 Poster: A snowHead
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Just in,on the latest e mail from moneysavingexpert.com
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| Ryanair's £60 each way if you don't print boarding pass. Print it online or Ryanair now charges £60, not £40, PER FLIGHT. Plus from Dec bags not pre-booked online (15kg max) for the June-Sept and Xmas peak times are £200 return (were £80), or £120 (were £70) on other dates. Book online for peak times and it's £50 return (was £40). See Ryanair fees news. |
Other bits on the site about fees generally on the up and up.Difficult to see what the end game is?Is there a surplus of customers which enables profiteering,or is the budget flight market starting to unravel?
Certainly,not good news for the independant traveller(like me).In fact,both of my ski trips this season,will be via TO's....and both have come out significantly cheaper than any other method! I used to be a devout independant....but times,they are a changing 
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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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mountainaddict, Exactly! And,in my case,I got carriage for £30 return on both trips.Plus 2 for 1 on passes and other bits.My son is off to Pas de la Casa this w/end...and they threw his carriage in as a discount,on top of a real cut price deal  He was well pleased with the price as it was(and didn't ask for free carriage),they just gave it him!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I've given up on Ryanair/Easyjet entirely now, to the extent I don't even both checking their websites anymore. It's Swiss Air to Geneva if I go independent every time now - £140 return from London city airport and skis are carried free. Or I go for a TO deal as people say...
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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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I think the so called budget airlines were a marketing test by the main airlines to see if we were prepared to pay for every “extra” under the sun. Five years ago all the main airlines carried your skis and boots for free, now the ones that do are few and far between.
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I wish I could use SwissAir but from the sticks we are pretty much stuck with Easy or Jet2. Ryanair don't go to Geneva do they? I would rather walk than fly with that bunch of shysters anyway.
It does seem that the budget airlnes are looking for a particular kind of traveller, namely, one that carries practically no luggage. They are certainly pushing it to where other alternatives look better for holidaymakers, especially ones that carry a lot of stuff, e.g., skiers.
My big bugbear is, if I only take carry-on luggage, what am I supposed to do with my razor? My son had his nail clippers confiscated once. Ludicrous. "Take me to Cuba or your toenails are history"
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i've giving up on budget airlines for ski holidays. just booked with lufthansa aberdeen-frankfurt-salzburg return with ski carriied free for £170. very quick connection times in frankfurt approx hour. If i booked a budget airline i would have 4 flights to pay for ski carriage which alone would prob be more expensive than booking a return journey from aberdeen on a traditional airline.
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sanman, you can carry a razor with an enclosed blade in your hand luggage. you can also carry scissors with a short blade - forget how long but could look it up.
WASHOUT, who is your frankfurt - salzburg leg with? I booked same but from London, the Frankfurt -salzburg was with Tyrolean. LH changed the flight time and it was inconvenient so I called them to change it; while i was on I mentioned that I would be taking skis.
Them - That's fine, madam, I'll book them onto the LH flight for you and I'll give you the Tyrolean number so you can call them and book your skis on their flight and they'll tell you how much that is.
Me - surely it's free?
Them - absolutely not madam, Tyrolean will charge you.
Me - you ve changed the flight so I can cancel the booking and give me a refund,
Them - of course,
Me - cancel please
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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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safety razor = ok (afaik)
tin of shaving foam = not ok (cos it's more than that arbitrary 100ml limit that some politicians thought up - unless the 100ml limit has actually gone now?)
my last flight on LH was less than £100 with skis+boots+helmet. infact it was less than €100, even after calling the premium rate line to book the skis etc. on.
I never bother to look at o'leary's lot (have to drive half way to the next country anyway), but I have looked at stelios' one a few times (which does fly to/from some real airports). None have ever really bettered LH on price. If the no-frills airlines allowed their flights to appear properly in flight checker websites, then they might get more than a glance from me. Except ruinair of course.
