 Poster: A snowHead
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When are they for sale?
Thread title has been changed by a mod- I'm not really rude 
(II apologies for my rudeness !! HB)
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Thu 5-06-08 10:49; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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II, The other day l tried to book a flight from Dec 8th, the earliest they would give me was Nov.
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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waiting for fuel increases....................
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Smokin Joe, very likely.
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looked at Ryanair prices for next year.... Interesting as their marketing ploy of back-end-loading the costs is now illegal,
A quick check of flights to Salzburg, Turin and Freidrichstafen shows flights advertised at 0.01p last year now at £77.25 etc... and that's before adding in another £32 to check in a bag at the airport, as all skiers will need to do. That's around double BA/Swiss prices to GVA... 
tough to see them staying afloat without a radical change in stategy - which they're very capable of I would say.
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Hmm. Just looked at BA flights to GVA from Gatwick on 10 Jan . I can go for a 1045 outbound flight, and return 1440 flight for £85 all-told one week later. Not bad - though Gatwick is not an airport I favour.
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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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Looking at some of the Feb half term prices mentioned on We Love 2 Ski it's not a great deal more to fly to LA and head to Mammoth or elsewhere in California, that's what I did last season!
Not sure how much Canada and other US destinations are and, of course, if Easyjet are going to way cheaper when their prices come out it'll be worth heading to Europe but otherwise I might just head to North America in Feb again.
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roga, you can get to western Canada for not much more than £400 in Jan next year so it is well worth considering at any time of the season, especially with the dodgy Euro/Sterling exchange rate
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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When I costed it a trip to Canada/US was loads more expensive than a similiar European family trip in Easter.
From memory I got a family trip to Europe inc meals&wine, flights, transfers, lift pass, for just under £3k, US/Canada was about the same just for flight, transfers and accom....once you add on food, booze and lift pass it was about a grand more.
Unless anyone knows any different???
cheers,
Grerg
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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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kitenski, no that has been my experience too.
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kitenski, Helen Beaumont, agreed but the relative difference in price makes it a financial possibility. £3K in Europe or £4K in Canada - may well be worth a punt just to avoid packed pistes and queues 
I am sure there will be loads of anecdotal evidence but if I am faced with a £200 europe flight or a £400 Canada flight I would be willing to pay the extra.
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You know it makes sense.
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rayscoops, fair enough, but sometimes that extra money is over the budget. Anyway I'd rather eat my own spleen that sit in a plane for 10 hours. And Banff was heaving when we went in Feb half-term. Pistes were packed with Americans, as were the mountain restaurants, UK half-term often coincides with Presidents weekend, and an Alberta holiday.
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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rayscoops, Whistler was not much better, but I cringed at the high prices. It is NOT cheaper than my usual haunts in Europe. Anyway, I can't take our dog to Whistler.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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£1k difference is a few weekends away skiing in europe...i don't find easter busy in europe....
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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 probably couldn't pay me to ski in a mainstream French resort in peak Feb holiday week whereas I could guarantee I could find excellent places to ski within driving distance of major US and Canadian airports that would be pretty quiet.
Easter in Europe is a different - far more realxed.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Helen Beaumont, I have been to quite a few of the big European resorts and they seem to have big prices too, bigger than Canada anyway, but I am sure some of the smaller less mainstream European resorts are cheaper and maybe I will try some this year, but then the ski area is small and does not warrant a long trip so I go for less days and have to take more trips. I did maybe 30 days on the snow over 7 trips last year and flight costs with transfers and parking etc. probably cost me £1,500 or more; but I could get the same number of days over maybe 2 or 3 trips to North America for the same travel cost.
I came back from 8 days on the snow in Whistler two seasons ago and whilst I thought it an expensive trip for the actual number of days boarding, but I felt overall that it was worth it for the service I received, the fantastic apartment I stayed in and the extent of mountain I could ride.
I have a feeling that the Easyjet and similar airline prices this season will not be cheap, luggage and ski carraige costs always seems to be ever increasing, peak time (Saturday or holiday) flights are always at a premium, delays are more common than not, and just maybe taking a few longer holiday in North America may well be the way to go.
I just found this on another thread
Quote -..............
The airline (Ryanair) hasn't formally launched its winter schedule, but confirms it's already releasing flights on an airport-by-airport basis - and a quick trawl through the airline's website shows that you can buy tickets to Grenoble, Turin and Salzburg. Already, the prices for half-term departures (February 14-21, 2009) have shot through the roof. The price of a return to Grenoble cost £265.30pp this morning (May 20), not including baggage and check-in extras.
Ryanair is not the first airline to have started selling winter flights for 2008-9. British Airways, Swiss, Air France and Snowjet, which flies from Gatwick, Stansted, Bristol and Manchester to Chambéry, have been selling their winter flights for months already - and demand for the peak dates has pushed up prices with them as well. A return flight over half-term (Feb 14-21) from Gatwick to Grenoble with BA currently costs £393.40. With Snowjet, a return from Gatwick to Chambéry on the same dates costs £298.
