General Chat

We can't believe how much air fares have gone up. We booked our September flights to Tenerife via Madrid back in about February, £383. We then had the opportunity to extend the holiday back into August so first tried to cancel the flight - can't do that, no refunds given. So we tried to change the flight, yes you can do that for another £380. So the flights have doubled in price almost.

And we didn't do it. We think it is extortionate and probably because apparently people are obviously not travelling to Egypt and Tunisia and probably other places so they are all going to tenerife instead. Which is excellent for Tenerife tourism but not so good for us.

That's a bit steep!

I can understand the non refundable aspect if you had advanced booking discount. Was the prices you've given pp or for 2? Messing around with Expedia, they have prices ex London end of Aug for 3 weeks Iberia via Madrid for £187.20 p.p, but don't know if that includes all taxes etc. Or £167.08 with Easyjet, but we know what they are like for adding things on!

Fuel has gone up tremendously this year - perhaps that has something to do with it?

At least you have a reasonable priced flight booked and a great holiday planned :)

I don't think the price of flights itself has gone up that much, it is just that you are not getting any refund on the original booking so despite their offer to change the flight, you were being asked to pay twice, in effect.

Unfortunately most heavily discounted advanced bookings are much the same.

I am not that sure it was heavily discounted. It is for 2 people, sorry should have said that. It is for a month and the expensive bit is Madrid to tenerife. and each time we look at it now it has gone up again.
IGP yes I see your point.
It would have been cheaper by Monarch from Birmingham but that would be to the south airport in Tenerife, we fly to the north.

Even with the discount given to residents of the Balearics, it costs us more to fly from Menorca to Barcelona than it does from Menorca to Luton.
Makes no sense.

I wonder if it is Spanish mainland taxes that are high then wisechild?

It sounds as though the Spanish might to blame after all. Aren't their finances in a worse state than ours?

I know if you're flying from the UK to Canada about half the price is TAX. Some airlines will break it down for you, more to show they're not taking in all that money. That Tax for both countries not just one.

We have blamed the Spanish all along as Iberia is their airline. However they are now partners with BA and they are also not cheap, the flights are interchangeable. Sometimes we find we are on a BA flight and sometimes Iberia. The only difference is you get a free drink and a packet of nibbles on BA but have to pay for everything on Iberia. Communication is a little better on BA which is not difficult because communication is zero on Iberia.
When we arrived for our flight out at the beginning of April our flight was cancelled. There was never a reason or an apology, just a long, long queue at the Iberia desk where one man was frantically trying to re-route every passenger on a full flight, most of whome are travelling onwards from Madrid. We were re-routed via Barcelona and then to Tenerife North on Air Europa, it was a bit stressful but to be fair we actually got to Tenerife North just a half hour later than we would have done.

Ann in Glos
The flights from Menorca to England are much cheaper than vice versa. The taxes from English airports are horrendous. Must admit we normally use Monarch for International flights, mainly because we have no choice if we want to fly direct to England. We mainly use Aireuropa for internal flights. The only real alternative we have is to fly from Palma, especially in the winter when we only have 1 flight per week direct to England, but paying for the inter island flight just about doubles the cost.
Feel a bit like Robinson Crusoe LOL.
Marion

Marion, if we could use Monarch we would but they only fly to Tenerife South.

Ann.
Must admit we like Monarch.
In summer there´s not too much of a problem apart from the costs because they have direct flights to Gatwick, Luton, Birmingham & Manchester, but in Winter there is just one flight per week which lands in Luton at around 10.30 pm. Absolutely useless if you want to get further north than Watford Gap without staying in a hotel overnight.
We understand that next winter there will only be flights to Gatwick. Even more inconvenient.
They used to fly to Manchester in the winter, then on to Luton, which was OK, but that stopped a couple of years ago.
I suppose passenger numbers dictate the schedules.

Yes I am sure it is dictated by passenger requirement. obviously not many people visit Menorca in winter these days. Has it lost popularity?

I agree about the British airport taxes being horrendous. I use BA several times per year, and I've noticed prices have gone up a lot lately.
If I buy a return ticket Cairo-London-Cairo it works out, on average, 100 GBP cheaper than a London-Cairo-London ticket. Buying a ticket on the BA website, the price break-down is displayed, and I'm horrified when I see the ticket is only 1/3 of the price I pay....the other 2/3 is taxes, taxes and more taxes!!!

Happy flying!
K