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holidayloverxx. it was all booked with lufthansa all in one flight booking, frank-salz is with tyrlean airways. flight out of salzburg is booked for half 6 in the evening so get a extra day on slope. i had phoned them to book ski's on flight and had no problem as long as ski bag was less than 15kg! another 2 friends on same flight phoned to book in boards and no mention off contacting other airline!!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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So here's what's going to happen. You'll arrive at Frankfurt, have your skis refused on the connecting flight, spend most of your terrifyingly tight changeover time sorting this out, and miss your connecting flight.
Enjoy your overnight stay in a 2-star Frankfurt airport hotel!
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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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andy, +1, nearly always LH for us, but using EJ next week to MUC, couldnt find a decent deal on LH at the time, so went with EJ...............getting twichy, but would never use OLeerys lot even if they landed in resort, rather keep my sanity!
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Their explicit game is they don't want baggage or on ground costs. Implicitly I suspect they know they'll always be able to gouge a percentage of their customers because they've got exclusivity on the route/timing, people make mistakes like forgetting to print out boarding passes, smartphones don't have attached printers etc.
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You know it makes sense.
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Why are you "twitchy" about using a cheap airline with a fleet of aircraft newer than almost anyone else's, with an impeccable punctuality and safety record? Are you worried what your posh friends will think?
I think there's a real cognitive dissonance with Easyjet in particular. People just expect them to crap, and seem unable to grasp that they are, in fact, the best airline on the planet for short haul flights.
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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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paulio, Yup
EJ are good for skiing as well. Luton - Geneva return for £70 ish return. No skis but even with them it would have been about £100 return. Far less than Swisss or BA or any of the other traditional airlines from any UK airport.
No hidden charges at all, online check in for free, if I forget, no problem we will do it at the airport for you, no charge. Unlimited hand luggage weight. Standard 20kg in the hold for a not unreasonable fee. New planes, friendly staff, helpful customer services etc.
EJ seem to have understood the low cost model well, cheap headline and then charge a fair price for all the non essentials so if you really are traveling light its very cheap and if you need the full works its still cheaper than a full service airline.
Ryan Air do seem to treat their customers like dirt and aren't really operating a low cost model, more of a take their customers for mugs model. E.g. Charge a ludicrously low headline price and the scam the customer into paying unavoidable and punitive charges for things that can't be avoided. Couple that with the scam of flying to weird airports claiming the serve major cities (Barcelona (girona) anyone?) and its a wonder anyone chooses to fly with them.
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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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Off to Geneva next weekend & flying from Leeds Bradford. Jet2 are charging £60 for skis (30 each way) which by comparison doesn't seem so bad (plus you get a tenner back for online booking), though I think I paid 30 last year via a TO. Gutted I didn't spot the "freeski" offer on carriage someone posted on here though.
For people doing a longer break the charges are OK, but If like me you mix weeks and long weekends together then rental is looking more and more attractive.
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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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paulio,
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Are you worried what your posh friends will think?
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WTF are you on, whats that all about?............ WALOB.............. I simply prefer LH/ Swiss ie, scheduled airlines, their quality of service and overall travel experience is much better than EJ, Jet2 etc., and they are quite often cheaper. I have used EJ many times both for skiing, summer holidays and business and very rarely are there no issues with baggage/ late take off.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I've generally had positive experiences with EJ and Jet2. Ryanair did, I feel, rip me off once, some years ago, with their misleading website/terms and conditions (I won't bore you with the details) and treated me like a retard at check-in, and since then the barrage of increasingly bizarre measures they have introduced have only served to intensify my revulsion at their methods.
The basis of their model seems to be, we can treat our customers with utter contempt and it doesn't matter, there will always be more. So far, it seems to be working. How much longer, anybody's guess.
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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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| Quote: |
EJ are good for skiing as well. Luton - Geneva return for £70 ish return. No skis but even with them it would have been about £100 return.
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Not likely, I was pricing up flights from Birmingham to Geneva last week and ski carriage is now £25 per person per flight. So for me and the GF it would have cost £100, more than the actual tickets. Ended up booking with BMIbaby who had a free ski carriage offer on at the time.
