 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all, I've finally managed to get my family hooked on skiing after a very sucessful trip to Flaine this January. I'm looking at sorting out next year and wanted to see what people paid for flights this year and how early you booked?
I'm looking mostly at the budget airlines flying from Bristol. Did you fly from Bristol to Geneva this January? What dates and what was your airfare? How early did you book? Looking at EasyJet and Ryanair they seem to have released their flights in March and June last year resepctively.
I'm kind of kicking myself already as BA flights from Gatwick would have been under £400 for the 4 of us earlier this week and they've already crept up closer to £500 now....
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Lostdotfish, not your specific route, but we booked Bournemouth to Geneva flights for December just gone on day of release with EasyJet.
I was lookin at quite a number of different routes including Feb half term. During to early morning while I was thinking I was watching the routes I had thought looked reasonable went ski high in 30mins pontificating! So i ditched Feb and switched to 16th Dec - 23rd Dec.
Once I had added on bags (3 hold bags and 2 ski bags), pre booked seats it was well over £500 for the 4 of us. If that is approaching £500 inc hold luggage, I would go for it, unless you live close to Bristol?
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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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If you look at the 'expensive?' thread you'll see that the advice re DIY holiday selection is (a) to include at least one resort accessible via public transport, and (b) book nothing until you've got an idea of the constituent prices as well i.e. transfers, car rental, accommodation, lessons etc.
Obviously, [2] is difficult if you want to fix something for next year, and particularly if you're concerned about the school holiday premium you have to pay. But the last two years have seen a lot of threads where people have boked flights or accommodation first, without reference to other costs, and got a shock because some other element is very expensive. Once they do the full research, they realise it would have been a lot cheaper to have booked different flights or a different destination. Or they would have gone self-drive as a much cheaper and more flexible alternative to flying.
I wrote about the self-drive as an alternative to flying in a brief blog piece: 'If considering flying, check ALL your cost items first.'
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Wed 1-02-23 11:32; edited 2 times in total
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@LaForet, @Lostdotfish, this is why we did Munich flights on early release from Heathrow to go somewhere in Austria for this comig April. I knew from previous research, car hire and transfers ended up being significantly cheaper than Salzburg. Yes means potentially longer transfer - and knew that was trade of but meant couls secure cheap flights ahead of know the exactly where
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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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| LaForet wrote: |
If you look at the 'expensive?' thread you'll see that the advice re DIY holiday selection is (a) to include at least one resort accessible via public transport, and (b) book nothing until you've got an idea of the constituent prices as well i.e. transfers, car rental, accommodation, lessons etc.
Obviously, [2] is difficult if you want to fix something for next year, and particularly if you're concerned about the school holiday premium you have to pay. But the last two years have seen a lot of threads where people have boked flights or accommodation first, without reference to destination, and got a shock because some other element is very expensive. Once they do the full research, they realise it would have been a lot cheaper to have booked different flights or a different destination. |
We're going to head back to Flaine again next year - so we have most of the info for transfers/lessons/hire etc. We got a really good deal on a very nice hotel+flights (so good it took some convincing to get the BA rep to actually let us book at that price...). So trying to match or go under that cost is the goal.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| NickyJ wrote: |
@Lostdotfish, not your specific route, but we booked Bournemouth to Geneva flights for December just gone on day of release with EasyJet.
I was lookin at quite a number of different routes including Feb half term. During to early morning while I was thinking I was watching the routes I had thought looked reasonable went ski high in 30mins pontificating! So i ditched Feb and switched to 16th Dec - 23rd Dec.
Once I had added on bags (3 hold bags and 2 ski bags), pre booked seats it was well over £500 for the 4 of us. If that is approaching £500 inc hold luggage, I would go for it, unless you live close to Bristol? |
Thanks - we're definitely looking at those 1st 2 weeks of January next year - either the 6th-13th or the 13th-20th. I'm guessing that pre-xmas week would have had a small premium on it...
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Are there any other details that you've omitted to mention?
This is just a plea for people soliciting advice to tell us as much as possible about the context. Otherwise we can waste our and their time giving feedback that's not relevant.
