Schools no longer allowed to authorise holidays

FBaby

Mojisola wrote: »

To make changes, you need to campaign to get the politicians to change things. Courts can only rule on the law that's in place.

Good point! Better remember that and no waste my money in court! Is fining actually an official law?

lostinrates

pinkladyof66 wrote: »

i am looking to fly from Bristol

From Bristol at those prices might be worth the parking or a taxi to a london airport if price rather than convenience is key. We used to use Bristol at least fortnightly.

FBaby

No Offense Zagfles, but I don't think it is that straight forward.

If you look at a holiday in Italy during October break, the cheapest you get from Gatwick is £72, and that's going Monday returning on the Sunday. Add to that the flights leave at 7am, so either you have to stay overnight, or leave very early by car and pay for parking. When you multiply this by 4 persons, the fact that if you have booked a 7 day break, you miss one day of it and suddenly, it is not so cheap any longer.

You example of La Rochelle. I have family who lives there and are always looking for good deals. Firstly, I have never seen flights to Stanstead during school hols in August for that price, even booking months earlier, but even Ryanair are the cheapest that's all very well if you live close to that airport. We don't, so add train fares or parking and petrol and all of a sudden, it becomes very expensive again.

There might be some people who have the time to check flights every day for best deals. My partner and I work full-time and have a busy life and don't have this opportunity. Add to that being able to get time off, together that week, when as much my colleagues as my partners' all fight to have school holidays off and suddenly it does become even more demanding than a work project!

Spendless

FBaby wrote: »

Good point! Better remember that and no waste my money in court! Is fining actually an official law?

There ia an e-petition you can sign if you are against the changes


http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/49640

zagfles

pinkladyof66 wrote: »

i am looking to fly from Bristol

Wait a couple of months till Easyjet release their flights. You won't get a good deal on BA from a regional airport, and you'll probably have to change at least once.

BTW just checked Easyjet for this August BRS-PMI, flights are between £49-£120 mainly, you could get a return for around £150pp now, which isn't too bad considering it's less than 2 months away. It would likely have been a lot cheaper a few months ago.

zagfles

FBaby wrote: »

No Offense Zagfles, but I don't think it is that straight forward.

If you look at a holiday in Italy during October break, the cheapest you get from Gatwick is £72, and that's going Monday returning on the Sunday. Add to that the flights leave at 7am, so either you have to stay overnight, or leave very early by car and pay for parking. When you multiply this by 4 persons, the fact that if you have booked a 7 day break, you miss one day of it and suddenly, it is not so cheap any longer.

Yes, as I said half terms are not cheap, because everyone goes and comes at the same time.

You example of La Rochelle. I have family who lives there and are always looking for good deals. Firstly, I have never seen flights to Stanstead during school hols in August for that price, even booking months earlier, but even Ryanair are the cheapest that's all very well if you live close to that airport. We don't, so add train fares or parking and petrol and all of a sudden, it becomes very expensive again.

This was about 6 years ago. But even now, less than 2 months away, there's a flight there for £34.99 on Sun 18 Aug and return Wed 28th for £51.99, or Sun 25th for £63.99. Though the baggage prices will inflate this - Ryanair have massively increased their baggage charges over the years - but I do know people who manage to fly with them on 2 week holidays only taking hand luggage!

There might be some people who have the time to check flights every day for best deals. My partner and I work full-time and have a busy life and don't have this opportunity. Add to that being able to get time off, together that week, when as much my colleagues as my partners' all fight to have school holidays off and suddenly it does become even more demanding than a work project!

You don't need to check them every day - 6 months in advance they don't really vary much day to day. If you're flexible and spend maybe a few hours searching it's quite easy to get good deals. I've probably spent more time on MSE this w/e than I spent booking the holidays I mentioned:eek:

zagfles

mumps wrote: »

I'm going to central/eastern europe for a month in August. Booked it six months ago, flights were £55 going £50 return, different airports. I was going to get a rail pass but found coaches suited me better and are really cheap. For example I am going to be going from Prague to Krakow which is about 7 hr journey and it cost me less than £15. The hotels have averaged at about £35 to £40 a night and look nice and have good reviews. Between two of us the flights, coaches and hotels are about £1400 or £700 each on top of that we need food and entrance to museums, places of interest. I don't think that is bad for a month and it would have worked out less per head if children had been sharing our room, there is a small charge is some hotels for this but others it was free. The main cost we still have is food, we will have breakfast in hotels most days, for lunch we are likely to buy street food or maybe pick up rolls and cooked meat and salad from local shops with a nice meal in the evening. I reckon all in the month is likely to cost us £1500 tops and could be a lot cheaper e.g. main thing would be not going for so long, could have stayed in places longer and found somewhere we could do self catering.

As it is we are doing it the way that suits us but if I still had children to take I would do it differently but we are looking forward to it and will be visiting six or seven very interesting countries, staying in some great cities and seeing lots. I am not keen on beach holidays, I have never been one for sitting in the sun as it tends to burn me and give me migraines. We have done lots of research about what we want to see and the cheapest way to do it, buses and not paying for a tour guide and organised trip seems to be a great way to save. We will also being doing a lot of relaxing I hope.

Eastern Europe is a great holiday destination, cheap food, cheap beer, loads to see and do. And even if you want a "beach" holiday places like Bulgaria are supposed to be amazing (not been myself but have heard great reports).

FBaby

This was about 6 years ago. But even now, less than 2 months away, there's a flight there for £34.99 on Sun 18 Aug and return Wed 28th for £51.99, or Sun 25th for £63.99. Though the baggage prices will inflate this - Ryanair have massively increased their baggage charges over the years - but I do know people who manage to fly with them on 2 week holidays only taking hand luggage!

That's all very well, but the same flight, 18th to 25th from London Gatwick are £60 outbound and £102 return. That's £162 per person!!! So if you live in the SW, by the time you've added cost of petrol and hotel, or train fares and again, it becomes much more expensive.

If you take the example of flybe. Fly in August on these dates and you pay £335 per person, that's £1,335 for 4 people!!! Fly end of September and the same flight will cost £135 per person, £540. When you add the difference in the cost of accommodation, it is pretty clear why families make the choice to take kids out of school.

Dunroamin

Marker wrote: »

And it comes back to what I said earlier ... why should a family be "forced" to go to Spain every year.

Do you think that the only country in Europe is Spain or even that short haul has to be within Europe? That seems to me to be a very blinkered attitude.

duchy

So what shorthaul flight destination is not within Europe ?

(Definition of a shorthaul flight is 3 hours or less btw)