Save hundreds on flights by via!

Grockels

Hi.new to this forum but thought I would share how I saved £600 on flights.
Last October looked at flights to Alicante for August this year from Bristol with Easyjet, amazed as a family of four having to go in school holidays got a flight out for £150!(why its called budget airline!)
To fly back was a whopping £600!! So I left it a couple of months hoping price may alter,which it did.......to £1000!!!
So I looked at alternatives and managed to book a flight with Ryanair from Alicante to Dublin then Dublin to Bristol on the same day for just over £400.(Ryan air direct flight was £800)
Since looking at easyjets latests prices for that flight its near £1500!!!(budget airline I think not!)
I have written to easyjet asking why they are taking advantage of families having to only use school holidays and what a company they didn't even send a male cow faeces responce!
So guys avoid easyjet and look at alternative airlines and fly via different airports!
I saved £600!:beer:

Westin

Or book your flights earlier if you are tied to school holiday dates. Simples.

Caz3121

Grockels wrote: »

To fly back was a whopping £600!! So I left it a couple of months hoping price may alter,which it did.......to £1000!!!
So I looked at alternatives and managed to book a flight with Ryanair from Alicante to Dublin then Dublin to Bristol on the same day for just over £400.(Ryan air direct flight was £800)
Since looking at easyjets latests prices for that flight its near £1500!!!(budget airline I think not!)

I am not sure why you expected fares for a popular route during a peak period to reduce in price. These airlines work that when a fare bucket is sold out they move on to the next (higher) fare
I am assuming this is for Saturday 27th - I can see 4 x Easyjet ticket being £1,070...cannot find anything as high as £1,500. Saturdays tend to be even more popular as often villas etc book out from Sat-Sat

Your £400 is obviously a saving but I do hope you have allowed plenty of time (at least 3+ hours for the gap between flights...Ryanair are a point to point airline, you will need to go through passport control and collect your bags from the first flight and then recheck them in for the next flight at least 40 minutes before the second flight) Should you miss the deadline for the DUB-BRS flight, you will likely need to purchase new tickets (and if this results in an overnight stay you will need to factor this in too)

I am not sure what response you expect from Easyjet. Airline pricing is based on demand, You picked a high demand route at a peak time and looked relatively late for seats where the lower fare tickets had sold out
You will find this common with all airlines...off peak routes at unpopular times can be reduced to lower fares but with others they do not need to

SW17

Grockels wrote: »

Hi.new to this forum but thought I would share how I saved £600 on flights.
Last October looked at flights to Alicante for August this year from Bristol with Easyjet, amazed as a family of four having to go in school holidays got a flight out for £150!(why its called budget airline!)
To fly back was a whopping £600!! So I left it a couple of months hoping price may alter,which it did.......to £1000!!!
So I looked at alternatives and managed to book a flight with Ryanair from Alicante to Dublin then Dublin to Bristol on the same day for just over £400.(Ryan air direct flight was £800)
Since looking at easyjets latests prices for that flight its near £1500!!!(budget airline I think not!)
I have written to easyjet asking why they are taking advantage of families having to only use school holidays and what a company they didn't even send a male cow faeces responce!
So guys avoid easyjet and look at alternative airlines and fly via different airports!
I saved £600!:beer:

Welcome to MSE and congratulations on making a big saving, that is a big part of what the site's about. Indirect flights are of course often cheaper, as you've discovered here.

As Caz3121 points out, it's probably a bit unfair to blame easyJet, they are doing what any business would do and maximising revenue when demand exceeds supply. Your own point on this is slightly undermined by your comment that the flights out (also during school hols from what I can tell) were pretty cheap, so they weren't exactly taking advantage there. The flight back was obviously a lot more full.

Please do pay close attention to the point about connecting in Dublin, allow plenty of time as Ryanair will not protect your connection in the event of delays/cancellation, regardless of fault.

Above all, enjoy your holiday.

Grockels

Sorry if I sound slightly uneducated and possibly not to clued up on how airlines work but I can't still understand how a £150 one way can justify a £1000 return? Put it into perspective: we live in Devon,a bag of chips is £1.50 during winter,due to high demand from holidaymakers throughout summer school holidays do we raise that price to £10.00 a bag?....we don't as that would just be ripping off people who want budget(budget don't forget)food.
Don't you agree £1000 for a two hour flight on a budget airline is slightly steep?

