flights

[debra]

Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?   Flight prices have gone absolutely crazy - we have to book 20 plus!!!

[Waspman]

Yes, they have gone crazy. Our flights for June 2013 (for two of us) booked last year with Easyjet were £340 including luggage, select seats and admin fee.

Now, exactly the same flights/times with Easyjet including the same options are £693

Thomsons cost for the same dates are now £842 and Thomas Cook now charges £522

Our flights to Corfu in September 2013 have so far gone up by £66. I expect that by May/June 2013 that cost would have increased significantly.

[D@G]

Booked our flights (x3 for May) last November £850. They are now £200 cheaper

2 weeks independent this year still works out £400 cheaper than the same 2 weeks with thomsons last year though.  

[Jimbo]

This is probably the most expensive time of the year to book flights. I booked Leeds/Corfu in November for £244 each including baggage and seat reservations.

Just checked and about £60 more now.

After Easter is good, if you can wait.

[Bristle Boy]

Where do you normally fly from Debra?

I did cover this in another thread before Xmas but Ejet from Bristol are letting Thomas Cook package holidaymakers use some of their flights to southern europe. Inevitably this pushes up prices quite quickly.
And if an airline is flying to a destination only a couple of times/week then obviously demand is high.

You may have noticed in recent days that both Tui (thomson) and Thomas Cook have had favourable comments from analysts in the financial pages of the newspapers.

They've streamlined their business models, greater efficiencies and generally better run businesses that have effectively caught up with the current climate, post global financial crisis.

I think the travel consumer is facing a much tougher travel climate than the last 5 years, where flight bargains especially were commonplace.
The travel industry seems to be emerging from its overcrowded marketplace of a few years ago and is much leaner and fitter.

That's how i see it anyway. Hence, consumer travel bargains are getting harder to find, unless one is almost super flexible on time, date, destination, etc.

Book early seems to be the motto - certainly with flights - on the day Ejet release their flights.

[Andy7]

I have noticed how expensive they are, easyjet in particular although I managed to get some reasonable dels by booking the day they came out.

September with easyjet is a joke, I booked mine the day they came out but they wanted crazy money from manchester so i saved over £200 going from Luton.

Yes it's a trek but the flight times are better and I would rather save the cash.

I don't think we will be having any sneaky weekends in San Stephen this summer, managed to get last minute Friday and Monday flights for about £100 each last summer, I reckon such deals will be thin on the ground this season.

Andy

[debra]

I have to come in the school holidays - this year our son is getting married on 1st August - so accommodation booked from July 26th - the best airport for us is East Midlands then Birmingham, Doncaster Sheffield ok and so too is Manchester.

[tonyco1]

We looked in November and I said  - we won't bother - about £280 each
Booked EJ in January and paid (with all the extras) £138 each - - you really do need to Pricewatch weekly and not panic buy.
If you can be a touch flexible - some days the prices are really good...

[D@G]

We looked in November and I said  - we won't bother - about £280 each
Booked EJ in January and paid (with all the extras) £138 each - - you really do need to Pricewatch weekly and not panic buy.
If you can be a touch flexible - some days the prices are really good...

We would have loved to be flexible but not possible this time. We need to travel within the may/june school holidays and to be able to do a fortnight meant the only flight option was the Friday evening Thomas cook from manchester. Terrible flight time, particularly with a 4 year old with us but what's the alternative? A week? No thanks

[Bristle Boy]

We looked in November and I said  - we won't bother - about £280 each
Booked EJ in January and paid (with all the extras) £138 each - - you really do need to Pricewatch weekly and not panic buy.
If you can be a touch flexible - some days the prices are really good...

I think it depends where you fly from normally though, Tony.
I believe Ejet flies from Gatwick to Corfu everyday in the summer months. From the regionals it may only be twice a week, plus we now have the added impact of the Thomas Cook/Easyjet partnership at the regionals.
I just looked at Ejet Gatwick to Corfu and yes there are still reasonable deals available if one can be flexible. Bristol flights with Ejet defo not so though.

[tonyco1]

Yes - - I take the point - - over a barrel comes to mind with school holidays as well...
But over the years I notice that E-Jet especially, with low sales goes low in price..
once they have gone into profit on a flight (past the point they cannot suffer any loss at all - which they average out),
the prices then rise - they know that they will sell most of these seats and charge a premium to maximise profit,
cynical and clever.... and if you need that flight... you will pay!