Still got charged £7 for paying them though. The govt can't ban them charging ridiculous amounts for processing payments quickly enough.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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I avoid My Big Fat Gypsy Ryanair at all costs. I'm flying out in a week with British Airways as they worked out cheapest. They allow one bag included in your booking regardless of whether its a ski bag or any other bag. Result; I have a double ski bag with my ski's, boots and clothing all in it and no extra luggage costs.
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| dredgey wrote: |
| I avoid My Big Fat Gypsy Ryanair at all costs. I'm flying out in a week with British Airways as they worked out cheapest. They allow one bag included in your booking regardless of whether its a ski bag or any other bag. Result; I have a double ski bag with my ski's, boots and clothing all in it and no extra luggage costs. |
I'd watch that - the included baggage is only 23 kilos isn't it? So you may have a 'heavy bag' charge.
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Paulio, good point but checked with tryolean/austrian arrows and they share the same policy as lufthansa who the intial booking was with so seems free ski carriage as long as you contact warn them. hopefully no over night in frankfurt then!!!
Holidayloverxxx, thanks for taking this to my attention i will contact tryolean to book/ confirm.
depending on route/time its worth checking all airlines, traditional and budget taking consideration of all costs inc excess baggage/ booking fee's etc. If the cost are similiar i know who i would rather fly with!!!!
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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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| Yellow Pyranha wrote: |
| dredgey wrote: |
| I avoid My Big Fat Gypsy Ryanair at all costs. I'm flying out in a week with British Airways as they worked out cheapest. They allow one bag included in your booking regardless of whether its a ski bag or any other bag. Result; I have a double ski bag with my ski's, boots and clothing all in it and no extra luggage costs. |
I'd watch that - the included baggage is only 23 kilos isn't it? So you may have a 'heavy bag' charge. |
I've normally been ok, but a point worth mentioning. The only time I had to pay it was at Geneva when I was coming back and had topped my bag up with holiday goodies.
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What short memories we have.
15 years ago, I used to regularly travel for work on a half-empty plane to a town in Europe, served only by a State airline. £300+ for a return ticket. The airline decided that it wasn't a viable route and closed it. Ryanair took on the route, dropped the price to around £35 e/w and have flown twice a day ever since. Whether we like them or not, without Ryanair/Easyjet etc the old monopoly airlines would still be charging through the nose for filghts. For evidence of this, look at how prices to Vancouver halved when Zoom were still in business, and how quickly they doubled again when Zoom stopped flying.
Ryanair's model is to have as few unneccessary tasks as possible at the airport. They don't really want the costs and hassle of handling ordinary hold baggage and definately don't like 'difficult' items such as skis, so they are trying to price them off the plane. They have presumably looked at the cost of rental skis in resort and priced accordingly, reasoning that people will find it cheaper to rent skis rather than put them on the plane.
£60 for printing a Boarding Pass? - at Stansted there are numerous pay-as-you-print kiosks where you can print your Pass for £1.
£200 return for a bag that wasn't pre-booked? - Come on, it's £25 e/w to book online, which you can do right up until you check in. Did you really not know that you'd be taking a bag?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I've got nothing against low cost airlines, I just don't think they're cheap enough anymore.
People are quoting ~£100 retrun with easyjet Luton - Geneva including ski's, last couple of times I've paid ~£140 with SwissAir London City - Geneva, so for an extra £20 each way I don't have to:
Think about my boarding pass in any way shape or form
Mess around working out what card is cheaper to pay with
Worry about how heavy my bags are (been easily 15% over and no one seems to care)
Get to an airport in the ar$e end of nowhere (probably save £20 here...)
Sit in a bright orange seat
Have to listen to that damn "Another Ryanair flight lands on time" message on landing
And when I get on the plane:
Please say good morning/good afternoon
Offer me a drink
Offer me a sandwidch and some swiss chocolate
And all for an extra £20... probably what you end up spending on lunch on the slopes! Or half the cost of a day's lift pass! Don't get me wrong if the difference was £100 I'd go "no frills" every time, but for skiing holidays which aren't exactly cheap in the first place I just can't make the minimal saving make any sense at all in my head...
