Is it me or are flight prices actually getting even HIGHER?

[Katys Grandad]

I'm looking for flights from Manchester to Florida in May next year for my sons and I am astounded by the high fares being asked.

They're flexible on dates, route and even which Florida airport to fly into but I can't find anything worth buying much under £700 at the moment. I'd probably expect that level in school holidays but this is term time and midweek travel. I'm hoping something better turns up and there will be the usual sales around the end of the year but the discounts will need to be very good for them to pull the trigger for 2014.

[Mo Green]

They definitely are. Five years ago I bought a ticket for £350 out of season and £500 at Christmas. In January we are flying to Florida using Airmiles and the tax alone is £333 each. I did write to our local MP regarding the huge increase in tax on the tickets. I was far from alone and it was brought up in Parliament but I suspect that it is an easy tax for the government to claim and one which they will not want to reduce.

[SDJ]

We managed to take advantage of the Virgin sale for our flights in May 2014, but over here in Florida now and looking for next Oct/Nov. Prices very high and hardly anything under £700 and we are really really flexible and don't need to do direct either. United was coming in the cheapest at around £700. Ridiculous. We paid £520 this year for November!![:O]

[Tony G]

Don't get me started on flight prices!

How is a family of four ever expected to leave the country? Especially during school holidays.

I travel alone and it's difficult for me, I can only imagine what it's like for those who travel with their families.

[freddiehollie]

Tony.... Maybe "they" don't want us to;-);-)

[Tony G]

lol!

[shockey]

In January we are flying to Florida using Airmiles and the tax alone is £333 each.

The £333 is probably not all tax. Some airlines add surcharges on "free" tickets. Our frequent flyer miles are mostly with United, who seem better than most in their charges. We're using United miles to go to Hawaii and Florida in January, quite a complicated itinerary involving 8 separate flights, and we're paying £117.66 each in tax, of which the UK bit is about two-thirds and the next highest bit is Germany, where we are just changing planes on the way back. We're using 6 US airports (Washington, Los Angeles, Molokai, Honolulu, Houston and Orlando), and total US taxes are £18!

[kitch50]

When we went in 2012 our flights were £700 each, I don't foresee us going anywhere soon if the prices keep going up and up .....

[carolmc]

Last year we went in August....mad prices, usually, however I didn't book flights until 15th March and flew US Airways via Charlotte to MCO for $1,000 for the two of us.....way less than anything I could find looking very early on.
I have done this for the last five trips and always with a good result. I wonder if the airlines know full well that people will "pay anything" to secure the dates they want and so book as soon as the flights appear and they can charge whatever they like.??....then the rest of us get to fly a lot cheaper by waiting as they don't want to have empty seats.
Just my experience and thought it worth sharing.

[Katys Grandad]

Last year we went in August....mad prices, usually, however I didn't book flights until 15th March and flew US Airways via Charlotte to MCO for $1,000 for the two of us.....way less than anything I could find looking very early on.
I have done this for the last five trips and always with a good result. I wonder if the airlines know full well that people will "pay anything" to secure the dates they want and so book as soon as the flights appear and they can charge whatever they like.??....then the rest of us get to fly a lot cheaper by waiting as they don't want to have empty seats.
Just my experience and thought it worth sharing.

That's interesting Carol.

May I ask whether those flights were from the UK or the Irish Republic?