Easter 2014 Flights - Scary Prices

[Tonish]

Market forces I'm afraid. The airlines charge more for flights in school holidays than other times because naturally demand is higher. Having said that how many of us villa owners charge more for school holidays than other times

It's more than market forces. I wouldn't object if it was simply market forces. Do you double or treble your rent at holiday time? I have seen Virgin prices jump from £400 to £1200 for the same trip over different dates. If demand shoots up, they could increase capacity and keep the price similar, for example. Instead they maintain a reduced capacity and inflate the price dramatically on a captive group of customers. Virgin are probably the worst offender. They use families at holiday time as a cash cow and it is exploitative.

[Laurel Oak]

It's more than market forces. I wouldn't object if it was simply market forces. Do you double or treble your rent at holiday time? I have seen Virgin prices jump from £400 to £1200 for the same trip over different dates. If demand shoots up, they could increase capacity and keep the price similar, for example. Instead they maintain a reduced capacity and inflate the price dramatically on a captive group of customers. Virgin are probably the worst offender. They use families at holiday time as a cash cow and it is exploitative.

Fair point but whilst people are prepared to pay these inflated prices they will continue to charge them. Its not just Virgin who are charging these prices, Thomsons and Thomas Cook are charging over £1,000 for an economy flight at Easter.

The best people can do is fly indirect with the likes of US Airways and then maybe Virgin and the like may reduce their prices. I know if I get stupid prices from Virgin I will be going via Philadelphia, New York or Chicago again as i have done in the past.

[Dads_Taxi]

Just looked out of curiosity at Easter 2014 Flights (5/4 out and 19/4 back from MAN) for an indirect flight and US Airways are coming in at £697 and Delta are £860 so it looks like you can make quite a saving if you are prepared to go through one of the hubs.

Being pedantic (which should be my middle name) US Airways is £721 for a sensible arrival time at MCO, the cheaper flights get you into Orlando at 9pm or 11pm, and having previously done those I know I'm virtually incapable of driving on the wrong side of the road in an automatic when my body thinks it is 2 or 4 in the morning.

You're absolutely right though, if we could stick to the indirect flights it might have an effect on the prices of the direct flights. In this particular case we are in the fortunate position of being able to afford (if not justify) Thomas Cook's extortionate price and we've gone for it. In the future I expect we'll be back to the indirect routes, but the kids won't be as small by then.

When I was researching all these flights, which my family will tell you has been virtually every waking hour for the last four weeks (including waking up in the middle of the night and having a look just in case for some reason the prices drop when everyone in the USA and UK are asleep!) I came to the conclusion that Aer Lingus via Dublin was the best way to get there. They released their flights before many of the other airlines, at £840 return. Unfortunately there are no flights from Dublin to Manchester on a Sunday morning, so having arrived shattered and jet-lagged from Orlando to Dublin, there was then almost a seven hour wait to do the last 40 minutes of the journey! I think psychologically that would drive the seven of us up the wall!! So they were definitely the best way to get there, but not to get back.

I'm pleased to see I've started such a good debate though.

[Katys Grandad]

It is indeed an interesting debate and we will all have differing views.

I must say that I personally wouldn't pay over £1,000 to fly economy transatlantic. That's partly because it seems an lot of money to me but mostly because I would feel I was just being exploited by the airline because I can only travel during a particular period. I probably could afford to pay it but I'd put it in the same category as being asked to pay £10 for popcorn at a cinema, i.e. the vendor is just taking advantage of me because I don't have a real alternative. Like Peter, I think I'd just do without or travel less often. I fear there's nothing anybody can do about it because it's clear that people will pay it (and that's fair enough and purely for them to decide).

Personally I don't fly Virgin because I think they do exploit their passengers due to what is close to a monopoly on direct MCO flights. What's really needed is some real competition on the route but nobody appears to want to take that up.

[GarethP]

Interestingly - I've just dug out the prices for the last few times we've been (all Virgin Atlantic - Man-MCO);

24th Mar 2006 - 3rd April 2006 - 2 x adults, economy - £867.20
11th Apr 2008 - 23rd April 2008 - 2 x adults, PE - £1,413.60 - Miles + money
30th April 2010 - 12th May 2010 - 2 x adults, economy - £826.40
24th July 2012 - 3rd August 2012 - 3 x adults and 1 x child, Economy out, PE return - £4,771.89 (school Holidays)

We're looking for this time next year - PE back is a must - think we'll be going indirect...

[Segdude]

We decided earlier today to go back next summer, but reading this thread I think we might just change our destination. With 3 full priced children, and limited to school holidays, looks likely we will face a £5k+ bill if we use Virgin again. We were there at Christmas (flew on 22nd Dec) and paid roughly £800 each economy, if it gets close to £1000 each I simply wont bother.

Nick

[andycoll]

I don't understand the pricing either as I booked my flights through jetsave last November for this November (which we do every year when we return back from Florida) and it was around £700 per person.
how they get to this price I don't know but how they can sell me a seat that hasn't been released by the airline astounds me.

[E. Cosgrove]

We have just booked Easter, school holidays, for £659 with Expedia, I got Nectar points as well[]. That is with US airways flying from Heathrow ( which is closer for us than Gatwick) via Charlotte. Leaves London at 10.40 and with 2hour 20 min stopover we arrive in Orlando at 6pm. For an Easter holiday flight I am more than happy with that price and my grand daughter does not have to miss any school. We have done this airline/ route before, strangely enough that was Easter as well so I have no reservations

[Dads_Taxi]

Nicely done, that's far more acceptable. Keep an eye out for us whilst you're there, I'll wear my Orlando Villas cap

[Katys Grandad]

We have just booked Easter, school holidays, for £659 with Expedia

That's a good find and much better than some of the fares being posted recently.

The most interesting thing for me is that the frequently repeated "you always have to book as soon as fares are released to get the best deals" has again been shown to be flawed. I personally have never found it to be the case and this looks like further proof that there really aren't any hard and fast rules in all this.

Sometimes early booking works best but it's by no means always the case.