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I don't think you get those Ryanair tannoy announcements on easyJet flights. I could be wrong though.
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| ben1 wrote: |
Think about my boarding pass in any way shape or form |
Online check is a lot better than having to do it at the airport. Its Ryan Air's punitive charge if you forget that is the issue. EJ don't do this, you don't need to "think" about your boarding pass at all with them
| ben1 wrote: |
| Mess around working out what card is cheaper to pay with |
Swiss apply a card surcharge just like everyone else.
| ben1 wrote: |
| Worry about how heavy my bags are (been easily 15% over and no one seems to care) |
Fair enough, but if you manage to take over 20kg (including boots) on a weeks skiing you are taking too much anyway.
| ben1 wrote: |
| Get to an airport in the ar$e end of nowhere (probably save £20 here...) |
London city is in the ar$e end of nowhere unless you live in central or east London.
| ben1 wrote: |
| Sit in a bright orange seat |
Have you actually flown with EJ? Their seats are grey with a subtle orange trim and substantially nicer that the seats on BAs aging fleet (I've not flown with swiss so don't know how old their planes are)
| ben1 wrote: |
| Have to listen to that damn "Another Ryanair flight lands on time" message on landing |
I agree, you would have to be mad to fly Ryan Air but EJ don't do this.
| ben1 wrote: |
| And all for an extra £20... probably what you end up spending on lunch on the slopes! Or half the cost of a day's lift pass! Don't get me wrong if the difference was £100 I'd go "no frills" every time, but for skiing holidays which aren't exactly cheap in the first place I just can't make the minimal saving make any sense at all in my head... |
I think you are being a bit disingenuous here. The average price difference will be about £100, certainly is if you look at flights booking now for non peak season at the end of march. And of course you don't pick an airline and then fly with them regardless of the cost, you shop around and pick the best deal at the time.
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You know it makes sense.
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ben1, The reason Swiss charge £140-ish is because Ryanair/Easyjet charge around £100-ish. If this competition was not there, the old monopoly airlines would be looking at charging £300+. So thanks to market forces, you too are benefiting from the budget airlines existence even when you fly Swiss.
Ar$e end airports? Luton & Stansted are not difficult to get to - easier for most than London City.
The major ski resort airports such as Salzburg and Lyon that Easyjet and Ryanair use are the same ones used by BA/Austrian/Air France etc.
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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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Online check is a lot better than having to do it at the airport. Its Ryan Air's punitive charge if you forget that is the issue. EJ don't do this, you don't need to "think" about your boarding pass at all with them
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Well I do need to think about my boarding pass, as I have to remember to take it with me or face the charges - I'm not saying it's a major hassle - I normally check in online with Swiss anyway, but I have in the past been rushed off my feet and just about made it to the airport let alone mucked around printing boarding passes.
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Swiss apply a card surcharge just like everyone else.
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That's new actually - they didn't before the 2nd of Nov, which is when I last booked.
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Fair enough, but if you manage to take over 20kg (including boots) on a weeks skiing you are taking too much anyway.
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Oh you're probably right here! But my point was really that it's not even a consideration.
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London city is in the ar$e end of nowhere unless you live in central or east London.
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Don't forget Kent and Essex! Hang on... people live outside London?! Fair point though! It's more the fact it's £10-£15+ each way on the train to get to stanstead/luton/gatwick, whereas city is two quid on the tube for me... makes the price difference less not to mention not having to lug ski gear quite as far
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Have you actually flown with EJ? Their seats are grey with a subtle orange trim and substantially nicer that the seats on BAs aging fleet (I've not flown with swiss so don't know how old their planes are)
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Not for many years now - probably not since they replaced the fleet which I think was 2003 odd - you're right though, Swiss planes are probably a lot older, especially the small ones that fly from City, to be honest though it's never something that's been a consideration for me on a <2 hour flight - on long haul it definetly is!
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I agree, you would have to be mad to fly Ryan Air but EJ don't do this.
