 Poster: A snowHead
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Has anyone else noticed the sharp rise in prices for next year on Crystals site? We paid 700pp for SC in La Plagne, the same next year is >£1200pp.
Jeez, I know there’s a cost of living crisis but is it that bad ?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Is that peak weeks, @Corduroy? Same standard accommodation? 
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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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IME. You need to wait until June/July for best mixture of prices and offers.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Depends on the destination, maybe?
I'm not sure that my repeat booking has gone up that much (booked in March last year for next end Jan; this year booked last week for next Jan.) But demand for the destination certainly has, so I feel compelled to book now in order to secure the accommodation and 2-week stay which I want. Many Jan 25 weeks are already sold out (or near), I'm told.
Maybe people are going for the more snow-sure resorts, and booking earlier, or prepared to pay more, to secure a place?
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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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@Corduroy, This may just be too far out to book. I have noticed, with Swiss in particular, that flight prices when they are released, approx 11 months ahead are very "firm", as soon as other carriers enter the market the prices tend to soften for a couple of months and harden again as capacity gets booked. Booking flights and holidays is always a game of trade off of leaving it late enough to get a "good" price before they start to go up again.
Edit : and always make sure to clear cookies and internet cache before re-checking, otherwise prices will always rise.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Reflecting what they’re charged? Our regular hotel in Rohrmoos-Untertal has been upping its prices 20% per winter post pandemic.
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Is that on crystal metal? As they sometimes use other airlines & the prices may not be out yet for scheduled flights.
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It's not surprising that tour operators take advantage of people's desperation to have a very specific holiday. I guess it's fair enough, in commercial terms if they have you over a barrel you have chosen for yourself. It is not a super-profitable sector and competition is quite fierce. So it's probably a pretty effective market. People have loads of choice, in reality.
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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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Just done a DIY booking to Salbaach Hinterglemm in apartment right by Goastall gondola lift, flights and car hire for Feb 25 half term week for 4 (2 adults & 2 kids) - works out at £473 per person.
Very pleased with that - so DIY seems a good way forward.
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| daveqpr wrote: |
Just done a DIY booking to Salbaach Hinterglemm in apartment right by Goastall gondola lift, flights and car hire for Feb 25 half term week for 4 (2 adults & 2 kids) - works out at £473 per person.
Very pleased with that - so DIY seems a good way forward. |
Did you swerve Friday and Saturday flights and/or avoid Innsbruck/Salzburg?
I found the money saving by doing that for us 4 is always well over £1k.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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We have just done DIY to Levi Finland.
We always go DIY, with the exception of Finald due to direct flight availability.
This year though we are heading out there on boxing day, 1 hour connecting flight through Helsinki and we get 2 weeks skiing for less than a week through Inghams.
All - flights and accomodation for 5 people - £4310.
DIY really is the way to go (for most)
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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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| Old Fartbag wrote: |
| IME. You need to wait until June/July for best mixture of prices and offers. |
We have booked January trip for next year via TO.
Same hotel ski hire and pass a whole £3 less
This was down to offer on hotel and £100 off pass
Had a look just now and they seem booked up for January for the TO allocation.
I have looked at DIY and not finding any difference for mid Jan and I don't want to be faffing with hire cars etc.
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| Snow&skifan wrote: |
| daveqpr wrote: |
Just done a DIY booking to Salbaach Hinterglemm in apartment right by Goastall gondola lift, flights and car hire for Feb 25 half term week for 4 (2 adults & 2 kids) - works out at £473 per person.
Very pleased with that - so DIY seems a good way forward. |
Did you swerve Friday and Saturday flights and/or avoid Innsbruck/Salzburg?
I found the money saving by doing that for us 4 is always well over £1k. |
Yes we have avoided Innsbruck / Salzburg and elected to fly into Munich West instead! (i sold my soul to an Irishman! - something i vowed never to do) however its saved me a big chunk of money that hopefully will be better spent on ski school for the kids.
We have also got a flight on the Friday and sunday ( though the cost of the flights were the same at time of booking as Saturday to Saturday) so that we can arrive in Salbaach on Saturday morning to ski all day after staying in Rosenheim for the Friday night and leave the Saturday afther skiing to Stay in Munich for the night before flying home on the sunday. This will give us 8 days skiing in total instead of the normal six. it adds £45 per person to the £473 for the 2 extra nights hotels. Total £518 per person - not including lift pass. (prices not yet relaesed)
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You know it makes sense.
