 Poster: A snowHead
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Ive just booked 2 group holidays. Silver Ski to La PLagne on 2nd Jan, and Ski Olympic to La Rosiere on 27 March.
Silver Ski had 18 Manchester Flights left for our party of 24. 6 will have to go to Gatwick for 04.30 on 2nd Jan, a 300mile drive!.
Ski Olympic had no Manchester seats left, so our party of 12 is off to Stansted.
HOW EARLY DO I HAVE TO BOOK TO GET A DECENT FLIGHT?
Low cost airlines are using regional airports due to lower costs, Regionals are good for the punters as they have cheaper & more convenient parking, faster check in, smaller internally, faster baggage handling, quieter access roads, and usually far more convenient geographically. Northern flights are often Manchester, which is a pain for anyone in the north East. Why oh why dont ski companies use a little more imagination. Northern flights are always over subscribed, why don't companies put on more flights, or consolidate a flight with other companies.
If you think apportioning rooms in a chalet is hard, try telling 6 of your party thery are going from Gatwick!
I still booked both holidays! 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I quite agree. I am looking forward to that joy when I book up- I've recently moved from 'down south' to the north east. The best I can hope for is a 2 hour drive to Manchester airport- otherwise I guess I will end up getting a flight from Newcastle to Gatwick or something.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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North South Divide in airports? Please don't shoot me down and I don't know where to draw the line.............but
Just off the top of my head we've got Bournemouth (or is it Southampton?), Gatwick, Heathrow, Stanstead down here in the "South".
"Up North" there is East Midlands, Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester, Humberside, Luton, Liverpool, Blackpool, Teeside
Also Bristol which fits neither i guess
I guess we have Heathrow & Gatwick which are obviously big airports (very big in the case of Heathrow) and Stanstead the king of "low price" airlines.
You choose to live in the north......  there are many things I wish we had down here that are available up north..... 
I don't know about what flys from where, but with booking flights early.....well yes, as soon as the schedules have come out this year the flights have disappeared, certain Ryan Air flights disapeared almost immediately  The other option is to have waited until the EasyJet schedules have come out...........next week I think? You could still pick up some really cheap flights from there next week and try and sell the gatwick flights or just loose them???
By the way, have you tried http://www.whichbudget.com/ - very good for finding cheap flights and who flys where and from where. A quick search for flights to Geneva:
UK : Cardiff (CWL) ... with BMI Baby
UK : East Midlands (EMA) ... with easyJet
UK : Guernsey (GCI) ... with flybe
UK : Jersey (JER) ... with flybe
UK : Kent Intl. (MSE) ... with EUJet
UK : Leeds Bradford (LBA) ... with Jet2
UK : Liverpool (LPL) ... with easyJet
UK : London Gatwick (LGW) ... with easyJet
UK : London Luton (LTN) ... with easyJet
UK : Manchester (MAN) ... with Excel (charter)
UK : Manchester (MAN) ... with BMI Baby click here
UK : Southampton (SOU) ... with flybe
Hope this is of some help to you?
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Dan, Wow. Easyjet to Geneva from East Midlands - must have been snoozing when that one came up - that'll be a big help for me. Thanks.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Nick Zotov, no worries! Easy Jet schedule comes out sometime over the next week or so - go to www.easyjet.co.uk and click on the winter schedules animation and register for the e-mail updates for when the flights come out.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Dan, LUTON, Wot part of de Norfs that then,.. Norf Laaandan!!
Last year we had a great holiday with Ski Olympic. We like being collected by a big bus at our destination airport and taken to our chalet. We like being cooked for, having our ski passes collected, we like nice chalets, with friendly hosts. None of the Low cost carriers have even announced any flights for next season yet!.
You try booking a big chalet in a good resort for Easter next yr. Believe me there is nothing decent left. Our situation is complicated by the number of kids in the party (nowt else t' do when the pigeons are in the air tha knows). There is no better holiday in the world than a big group of family friends in a good chalet. Because of this we have to book early as it is the only way to get what you want at a good price when in a big group.
