Goa ..flight/package .. need advice pls

sad_gills_fan

A friend of mine is hoping to take his 2 children (will be 10 and 8) to Goa this Christmas and New Year.

He has friends who he could stay with but if he can find a good price for a package, then that would be the one he would choose.

He can leave no later than the 23rd Dec but not before the 20th. He can come back between 2nd Jan and the 4th.

He has flight prices of about £550 each but that does not include fuel etc and the seats are outside on the top of the plane!! I've found a package for £2200 so far (B&B 14 nights 2*)

Does anyone know where I can start looking for him (he doesn't have internet) .. I've tried all of the normal places .. opodo, travelsupermarket, expedia, teletext (couldn't find Goa).

The airport code is GOI if that helps and he needs to fly from London.

Thanks for any help you can give.

Sad Gills Fan

Gillby1

Surely I've misread that? 'The seats are outside on top of the plane'?

alanrowell

Googling "charter flights goa" gives quite a few possibilities, though it's likely that most of them are for the same set of airlines.

Another alternative is to go to your local travel agents & find out who goes to Goa. From there you can find out if they do flight only.

littlereddevil

I heard that the Indian government have now stopped agents selling flight only to Goa and you must book a package.
Have a look at https://www.jewelholidays.com as they do dormitory accomodation which you could book if it was cheap enough.
But it is never cheap at that time of year it is the most expensive time to fly.

odowdchr

You can't get a 'flight only' charter flight to Goa, you need to book with accommodation, Indian rules. That leaves your normal agencies.
The way round it is that Agents offer things like "Dormhouse accommodation" or "Goa Explorer" packages, sometimes with only 1 nights board.
They're the cheapest, and people generally don't use the accommodation because they can be er...very very basic.

The problem is your friends dates. A £450 package becomes £850-900 around the 20th December (i looked last year and couldnt afford it).
Scheduled flights to India are not the cheapest around that time, but it may work out cheaper doing that, then staying with friends, as you say.

https://www.somak.com seem ok, they use Excel Airways, otherwise you're stuck with Monarch, Mytravel etc... from Gatwick.

albalad

I too would recommend jewel in the crown - www.jewelholidays.com that's who we travelled with , but i'm sure we booked ours via teletext , have had a look and as you say teletext don't have any goan holidays.

Jewel fly from either london or manchester and i'm sure they have a late booking section on their website

sad_gills_fan

Many thanks for the advice everyone. I'll take a look at jewel today.

BTW, I was joking about seats on top of the plane !!

Happy holidays