Lokking to travel to Los on the 12th of jan, i will be flying with Thai as i normally do but only after a real battle with travel agents in my area. First choice in the town centre quoted £758 rtn and thomas cook wanted nearley £900!! nearly everywhere i went was roughly the same, offering me great deals however on All the Arab airlines.

Whilst shopping yesterday at the Fort, i popped into a first choice holiday hypermarket and was quoted £560 rtn with Thai, same itinery as at the first, first choice i went into but £200 cheaper, for a distance of 3 miles, how does this happen?

I still think £560 is £100 to much for my liking, but such is life.

It might be worth checking out the prices on Greenbee, Travel Supermarket, Expedia and the other sites mentioned on Money Saving Expert.

I think the tax has gone up a bit...I just paid I think £576 on Thai from WestEast.


Nick

We are going in Jan 07
Paying inflated prices for air travel to Thailand this time of year is taking the Mick.

I will wait for them to come down prior to the date I will leave or choose another airline unless you have children there is no reason to book early.

If people aren't prepared to pay high prices they would soon reduce the fares.

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We are going in Jan 07

Bilbo, so you haven't bought your ticket yet, then? How late will you leave it? Do you normally buy this way and get the dates you want at a good price?
I quite agree with you about resisting these high prices. I haven't paid above £450 in the last couple of years, and we always get direct flights. We're planning to go again next April. I was hooked by a WestEast promotion last month offering £400 on Thai, but then found it didn't include £121 in taxes and charges, so I didn't bother. We'll try again in Jan/Feb

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unless you have children there is no reason to book early.

How do the children make a difference?

BigRed

quote:

How do the children make a difference?

School holidays

Airlines are not charities, they are businesses. They are in business to make a profit, and like any other business their prices are subject to the laws of supply and demand.

At peak periods they could fill the flight many times over, at quieter times they need to try and ensure they have enough paying passengers to at least cover the cost of the flight.

Hence, at peak periods the demand is high so the price goes up, at quiet times demand is low so the price goes down.

We are going to BKK in Jan for Pick's graduation on the 9th. We would have liked to be there for New Year, but by delaying our flight to 2nd Jan we have saved over £600 for the three of us. That's with Qatar.

Big Red, as Keith says, those of us with children usually have to arrange flights during the school holidays. Demand is high at these times, so not booking early means that you probably wouldn't get a flight at all. Poy is in year 11 and studying for her GCSEs, the only reason Poy's school have allowed her to be absent for all of January is because we are going for a special event, Pick's graduation, the date of which we have no control over.

Parents who take their children out of school during term time without permission are subject to sanctions, including fines of up to, I think, £2000!

Looking around for cheap ways of getting there, does anyone have any experience of Thompson Air, who fly to Phuket? I can't get any fares off their website at the moment, but there was a post a few weeks ago about a very cheap deal with them from Manchester.
If I could get to Phuket cheaply, there are BangkokAir flights from there to U Tapao, which is only 15 minutes down the road from our place, although there's only 75 minutes between flights, so it probably won't work (unless we punished ourselves with a short break in Phuket)

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Parents who take their children out of school during term time without permission are subject to sanctions, including fines of up to, I think, £2000!

i belive you can take a child out of school for two weeks without permission from the head.

of course the attendance figure for that child during the year will also count as well.

so a child who is regulary off from school and doesn't complete homework and who's parents want to go on a holiday during term time would hopefully be treated differently by the school then a child who has a 99% attendance record and does all their homework.

we plan to take our daughter out of school for two weeks next summer just before the holiday so hopefully the school won't kick up a fuss.

can anyone with experience of buying tickets for the school holidays ot thailand tell me when the best time to book the tickets actually is?

i got THAI for £571 using westeast travel for summer holidays 2007. should i wait until easter time or will the price go up by then?

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Originally posted by A&A:
... i belive you can take a child out of school for two weeks without permission from the head...

I'm afraid not!

If you wish a child to take time off from school then you must seek permission from the school in advance. The law provides that a school can agree to let a child have up to 10 school days off in any school year - but the school is not obliged to give consent. Each school has its own policy. If you take a child out of school without the head teacher's permission the parent is liable to a fine of £50. If that fine is not paid within 28 days it will increase to £100. If the increased fine is not paid within 28 days the parent will be prosecuted!

If you wish to take the child out of school for more than 10 school days, this may be possible in exceptional circumstances with permission from the school's governing body.

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. If you take a child out of school without the head teacher's permission the parent is liable to a fine of £50. If that fine is not paid within 28 days it will increase to £100. If the increased fine is not paid within 28 days the parent will be prosecuted!

You should also expect a visit from Social Services as you are failing to provide your child with education and thus abusing your child. Granted all local authorities are not the same,but there is an increasing general "get tough" attitude.

steady on guys i wasn't advocating just clearing off to thailand without informing the head teacher.


i was attempting to point out that it could be possible to negotiate with the school to allow the child to have those 10 days off to go on an ' educational experience abroad' and that good attendence and homework being constantly handed in on time and good progress in class would help.

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You should also expect a visit from Social Services as you are failing to provide your child with education and thus abusing your child. Granted all local authorities are not the same,but there is an increasing general "get tough" attitude.

it's hoped that with the everychildmatters agenda in place and the duty on schools to work in partnership with social services and other key agencies will mean that 'children in need' will be identified long before they go absent from school for long periods.

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it's hoped that with the everychildmatters agenda in place and the duty on schools to work in partnership with social services and other key agencies will mean that 'children in need' will be identified long before they go absent from school for long periods.

You would hope so. However, I have done too much child protection and care work to believe the system will be proactive rather than reactive.

hi guys
on two occasions this year we took jack to thailand during nursery term, both times we had to complete a form saying where we were going and why before getting permission.on the second occasion the head teacher said to me that for jack aged 4 and in p/time nursery it was ok but next year when he goes f/time they would expect his holidays to co-inside with the school breaks.
as like other forum members we tend to go to thailand for 3 wks min so that's a fair chunk of education time to miss, so i understand why they don't want them to be away during term time

In Scotland the schools are very sympathetic to children from mixed race/culture pupils. That is to say, they will give a little time off for extended hols or special events.
We take more or less the last week of school time before the kids stop at xmas, a couple of days at the other end. Also, the hols at summertime in Scotland are earlier than the English but still in High season, therfore a couple of days then also.
Never had a problem in last 5/6 years.
ian1208

quote:

we tend to go to thailand for 3 wks min so that's a fair chunk of education time to miss,

It's only a fair chunk of education time because of all the holidays they get, many of which were designed to free the children to work on the farm.

You can normally fit it in with a half term though, which often have a teacher training day tagged onto them so it is often less than two weeks.

They are supposed to be encouraging school trips, which always seem to happen in term time. I have put on the application that it is important to expose the child to its cultural roots and mix with people who speak their second language.

BigRed

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I have put on the application that it is important to expose the child to its cultural roots and mix with people who speak their second language.

the amount a child especially a young one can learn while travelling is a lot.

i think it is important to stress to the head teacher that the time spend on 'holiday' during term time will not be spend around a swimming pool in a large hotel eating chips but actually travelling, learning about and experiencing a different culture to the one they currently live in.

suggesting a project that the child can do while away like creating a scrapbook or keeping a video diary can help teachers see the time spend outside of class as being productive.

of course teachers can be a bit of a weird bunch and protective of their 'professional' role. i also think they spend so much time talking to children that when they meet the parents they seem to forget they are talking to adults!