Cost to fly is far too high

We have just booked our holiday for this year and we needed to get to Gatwick in order to fly out to Cyprus.

We started the process of booking online with Aurigny and then my wife noticed a massive discrepancy between the outward journey and the return journey. Thinking it must be a mistake, she looked at individual, one-way flights. It came up the same.

To fly out was going to cost £40.99 each (£204.95 for two adults, three children). To fly back was going to cost £200.99 each (£1,004.95). We couldn’t believe it.

We understand that there are higher fares for certain flights and certain times, i.e. half-term, but really? Four times the price?

Also, due to the fact that flights are regularly delayed due to fog, etc., we decided we should travel the day before in order to make sure we connect with our onward travel. The cost of doing all this with a hotel each way was going to be £1,400.

Then I had a brainwave. What if we used Condor and drove to Gatwick and left the car? Surely that would be more expensive? Err, no.

Condor Clipper overnight with car and cabin (so no hotel needed) plus car parking at Gatwick (two weeks) and hotel in Bournemouth and Condor Liberation on return = £750 (same dates as Aurigny). Saving £650.

I thought Aurigny had just announced cheaper flights for children. Must have been dreaming.

Aurigny’s loss, Condor’s gain.

LOUIS LE COUTEUR,

Director,

Stoneworks Ltd.

Editor’s footnote: an Aurigny

spokesman replies:

As a community-focused airline, we are very conscious that families have to travel during the more expensive peak periods and are always looking at ways we can support them.

However, this not a ‘Guernsey problem’ and affects customers all over the world. In fact, over in Jersey, where comparisons are so often made, travel at peak times can often be more expensive than Guernsey and, on this particular day, Sunday 4 November, the last day of half-term, that is the case.

The price with easyJet (Gatwick-Jersey, at the nearest equivalent flight time) is £255.02, while it’s £238 with British Airways.

Price is usually driven by availability of seats – the more available, the lower the price. Unfortunately, on this particular day, there has been incredibly high demand and the cheaper seats have been snapped up quickly. It means that families who sometimes book just a few hours later have less choice and may have to pay more. It is the same across the industry.

Our advice to customers has always been to book as early as you can to ensure you can travel when you want to and to secure the very best deals.

This flight, on Sunday 4 November, now only has a handful of seats left and these are likely to go soon. Those who booked early took advantage of the much cheaper prices and in fact nearly 90% of the seats have been sold at £120 or less.

Having said that, we do appreciate the difficulty that families face at peak times and this is why we have recently announced our new Kids Fly for Less policy, featuring a range of money-saving benefits to support them.

Under the scheme all Kids fares (aged 2-15), on all routes, are reduced by 15%. Infants fares (for under-twos) have been scrapped. You now just pay the taxes and charges. Plus, for every child under five, two of these three items are free of charge – pushchair, travel cot and car seat.

The scheme is available for all travel from 5 November, and if the same circumstances arise again, this new family-friendly policy would give a saving of about £90.

We are the only airline in the Channel Islands to introduce this kind of initiative and it is combined with other existing benefits we already offer our families – free Flight Forward and Rescue fares for all children on all routes.

The Flight Forward service is designed for families whose return flight from abroad arrives in time to allow them to catch an earlier Aurigny flight home.

Aurigny’s Rescue fare helps travellers who miss their Aurigny flight and allows passengers to move to the next available flight, with no additional cost for children.

In closing, we would like to assure your readers that we do understand the added costs and stresses that families face when travelling, and we will continue to look at ways we can support them.