Budgets + NW England + Toulouse + 0

[The Athertons]

Hello all

I've just been reading through the "Travelling to/from France" topics and am confused by all the shake-ups the budget airlines have made.

Not only did Ryanair overlook Toulouse with their new routes from Liverpool, but BMI have shifted their Toulouse flights from Birmingham to Nottingham. That leaves flybe (Birmingham-Toulouse), but Birmingham is already a long drive and Nottingham is simply a pain in the neck.

It seems that they have completely forgotten about people flying from the North West to Toulouse. I know that some have had their "prayers answered" with Ryanair opening their aforementioned schedules from Liverpool, (they fly to everywhere in South West France - Limoges, Nimes and even Barcelona just over the border - except Toulouse), but I always thought Easyjet would do Liverpool-Toulouse one day. But they forgot!

I see Thomson fly have forgotten too.

What is going on here and can anyone suggest a reason for/way around this problem? Does anyone else travel from the NW to Toulouse (or are we the only ones!)?

Infact, I think I'm going to go see BA's site and forget about the budgets - that is if BA still fly between Manchester and Toulouse...

Neil

[Owens88]

Hi

 

I don't want to be picky but if driving from the North west Nottingham EMA is much more convenient than Birmingham surely. Not only is it less miles overall but arguably more reliable timings as the M6 is often bad.

We returned from Liverpool via Stoke /A50  (AN EXCELLENT STRETCH OF ROAD) in very quick time recently.

 

Good luck anyway.

[Ron Avery]

[quote]Hello allI've just been reading through the "Travelling to/from France" topics and am confused by all the shake-ups the budget airlines have made.Not only did Ryanair overlook Toulouse with their new ...[/quote]

Yes you are confused and have just confused the rest of us

"Not only did Ryanair overlook Toulouse with their new routes from Liverpool, but BMI have shifted their Toulouse flights from Birmingham to Nottingham"

Ryanair have never flown to Toulouse from anywhere.  

BMI do not fly to Toulouse from Birmingham and according to their web site, have no plans to do so. BMI Baby fly to Toulouse from Nottingham, they have only ever flown from Toulouse to Cardiff or Nottingham (E Midlands).

BMI baby is starting a new route from Birmingham to Bordeaux next summer

The issue with BMI baby is whether they are going to continue to fly to Toulouse from E  Midlands after march 2005, and until the timetables are issued we do not know.

f you want to get to Toulouse from the NW,  BMI, (not BMI Baby) fly there daily from Manchester.   

[Patf]

What side of Toulouse do you live? If SW as we do there are flights from Manchester to Pau - called the Pilgrim route as people go to Lourdes from there. Don't know about the prices and name of the fight company though.  Pat.

[Barter]

The 'pilgrimage flights' from Manchester are from a firm called Mancunia, which has fairly recently revamped its seat-only deals as 'Pyrénées Direct; booking via the following website:-

http://www.pyreneesdirect.com

However they fly into Tarbes/Lourdes; summer season only I think. Some charter flight 'seat-only's can sometimes be booked in winter from firms doing skiing packages.

For Pau arrivals we in the North West need to travel to Stansted, although if Blackpool's handy I gather you can fly to Stansted from there!

As far as I know BA (& others like KLM) only do indirect flights to Toulouse. So it's British Midland for MAN-TLS; & isn't it BE from Birmingham?

Sorry - Christmas is coming too quickly - not got time to check out all the above!

All the best, Barbara

[The Athertons]

Agreed, I am confused and I probably confused others too, but let's clear up one minor detail.

Ron, after quoting me, you said:

"Ryanair have never flown to Toulouse from anywhere."  

That is true, but I said:

"Not only did Ryanair overlook Toulouse with their new routes from Liverpool, ..."

meaning that Ryanair recently announced flights from Liverpool to EVERYWHERE in SW France except Toulouse. But I don't want to sound pedantic...

BMI fly from Manchester? Of course they do, but not at BMIbaby prices.

The other thread in this topic, started by Bones, raises some good questions. I think the last post suggested flying from M'cr to London, then onto SW France. But do we really want to transfer? Driving to Nottingham is less stressful and probably quicker than trailing luggage around Heathrow or Stansted - all we want is a direct flight from NW England to SW France!

Budget airline people, are you reading? (I'm sure they read this forum gauging customer reactions etc.)

So why not start a thread with all the potential customers who would be more than happy to buy reasonably priced tickets on what should surely be a well-served route?

Who's game?

Neil

[Ron Avery]

Neil

"Ryanair recently announced flights from Liverpool to EVERYWHERE in SW France except Toulouse"

Well unless the following are in SW France and I quote from their site,

NEW ROUTES FROM LIVERPOOL

BARCELONA (REUS),LIMOGES, PISA, CORK, MURCIA, SHANNON
GRANADA, NIMES & VENICE

I make that Limoges (3 flights a week) and possibly Nimes (4 flights a week) as "everywhere in SW France".  There are other airports served by Ryanair at Carcasonne, La Rochelle, Rodez and Montpellier to name just four not served from Liverpool.

So you could say that Ryanair overlooked these airports as well as Toulouse, but any way all power to Ryanair and lets hope that it continues to expand its operations to France

[Llantony]

[quote]Hello allI've just been reading through the "Travelling to/from France" topics and am confused by all the shake-ups the budget airlines have made.Not only did Ryanair overlook Toulouse with their new ...[/quote]

If you said BMI Baby shifted their Toulouse flights from Brum to Nottingham - wrong.  They were flying from Nottingham to Toulouse and will no longer do so after March.  We checked by phone and email and asked someone who works for them. 

We are v disappointed as live near Nottm and have a house 55 miles from Toulouse - which is the nearest airport.

[Mpprh]

Hi

Isn't this just supply & demand ?

The cheap airline business model only really works if flight loading is 90% or more. And they need low cost airport charges.

So these airlines will chop & change routes to achieve that result.

I've been trying to keep up with it for my area. This page was created 3 weeks ago and already needs a couple of updates : http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/languedoc-tourism-air.htm

Peter