Up, up and not quite away

Among the many irritating mysteries of my life is why, apparently, the rest of the world can find cheap flights on which they can circumnavigate the world whereas I cannot. Even if I think I’m there it always turns out that if I’d saved the time and gone straight to the carrier’s web site I could get the flight for about the same money.

I thought I’d cracked it this week. BA flight from Heathrow to Edinburgh (yes, I’m off north of the border again) was £139, but Flybe from Birmingham offered a flight out for £9.90 and a return for something in the £24.00 region. And the times were better so I got booking with a song in my heart. So how come I ended up paying £106? Well, firstly they charge extra for booking on line, then they charge extra for the airport and fuel taxes which is a whopping amount. Then, every checked in bag is charged for and so is booking and reserving a seat on-line. By the time I found out that I was only saving something in the region of £35 I was so far into the system that frankly Id almost given up the will to live, let alone fly.

I keep trying to find the elusive ‘cheap’ flights. There’s not a travel web site I don’t know. I just don’t know how to use them.


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3 responses to “Up, up and not quite away”

  1. Gianluca Avatar
    Gianluca

    Hey Jenny, there is no Santa Claus, and there are no cheap flights! Cheap flights are a kind of urban legend! Nobody really gets them.

    Last Wednesday, Ryanair-Boss Michael O’Leary, held a press conference here in Vienna announcing plans for long-distance destinations. “We’re working on transatlantic flights, from Bratislava to New York, for 10 Euros (7 Pounds)!”, he announced. And hardly anyone saw the winking eye…
    Ok, we’re gonna pay 10 Euros for the ticket, but at least 500 Euros for the seat in the plane, that’s for sure.

  2. Jenny Avatar

    Well that’s a relief. I thought it was another example of incompetence but if, as you say, it’s an urban legend it means that I can book proper flights with all the “extras” quoted up front and not have to put a penny into Ryanairs coffers – which would please me really. So thanks for that. Especially as I rather like urban legends and haven’t found any new ones recently.

  3. Gianluca Avatar
    Gianluca

    well, if you long for urban legends, check this out: http://www.snopes.com/

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