In January We will have a lovely catered chalet in a prime location for £395 all in. We would pay more than that for the chalet alone if we looked to go independantly. the drawback is that we just have to drive half way round the world to catch a plane.
As you mention BMI baby do Teesside-Geneva. Teesside is 12 mins drive from my house, but its as much use as a snowboard to me.
My argument is that low cost airlines fly from regional airports because of cost savings, and customer convenience. Why dont ski companies?
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For ski operators to put on flights from regional airports can be risky. From the point of view of operating an aircraft the ski season as part of the winter season as a whole is short, possibly only 18 weeks out of 26 weeks. Ski companies will tend to play safe only to operate from the "division one" regional airports such as Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, and Glasgow. Cardiff, East Midlands, Newcastle, Luton. Stansted, and Bristol are "division two "regional airports" which can be attractive to operate, but the problem is usually, that often the load factors in the low and shoulder parts of the season say January and March are difficult to fill without huge discounts. Everybody can fill Xmas and Half Term but the success of an operation is built on filling the the off weeks at a reasonable price as well. Ski operators do provide regional flying to grow overall capacity but it is not without risk.
Some of the low cost operators do try and fill the gap which is good for the travelling public, whether they can turn a buck long term is a different matter!!
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DAVID SNELL, We couldnt even get from Manchester
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Frosty the Snowman, ps pick the best 6 party animals from your group and send them down a day/evening earlier and we'll have a party night out in Brighton! 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Frosty the Snowman,
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HOW EARLY DO I HAVE TO BOOK TO GET A DECENT FLIGHT?
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Before you go the year before! Seriously, our group organiser provisionally books 26 places for somewhere the next year, then, when we go on the present year's holiday he asks for confirmation that we are all coming next year! (if you follow me....) Most ski companies seem to be OK with this arrangement but I know it's a lot of hard work for the organiser, looking for a good deal to somewhere we will all want to go. We usually go from Birmingham (to France). Although E Midlands would be better, hardly anything goes from there 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Ahh shush, people in Scotland regularly have to drive down the night before especially for winter trips! Hardly any summer flights outside of Glasgow and Edinburgh so If they live in Inverness its a bloomin trek and a half to get down to the airport!
The ski brochures have been out since March and the smaller companies you've picked have prob bought allocations from the big people eg thomson who use their own planes etc and so you have to be flexible!
THe first time I went to Pas I had 3 going from Gatwick, 2 from Stanstead and 3 from Birmingham and we all managed to get on the same transfer bus! And that was in Half term!
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Frosty the Snowman,
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None of the Low cost carriers have even announced any flights for next season yet!.
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Jet2's flights from Leeds were released a couple of weeks ago. We've already booked some for February. Interesting though how the prices rose over the first few days .... when they were first announced we could have booked our retrun flights for £71.50 - by the time we got round to booking them they had risen to £81.50, when some friends decided to book the day after they were at £91.50.
I guess the moral of the story is to be prepared and book as early as possible to get the best price.
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You know it makes sense.
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THe first time I went to Pas I had 3 going from Gatwick, 2 from Stanstead and 3 from Birmingham
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Now that is dedication. When typing my whinge I did consider that the companies we had chosen did not suit our brothers north of the border. Having said that Glasgow is 100 miles and Edinburgh 140 miles neare for us than Gatwick. Even the Cairn bloody Gorms is nearer!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Dedication and exceptional planning and begging Thomsons got us into Andorra that year!, we had 4 of us going from Gatwick but then some extras were added and basically they wouldnt let the under 16's fly without someone over 18 so we had to jig eveyone about and it was only 2 weeks away so the flights were nearly all fully booked, had to change flights etc, all done over the phone with a wonderful guy in THomson Customer Services- took about 2 hrs though!
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Poster: A snowHead
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All this stressfull planning and organisation for big groups of people makes me glad I'm a single traveller.
