Are airlines ripping UK residents off?

[John Boy]

I am arranging a trip to Florida next week (10th to 18th) and because I live in Spain there are no direct flights to Orlando so I have been looking at flying to London and taking flight from there or Flying from Madrid to Miami and taking the 3-4 hour drive from there (Driving is a joy to me and I do this often)

I am astounded at the price differance
I will only quote following as it is direct comparison

London to Miami and back (Virgin) 580.50 Pounds
Madrid to Miami and back (Iberia) 305.00 Pounds

<span style=&#39;color:red&#39;>275Pound Saving - Nearly 50%</span id=&#39;red&#39;>
Should I decide to arrange via Iberia an internal flight from Miami to Orlando The full round trip would cost just 356 Pounds

<span style=&#39;color:red&#39;>In my eyes this is so wrong</span id=&#39;red&#39;>

What do you think

[blott]

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Having said that, I imagine that airlines would probably want to increase use of flights to Miami from Spain (I imagine it's not a mega popular route but you may know different) but have absolutely no reason to want to increase use of flights from UK to Florida and, because of the large amount of traffic in this direction from the UK, can charge more or less what they like and still get passengers.

[John Boy]

You know Blott I would love to meet you because I think your mouse is the real you trying to get out[msnwink].

Once again I understand your Logic and agree but it really does not answer the question do you think UK residents are getting ripped off on the price of flights seeing as another airline in another european country could charge nearly half the price for a flight of the same duration

[KevinT]

Hi John Boy,
Having travelled may times to Florida by different airlines and routes, I've come to the conclusion that the charters are dearest, but more convenient - as we can fly from our regional airport. The scheduled airlines are cheaper and it seems to depend how many stops you want to make (and plane changes) on the way. The more plane stops, the cheaper it becomes!(I still don't understand the logic of that!) You can easily knock about £200+ off a ticket to Orlando if you don't mind travelling for 20 hours, and via several airports. Last trip we went from Teesside via Amsterdam to Orlando/MCO saving about£180 on the price of a charter ticket (booked months in advance). We set off from home at 3am. KLM to Amsterdam at 6am. Martinair from Amsterdam(should have taken off 12 noon, but delayed 'til 13.15pm) After 8 hours from leaving home the air map showed we were flying over the North of England - Ripon to be exact -which is half an hours drive from our home.We still had 7 hours flying time to Orlando! Depending on where you want to fly from, going my Madrid might add quite some time onto your journey. I don't think I'd go via Amsterdam again. As for whether the airlines are ripping people off, It depends on a lot of factors like where your starting point is/ whether you need to book up months in advance or can go last minute / whether you want to go direct or by other airports. There are quite hefty discounts to be had if you're prepared to book a couple of weeks before travelling. I guess it 's one of those "You pays your money & -- etc"

Best Wishes for the bargain hunt!

KevinT.

[adh619]

US airlines do it as well. My friedn who is an American and lives in New York has to fly to Italy. She has saved $500 by flying to London then getting a cheapie to Italy - London is a main transport hub

Tony

[John Boy]

Hi Kevin & Tony

It makes absolutely no sense does it
Going via different hubs just adds so much time and stress to the trip and when its a holiday that’s just what you don’t want especially with kids
You need a holiday just to recover from the journey

I always like to do the direct route but in my comparison the journey is the same time durance so should be the same costs involved (fuel wise anyway)

I live in Spain so it is the same as living in England if you did the same journey same day same time you will pay 580 I will pay 305

Now apart from Blotts explanation which is very valid but unfair to the traveller (bit like the school price hikes but that’s another thread I’m sure) It is a complete rip off to the UK now that’s wrong.

[fiona]

We could have got much cheaper flights if we had flown to and from Italy - but what a start to the holiday! So if like us you take your holidays to fit in with your bookings then we have to fly with stopovers. In our case it was £395 this year for the July, which compared with the £650 / 700 being charged for non-stop flights leaves us with no choice at all.

the annoying this is the whole of July now seems to be high season for flights, whereas they used to go up from about the middle. One of the few benefits of paying for private education was our girls finished early so we could benefit from the cheap flights. Despite finishing on the 7th July this year it made no difference to the price.[xx(]

I have to say (and this will be the start of another argument I suppose) I thought the whole point of us joing the EEC was to harmonise on things like this. Why do things never go our way? Cheap food - ha! Petrol , wine[msnmad]. So what are the benefits? Strangulation with red tape for business, loads of laws and higher cost of living. Hmmmm.

[John Boy]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by fiona
We could have got much cheaper flights if we had flown to and from Italy - but what a start to the holiday! So if like us you take your holidays to fit in with your bookings then we have to fly with stopovers. In our case it was £395 this year for the July, which compared with the £650 / 700 being charged for non-stop flights leaves us with no choice at all.

the annoying this is the whole of July now seems to be high season for flights, whereas they used to go up from about the middle. One of the few benefits of paying for private education was our girls finished early so we could benefit from the cheap flights. Despite finishing on the 7th July this year it made no difference to the price.[xx(]

I have to say (and this will be the start of another argument I suppose) I thought the whole point of us joing the EEC was to harmonise on things like this. Why do things never go our way? Cheap food - ha! Petrol , wine[msnmad]. So what are the benefits? Strangulation with red tape for business, loads of laws and higher cost of living. Hmmmm.
[/quote]

If only America was part of the EEC (yes I now there is a pond in between called the Atlantic and its two different continents, play along with me) we could all move there as easily as I moved to Spain

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by John Boy
I am arranging a trip to Florida next week (10th to 18th) and because I live in Spain there are no direct flights to Orlando so I have been looking at flying to London and taking flight from there or Flying from Madrid to Miami and taking the 3-4 hour drive from there (Driving is a joy to me and I do this often)

I am astounded at the price differance
I will only quote following as it is direct comparison

London to Miami and back (Virgin) 580.50 Pounds
Madrid to Miami and back (Iberia) 305.00 Pounds

<span style="color:red">275Pound Saving - Nearly 50%</span id="red">
Should I decide to arrange via Iberia an internal flight from Miami to Orlando The full round trip would cost just 356 Pounds

<span style="color:red">In my eyes this is so wrong</span id="red">

What do you think


[/quote]

Now you know why they call it Rip Off Britain!!

It's not just airlines its almost everything you buy!!

[Scotborder]

Your right Julie and think about the high taxes everyone has to pay.