Last year I remained in UK at Xmas, not much fun on your own - but I've been looking at the price of flights and its looks like I'm not going to get cheaper than 800 quid. Any thoughts on whether this will go down or is it likely to go up with rising fuel costs ? Basically book now or wait ?

In my experience, its normally better to book early. Certainly, don't go into November before buying a ticket. In the meantime, I'd keep looking for a bargain. Don't forget, you can often get charter flights/holidays at good prices - even if you don't use the hotel.
It's in this situation, Nic, that it's very useful for forum members to post ( with links ) when they see something good.

BOOK NOW !!!

We booked our Christmas flights to Thailand early £520 each with Emerites so well happy,in the past weve always payed around the £700 mark when we left it later.Booked ours at the end of January.Problem is no chimney in our condo for Father Christmas to bring presents for the little one
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Dave

what date do you want to go ??

We booked ours here opodo.Just put our dates in again and now it's coming back at £600 thats Nov 29th to Dec 29th so an £80 increase from when we booked .
But say for the random date of 19th Dec until Jan 3rd the cheapest they can do it for is £1,150 with Etihad

Try an outbound date before Dec 10th. I have been told (and appears to be true over the last 7-8 years) that is when the flights go up for the start of the Xmas period.
Gary

Want to fly out the 10th Dec and fly back 3rd Jan.

Not sure what websites you guys use but have just put in some of the mentioned dates as follows on travelsupermarket.com :-
29/11 to 29/12 - £513 Qatar Airways
19/12 to 3/1 - £891 Gulf Air
10/12 to 3/1 - £693 Qatar Airways

Air China £725 on lastminute.com

Try Dial a flight 0870 333 4488 to confirm vacancies. From Heathrow to BKK travelling on 6th December and returning on 3rd of January is going at £468 economy. Business class is at £1196.
Check out DialAFlight.com

Just booked ours last week. £1950.00 for two adults and one child 8yrs. This is with Emirates, going on the 24th for three weeks. Quite cheap for Manchester.

Oh and there were 2 seats left foe xmas day and 5 for xmas eve. BUY NOW!

Decided to book ourselves after seing the prices before they rise again.
Paid £567 each with Qatar using DialAflight flying from Heathrow.

Nic

I assume by your post you will be flying alone, if so you have a good chance of getting a good deal leaving it later,wether it would be cheaper than booking now is debatable.
I booked with holiday genie late feb for 2 adults and 2 children fly fom Man on the 10th Dec returning the 1st Jan, total cost £1728.00 with Qatar.I did want to come back on the 3rd but it would of cost an extra £600,which is a lot for 2 more days.
I have never booked this early before but it was to big of a gamble to leave it later as I need 4 tickets.

I have checked holdiay genie and your prefered dates from Man are comming up at £647. How ever if you fly on the 7th and return on the 1st it is £523 this is with Qatar.

You will find you have a better chance of getting a cheaper flight form Man than say LON.
Plus I have only paid £45 for my car to be parked for the 3 weeks we are away,so if you are a good distance away from MAN its not going to cost a fortune to park a car.

As mentioned before, its best to avoid dates from around the 10th Dec onwards as this is when the airlines stick the prices up before the school hols.

Thx for the input, booked (before I saw dial-a-flight), lastminute.com at £695, I thought it a bit cheeky of them to charge me 8.95 for credit card booking ! (How else is one meant to book over the Internet, except Direct Debit).
I was tied to those dates as it give me maximum time away incorprating the free days over Xmas....Sushi and Bintang on Kuta Beach here we come..!

I also used a cashback site to book and get back 1%, not great but better than nothing ! (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/cashback-sites-comparison/)

When it comes to credit card charges you will be charged.
It will either be added on when you proceed to check out or it is already included in the price.

I know with running a buisness that if we did not include such things in the price then it will end up comming out of the profits.

I have seen many a post on here saying use so and so because there is NO credit card fees.
Well if you believe that then you are wrong as most if not all credit card companys charge a percentage.

We except all major credit cards like all other companys but we don't except American express due to their 3% charges.
Most of the other leading credit card companys charge about 2% plus it depends on who you bank with too.

