 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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Normally no cheaper, you'd normally only get discounts by pre-booking.
Normally they'll start the next day, you'd need to buy a half day pass from a lift pass kiosk.
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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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with Silverski one of their things is that you can ski on the same day as you arrive, from memory the passes where ready at the chalet when we arrived, the prices are the same as going to the ticket office, they only thing you cant buy is the Carre Neige, but you can add it on at the ticket office.
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And always check what currency you will be charged in and if in Pounds check what the exchange rate is - it was 10 years ago but Crystal offered me a rate 10% worse than those available at even the airport. If you have an early transfer I would go DIY and but a 6 and a half day pass or look and see it the resort offers a half day in a restricted (cheaper) area (eg The Meribel Alpina (IIRC) or in Tignes the Nouvelles Glisses area.
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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 have just come back from Tignes with Crystal, they now have a "bucket load" of passes on the coach and they just authorise the pass with an app on their iPhone once you've paid, quite slick actually as you dont have to wait 'till the next morning to pick it up, but you will still would have to pay for at least an extra half day (not sure if they can do half days on the coach) if you want to head out Saturday pm.
Also they do charge a % age if you pay by credit card, so if you have the cash use a debit card.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| maccaa wrote: |
| ... so if you have the cash use a debit card. |
and keep the cash for the apri ski.
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When you purchase your lift pass when you book your holiday you tend to pay in sterling. When purchasing on the coach you pay with the local currency. Depending on how you pay (credit or debit or cash) you will also have to pay a card charge. I have done both methods, sometimes the TO price when booking has been better value when comparing to the cost of lift pass in resort. I have never had the pass given to me on the bus, but bought to the hotel or chalet that evening or first thing in the morning. I travelled to Verbier with ski total at Christmas arriving in resort at 2.30pm - they offered everyone a free lift pass for the afternoon, however with the same TO in a different resort this was not offered!
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laura1182, that is because in Verbier you can ski for free from 3.00 onwards if you've bought a week pass. Total weren't doing you a 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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Last few trips I've been on with UK operators they have always insisted on taking your money in pounds if they offer ski passes on the coach. This is even after asking very nicely if I could pay in euros. I assume the tour operators are taking a nice cut in the exchage rate (they would if I were the financial controller for the TO).
I usually just pay in the nearest lift office in euros with my commercial rate credit card.
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Tour operators are often bound by contract to offer exactly the same price on the coach as you'd get at the lift pass office - if the LPO finds out that they're selling cheaper or more expensive then the TO (or anyone else with a contract to sell passes) will be in serious trouble. I don't have experience of every resort out there, but this is common.
They'll also generally match any and all non-standard prices (Premiere neige, group discounts, family, senior discounts etc). They should also have the full range of passes on offer - everything from walkers single journey passes all the way through to season passes.
The service you get depends on who you go with, but handing them out on the coach is not unheard of, and is a great idea imo - ever seen a lift pass office on Sat afternoon/Sun morning in 1/2 term?
Can't speak for all TOs, but those that I've worked with/for in the past have offered the choice of £s/€ billing and generally offer decent exchange rates - it's not unheard of to get a better exchange rate than the banks on a coach, but it could be a few tenths of a % in the wrong direction too.
Can't speak for every TO in every resort, but being able to add Carte Neige on the coach is also definitely not unheard of - again, same rates as LPO/Tourist Office.
Whether they're active or not depends on when you buy them for! If you arrive on a Sat and buy a pass starting on a Sun then no, but if you arrive Sat and buy a Sat-Fri or a Sun-Fri + a 1/2 day pass then you can go skiing as soon as you can get your kit on!
TOs often offer discounts in the UK before you fly out - especially on bundles of say skis and LPs, or skis, LPs and lessons. If you book early enough, you may even find 2-for-1 lift passes on offer or, in a couple of resort/TO combinations, even free lift passes if booked in advance! Definitely worth giving your TO a call before you go and finding out what's on offer.
The final thing to mention is that TOs do of course receive a cut for every LP sold, and reps receive bonuses based hitting their targets. It is always very much appreciated by the in-resort teams if you purchase your lift passes through your TO.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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It often takes all of about 2minutes to buy a lift pass from the lift station - either Sat afternoon/evening - they open late, or Sun morning - and by doing this it keeps things flexible if the weather is awful, you are sick, or you arrive early or later than expected. Especially, In Austria there are many different passes available if you plan to travel to different areas which your tour operator may not offer. Most places seem to have 24 hour machines now too.
I have a credit card with zero exchange loading (Halifax clarity) which saves the usual currency loading of at least 2.76% and is almost inevitably cheaper than the TO which use a 'special' rate.
A 7 day pass is usually cheaper than a 6day and a 1/2 day separately.
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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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Montenevre is another place which give you 3 free hours the day before a 6 day pass starts.
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If buying on the coach with Inghams be aware that they convert the amount back to GBP at their crappy rate. If you have a debit/credit card that does not incur foreign transaction charges buy at the lift pass kiosk. It'll work out cheaper.
