Turkey / Fance

[Eos]

My 14 year old daughter plans on travelling from Ireland with her friend's family to their Turkish home near Bodrum in June and then joining us in France.

They are kindly organising that first part of the trip for her and I have to get her to Marseille / Montpellier / Toulouse from Turkey.

Having checked online and been quoted in excess of E2,500 for Bodrum / Marseille, I'm wondering if anyone has any recommendations or experience of a better or cheaper route.

Maybe she would be better to go back to Ireland and fly to France from there?

She will be travelling alone between Turkey and France.

Any advice would be most welcome.

[Cerise]

Almost certainly be cheaper to go to Ireland.  When ever I go to Greece (I know that isn't Turkey but same problem!)I go via Holland, Germany, Italy or UK.  You CAN fly direct from France to Athens but as you are finding out it is about 4 times the price.  If you don't want her to go back to Ireland you could try via Amsterdam and then to Toulouse that is usually cheapish.

[Higgy]

http://www.skyscanner.net/gbp/flights/lgw/bjv/cheapest-flights-per-month-to-bodrum-from-london-gatwick.html?adults=2&

 

The cheaper options will be flights from the UK

Try the above (if it works) or

Onur Air : Goldtrail : Aegean

Best of luck, we will be flying to Bodrum in May/June half-term then drive up to Mavisehir 10mins drive away from Altinkum. 

 

 

 

[Anton Redman]

Marama / Onus Air  fly Paris, Lyon, Nantes , Toulouse, Marseille and Bordeaux to Budrum. However they only release 'Vol Seche/ / Flight Only seats late when they are sure they won't sell any more package holidays. I am not sure how late they release the flights but none of the April departures were available last week.

Heliades fly Nantes, Marseilles Toulouse and Mulhouse to Rhodes. Rhodes is 2.5 hours away from Budrum via hydrofoil.

 

http://www.heliades.fr/heliades/home.to

 

http://www.marmara.com/main.asp

 

The paper brochures are often more help than the websites. Heliades website only gives return fares but the Marseille Rhodes they peak at Euros 240 on 26 Aufgust  but are mostly under Euros 200

[Higgy]

I forgot to mention book early, we paid £186 each last May/June but only £60 for this May/June half-term and that

is using the Newcastle to Bodrum route.

[Pads]

Will airlines allow a 14 year old to travel on her own, with a change over ?

[Eos]

Thank you all for replies, despite the fact that it seems I didn't know how to spell France in my post title!!

What seems most likely now is that she will fly Istanbul / Amsterdam direct, spend a few days there with my SIL and then fly down to Montpellier.

Either that or I don't let her out of my sight at all!

[Stefan]

[quote user="Pads"]Will airlines allow a 14 year old to travel on her own, with a change over ?[/quote]

 

Depends on the airline, some allow 12+ to travel alone, others allow 14+, , others have other rules, so you'll need to check out each airline's website. Your comment about the "change over" is very valid...If someone is contemplating sending a youngster solo on a multi-sector flight they must consider what happens if the onward flight is cancelled, or the connection is missed resulting  in the youngster being left at the intermediate airport, perhaps overnight, awaiting the onwards flight.  It does happens and some airlines are better at dealing with disruption/delays than others.    

[Pads]

The reason I asked this was because many moons ago as a child I use to travel alot on my own (trying to keep up with my parents who seemed to move alot and go without me !![8-)])[:D]

Any how I was never allowed off the plane until all the other passengers had left and then one of the stewards would walk with me to the pick up point and wait until an adult met me, I was never allowed to wander off into the airport by my self . But I guess times have changed and airlines arnt as responsible now as they use to be.  

 

[Cendrillon]

"Any how I was never allowed off the plane until all the other passengers had left and then one of the stewards would walk with me to the pick up point and wait until an adult met me, I was never allowed to wander off into the airport by my self . But I guess times have changed and airlines arnt as responsible now as they use to be. "

 

It certainly used to be like that. Many moons ago I worked for an airline (one of the goood ones![:)]) and had to spend a night in a hotel looking after a young French speaking girl because her flight was cancelled due to fog.

 

[Stefan]

Cendrillon

Yep, that's the sort of example of what I was thinking of and it is why I'd think twice about 14 year olds traveling alone by air..

You'll be glad to know that some of the full service airlines still provide a service for "Unaccompanied Minors", as they used to be known. For those not in the know  the children are escorted through the aiport by a minder, formally handed off to the Cabin Crew, and met with a minder at destination...if all goes wrong en-route then the Airline will look after the children. There's usually a relatively small fee but it's probably more than you'd pay for a weekend return with the Lo-Cos, ..then again, you get what you pay for.

 

Regards

 

   

[Eos]

Thanks to all for your replies and apologies for the re-hash.

Stefan , you'll be glad to know this has exercised my mind more than twice!

The latest is that my daughter is to travel alone on a direct flight with Transavia from Bodrum to Amsterdam where she will spend a few days with my SIL before heading south to us in France, again with Transavia direct to Montpellier.

Her friends will accompany her to Bodrum and wait with her as long as possible and she will be met at the other end. Transavia do unaccompanied flights for young people of her age and she is quite an intelligent and well travelled girl who will be almost 15, but still 14, by the time the trip takes place. This is a big adventure for her and I don't want to take from that experience unless necessary.

Does anyone know if Bodrum airport is more like say Carcassonne or Barcelona?

Nothing is booked yet so tell me if I'm mad to even consider letting her go to a country who has just sent troops to another, never mind letting her travel alone out of it etc etc. I have no wish to offend anyone so if the last comment has, I apologise but she is the only daughter I have!!

[Cendrillon]

Eos

I can understand your concerns, my advice would be as follows;

Make sure she has (on her person and written down / clearly typed ) contact phone numbers plus addresses for the friends, the SIL and you.

Tell her that if there is a problem i.e. delayed flight, she can't find her way or anything else that she should contact uniformed staff at the airport and ask for help, quite likely they will speak English or find someone who speaks English to help her and she can always show the above piece of paper. If their English is not too fluent this paper might be easier for the "helper" to understand than it would be for them to try to understand her questions.

Good luck, I am sure she'll be fine with direct flights and will manage well. Let us know how she gets on.

[:)]

Edit:

Just a thought, as she is so young, does she need to show a letter from you to say that she can travel alone from Bodrum / Amsterdam?

[Cendrillon]

http://www.bodrum-info.org/airport/

This link might be useful. [:)]

[Eos]

Small update: I collected my daughter from her travels yesterday morning in Montpellier.

She spent a fantastic week with her friend in Turkey and then three days with my SIL in Amsterdam as planned.

She travelled Dublin - Amsterdam with said SIL & Aer Lingus, Amsterdam - Bodrum,  Bodrum - Amsterdam, Amsterdam - Montpellier alone but with Transavia & the lot for a little less than E500.

I'm delighted that everything worked out so well for all of us. She's a great girl & a credit to herself.