Mr_Wang

Grockels wrote: »

Sorry if I sound slightly uneducated and possibly not to clued up on how airlines work but I can't still understand how a £150 one way can justify a £1000 return? Put it into perspective: we live in Devon,a bag of chips is £1.50 during winter,due to high demand from holidaymakers throughout summer school holidays do we raise that price to £10.00 a bag?....we don't as that would just be ripping off people who want budget(budget don't forget)food.
Don't you agree £1000 for a two hour flight on a budget airline is slightly steep?

This forum is garbage for deals and though there are some on here that really do know their stuff, it is a poor resource overall.

Head over to twitter and like the following:

Secretflying
Airfarewatchdog

And if you like package deals HolidayPirates - Be careful on this one, it used to have tonnes of credibility but is now slow, and offers package deals so they can get commission. The occasional decent deal does come up, but rarely.

Then.... Get momondo on your phone, I used to love Skyscanner but the app is now useless, still good on a PC.

Finally, figure out how to use ITA Matrix.

There.

Never pay £1000 for a flight to anywhere on earth ever again.

Personal examples from Nov 2015 - Oct 2016

Nov: Vietnam return with BA for £220
Feb: Vancouver BA £180
Apr: NYC with United £220
Jul: Mumbai - Nepal - Abu Dhabi BA £259
Oct: Tokyo £229 Iberia/BA

SW17

Grockels wrote: »

Sorry if I sound slightly uneducated and possibly not to clued up on how airlines work but I can't still understand how a £150 one way can justify a £1000 return?

The two things are not linked. Every easyJet flight is priced independently, and they will charge what the market will bear, they are not alone in this. One flight had a lot more demand than the other.

Grockels wrote: »

Put it into perspective: we live in Devon,a bag of chips is £1.50 during winter,due to high demand from holidaymakers throughout summer school holidays do we raise that price to £10.00 a bag?....we don't as that would just be ripping off people who want budget(budget don't forget)food.

I don't think chips are a valid comparison, but if you want a Devon equivalent, look at accommodation. Do B&Bs, holiday cottages etc charge the same in November as they do in summer school holidays? Well, no. They are in the budget market too, are they ripping people off? They have the same issue as airlines, if the low season price was all they got all year round, they'd go out of business. Airlines are more sophisticated in pricing, but the same principles apply.

Grockels wrote: »

Don't you agree £1000 for a two hour flight on a budget airline is slightly steep?

For clarity, you are talking about £1000 for 4 people, not per person, because easyJet are not charging £1000 per person (I can't see any date in August where the price is even £300 per person). So, £250 per person isn't cheap, but I don't consider it extortion either (though every person will have their own view of value).

Ultimately, you had the chance to buy the tickets for £600, which would have been a total of £750 return for 4 people, and you chose to gamble that prices would go down. They didn't, because others were prepared to pay the price on offer. Maybe another time and destination your gamble would have paid off, but airline prices don't usually get lower close to travel date during school holidays.

Caz3121

Grockels wrote: »

Don't you agree £1000 for a two hour flight on a budget airline is slightly steep?

that is £250 per person for a peak route during a peak travel period. You were very fortunate with the price for your outbound flights and got a great deal...combine the 2 together and you would have paid under £300 per person for a return which I would not see as unusual
I normally pay more than £300 for a one way ticket between Edinburgh and London if I need to travel at a peak time (Mon or Tues am, Thurs or Fri pm) of course there are better fares available at the times where less people want to travel....same aircraft, same service, higher demand = higher fares

Kernow666

WOW so you signed up just to tell us what we already know


well done you

Mr_Wang

Kernow666 wrote: »

WOW so you signed up just to tell us what we already know


well done you

And of course, being the font of knowledge regarding travel, you know what everyone does, and does not know. Which, combined with your self appointed spokesman badge, makes you well placed to say that to a new user doesn't it.

Well done you

budgetflyer

I know Dynamic pricing is needed, however,when the low/high variable is 1000s % it leaves a bad taste.
Sometimes you just can't plan things up front ,like your granny dying in high season and you having to get a short notice flight or train journey.