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You know it makes sense.
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It is never cheaper on the bus. It used to be exactly the same price as in resort but your card would have been charged on whatever rate the TO had that week. It is still the same but now they charge for cards as well. With the company I worked for it was 2.5% on credit cards and a standard £2.50 on debits. On the plus side we used to give out passes on the bus and we could also add insurance on, so it saved the hassle of having to go to the lift office. You would also know straight away how much they are taking off your card in pounds.
You just need to see which works out better for you as most card companies charge either a percentage or a fix fee.
Your TO makes 5-10% on your pass which either means cheaper holidays for you in the future or more profit to them... 
I would never ever book ski hire on the coach but with lessons and passes it is up to you whether you want the rep to do the running around or you don't mind a stroll around resort and maybe save a few pounds.
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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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Travelling with kids, maybe arriving a bit late and not knowing where the nearest lift pass office was, I often decided it was well worth paying a few quid premium to save the hassle. provided they really were delivered, as promised, before breakfast the following morning. It's a service. Like buying beers from chalet staff - more expensive than going to the supermarket and lugging them back up the hill yourself, but well worth the premium.
Ordering yourself in advance online is probably, these days, the optimum arrangement.
Queues at lift pass offices can be frustratingly slow. I see people standing in them and wonder why they are wasting their ski time.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| pam w wrote: |
Queues at lift pass offices can be frustratingly slow. I see people standing in them and wonder why they are wasting their ski time. |
The queue at Saint Jean D'Arves in March was incredibly slow. There were only 8 or 9 people before me but every one of them seemed to take at least 5 mins (and often quite a bit longer) to buy their pass. No idea what they were doing - it took no time at all to get mine once I finally got to the front of the queue. Mind you I never understand what people are doing back home in the bank and post office that takes forever either. I have my suspicions that some of these people are just looking for someone to talk to 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Lots of places have machines now with instructions is several languages. Just pop in credit card. No queues!
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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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| radar wrote: |
| ....the only thing you can't buy is the Carre Neige, but you can add it on at the ticket office. |
Really. Didn't think you could add Carre Neige once you'd commmitted.
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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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| spyderjon wrote: |
| radar wrote: |
| ....the only thing you can't buy is the Carre Neige, but you can add it on at the ticket office. |
Really. Didn't think you could add Carre Neige once you'd commmitted. |
You can, its standard in France and Austria, just take your pass into the lift pass office. Did it this year in St. Anton, and I worked in Les Arcs and Meribel for the previous two seasons where it was a regular feature.
On the subject of lift passes from coaches; in St. Anton this year we arrived in resort around lunchtime so we fancied an afternoon on the slopes, and the cheapest way was to buy 7 day passes. We ordered and bought passes on the coach, the passes were handed to us as we stepped off the coach in resort; very good service from Ski Total, hats off. Its a lot simpler these days, moe and more resorts let TOs have a batch of empty passes and access to an online system to activate them.
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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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| Dav wrote: |
| spyderjon wrote: |
| radar wrote: |
| ....the only thing you can't buy is the Carre Neige, but you can add it on at the ticket office. |
Really. Didn't think you could add Carre Neige once you'd commmitted. |
You can, its standard in France and Austria, just take your pass into the lift pass office. Did it this year in St. Anton, and I worked in Les Arcs and Meribel for the previous two seasons where it was a regular feature..... |
Cheers, that's good to know.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Slightly different spin:
What about road safety? Should there happen to be an accident, >60kg mass travelling through the air at anything upto 110kph cannot be good for the health of anyone closeby, nevermind the mass itself. Strikes me as strange that anyone would want to spend any amount of time in a road vehicle without their seatbelt on. Surprised French officials haven't picked up on this given that they are usually quite hot on road safety ( triangles and breathalysers in cars and correct me if im mistaken but I believe everyone on a coach is legally obliged to know where the fire extinguisher is stored!)
Thoughts?
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| Quote: |
You can, its standard in France and Austria, just take your pass into the lift pass office
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when I did this, for a visitor, I was given a paper receipt with the details and told it MUST be kept with the pass - because the pass itself had no indication that there was insurance, as it would have done had both been bought together. In other places they might just re-issue the plastic itself.
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tomow92, you get away with it as according to regulations you can be standing on the coach, for example you can walk to the loo, or stand up to get your jacket down etc... It is not against the regulations. You can't sit down without your seat belt. It is of course a different question how safe it is and having done the job for a few years - not very...Also, trying to write out vouchers, take credit card payments is not the easiest while the coach is going around a bend... But it was part of the job... 
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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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In Passo Tonale this year we had pre-purchased our lift pass at the time of booking
The rep handed us our lift pass on the first morning.
We then went to the lift pass office to try and purchase the Italian equivalent of "Carte Neige" but were told that this could only be purchased when the the lift pass was bought and could not be added on later
As the rep technically "purchased" our lift pass and handed it on to us it was not possible to purchase the extra insurance
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FAQ
