Turkey flights - October book now or wait?

harieta

I need one way flight from Dalaman or Bodrum back to Gatwick or Stansted around 12th of October.
Unfortunately I will be using public transport to get back to Canterbury so I would need to get flights where I could get back on train/coach and be home same evening (night)

My choices are:
Easyjet £69.99 plus £7.50 baggage landing in Gatwick at 22:55 (that one is from Bodrum) - no chances to be home same day and hotel would cost probably around £50.00 to stay overnight
KTHY £90.00 landing in Stansted at 20:30
Aegean £93.00 landing in Gatwick at 21:25


I'm stuck which one to choose
Cheaper option with hotel stay (smaller planes)
slightly more expensive flights and travelling late at night but sleeping in own bed
Probably longer I wait more expensive the flights will become, am I right? Or is it worth waiting for some special offers, if there are any for these airlines and this routes?


BTW there is two of us, me and my better half....
Any advice would be great.

delwynshd

book now they will only go up alot more in price

harieta

delwynsholidaydeals wrote: »

book now they will only go up alot more in price

any recommendation which would be the best? I only flew with Easyjet so have no experience with other two

WishI'dReadSooner

That time in October you'll probably be OK waiting until you get to Turkey before getting the return flight. Toward end Oct it gets sticky.
If you leave it until 1-2 weeks before you travel back, hopefully there will be free seats (Once they leave here then fewer people book from Turkey).
We've had flights back for less than 50 Euros - remember FTC also!
Depends on how tight you are datewise too

mrme

My advice would be to try a travel agent.... If you get a nice one they should be able to find you a very nice deal if you are flexible. Thomas Cook are by far the biggest to Dalaman so that would be your best bet. Don't always assume the Ryanairs & Easyjet's are cheapest as if the Charters have 'dead' seats they practically give them away :T

harieta

mrme wrote: »

My advice would be to try a travel agent.... If you get a nice one they should be able to find you a very nice deal if you are flexible. Thomas Cook are by far the biggest to Dalaman so that would be your best bet. Don't always assume the Ryanairs & Easyjet's are cheapest as if the Charters have 'dead' seats they practically give them away :T

How would I do it, online? Thomas Cook wants now around £110.00 per person plus seat together charges, booking fess etc...
I presume if you mean charter flights have dead seats that would mean for us wait until last minute, is that right?

WishI'dReadSooner

We've got a property in Turkey & go out/back about 4-5 times a year. Last few times we've booked the seats back after getting there.

You can book Easyjet, FTC & Aegean online, they do have internet cafe's everywhere, plus in the travel agents out there they often can get you cheap flights back via Turkish airlines. First Choice also normally can be booked from Turkey but they took their seats off after XL failed.

Late last year it was a bit hairy when it came to flights - probably because many people living there part-time had booked seats back with the now defunct XL BUT there will still be bargains to be had - you just had to jump quickly. I think ours cost about 50 Euros each (around £36 at the time).

Forget buying seats together - just get to the airport a bit early, you'll invariably be sitting together, across the aisle sometimes or behind one another. Unless you're joined at the hip don't pay for this - It's only a 4 hr or so flight. If you are joined at the hip they'd probably offer you 2 seats together for medical reasons.:rotfl:

Maybe wait & see if Easyjet do their £19.99 or so specials - if you're too nervous to leave it until you're in Turkey.

Been with all of them - not too much to choose between them.
FTC/Thompson have the least legroom. Gross food - if you want to pay for it.
Aegean use Onur - good legroom, no entertainment or food.

Forget the food at the airports in Turkey - grossly overpriced, they make ours look cheap by comparison. Load up with Water, half breads for airport & flight & save yourselves a bundle. Water 500ml can cost £4 at the airport:eek:

harieta

Does Turkey have same safety regulation as Europe? you know no liquids (own drinks) allowed on planes (unless bought after security gates)

by the way when would be the best to look for those last minutes deals, a week or two weeks before planned departure or really last minute, like couple of days... I would be pushing it as my visa would be close to its expiry date (30 days)

WishI'dReadSooner

You are allowed to take liquids into airport & also onto plane on way back from Turkey. The airports are PRICEY in Turkey, a shame as Turkey isn't expensive but many people remember the last extortionate prices they paid at the airports.

Take MORE than you think you'll possibly need - just in case you get stuck with a long delay. We had a 17hr onetime with XL & then a 4 & an 8 hr delay in last few years. You can always give the water away to those less fortunate. We always felt so sorry for people with children delayed there. A 5 litre bottle of water costs 40-70p in shops in resort. A bottle 1/10th the size in the airport £4 or so!

The visa is for 90 days NOT 30 (costs £10 at incoming airport) for UK & US & many other nationalities.

Last minute flights on way back - watch the websites. Flights may be cheap to book less than 2 weeks before the flight (if everyone is doing 1 week vacations) BUT usually best less than 7 days before you actually want to fly back.

I usually went into internet cafe for an hour 2 times a week - to check mail & also to see what all the sites had to offer in the way of flights back.
Few flights at moment but take a look from about May at the prices back to UK - you'll soon figure it out.

As we had the time I stuck it out for the best deal possible back BUT left quite a few flights go that were 20 euros or so dearer. Last year was also very squeaky because of XL going bust. Hopefully similar won't happen this year.

harieta

WishI'dReadSooner wrote: »

You are allowed to take liquids into airport & also onto plane on way back from Turkey. The airports are PRICEY in Turkey, a shame as Turkey isn't expensive but many people remember the last extortionate prices they paid at the airports.

Take MORE than you think you'll possibly need - just in case you get stuck with a long delay. We had a 17hr onetime with XL & then a 4 & an 8 hr delay in last few years. You can always give the water away to those less fortunate. We always felt so sorry for people with children delayed there. A 5 litre bottle of water costs 40-70p in shops in resort. A bottle 1/10th the size in the airport £4 or so!

The visa is for 90 days NOT 30 (costs £10 at incoming airport) for UK & US & many other nationalities.

Last minute flights on way back - watch the websites. Flights may be cheap to book less than 2 weeks before the flight (if everyone is doing 1 week vacations) BUT usually best less than 7 days before you actually want to fly back.

I usually went into internet cafe for an hour 2 times a week - to check mail & also to see what all the sites had to offer in the way of flights back.
Few flights at moment but take a look from about May at the prices back to UK - you'll soon figure it out.

As we had the time I stuck it out for the best deal possible back BUT left quite a few flights go that were 20 euros or so dearer. Last year was also very squeaky because of XL going bust. Hopefully similar won't happen this year.

Thanks, unfortunately visa is for 30 days (for my nationality) I checked with my embassy
Thanks again for all your advice, I'll wait and see what deal will come up in near future and then probably decide whether to hold it till last minute or buy actually before we go.

Diamond_Olly

btw Easyjet don't do flights to Bodrum - only Dalaman