Of course, for the quieter weeks in the ski season, flights are cheaper. A return to Grenoble with Ryanair in January - out on January 8, back on January 14, currently costs £81.30 not including baggage and check-in charges. (Although it's worth pointing out that this is only £18 cheaper than last year's starting price for return rail travel from London to Grenoble. Check out our train-travel feature for more details.)
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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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bah snowjet was a new one on me, but they only fly Saturdays 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Hmm. Not going to be many cheap ways to get to the snow next year, are there? If I was stuck with school holidays though I'd definitely be looking at Easter - half term is going to be hideous in the resorts used by British TOs. If it has to be half term, best find a resort not featured by any of the UK TOs. There are loads out there!
If I was anything to do with running an airline I'd be charging heaps of money for half term, that's for sure. Why wouldn't they?
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Half term week to Canada with Zoom from Gatwick is less than £450 and even lower if you are a bit flexible with the dates.
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anybody know when easyjet flights will be available ?
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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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Soon, if not earlier than later
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masmith, June 4th - I am Kurious Orange
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Jet 2.com now released, but for peak dates not cheap.
I booked BA Gatwick - Grenoble back in Feb for New year Sat - Sat. They cost me £107.50 all in return inc of taxes and ski carriage included with BA. Cannot understand why New year flights were ever released at this price, regardless of how early I booked, the same flights are now 3 times that price. Just hope they don't lose the ski's  .
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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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Kel, it's marketing 1.01 mate - the loss leader. you book a fantastic deal on BA, tell all your friends and they all go and book BA too,but 3 weeks later at a profitable (to BA) price...
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| red 27 wrote: |
| Kel, it's marketing 1.01 mate - the loss leader. you book a fantastic deal on BA, tell all your friends and they all go and book BA too,but 3 weeks later at a profitable (to BA) price... |
I know, but the point I am making is that they do not need to sell flights departing on Sat 27/12/08 returning following Sat for £107.50. They just don't need to do it, they could fill these seats 3 times over for £300.
Selling flights at less than this for mid Jan I could understand, but I cannot understand why they were this price for New Year
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You know it makes sense.
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trawling through my old emails I found the other airline I was looking for
http://www.snowjet.co.uk/
Winter flights available already
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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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Kel,
You're may be right about Sat/Sat, although my experience doesn't bear it out, - but midweek slots are never full to Grenoble - indeed so empty, I worry BA wil drop them. Unless its a slot issue.
Last year we went Sat - Thurs, £69 return inc. taxes (About jan 20th iirc). Flying a 737: 36 passengers on way out (so about 30% -plenty of space) , 7 yes, seven on way back, Made up of: 4 of us, a couple, one with leg in plaster so obviously returning early, and 1 man in business class - so they wouldn't let us move to the comfy seats...
We were checked onto the plane by more security staff than that: tickets, boarding passes, 2nd boarding passes, check at bottom of steps. 2x officials at each stage.
4 flight attendants, and what 3 drivers in the front? - thought we might have to all actually do the safety demo - there was plenty of room, and we could have each had private tuition.
Made for easy clearing of customs and baggae checks tho!
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Poster: A snowHead
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I wish those of you have have the choice of 8 carriers from 13 different airports would leave this thread to those of us who have easyjet from one airport........
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Smokin Joe, I too am restricted mainly to Easyjet out of Bristol, oops sorry for getting this back on the top again 
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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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Ryanair notably more expensive to Salzburg
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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JimW, Kel was not talking of Sat - Sat in general, but specifically about the Week that covers New Year.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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alex_heney,
oops re-read his post, sorry.
But...
Kel you suggested they could sell out 3x over at £300 over New Year - but without knowing your particular field of expertise, I would suggest that BA are possibly more canny than thee when it comes to pricing flights appropriately, and may know the market they are in quite well.
Certainly their profits this year would give credence to their competence in this regard.
And if last year, admittedly mid Jan, they could only attract 36 punters on a Saturday flight, , maybe they have trend and historical data to price accordingly.
Of course, if not, then grab those bargains!
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Just my humble opinion JimW, don't profess to be an expert in the pricing of airline tickets.
Just know that i have made many trips to the Alp's at New Year over the years and have never had flights as cheap as this.
Seeing as you are obviously an aviation expert here's a challenge. Any UK airport to either Grenoble, Chambery, Geneva for the same dates, inclusive of all taxes and ski carriage, whats the cheapest you can come up with booking now. I am positive it will be at least double, more likely treble what I paid
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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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Kel, it also allows them to advertise the flights as from £100.
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Kel, I did exactly the same for BA Gatwick to Zurich for half term, paid £115 now through the roof. With scheduled airlines you know exactly when they are going on sale and can book at the best price if you get in quick.
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FAQ
Europeans (including Brits), dog poo-poo, silly beer prices, crazy mountain restaurant prices etc......... 