If you don't want to be charged, use a debit card with companys who don't include credit card fees in the price,this should be in their terms and conditions section.

quote:

Originally posted by Greg / Pairin:
If you don't want to be charged, use a debit card

good advice!

ian.

quote:

Originally posted by Greg / Pairin:
I have seen many a post on here saying use so and so because there is NO credit card fees.
Well if you believe that then you are wrong as most if not all credit card companys charge a percentage.

Are you sure they were not talking about the Nationwide Cards for use abroad? as these do NOT charge a fee.
Nationwide DEBIT card for ATM withdrawals NO FEE like for using other cards in ATM's.
Nationwide CREDIT Card for PURCHASES, again NO FEE, unlike other cards.
Gary

Gary

No I am talking about purchases.It does comes up about someone who has used or using a certain company because they don't charge a fee but the fee will already be in the price.

The Nationwide and other Banks will charge from whom we have made the purchases from,wether its here in the UK or abroad.And for sure as we are the customer we will pay, it is either included in the price or it will be added when you make the payment.

I have had customers use a Nationwide credit card to make purchases and there is a fee.

I am not 100% sure but the Abbey have a new credit card (Zero),that does not charge you for cash withdrawls abroad, as long as you pay it off in full within the terms.
There does not seem to be a foreign exchange fee either,but I would check first as I have not went through all the small print yet.

Greg

Remember when you use a credit card to make purchases you benefit from additional protection should something go wrong. That protection is not normally available if the goods or services are purchased on a debit or charge card.

There are still many travel agents/websites that do not charge extra for using a credit card. It's worth shopping around as the 2%/3% surcharge may actually make the flights dearer than those available at other airlines/agents who do not impose a credit card surcharge.

quote:

Originally posted by Paul & Sukanya:
Just booked ours last week. £1950.00 for two adults and one child 8yrs. This is with Emirates, going on the 24th for three weeks. Quite cheap for Manchester.

See you in Dubai then. I fly Christmas Eve from Birmingham on Emirates.

Tobias

I totally agree that a purchase made wtih a credit card gives you that added protection.

As credit cards charge a fee how do you know which travel agents/websites or any other company don't charge for this service.
The websites that do have a credit card fee have it clearly written in their terms,it will also be added seperately at check out.

So how do you know which companys that don't impose a fee ?
Normally it should have all prices inclusive of all taxes,supplements,fees and charges. Fees and charges could be anything from bag handling,credit card fees,ticket handling etc etc.

Last year I phoned our local Thomson branch and they gave me the best deal I could find, including the websites.
Now when my mum went to pay (cash) she asked as she always does, "can you knock anything off",they knocked off about £30.
Now that was about 2% of the total,which is what a credit card firm would charge,if she had not of asked she would of paid the full amount I was quoted.

Maybe there is travel agents/websites that don't charge you a credit card fee anywhere in the price.Personally I doubt it and it is more likely to be incorparted in the price already.


For me the big difference on what you pay for a flight is the time of year you fly and if you can be more flexible.A couple of days either way of your prefered date can save you far more than a credit card fee.

On our website when you go to checkout all you pay is what you see,however the credit card fee is already incoroprated into the price.
If we did'nt include all the costs from buying the products to vat, packaging, labour, fees, running of the site etc etc it would have a big impact on wether we succeed or not.

Greg

Most businesses do actually stand the cost of the credit card fees just like you do. Others don't and add 2-3% of the amount being charged to the card to the sum payable. With some (such as Expedia for example) do not add a credit card surcharge, instead they stand the cost themselves. So if you have a £2500 air fare from Expedia that is what you pay.

Other companies will advertise the same £2500 fare but when you get to the check-out they then add 3% so the £2500 flight will actually cost you £2575.

Then there is Ryanair who just charge you £4 per person per flight as their credit or debit card fee. A return flight for a family of 4 will set you back £32 just for the credit/debit card fees! I believe these charges are in breach of the terms of the merchant agreements, but it doesn't stop Ryanair. The same flights with easyJet would cost just £4.95 or 2.9% whichever the greater.

The protection offered by the credit card is valuable if you haven't booked your travel through an ABTA travel agent an ATOL supplier - and if the airline in question goes bust (and you don't have an ABTA/ATOL covered booking) then your travel insurance will NOT normally cover you where an airline becomes insolvent. You will have to fund your return out of your own pocket with no recourse.