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Glad we agree on something! I bet EJ would if they could though - didn't stelios threaten to remove their "easy" franchise agreement if they didn't tighten up on the number of delays last year?
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ben1, The reason Swiss charge £140-ish is because Ryanair/Easyjet charge around £100-ish. If this competition was not there, the old monopoly airlines would be looking at charging £300+. So thanks to market forces, you too are benefiting from the budget airlines existence even when you fly Swiss.
Ar$e end airports? Luton & Stansted are not difficult to get to - easier for most than London City.
The major ski resort airports such as Salzburg and Lyon that Easyjet and Ryanair use are the same ones used by BA/Austrian/Air France etc.
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Oh I agree with you on the competition thing - I do still fly ryanair for not skiing related weekends away, my point was I've never been able to make EJ or Ryanair make sense for a ski trip (with all the gear etc.).
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Poster: A snowHead
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| ben1 wrote: |
| Oh I agree with you on the competition thing - I do still fly ryanair for not skiing related weekends away, my point was I've never been able to make EJ or Ryanair make sense for a ski trip (with all the gear etc.). |
And my point was that EJ (but not Ryan Air) do make perfect sense for a ski trip as even with skis they are still significantly cheaper (£40 is significant for most people and most of the time it will be nearer £100) than most airlines, doubly so if you can't easily get to London City on the tube.
The only difference is the pricing mechanism (pay separately for bags/skis vs including in headline price), with EJ you don't get any of the other downsides unless you value an allocated seat and a free drink at £40+.
However Ryan air don't make sense for a ski trip as they are ar$eholes.
I should probably keep quite though as the more people think EJ are $hite the cheaper it will be for me!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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You've got me worried I'm missing a trick here now!!! How much do you normally pay and from what airport?
I've just picked a random week in March, Wed 14th - Wed 21st, cheapest flights to Geneva with EJ from any London airport (gatwick in the end) were £31.99 out, £14.99 back, £18 for checked luggage, £50 for ski's and a £9 admin charge - £123.98 if I pay by debit card and ~£5 more to pay by credit card.
Whereas Swiss from London City want £57 each way, so £114 in total, excluding any booking fee, which I think would be £4.50 if I pay by credit card... so actually cheaper!
Now assuming the £18 for checked luggage, £50 for ski's and £9 admin charge are fixed, and only the flights vary, I can't see how I ever end up £40 better off unless EJ give me free flights and/or swiss go up in price a lot!
Changing the dates to Saturday to Saturday made things a bit more even - easyjet came out ~£131 vs Swiss £161, again from gatwick with easyjet and city with swiss, but it'd cost me £25 return to get to gatwick wiping that saving out straight away...
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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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ben1, Exclude Gatwick and London City from your search as they are a ball ache to get to from anywhere other than London or near Gatwick, only include weekend flights as is realistic for a week skiing and you will see a different story.
Edit: But yes - I'm perfectly happy to fly Swiss if they are the same price or less than EJ from an airport I can get to. My point was don't lump EJ and Ryan Air together as EJ are infinitely better. Ryan Air will never be viable for skiing due to their ludicrous baggage charges.
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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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I've never paid more than €99 all in on Lufthansa. Including the booking fee, which is actually quite steep, really (€15 or something).
Skis, Lid and Boots go for free (where free = about 2 minutes worth of premium rate line, so call it another €3).
OK that'd only be any good for those flying LHR-MUC, and no use for the UK-GVA guys.
I'd look at EZY, but I'd never look at Ryanair. 1.5hr drive plus parking is the only sensible option. 2.5hr for a bus and 2 trains is an option, but not a sensible one for a flight arriving at 22:30. Sure may save €10, but I can live with a €10 loss in return for convenience.
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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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Take your point on the Ryanair vs. Easyjet - yes Ryanair is a complete right off where easyjet isn't!
I'm going to stop now... but I still can't make this work! easyjet are coming in at £123 from Luton (even more from stansted), whereas swiss come it at £93 from Heathrow (ex. booking charge)... and I've now tried pretty much every week in March, going Saturday to Saturday.
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FAQ
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