Then again I have to organise a way for me to be at Manchester Airport in time for an 11:30am flight next January, I think I might take an National Express coach down the night before and stay at an Airport Hotel, I know this would be expensive but I am willing to pay double to avoid the train journey I endured this last March.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Guys, I have the utmost sympathy for all of you living north of the Watford Gap, but TRY LIVING IN IRELAND!!! More specifically NORTHERN IRELAND - SKIER'S NIGHTMARE!!!
Our choice basically comes down to Andorra or Andorra, so for the last three years we've had to drive to Dublin, where the choice is still not great, & now their prices are starting to creep up. Add to that extortionate car park prices, leaving at 03:00 for a three hour drive, etc, etc - my how we suffer for our sport.....
Anyway, this year we got organised early & managed to get all 8 of us booked onto the sole weekly flight from Belfast to Innsbruck next January. Mind you, we had to book in February. The flight only carries 70 people and was fully booked by March!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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RichardB, Thats nothing! do the 4hr to Arinsal from Toulouse on a coach with everyone being sick! Then you shall know the meaning of "hellish transfer"
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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RichardB, we've done the Innsbruck to Westendorf transfer several times with Inghams and it is only 1.25 hours - Westendorf is only about 10 miles from Kitz. on the Innsbruck side. It could get a bit extended if they did multiple pickups...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Nadenoodlee, sorry, I didn't mean to sound like my experience was a 'hellish' one, it was just boring.
From what I've heard of coach transfers from Tolouse to Andorran resorts, you go up narrow roads with twisting turns, looking down a very steep mountainside, I can imagine a few people (myself included) feeling a bit nervous.
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Ian Hopkinson, my mistake, my geography on Austria is a bit lacking at the moment. 
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I didn't want TC to get scared! 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Nadenoodlee, RichardB, Imagine the scene...bus from Andorra to Toulouse. Two horrible brats violently sick on floor within 20mins of boarding....Rep refuses to turn on air conditioning because "we'll be stopping soon"....everyone else on bus who was feeling mildly queasy is now sick due to all pervading smell....lock everyone on bus for four hours refusing to stop and clean it all up!
Now that's what I call a hellish transfer....and much though I loved the skiing in Andorra, I'm never going back up there on a tour operators bus!!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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TC Our choice basically comes down to Andorra or Andorra
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Or there is always Andorra
That sounds like the options I was given last winter too. Or you can drive 4hrs to Dublin if you want to go to France
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Slightly off topic, but continuing the theme.
In 2000 had a 6.5 hr minibus ride with Neilson, from Tignes to Lyon. The minibus was late and the traffic backed right back up the valley. Driver then took us on the other side of the valley to the main rd, and went through montalbert/ les Coches. This was the ultimate white knuckle ride.
I was thinking that the driver was a mad, lost, lunatic who didnt appreciate the severity of the bends and drops, when he announced "and that is my house on the left". We eventually back on to the main road into Moutiers. In Moutier we were transferred into a Renault Espace with a trailer. 7 people luggage and ski gear then hammered along the auotroute at 120 mph (thats MPH not KPH!). We arrived at Lyon airport 15 mins before departure time. The plane took of on time, complete with us and our luggage. We all breathed out for the first time in 6.5 hrs. memorable.
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Frosty, I'll bet that was a Saturday, Saturaday transfers on the N90 are a nightmare, it can take an hour just to get through Bourg St Maurice. The route your man took was an old road through all the villages, still useful as rat-run, although the Gendarmerie take severe exception, they post men at each exit checking travellers documentation to ensure they should be on that particular road.
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You know it makes sense.
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This isn't the time to point out that I can do touch down to front door in less than an hour, is it?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I can do it in 25mins! Ian Hopkinson,
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Frosty- we've also been taken on that route. Last year coming back from Val D to Chambery- traffic was back right up the valley, almost back as far as Val!!
We were also taken the scenic route on the other side of the valley. Some pretty close misses with the houses. Still didn't make it to Chambery in time though- luckily they delayed the flight for us 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Having started with a whinge about flights I forget to mention that both hols next yr are Sunday flights. Much more civilized. The Saturday route may have been scenic, but we take the kids now, and its amazing what a dull, safety orientated person it turns you.
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FAQ