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| daveqpr wrote: |
| Snow&skifan wrote: |
| daveqpr wrote: |
Just done a DIY booking to Salbaach Hinterglemm in apartment right by Goastall gondola lift, flights and car hire for Feb 25 half term week for 4 (2 adults & 2 kids) - works out at £473 per person.
Very pleased with that - so DIY seems a good way forward. |
Did you swerve Friday and Saturday flights and/or avoid Innsbruck/Salzburg?
I found the money saving by doing that for us 4 is always well over £1k. |
Yes we have avoided Innsbruck / Salzburg and elected to fly into Munich West instead! (i sold my soul to an Irishman! - something i vowed never to do) however its saved me a big chunk of money that hopefully will be better spent on ski school for the kids.
We have also got a flight on the Friday and sunday ( though the cost of the flights were the same at time of booking as Saturday to Saturday) so that we can arrive in Salbaach on Saturday morning to ski all day after staying in Rosenheim for the Friday night and leave the Saturday afther skiing to Stay in Munich for the night before flying home on the sunday. This will give us 8 days skiing in total instead of the normal six. it adds £45 per person to the £473 for the 2 extra nights hotels. Total £518 per person - not including lift pass. (prices not yet relaesed) |
Pretty similar to us, we’ve used all sorts of airports and have flown as early as a Thursday. The positives - not handing over £1,600 or more to Easyjet, extended skiing and we turn it into an adventure eg last December we had 36 hours in lovely Munich city centre.
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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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@PaulC1984, I keep looking at Levi DIY. Inghams are crazy prices for just a couple  That looks like a good deal.
Who did you book accommodation and fly with? I still couldn't find much that would get me anything sensible, accommodation-wise or flight-wise (though I was looking only at Finnair; need to go from Manchester, Newcastle or Scotland.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Grizzler, we are flying with Finnair - London to Helsinki, then on to Kittila. Sounds like a faff, but we've done connections through Helsinki before and it's a breeze.
Accomodation is direct with Levilehto Appartments - they have everything ranging from camping pitches (brave!) To apartments, to cabins. OK so they are more basic and not your traditional log cabin, but they are extremely functional, all have saunas, are right next to the supermarket / snowmobile hire and a few minutes to the slopes. Very few of the accomodation in Levi is ski in/out anyway, but use the ski lockers and enjoy the stroll through the village to the cabin - takes 5 mins tops.
Any questions on levi let me know - we've been A LOT!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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@PaulC1984, cheers.  I will bear you in mind. A great Finland fan here, too: but never yet made Levi, and it must be done.
(Sorry for the thread drift. )
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@Snow&skifan, @daveqpr, we fly in to Stuttgart or Nuremberg Airport. considerably cheaper, flights everyday, car hire cheaper. Makes the drive in to resort longer but the positives far out weigh an extra couple hours each end
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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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We’ve done Gatwick to Hamburg to Salzburg before in UK school holidays. Flights as cheap as chips, without a long wait at Hamburg. The £ saving definitely over a grand in total. Going home directly sometimes isn’t such a rip off, we may’ve flown on Sundays?
I did wonder if it was an odd thing to do …. then spotted other families on both flights 
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Fri 1-03-24 13:00; edited 2 times in total
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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in fact I doubt the transfer times are that different. when you take in to account if driving in to resort at a time that suits as opposed to a time when everyone else is and traffic is crazy
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| PaulC1984 wrote: |
We have just done DIY to Levi Finland.
We always go DIY, with the exception of Finald due to direct flight availability.
This year though we are heading out there on boxing day, 1 hour connecting flight through Helsinki and we get 2 weeks skiing for less than a week through Inghams.
All - flights and accomodation for 5 people - £4310.
DIY really is the way to go (for most) |
Finland on Boxing Day?? How many hours of daylight will you get? I would hope you're getting a good deal!
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| Baron von chippy wrote: |
| @Snow&skifan, @daveqpr, we fly in to Stuttgart or Nuremberg Airport. considerably cheaper, flights everyday, car hire cheaper. Makes the drive in to resort longer but the positives far out weigh an extra couple hours each end |
Where do you ski from Stuttgart? When I was working we were flying there 4/5 times a year. Never considered skiing from there. No-one I worked with there skied so never thought about it. Flight was always a pain as it went Cardiff-Schiphol-Stuttgart and from the 5 or 6 people that were flying someone always had baggage go missing in Schiphol.
Always liked Stuttgart as an airport, seemed human somehow.
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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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| peanuthead wrote: |
| PaulC1984 wrote: |
We have just done DIY to Levi Finland.
We always go DIY, with the exception of Finald due to direct flight availability.
