 Poster: A snowHead
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I have another question for you all.
I have chosen next years accommodation during half term arriving on the Saturday at Geneva Airport.
I have 2 options drive or hopefully get cheap flights.
Reading a few old posts I have picked up that it could be a bit of a nightmare, is it really that bad ?
Or should I just bite the bullet and drive to Morzine.
Thanks again.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Oliver8, there's no easy way of getting to Morzine at half term. The airport will be heaving on those Saturdays. But on the scheduled side of the airport it's pretty efficient - and you are far less likely to get delayed either by ATC strikes or weather or general hickness than you are at Chambery or Grenoble.
Yes you can drive but there can be horrendous jams, especially in snowy weather.
If you could find a Sunday/Sunday option it would probably be a lot better - still busy, but not so frenetic.
And you have to think about how to get from Geneva to Morzine - transfers can be quite expensive.
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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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Yes I've priced up the transfer talking over £200. What to you call horrendous jams, all the way down or closer to the resorts ?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Oliver8, It depends. I have had friends crawling for hours across northern France in convoys behind snowploughs. I have also seen (when driving north) several miles of stationary southbound traffic jams at the Reims péage gates. A lot of people drive overnight to avoid jams. sometimes people sail through relatively unscathed. My niece and family, having planned an overnight journey down from Calais a couple of years ago, and an early arrival at my apartment, which they were borrowing, had a 3 hour delay at Eurotunnel late on the friday night which put them bang into the traffic up into resort on Saturday - it took them a couple of hours to do 20 miles, having had to put snowchains on (they didn't have snow tyres). This time their journey went very well, though only after their ferry from Portsmouth had been cancelled (the night of the force 11 gales along the south coast) and they'd had to pay £240 to get on the Tunnel. They'd planned an overnight stop not far inland from Calais and had no problems driving down on Saturday - roads were busy, but moving OK.
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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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pam w, Except the baggage handlers strike at Geneva last Sunday - chaos.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I suspect the OP was about weekends at half term but yesterday (The Thursday of the final half term week) GVA was very difficult to get to. The Geneva car show caused massive traffic jams. Once in the airport it was busy with a 1/2 hour queue at the Easyjet check in, but no queue at security and amazingly no queue at Luton Passport control. We were expecting these delays so it all went as well as can be expected.
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chocksaway, yes, the baggage handlers have caused problems a few times in recent years, you're right. Still far fewer strikes than the French airports though. And Chambery seems to be chaos every busy Saturday, even with no strikes (it's very peaceful when there are French ATC strikes  ) I'd say Geneva airport at weekends at half term is awful. But probably better than the alternatives - for those who wish to fly. Driving can be better if you can time the travel right, and get into resort either very early or very late in the day (and ditto for leaving).
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Don't know where you will find cheap flights at half term?
We have used Geneva at February half term last 4 years and given careful choice of timing of flights it hasn't been bad at all, and certainly not as bad as my expectations.
Flew back this year on a half empty flight, quite surreal really.
Although even at 6.00am on Saturday morning the airport was certainly starting to get congested around check in area!
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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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I was hoping to pay under £200 each would that be about right ?
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Oliver8, you need to be signed up to all your potential carriers so you know the minute the half term flights are released and you book them immediately,then you might manage £200 each 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Oliver8, sarah is dead right. within hours the flight costs will have soared. easyJet's system of notification seems completely useless - I invariably read on snowheads that flights have been released before I hear from easyJet.
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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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Yes, I've setup updates, also keeping an eye on skyscanner website.
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we flew from Liverpool to Geneva this year. Geneva was busy....but it was more the daft hotel rep who almost screwed up our arrival. The airport itself was bearable....in my opinion.
It was the price that was the biggest stinger. We paid £740 for 1 adult and 1 child this half term just gone. I'm looking at flights now for half term next year...despite potentially busy Geneva.....just had a quote on Easy a Jet....£150 for us both...return. So I'm booking flights now, and will worry about accommodation later.
The advise I've been given on driving or coaching is thus; tunnel traffic uncertain....as with any traffic through France en route to the mountains. You've probably got more chance of missing valuable ski time than getting a flight well in advance, and either a private transfer or a shared one. Many accommodation deals have transfer included. Next year we WON'T be staying 3 - 4 hours away from the airport!
