Crazy Christmas flight prices...

Transportation, Travel and Trips
1
OK, I finally got around tonight to booking my flights home for Christmas.

Because I have friends at opposite ends of the UK, my plan was to fly into Bristol, and then spend a few days in Devon before I head north to Yorkshire / Liverpool. Mainly as I didn't fancy the train hell getting across London, and then entrusting myself to Great Western rail across to Exeter St Davids. Much better, surely, to let the SBB carry me safely to Basel and then fly into Bristol direct. Perfect.

So, I do a quick search for the cheapest ticket...

£1184.36 (flying with Air France)

A tad more than I was expecting, but then I figure "Well, you're an idiot, you should have booked months ago". However all is not lost I think - perhaps the more regular Zurich - London flights are less extortionate and will give a better deal. So I do a search for London to Zurich for the exact same dates / times as before

£77.80 (flying with Swiss Air - the equivalent with Air France was £165)

Obviously I booked the Swiss air flight but what I don't get is how Air France can justify charging an extra £1000 per ticket for a flight from Basel to Bristol as opposed to Zurich to London?

Are the airport charges really more in Basel and Bristol than they are at Zurich and Heathrow? I find it hard to believe...and yes it's a less well used route, so will cost a bit more, but £1000??? What is the world coming to!!

(Also, £77.80 is about the cheapest I've seen for Zurich to London! Usually I end up paying about £100 - £120 for that flight, is it the Christmas silly season or what???)

Was tempted to put this in complaints but I guess it's more of a timely "shop around" warning than anything else, I know flight prices vary but this is the worst I've seen...

2
va va boom?

3
I think a lot depends on the size of the plane - Swiss use an A320 to Heathrow so they have about 160 seats to fill, chances are Air France will use a small 50 seater jet to Bristol from CDG so they don't have as many seats to fill. They can therefore charge more. (in fact the economics on these little regional jets with today's oil prices are pretty atrocious so there is also that to consider)

I see a similar thing myself when I visit my folks, they live near Edinburgh and I can take a direct flight on BMI which can cost me well over CHF1000 or I can take LH via Frankfurt and it will cost me about 400. I tend to take LH for some strange reason.

4
We booked a flight for my Mum back in October to fly Heathrow-Geneva, Zurich-Heathrow over Christmas/New Year - and still paid twice as much compared to her earlier visits this year.

On the other hand, it's still much cheaper than years ago... when you couldn't get a ticket under CHF 500.00...

5
Bristol is, and always has been, an extortionate airport to fly into, and it's about as near to Bristol as Luton is to London. I used to fly to Scotland regularly from their woth BA - average was 600 sovs.

6
Jaysus! Never knew that. (I mean, I know it's a fair trek outside of Bristol but not about the expense!)

Mental note, never fly to Bristol...

7
It's all down to routes and supply and demand. Like the Atlantic. You could probably fly to New York cheaper than Bristol.

I paid CHF152 including all taxes & charges return (that's £66.40) with Swiss to Heathrow over Christmas, but I booked in early July....

8
Competition? I assume there is quite a bit more competition on the Zürich-London route than on the Basel-Bristol one.

Another interesting phenomena on flight prices is how exactly the same flight leg can be 50% more expensive depending on if you fly Zürich-Destination-Zürich or Destination-Zürich-Destination? My experience is that Swiss almost always offers the cheapest flights on the routes I fly and that it is better to book tickets with Zürich-Destination-Zürich.

So if you fly a lot and pay your own tickets, it is worth checking these things out.

9
About 8 months ago you could get a BA flight from Zurich to Bristol and it was about the same price as Zurich to Heathrow. Unfortunately they sold off the flight planes as it wasn't cost effective which is a real shame as coming from Wales, it is much easier than driving to/from Heathrow all the time.

Bristol isn’t that expensive an airport to fly from as EasyJet fly there to Geneva.

It was also the place I learnt to fly helicopters and the landing fees where only 15 pounds which is a lot cheaper than some other major airports

10
I've got exactly the same problem trying to get to Teesside (now called Durham Tees Valley). Very operators go there and those that do (BMI for one) charge an arm and a leg. I now use a combination of www.ebookers.com , Swiss Air's own website and Easy Jet's own web site.

The best option for me now, is to fly BSL -> LHR -> Newcastle and then get picked up.

Also worth looking at is flying to cheaper airport and then hiring car, but beware if dropping off in another location, as the drop off fees stink.

Have also checked out trains and national express, combined with different airports, but as yet it has not worked out.

At the mo I am using points to fly with BA via LHR to NCL, but this still ends up costing me CHF240 in airports taxes.

Swissmorgs

11
Anywhere North, West or Central in England, expect to take out a mortgage to pay for your flights.

FFS airlines open a Switzerland - Birmingham/Bristol route (Additonally help our friends in the North!!)

12
If need to go to the north and fly into Heathrow as it is so expensive to fly direct if you book early you can get good priced train tickets from www.thetrainline.com . I have paid £16.50 each way from Euston to Wigan North west. So that is only adding £32 to the cheaper air fare to London and it is a good service.

13
I go Basle Liverpool with easyjet SJ, cuts out a lot of train travel in England.

14
Try www.opodo.de or www.billigerreisen.de with the dates you were thinking of .... You may get lucky with a good priced ticket .

15
Opodo = the devil!

I have no faith in any of the many "price comparison" sites, whether it be air fares or anything else - as the internet isn't regulated they all just recommend whichever company pays the site the most commission, it's a massive con. (e.g. ebookers, opodo, expedia, comparis.ch, uswitch.com, etc)

Those prices were from the original airline sites themselves.

I think £77 from Zurich to Heathrow return is a great price, but I posted because I'm amazed how Air France (who are usually the best deal when I look) can justify charging £165 for Zurich to London, and on the same day charge £1184 for Basel to Bristol. It's scandalous.

I guess the main reason I posted is for any Baslers who may not have thought to check Zurich ticket prices to get to the UK for Christmas, certainly worth paying 40-50CHF for a train ticket to Zurich and save £1000 on the plane ticket...

16
Friedrichshafen to Stanstead is still available for €0.01 before taxes. It's the 2nd cheapest flight I've ever taken, the cheapest being Bournemouth to Lyon return for £0.00 before taxes.

17
BMIbaby from Geneva to Cardiff are currently 26ChF each way before taxes, Prices like that I might even have to go home and visit my parents

18
Prices are generally ok from Liverpool to BSL Easyjet if in advance. Also worth checking out the Air Swiss Basel/Manchester route it's costing us 500CHF (2 adults 2 kids) return over Christmas for some reason Zurich Manchester is much more expensive.

19
I booked Geneva - Newcastle with Easyjet - they only run that route in ski season but I figured it was better taking train in CH than in UK and one flight reduces those nasty Carbon debts!

20
I booked my flights back in Oct and got them all pretty cheap considering all my flights are between 22nd and 27th December

Geneva to EMA (one way) with BMI baby £60

EMA – Dinard (rtn) with Ryan Air £87

Liverpool – Basel (one way) with Easy Jet £82

Quite a few airlines are now changing their flights for the winter/ski season

BMI fly Geneva -Cardiff/Birmingham/EMA/Manchester

Flybe are adding Berne – Birmingham/Southampton

Flybe also fly from Geneva to various places along the south coast of England including Exeter realise this may be a bit late for you now Terry but bear it in mind for the future.

Jet 2 Fly Geneva – Manchester/Leeds Bradford