draw with my room being in a terrible place for noise but it was also not as clean as most rooms in Vegas. Out of a group of 13 of us last year 10 complained
Makes sense, it was probably built as a cheap dump way back when.
Yes, the CET daily bonus is nice. I think it's 5000 if you hit 2500 tc. If you earn 1000, the bonus is 1000.
BTW, if you want to see fast cars for free, walk around in the Wynncore. There are McLarens parked in the hallways.
The cars certainly won’t sound as good as they did in the 80/90s!
Enjoy, I’m sure you’ll have a great time.
I went to both Vegas GP's, 81 and 82, when the Ferrari's still had 12 bangers. We were staying in the Stardust, which is where Resorts World is now. We could hear them when practice started - from inside our room. The track was at Caesars.
Those were the days. We got garage passes for $15. I'm not sure if you can buy them at all now. We got to walk around and annoy the mechanics. They gave us a bunch of stickers and whatnot. It was the last race of the year and teams were selling spare parts. One guy bought an entire top half of car bodywork, to hang on his wall I guess. A mechanic tried to sell us his sandals made from tire tread. "These have been round the world, you know".
We got to sit much closer to the track too. But the best sound was the late 90's cars - 22,000 rpm. Ferrari brought a 4 year old car to Laguna Seca to try and establish a new record. Man, that car could rip. Unfortunately that was the era of treaded tires, and he couldn't match the time of the Indy car, which had huge slick tires.
Upper Class is (I assume) pretty sick; can I ask how you managed to afford that? Did you have a sh*t ton of points from previous flights, or?
I took out a Virgin Atlantic credit card about 18 months ago as their rate of 1.5pts per £1 spent is apparently really good ( https://www.headforpoints.com/2024/06/23...)
They also offer an annual travel voucher (also discussed above I believe) if you meet a spending target, which allows you to get a free companion ticket or use the voucher to upgrade cabins.
I initially used mine to upgrade from economy to premium and then, a week or so before the trip, I used points and about £230 in cash for taxes/fees to upgrade to Upper Class
(Of course it turns out the flight was virtually empty in economy so I could have just gone cheap and had a row to myself :p )
Upper Class is (I assume) pretty sick; can I ask how you managed to afford that? Did you have a sh*t ton of points from previous flights, or?
Upper Class isn’t as good as other business class services IME. Still of course way way better than economy and premium economy but the seat isn’t as spacious and way less storage.
One of my poker buds who flies a lot for business says look at upgrades 1-2 days before departure. If there's something available, can often get it for cheap.
Of course, that's USA#n domestic, international may not be similar.
This doesn’t work on my carriers. They actively start reaching out to frequent flyers to sell them upgrades 72 hours before flights. And honestly the seats aren’t much different from just buying bus class a month or so earlier
I’ve never done it but apparently the best way is actually on the plane as you hoard. By which time they know the seat is empty and the price drops right down
