My family are coming back to Carvoeiro in July. Since we were pleased with our flights through BA last year, we booked with again last September, but flying on a Friday rather than Saturday because it was considerably cheaper. The cost per person was £184.70. However, we have since been advised that our original flight has been cancelled and we they have put us on a flight about 3 hours later, which may now be the only daily flight from Gatwick. My wife went onto the BA website today to see if we would be liable for the increase in APD, which came into affect today. We were amazed to discover that the same flight would now cost £441.66 per person. Since this is obviously not all due to the increase in APD, could this be an error!!!! Because at the time we chose BA as opposed to Monarch, she then did a comparison with their flights and discovered that they seem to operate more daily flights, and perhaps more importantly, at a far cheaper cost. My advice to anyone still to book flights to Faro this summer is to shop around.

The BA pricing moves depending upon how full the flight is. It maybe that more passengers have booked since you booked, or that they combined two flights into one, thus filling the one flight and moving the pricing up for the limited availability?

I think that you are probably right on this matryx since there were three daily flights by BA when we first booked, we were moved from our original, convenient for us, time to a lunchtime slot, and the early evening one seems to have disappeared as well. Having said that, one would have to be very keen to go to Portugal paying these latest prices. BA weren't prepared to discuss their scheduling arrangements when we queried the matter with them. All we can hope for now is 14 days continuous sunshine!!!!

Well Tony, the depleted thickness of your wallet will give the sun more of you to turn golden brown.

Thomas Cook are pretty good at shuffling flights/planes around too. Pre-booked seats on a flight to Tenerife, going out, we flew with Thomson, the seats we booked were as requested, the return journey was on a T.C. flight but a bigger plane, so the seating arrangements want all to pot, instead of the usual 3-3 it became 2-4-2.

We had the same problem Tony.... booked our BA flights to suit our travel requirements only to have them changed. We actually requested a refund, and rebooked with Monarch who have since done exactly the same thing!!! Peeeees me off when you take the trouble to book early to get what you want, only to have it changed.

Monarch have also reduced the number of flights from Manchester to Faro this year, bumped the prices up and reduced the baggage allowance to boot! Even Brittany Ferries have reduced the service from Plymouth to Santander from tow sailings a week to one, and we paid a lot more for this summer than last.........oh joy!

Never mind matryx. Next year we can always holiday on the Isle of Wight (or will those ferries be reduced as well!!!!). Actually, I quite like the island.

These replies all point to a real issue for the Algarve this year. I experienced the same problems with prices trying to get a flight from somewhere localish to South Wales. The flights from Cardiff no longer operate and the price of the Easy jet flights from Bristol on the School holiday flights were well over £1,000 for 3 of us. Have ended up using Airmiles and flying Heathrow to Lisbon!

Will be very interesting to see how this affects visitor numbers in general. More mainland Europeans? or just more sunbeds to choose from?

J

With fewer tourists , flights are reduced which means that demand for remaining flights increases which gives the airline the opportunity to increase prices.
It is not just the Algarve that is suffering.

EMM is quite right - higher fuel costs and increased "green" taxes plus consumer austerity equals less tourists which means less flights which all lead to higher prices which will create a vicious circle. It's not just BA - it's all airlines. To combat this the airlines are increasing costs for luggage and anything else that can be priced. Easy Jet are looking to end their boarding system ostensibly because passengers do not like the present free for all but really it will give them the chance to charge for seats just as Monarch do now! It's going to get worse yet

EasyJet, have certainly cut their services....no Stansted, Doncaster, East Midlands flights to Faro....but not to fear....I'm assured by Carolyn McCall its to improve the overall service to customers

I have seen the replies to my original missive about the difficulties and costs of flights to Faro. Is it just me, or have other regular visitors to Carvoeiro also noticed an increase in the cost of accommodation, particularly with regard to villas.

The complete opposite, because of the downturn in business certainly the " private sector " is open to deals and some very good deals can be found.
The rise in IVA. IMI, electricity, water may have impacted on those offered by tour companies etc but many owners rely on their summer income to cover the years costs and will not want to see their properties stay empty.

Tony I agree I think villa rental prices are up this year, I have been looking at owners direct.

We have booked our villa independantly, the same one as last year, and found that the rental has increased, but since it met our requirements, we 'bit the bullet'. It was fortunate that we booked our flights early and saved by travelling on a Friday.