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| NickyJ wrote: |
| @LaForet, @Lostdotfish, this is why we did Munich flights on early release from Heathrow to go somewhere in Austria for this comig April. I knew from previous research, car hire and transfers ended up being significantly cheaper than Salzburg. Yes means potentially longer transfer - and knew that was trade of but meant couls secure cheap flights ahead of know the exactly where |
I have done similar in past, fly into Munich on Friday evening of half term, cheap as chips airport hotel, and then train to Austria v. early Saturday am, dump cases at hotel and skiing by lunchtime. You can also choose a late flight back the following Saturday and ski the morning if you so desire, which often gets you a cheaper set of flights that Sat am flights both ways so you "half day" ski passes cost are more than offset.
Munich is less bedlam than Geneva, Austria is nicer then France.
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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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| Lostdotfish wrote: |
| NickyJ wrote: |
@Lostdotfish, not your specific route, but we booked Bournemouth to Geneva flights for December just gone on day of release with EasyJet.
I was lookin at quite a number of different routes including Feb half term. During to early morning while I was thinking I was watching the routes I had thought looked reasonable went ski high in 30mins pontificating! So i ditched Feb and switched to 16th Dec - 23rd Dec.
Once I had added on bags (3 hold bags and 2 ski bags), pre booked seats it was well over £500 for the 4 of us. If that is approaching £500 inc hold luggage, I would go for it, unless you live close to Bristol? |
Thanks - we're definitely looking at those 1st 2 weeks of January next year - either the 6th-13th or the 13th-20th. I'm guessing that pre-xmas week would have had a small premium on it... |
I don't think there was, it was nigh on cheapest hence picking it. Nb those were Friday to Friday dates and took our kids out of school for that last half a day (should have been in school unil 12:30). Ski bags are one of the kickers with EasyJet. With BA we have used one of the hold bags to contain 4 pairs of skis and the more generous cabin baggage to take boots in cabin. However due to easyjet rules each ski bag added on £74....! Then the hold bags not as expensive but not cheap. Those ski bag charges seem same irrespective of route. However hold bags I have noticed varied on route, this was partly why it was taking me to assess different route options and missed out on what I considered acceptable half term prices.
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@t44tomo, nice. Although the idea of travelling friday afternoon / early evening round M25 put me completely of this when I considered it 
Would rather get up very early (3am Saturday morning) to do that drive to Heathrow. But then I am probably a bit weird there.
We have done same for 16th Dec - 23rd Dec for this year thanks to convenient school holidays.
Waiting for Sunweb to release their offering for next season before deciding exactly where to go .
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| LaForet wrote: |
Are there any other details that you've omitted to mention?
This is just a plea for people soliciting advice to tell us as much as possible about the context. Otherwise we can waste our and their time giving feedback that's not relevant. |
Really just trying to get a feel for what prices were like for EJ and RA this year for those dates
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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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LHR to GVA for 4 adults with BA including 1 bag each is circa £434 for either week you are looking at - not sure you will get much better with the cheaper carriers once you add baggage etc
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@andmelffion, Same here for third week December 2023. BA flights were out for £780 return (LGW-GVA at convenient times) with four hold luggage bags, Easyjet not yet available.
I'm normally an EJ fan, but with them charging around £70 for luggage, that's £65 per person each way for the flight itself, and not sure EJ would beat that.
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You know it makes sense.
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we always keep an eye on the EJ flight releases to Grenoble, Geneva and Lyon every year.
My Grenoble flights for this weekend were £40/return when I bought them
But then you add the luggage 
But savings are savings
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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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If you have lots of luggage then book BA business class.
The extra it costs includes fast track check in, fast track security, lounge access, 2x bags in the hold & 2x carry-on’s!
You can book 1yr+10 days in advance & not wait for Easyjet on sale dates.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| NickyJ wrote: |
@t44tomo, nice. Although the idea of travelling friday afternoon / early evening round M25 put me completely of this when I considered it
Would rather get up very early (3am Saturday morning) to do that drive to Heathrow. But then I am probably a bit weird there.
We have done same for 16th Dec - 23rd Dec for this year thanks to convenient school holidays.
Waiting for Sunweb to release their offering for next season before deciding exactly where to go . |
I usually stay the night at a Heathrow hotel. Lots do stay 1 night park for 8 deals. Not that much more expensive that parking on site at Heathrow
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Yellow Snow wrote: |
we always keep an eye on the EJ flight releases to Grenoble, Geneva and Lyon every year.
My Grenoble flights for this weekend were £40/return when I bought them
But then you add the luggage
But savings are savings |
What was the total fare after taxes?
Did you add a ski bag?
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