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You know it makes sense.
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You've probably got more chance of missing valuable ski time than getting a flight well in advance, and either a private transfer or a shared one.
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I don't really agree with that. The big hold ups are close to the resorts - and the best way of avoiding the big traffic jams is to time your arrival either for very early in the morning or late in the evening, which isn't difficult if you are driving. If I were booking flights on the Saturday of half term I would book a flight arriving into Geneva after 6 pm, maybe looking at arriving into resort around 9 pm. And if you have a transfer BACK to the airport at the end of the week you are going to have to leave your resort hours and hours in advance.
The best way of gaining "valuable ski time" is probably to leave resort around 5 pm on the final Saturday, after a full day on the quiet changeover-day slopes, drive a couple of hours north, have dinner and stay somewhere for the night, finishing the journey on Sunday. You can gain a second changeover Saturday if you stay close to the resort on the first Friday night then drive up very early on Saturday. Though access to rented accommodation is generally not before 3 or 4 pm and you generally have to vacate by 10 am or so at the end, so skiing on the changeover days needs good organisation.
Driving or flying is really a matter of taste - some people hate one or the other. Things can go badly wrong with either, especially if weather is bad (it takes very little snow to close Geneva airport  even if all the UK airports are operating smoothly). But on the other hand roads in northern and central France can be seriously disrupted by snow; doing hundreds of miles at 30 mph in a convoy behind a snowplough is not a lot of fun.
£150 for two return flights at half term is a bargain though - I'd grab that. But if you have specific accommodation requirements don't leave that too late. Is your flight Sat/Sat? If not your accommodation options will be restricted.
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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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pam w, you're probably right...bit of a sweeping statement on my part...which was mostly deduced from advice I was given. It really is 50/50 either way, as you said.
The flights I'm looking at are indeed Saturday to Saturday...leaving late on the last Saturday. We were in a great resort at half term...but the transfer was horrid, the driver was pants, and it was 4 hours away. I couldn't go through that again. But really the resort was amazing, for us. The slopes were brilliant. The weather was so so. Ski school fabulous. We'd go back...but different accommodation or company. With such a huge saving on flights...we might manage a bit more on the accommodation.
Don't want to hijack the post though. I'll search for somewhere appropriate to discuss resorts etc....
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Poster: A snowHead
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I've flown through GVA scheduled terminal 14x in the past year, and its fine (can't speak for the charter terminal). That includes many peak days/peak weeks. What is worth considering is paying about £6 for fast track security on the really busy days (unless you're flying club or easyjet flexi already).
I haven't found half term weekends are materially difference from weekday mornings when business travel can peak - I've had 20 min waits at security on weekdays!
For £200 transfer can't you just rent a car and be in control of your own destiny? That would even enable you to use a cheap hotel in the valley to squeeze in an extra day.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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snowdave, have you tried to rent a car from geneva at half term recently? £200 doesn't go far! We drive now but I suspect you are looking at £300+ Based on my last hire and what friends have paid recently.
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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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Yes, for a good size vehicle to take several people and their luggage it ain't cheap. But cheaper than a taxi for 4 people, especially to the more distant resorts - because it costs the same to rent a car whether you are going to Chamonix or Tignes.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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For 2015 half term <£150 for group A, <£200 for a compact (alfa/focus sized car). That's from Hertz, without even shopping around. Winter tyres etc. all included, sat-sat rental. Your friends have been robbed Price as of 5 mins ago.
We got 5 people including luggage into a group B (fiesta equivalent). I'm not going to claim it was the height of comfort, but its certainly doable. I usually get a group C for 4-5 of us and that's got plenty of room.
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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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snowdave, that does seem a remarkably good price.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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In my experience its about par for the course. I really struggle to make driving from the UK any cheaper, even tho there are 4 of us and we live in the south east. I guess ski carriage is probably the decider, but absent that the economics never work for me. I reckon 4 of us flying/rental car total travel cost will be <£900 all in for Feb half term.
My Xmas 2014/15 rental is £366 for 2 weeks + 1 day, Feb half term is £243 for 9 days. Both these are fully flex rates so I can add/subtract days, or even cancel entirely, with no penalty.
If doing Hertz, use CDP 569608 (as long as you own a mastercard!) as that gets 15% off.
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