School holidays - any tips for cheap deals?

donna1979

Hi,
I have been looking at booking a holiday abroad on and off for the last few months. I have read all of Martin's advice about leaving it until 10-8 weeks before as prices drop but had still kept having a look at mainly jet2's website. However it is now 10 weeks and the prices have gone up by over £350 for trip to Turkey AI for 2 weeks. Will the prices drop again? We aren't particularly tired to Turkey but that was the cheapest place with what we wanted when I was looking before. We are tired to school holidays as I work in a school. Any tips greatly appreciated/ or at least reassurance they will drop again

zagfles

1) Don't book a package
2) Go somewhere where it's off peak locally

In Europe have a look at late August.

donna1979

I've looked at the end of August but with needing to be back by the 31st it's still more expensive than the first 2 weeks. My holidays fall a day or 2 earlier than most schools this year but that means going back sooner! Where would I find out which places are off season please?

Alan_Bowen

There are absolutely no assurances that prices will fall, it all depends on supply and demand. The first week of the school holidays is the busiest and most expensive week of the year to book a holiday and lower prices depend on fewer people wanting to book than holidays being available. Flights from larger airports, Manchester for example, are often cheaper than smaller airports such as Leeds where jet2 is the dominant player.

If you can wait to the end of August, holidays ought to be cheaper but many people suggest that the electoral uncertainty meant people waited to book and now the election is over, demand has risen, and as it does, so do prices. Remember the later you leave it, the more likely you end up with a holiday no one else wanted and sometimes there is a reason it didn't sell!

donna1979

I've always thought the same about the end of the holidays but currently the last 2 weeks are dearer than the first 2 on most sites. I understand it's a risk leaving it but we didn't have the money until this week to book so had to leave it. As it stands it looks like 2 weeks will be out of our price range.

richardw

Consider a Ryanair flight and stay in a mobile home http://www.yellohvillage.co.uk/our_accommodation/our_premium_accommodation
For 2 weeks.

zagfles

donna1979 wrote: »

I've looked at the end of August but with needing to be back by the 31st it's still more expensive than the first 2 weeks. My holidays fall a day or 2 earlier than most schools this year but that means going back sooner! Where would I find out which places are off season please?

Just google school term dates for the countries you're looking at. A lot of Europe go back to school mid August.

But the more important thing is not to book a package - because it probably won't make much difference as they'll price based on UK school holidays.

callum9999

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

There are absolutely no assurances that prices will fall, it all depends on supply and demand. The first week of the school holidays is the busiest and most expensive week of the year to book a holiday and lower prices depend on fewer people wanting to book than holidays being available. Flights from larger airports, Manchester for example, are often cheaper than smaller airports such as Leeds where jet2 is the dominant player.

If you can wait to the end of August, holidays ought to be cheaper but many people suggest that the electoral uncertainty meant people waited to book and now the election is over, demand has risen, and as it does, so do prices. Remember the later you leave it, the more likely you end up with a holiday no one else wanted and sometimes there is a reason it didn't sell!

People didn't book a holiday because it was uncertain whether Cameron or Miliband would be running the country?

Alan_Bowen

Yes, it happens whenever there is a general election, wait until the press releases arrive in the next week to claim that bookings have boomed. People hold off booking whenever there is uncertainty, most travel agents admit bookings have been really poor for the last 6 weeks, although they will never say so in public

donna1979

I think I might have to hold my nerve and leave it until closer to the time! I'm sure we will get somewhere within our budget especially if I'm brave and don't go for a package. I always have done them diy but our last holiday was when the volcanic ash drama hit and we were caught out so had decided to go the package route this time

jo-bo

If you can, then look at flying from Glasgow