This year though we are heading out there on boxing day, 1 hour connecting flight through Helsinki and we get 2 weeks skiing for less than a week through Inghams.
All - flights and accomodation for 5 people - £4310.
DIY really is the way to go (for most) |
Finland on Boxing Day?? How many hours of daylight will you get? I would hope you're getting a good deal! |
The pistes are floodlit, plus there are a ton of other snowy things for families to do.
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@Timc, loisachtal 3hrs. 4hrs to most western Austrian resorts(Arlberg/soelden/ischgl)not flown in to stuttgart for a few years. Just looked Ryanunfair have stopped flying from UK to there now. Last year we flew in to nuremberg and went to the zillertal
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Baron von chippy wrote: |
| @Timc, loisachtal 3hrs. 4hrs to most western Austrian resorts(Arlberg/soelden/ischgl)not flown in to stuttgart for a few years. Just looked Ryanunfair have stopped flying from UK to there now. Last year we flew in to nuremberg and went to the zillertal |
Would that be avoiding Saturdays at all costs, with the mass movement of Germans to Austria.
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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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@Snow&skifan, yep include the Dutch in that traffic jam. Nuremberg if booked now for Feb half term next can be had at 50£ per person return from Stanstead. flying out on Friday returning on the Sunday to give 8 days skiing.
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@Baron von chippy, have Ryanair released flights for February 2025 already?
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You know it makes sense.
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| denfinella wrote: |
| @Baron von chippy, have Ryanair released flights for February 2025 already? |
Yes - and prices have shot up since I booked last week
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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've been looking at flights from Manchester to Salzburg for Feb 1/2 term for the past 3 months. Ryanair want £1000 for 2 people with no luggage. In general we're looking at £600 -> £800 and this arrives as 22:30. This is totally blowing our budget.
Anyone know if more flights are going to be released? I'm getting desperate now, we've got the accommodation booked. Munich, Vienna and Slovenia - everything is SO expensive.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Think of driving. There's plenty of route and other information available here from people who drive to Austria regularly. It costs the same at half term as any other time. Traffic can be heavy - this is where the local advice on routes and timing comes in useful. Though I note from your address it's a long drive for you, it can be done and will be cheaper.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We've been doing this for the last 3 years. I drive out before 1/2 term and then my family flies out.
Ferry from Hull on the Friday after work -> Arrive in Austria about Midnight Saturday. Pickup the family from the Airport the following weekend. Felt we missed out on Ryanair flights last year, so I "thought" I was doing well looking from April / May. Just click through from BA from Heathrow for a laugh... £3000
Have I just missed the flight deals? - something feels really strange everything to Salzburg is through the roof. Is Taylor Swift playing or something? (We had that this summer looking for a hotel in Munich)
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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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| Origen wrote: |
| Think of driving. There's plenty of route and other information available here from people who drive to Austria regularly. It costs the same at half term as any other time. Traffic can be heavy - this is where the local advice on routes and timing comes in useful. Though I note from your address it's a long drive for you, it can be done and will be cheaper. |
+1 for driving. We've done it a few times and it's actually added to the experience.
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Were they a more reasonable price back in April? I'm not familiar with Ryanair as it's easier for me to drive to the Alps than get to Stansted! But I've done a lot of hovering and waiting for peak dates easyJet flights to be released and you have to pounce the moment they appear.
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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.magill, I am not a flyer but as I understood it, especially for HT, people book the morning flights are released.
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As far as I could tell - Direct flights with Ryanair have always been nutty. I thought I was trying to book "too" early.
Absolutely driving is great. - I'd recommend the Ferry from Hull to anyone. No stress about check-in or queues as there's only 1 a day. Sleep on the boat, if you're lucky, you can be on the road in Rotterdam at 10AM.
It's fine for me, car fully loaded with all the gear. On the way back it's a squeeze but I'm only driving them for 45 mins to Salzburg airport. I thought I'd found a cheat code.
I'm going to keep a watch on the prices for another month. £840 for Lufthansa. £700 if they want to arrive in resort at 1AM.
TUI - £1600
Jet2 - £1100
Easyjet (Liverpool) - £1100
Ryanair - £1000
Bonkers
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@nick.magill, where is your accommodation? Ryanair are flying Manchester to Memmingen.
Not totally sure on half term dates, but 15-22 Feb is £225.
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oooh - you've got the dates spot on.
Let me have a look
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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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We're in the Gastein Valley - so it's a 4hr drive. Not the end of the world
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It's not bonkers. It's capitalism - and a reasonably competitive market, at that.
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FAQ
