cjm

Has anyone spotted the rise in flight costs with the new flight taxes. You can still get a cheap 'flight' but the taxes push it way up high. And, an infant would also incur taxes. Possibly good news for the ferry companies.

G-J-B

Hi cjm, what are the taxes now? I remember the days of cheap flights where you won't crippled by the taxes, baggage check-in fees blah,blah,blah. Now you have airlines trying to charge you a pound to pee and anything else they can think of. I think Liverpool John Lennon introduced (or tried to) a fee for passing through security.
Luckily I have a friend working on Eurostar and can get 1st class return tickets for £49.
Out of curiosity at what age do you start paying for children's flights?

dennerlymum

If I remember correctly you start paying for children's flights at the age of 2, or sooner if you want them to have a seat of their own.. by 12 you have to pay adult prices for everything nowadays.

G-J-B

Thanks Dennerlymum. How does anyone classify a 12 year old as an adult. Ludicrous.

wetwang

I guess anyone who occupies a seat that an adult would pay full fare for is therefore charged at the full seat rate. You might also ask why do fat people have no extra charges as these budget airlines are really freight movers and not passenger aircraft in the time honoured sense.

Liverpool does have a Fast Lane facility for £3 which on my last return trip saved me a 20 minute queue and helped me catch my plane. The departure time was 12.30, the taxi dropped me off at 12.15 outside the terminal door and I made the flight.

analyst

But he was sitting out on the wing!

frogblogger

I have a very petite Thai wife who, with her not much larger sister and our 11 month old baby persuaded Air Austria to let them off the surcharge for 22kgs of excess baggage on returning to France from Bangkok a fortnight back - absolutely essential noodles, spices and the like, without which a self-respecting Thai couldn't possibly be expected to survive away from civilisation. Maybe it wasn't just the persuasive effect of the Thai smiles, and more to do with the fact that the combined weight of all three comes to less than 90 kgs ...

wetwang

sounded like common sense prevailed.

cjm

It's odd, when we tried to book back to UK with Ryanair, after 1 November, prices much much higher, yet on their website prices still rock bottom. Just had a trawl on the web and can't make much sense of it all. Any comments from other web-jocks?

analyst

Here's a handy guide that might help you.

cjm

Tres drole. Not sure any of the bargain basement airlines are much better, but Nantes to East Mids has worked for us.

autohausdolby

The taxes are a royal pain in the bum! I've done EMA-Nantes a couple of times and the flights are generally less than £10, but the total bill always weighs in at around £70-£80

TM_001

I've found the flight prices to be an absolute pain in the winter months - summer flights have great bargins and lots of flights, but as winter closes in, the schedule get's limited and prices shoot up. Living in the Loire and traveling to the home counties, I've found it easier and cheaper to do the Eurotunnel and drive up.

That being said, I've brought the frequent thing - but you've got to buy in bulk. It works out at 38 pounds one way. Still would prefer to fly from Nantes, Tours or Poitiers, but in the winter, clearly is not going to happen....

Bloobelle

Dont seem to have that problem from Limoges??
We have always mangaged to fly to Stanstead or EastMidlands - family of four return fairly cheaply. (8 cents last year - no airport taxes, nothing!) I think we have always just struck lucky - we go in Jan for 80euros - it would have been 40 but it wasn't the taxes, it was the fee for paying by credit card that doubled it! And it can change the very next day, or even a few hours later. I think they just make it up as they go along!
Bloobelle

south_bound

We've always paid using the electron card to save on fees, and usually find flights with no taxes or check-in fees which keeps it reasonable.

Ryanair have just announced that they will start charging for using Electron from January, but not now for pre-paid Mastercard. Does anyone have one of these cards which doesn't charge monthly or usage fees?