Hi All

after spending many summers in CVO we decided to try Spain last year and although we had a nice time we compared everything to CVO and as you can imagine have decided we are coming back. This will be about our 9th year inc the the gap year and can't think of a nicer place to come.

We will be returning in August (as always) and have started to look at flights. Man they're expensive. two years ago we spent £880 with Monarch for 4 people and just got £1100 off their web site.

We normally book our holidays in February and was wondering if people think the prices are always high 1 year from departure of if its just fuel prices etc.......

Hoping they will come down a little as i need them to be around £850 really!!!

Any thoughts????

Many thanks

Kenny

In the past it was the case that flights tended to come down nearer the departure time and that bargains could be had.
Unfortunately that has not been the case for many years and with most airlines its best to book far in advance for the best rates,
however, friends of mine have booked summer flights (august) with Monarch for the past two years and they did come down slightly around June time.

You may however have to look at or Easyjet you want something a bit cheaper than Monarch , but you will still have to book far in advance.
There is no such thing as cheap flights anymore

I've checked easy jet and they're not much better.

It seems that bars and restaurants will do alsorts of deals to get you in but big companies like airlines just seem to hike up the price regardless. I can only see places getting quieter unless these things change.

We have flown by BA from Gatwick in early July for the last two years. This year we changed to flying out on Friday and saved about £500. Since our granddaughter had just reached her third birthday we had to pay full fare, but we did book online in September last year and paid just over £1,000 for the six of us. At this time there were three flights a day but my wife, who was still checking the cost of fares on more or less a daily basis, found that when BA reduced the number of flights to just one a day the cost for our party would have risen dramatically to over £1,700. This didn't seem to affect the number of people travelling since it would appear that the flights were still full. We still check the cost of flights on the internet and it would appear that there is hardly any difference between BA and Monarch. Finally, our family love coming to Carvoeiro but with these sort of increases in the cost of flights and also with villa rental costing more, we don't know how much longer this will be viable.

Tony Knight

Tony Knight wrote:We have flown by BA from Gatwick in early July for the last two years. This year we changed to flying out on Friday and saved about £500. Since our granddaughter had just reached her third birthday we had to pay full fare, but we did book online in September last year and paid just over £1,000 for the six of us. At this time there were three flights a day but my wife, who was still checking the cost of fares on more or less a daily basis, found that when BA reduced the number of flights to just one a day the cost for our party would have risen dramatically to over £1,700. This didn't seem to affect the number of people travelling since it would appear that the flights were still full. We still check the cost of flights on the internet and it would appear that there is hardly any difference between BA and Monarch. Finally, our family love coming to Carvoeiro but with these sort of increases in the cost of flights and also with villa rental costing more, we don't know how much longer this will be viable.

Tony Knight

how do costs compare with the boat ferry to Santander and the train down to the Algarve, if there is one?

Driving down is only an option if you are going for a lengthy stay.
Flights have become more expensive and that will only get worse IMO.

Ryanair have base in Porto so you could price flights to there and then fly on to Faro (no prices to Porto available yet )

Price flights to Lisbon and train or bus from there. (I did this recently - train was €27.50 pp first class and was quite comfortable, taxi to airport was €10 and I hired car there as usual) Think the bus is under €20 and stops in Lagoa.

You have to be on the ball to get any early cheapies available, I nailed next August fairly early (around €260 return for 2 ) but unable to book June because of family commitments and I can see the prices have already increased significantly since I first checked.

Hi Joeysoap

What airline did you manage to get a fare of around 250 euros for next August with? That's a very good fare. Also, what companies have you since been looking at and seen how much the fares have now risen? Our party is made up of five adults and one young toddler, so we have to use two cars to Gatwick, and collect two hire cars from Faro Airport (to include our luggage). Therefore, in addition to the cost of flights and increase in villa rental, any holiday next year in Carvoeiro is likely to be a lot more expensive. We'll therefore have to look very carefully into this for a good deal.

Tony Knight

Hi Tony,

to be fair comparison is a hard to do as airports differ greatly . The flights I got for late august are from Wednesday to Wednesday, from Belfast with Easyjet, total cost with no bags/seats purchased is €261.66 for both of us return, converted from the original sterling price. The price today is €404.42 for the exact same flights.

June has increased by approx €50 per person and if I could fix dates now (which I cannot) Aer Lingus from Dublin would be the cheapest. Aer Lingus did have a service from Gatwick to Faro two years ago but pulled it because of poor bookings. Which is a pity because competition tends to keep the price keen. I mix and match out and return flights using price and flight times to suit. It would not be unusual for me to fly out with one airline and return with another. Downside is you have to use the same airport if you have a car parked there.

Would it be possible to use the Hoppa from the airport for some of your party and just hire one car. Would you need two cars for the duration of your stay, as once the luggage is deposited you might manage with 1 large car for the holiday? Might be a little inconvenient at times admittedly.

My son and girlfriend used the hoppa £32 for the 2 of them. No delay. Took just over an hour, and dropped at the door.
No brainer!!

Bruce Wallis wrote:My son and girlfriend used the hoppa £32 for the 2 of them. No delay. Took just over an hour, and dropped at the door.
No brainer!!

Another moneysaver?

Fly Easyjet to Lisbon. Coach to Lagoa 15 euro. Taxi to villa from Lagoa 6 euros.

Disadvantage? 3 hour coach ride from Lisbon, but we enjoyed that!!

Seville? Actually nearer than Lisbon (less than two and a half hours' drive as I recall) and no tolls on the Spanish stretch when we last did things this way, which was a couple of years ago however. Car hire was the same price as at Faro (we used Economy Car Hire who have the same free cross-border policy), and the journey was very easy and pleasant. Might be worth a look - we live in the East Midlands but flew Ryanair from Stansted. Factoring everything in we saved around £500 on four summer flights. Worth a bit of effort in my view - I'd sooner spend that money in Carvoeiro than on getting there.

tricky wrote:In the past it was the case that flights tended to come down nearer the departure time and that bargains could be had.
Unfortunately that has not been the case for many years and with most airlines its best to book far in advance for the best rates,
however, friends of mine have booked summer flights (august) with Monarch for the past two years and they did come down slightly around June time.

You may however have to look at or Easyjet you want something a bit cheaper than Monarch , but you will still have to book far in advance.
There is no such thing as cheap flights anymore

Just looked at easy jet and they are quoting 1,290. More than the monarch flights!!!! What am I not getting right here!!!!!!!!!!

kennycapes wrote:

tricky wrote:In the past it was the case that flights tended to come down nearer the departure time and that bargains could be had.
Unfortunately that has not been the case for many years and with most airlines its best to book far in advance for the best rates,
however, friends of mine have booked summer flights (august) with Monarch for the past two years and they did come down slightly around June time.

You may however have to look at or Easyjet you want something a bit cheaper than Monarch , but you will still have to book far in advance.
There is no such thing as cheap flights anymore

Just looked at easy jet and they are quoting 1,290. More than the monarch flights!!!! What am I not getting right here!!!!!!!!!!

Just looked now fly from Liverpool on the 5th £55.99 back on the 12th £157.99 is that over the top,?

pato wrote: Just looked now fly from Liverpool on the 5th £55.99 back on the 12th £157.99 is that over the top,?

Pato: if you changed dates to 16th and 23rd , same airport, the costs are now £43.99 and £57.99 a saving of over £100. So to answer you question, if you MUST fly on those dates than the costs are not over the top, if however you are flexible and can fly on other dates, then they are over the top.