Our kids refused time off school during term time - please advice

onlyroz

SandC wrote: »

I believe the government should step in and do something about this racket that the holiday companies and airlines have with the pricing of holidays as often it is ridiculous the leap in price from one week to the next coinciding with school holidays.

Are you seriously suggesting that the general tax payer should subsidise holidays for people with school age children just so that they can get a week or two in the sun for cheap? :eek:

pinkandblueshoe

I don't think holidays should be subsidised, I just think that prices should be fairer all year round. Ive paid £40 with jet2 to go one way to spain. At the moment the flight is showing as £200 during school holiday times. That's one way. Out of school summer holiday times I can get to spain and back for around £120, during the school holidays its around £400.

I think the previous poster was meaning more about airlines and hotels not hiking up prices to make a huge profit just because it's school holiday time.

SandC

onlyroz wrote: »

Are you seriously suggesting that the general tax payer should subsidise holidays for people with school age children just so that they can get a week or two in the sun for cheap? :eek:

No Roz, just that the industry should be regulated to not profiteer like they have been doing.

BTW. I am 44. No children.

SandC

pinkandblueshoe wrote: »

I don't think holidays should be subsidised, I just think that prices should be fairer all year round. Ive paid £40 with jet2 to go one way to spain. At the moment the flight is showing as £200 during school holiday times. That's one way. Out of school summer holiday times I can get to spain and back for around £120, during the school holidays its around £400.

I think the previous poster was meaning more about airlines and hotels not hiking up prices to make a huge profit just because it's school holiday time.

That's right, I was. A case in point, the holiday companies often say it's down to the hotels and airlines at peak times, however I believe you are in Scotland so summer hols start a couple of weeks early than England and Wales..... yet the flight prices from airports in Scotland shoot up anyway and this is NOT high season.

pinkandblueshoe

Speaking as someone who doesn't have kids, my job is flexible enough that I can take holidays outwith school holiday times, but it's not just people with kids it affects when airlines hike their prices up during the summer holiday, its people who can only take holidays during that time, such as teachers.

Other people are affected by the companies wanting to profit from families. By the way when I went to Spain last year, at the beginning of June, I was astonished by the number of kids there were at my hotel, I think I was one of the few people who wasn't there as a family with kids and the hotel wasn't the smallest hotel around, think it had around 300 rooms.

So if the argument is that most families keep their kids in school and then pay the premiums, percentage wise that might indeed be the case, but I couldn't believe how many familes were there at that time, in school time.

pinkandblueshoe

I am in Scotland. I tend to go on holiday the first week in June and after the schools start back up here, as theres no way Id pay £400 return to go to Spain during school holiday time, that's more than the week in Spain itself costs me.

SandC

I don't have children either and I also have a very flexible employer and I'm off on hol tomorrow actually, well outside school hols and feel fortunate to be able to do so.

But I take an interest in these subjects, it affects most of my friends after all and also has a bit of a knock on effect at work too.

rachy182

My experience of out of peak/holiday holidays have been a mixed bag and while the prices have been low compared to the six weeks holiday sometimes it hasnt been worth it. Holidays in this country (normally first week of the easter holiday) have been ruined by tent collapsing after heavy winds and sub zero temperatures where it had snowed weeks before where you didn't want to go outside even wrapped up. Even if you go elsewhere in europe it can be a be chilly and will turn on the night. Another problem is that no where in town is open and onsite entertainment is limited or non existent so you end up wondering how your going to fill your day.

Despite the cheapness sometimes you think it would be better if you just stayed at home after all the trouble.

onlyroz

SandC wrote: »

No Roz, just that the industry should be regulated to not profiteer like they have been doing.

BTW. I am 44. No children.

It is simple supply and demand. How would you suggest such "regulation" would work without providing a government subsidy to enable travel agents to drop their prices in the peak season? You cannot just tell them that they have to charge less without giving them something in return.

Travel agents, hotels, airlines, and the entire tourism industry make the vast majority of their money in the summer season, and may operate at a loss during off-peak periods. Any attempts to intervene would result in economic disaster - all so that a few people can have a cheap holiday in the sun.

Travelling abroad is *not* a human right and if you can't afford it then hire a caravan in the UK instead. That's what my parents did when they were kids.

missbiggles1

burlington6 wrote: »

They let minority children have time of for cultural reasons

Are "minority children" the very small ones?:D