Are flights dearer this year?

A

ardman

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I've been searching flights for a week's holiday this summer (June/July/August) to Spain/Portugal. I know it's peak tourist season.
Does anyone else out there think that the prices are outrageously high this year?
 
Yes, we book flights to Spain at the same time every year and it is 200 euro more expensive than last year.
 
Indeed - on most dates in high season you'd be hard pushed to get return fares for under €400 to the sun-spots on EI and not much less on FR.
Some destinations are crazily priced -look at Burgas (Bourgas) in Bulgaria - nearly €600 return on many dates in July/August.
(baggage included in above prices)

A few points:-

- The Irish are fixated on EI/FR and rarely look at the websites of the twenty other airlines flying to Europe. To get to the sun will usually mean a change of flights in Ams/Fra/Zur or whatever is the hub city of the airline concerned, but there are sometimes better deals on these airlines than EI/FR. Try KLM, Swiss, Lufthansa etc etc (actually KLM have just announced a pric e sale for this summer)

- I know most posters here think tour operator package holidays died with the dodo, but considering the high cost of scheduled flights it may be worth booking such a package holiday especially for families.

-Considering one has to pay the full price immediately on booking a flight few people have so far this year actually booked their summer scheduled flight (as opposed to the very heavy bookings this year for packages when only a deposit was needed).
The airlines will look at their bookings after Easter and start making price decisions. Nobody in the travel business believes that after Easter the airlines they will increase the present fares because, bluntly, they're not that full. Does this mean they'll reduce them? I believe on many dates, yes

- Look at the prices of non-sun destinations. Some good deals. Rather than spend a fortune to get to boiling crowded hot-spots maybe a week in, for example, Denmark may not be a bad alternative.

-If one is an hour or so from Belfast then Easyjet has some slightly better prices deals ,especially now that sterling is cheaper.

If it is not vital to get to that one-and-only destination on that one-and-only date then one would be crazy or rich to book sun flights at the present prices.

(I miss being a travel agent)
 
I remember last trying to leave it until very late hoping airlines would drop prices in order to fill seats but alas that was not the case (even though they were still cheaper than the current prices). We have considered going the package holiday route but had not considered looking at other non-guaranteed sun options which is something we would consider. We have the opportunity to rent apartments privately but this would limit our flight destinations to either Murcia/Alicante or Malaga.
Thanks for feedback.
 
Dublin to Palma, Majorca - Ryanair - booked in February for 17th - 24th June
4 Passengers 920 return all in.

Price now 1169 so glad we booked early.
 
Even on routes they are closing down they are still determined to gouge the last they can out of them. Dublin-Bucharest has gone thru the clouds in the last few weeks.
 
I just looked up Aer Lingus Cork to Lanzarote mid/end Sept - over €200 each without bag! couldn't believe it, won't be going so!
 
Yes -no hard and fast rules. As the original fare in mid June was reasonable 230 return all-in not worth delaying.

Looking in more detail since last night at many fares I see it is certainly Aer Lingus who have -in my opinion - gone crazy.

For example, on the Duffys' dates on EI to Palma I didnt see flights for Mondays but on Sunday to Sunday with Aer Lingus 16/23 June the family fare, all-in, is an incredible €1.800 . The following w/end it exceeds €2.000 all-in ! (I keep thinking I've misread that).
And we're not talking peak demand season July-mid August

Strangely enough, Belfast has flights to Palma three times a week . On Sat 25th June for one week the fare inc bags is ca. 1.000 sterling for 4 persons - about €1200. That's six hundred euro cheaper than flying out of Dublin the following day. And the taxes are higher out of Belfast. Weird. Are we so rich down south?

(I feel guilty that I, wife and daughter are going to Salzburg in two weeks for €48 return p.p.)
 
People are paying for convenience. They get direct flights. No changing planes in such exotic locations as Milan Bergamo or Pisa. Aer Lingus can charge a premium for such a service.

People have an unending loyalty to Aer Lingus.
 
Anyone speculate when july ryanair flights will be included in a sale, currently only up to end of june. Flights def more expensive.
 
Back in the pre Ryanair days BA and Air Lingus reached agreement on fares and there was little competition.
We have now it appears reached a similar situation. There is little competition between airlines out of Ireland in 2013. Will competition authority investigate -- don't hold your breath.
 
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I have also noticed that the old trick of pricing the return leg of the flight much cheaper than the outgoing price is catching some people out. When you average out both legs they are still way to expensive.
Aer Lingus prices are very expensive and their 50% off today, sale is a bit of a joke.
 
I found prices to South France for a family with Aer Lingus / Ryanair very high this year. The Aer Lingus seat sale is just clever marketing. (They put the price up so they can claim a 50% discount).

We gave up on Aer Lingus this summer and booked with Lufthansa from Dublin to Frankfurt to Nice. Total journey time just over 4 hours. Also flight timings give us a full day at our destination on the way out and a full day on the way back but the main saving was that they were almost €2,000 cheaper than Aer Lingus. Pays to think outside the box. Love Aer Lingus but only when the price is right.
 
My flights down to 889 today (from a high of 1169 on the 23 March ,as in post above) ,paying with debit card , they must have read this thread , no rhyme or reason to it , pot luck when you book.
 
I also notice if you have the cheek to book a one way to Dublin from a non euro country they charge you in local currency rather than euro. They then helpfully offer to do a conversion at the end of the process which is to their advantage. Sneaky.
 
Great tip thanks. Just checke a fare I booked to Helsinki before the sale and glad to say the non sale price I paid was €100 cheaper than the sale price. Having already booked and paiod I wouldn't have liked to have found it cheaper in the sale all the same.
 

Aer Lingus have been doing this for years. I know that there is a post about this on AAM that was posted years ago. They put up the price so that they can reduce it in the sale but often the price is more expensive in the sale than before the sale.
 
Cheers Salaried . Did the trip. Indeed beautiful.

Have just booked something else amazingly cheap ....

Bucharest is served by TWO airlines from Dublin. One is the state airline Tarom and the other is called Blue.

I booked a return flight 2-13 September including taxes and luggage for €169 including taxes and luggage.
Bucharest is no great shakes but want to revisit places in Rom/Bulg before joining some friends in Bulgaria's Black Sea coast who've just paid over €460 for flights-only to Bourgas(Burgas) with Aer Lingus.

Now I know why Bulgarians in Ireland - prefer flying to Bucharest in Romania and taking a few hours bus trip to their homes, rather than pay double+ to Aer Lingus.
 
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