Air travel food for thought

[Baz]

I do not know whether anyone watched the ITV Tonight programme on cost of flying last night. There were a number of people complaining that there holiday homes were no longer served by flights from the UK. They obviously were not aware that one should never buy a property based on the ease of travel remaining the same for ever.

 

However, Martin Lewis the financial guru mentioned some very useful points about low cost air travel. With more airlines likely to go bust in the coming months, it is sensible to safeguard against loss of fare payments. There were three solutions, firstly pay with a UK Credit not Debit card (payment must be over £100), or secondly make sure your travel insurance covers Airlines going bust. The third suggestion was to book a package deal with flight and accommodation and the Tour operator will be responsible.

 

The most interesting point which I had never considered was about the package deal,  with air fares rising and continuing to rise that it could be cheaper to buy a package deal and only use the flight element than book a flight only direct with an airline and you also have the Tour operator protection against airline failure.

 

MOL(Ryanair) stated as bold as brass that they would never ever add fuel surcharges even if the price of oil doubled. What he did not say was how much he will continue to increase the extras and if he had any further surprises in the pipeline.

 

Baz

 

[mint]

There have been several occasions when I have booked accommodation and flight even though I knew I wouldn't be using the accommodation.

This sometimes works out cheaper and is more convenient.  For long haul to the Far East, for example, there are often "deals" to be had.  You could book at the cheapest rates and then stay elsewhere such as with friends or families (if like me, you have lots of those).  But your flight and transfers could often cost more DIY direct through airlines, taxi firms, etc.

This has worked for Spain and Italy for us.  In any case, I found train travel from the airport to the centre of Rome to be a crowded and unpleasant experience.  Much more pleasant to book a package and then, once safely and comfortably delivered to your destination, (usually by air-conditioned coach) you could go off and do your own thing, stay with whomever you like and come back to be ferried to the airport for your return journey.

[AnOther]

Baz: I saw the programme and thought much the same, I recall MOL saying that fares might have to go up 2-3%

Re use of Credit Cards, interestingly though there was a piece in today's BBC2 Working Lunch programme saying that goods and services bought on the Internet with a Visa Debit card were covered also, it's called chargeback and apparently it's in the agreement which the issuing banks etc. have with Visa but not all will admit to it and some didn't even know !

The same does not necessarily fully apply to Maestro cards.

[Théière]

What about my new Visa Electron card?

I did not pay any card charges when I booked my last flights so if Ryanair went bust could I get my pound back? [Www]

ONLY KIDDING don't answer that.

One point on travel insurance, I recently cancelled my annual multi trip policy as I discovered it covered the price of the flight but not the other expenses and most importantly NOT THE ONWARD PART OF THE JOURNEY TO THE DESTINATION, I.E. the hire car would not be coverered or a connecting flight.

Has anyone else got/had the same in their policy?