Tenerife forum

[lisaloo]

Yes I am having a rant in the rant section! I love Tenerife and enjoy travelling there but the price of flights does limit travel. If the fares were fair I wouldnt complain but I can fly to New York or even Las Vegas cheaper and they are much further away and those trips incur fees for baggage handlers and check in staff also.

The £120 fare I described is one way, before fees and supplements for fuel, baggage etc etc etc. are added. As I explained these fares are rarely available and fares can be as much as £5-600 return at peak times.

I do appreciate that these things have to be paid for and believe me I don't expect anyone to work for nothing, but when comparing a trip to Alicante in very simple terms at half the flying time, I would expect to pay half the fare but this is just not the case. In reality, it is often a third of the price of the Tenerife fares.

Once again airport taxes etc are incurred for both flights. Is there something extra that needs to be paid at Tfs that these other airports don't need to pay for? Are landing fees expensive? Are the check in staff and baggage handlers on bery high salaries? Do they use special, Non- polluting fuel over the skies of Tenerife?

I will continue tp rant at the charter flight monopoly and the lack of competition at regional airports. I know I am not alone and there are so many other places I could go but I want to go to Tenerife.

[rob]

An excellent reply. Yes, there are incredible anomolies in 'price per mile' for flights and probably due to more competition on some routes. Tenerife airport charges are about twice the price of Gatwick! I guess it's largely a matter of what the customer will pay. Levi jeans don't cost much more to make than Tescos own to make but they charge a huge amount more for them and people justify paying more for the 'label' yet when it comes to flights everyone demands the cheapest.

I read a report that said that a record number of airlines will go bust this year which will probably mean higher prices from the remaining airlines.

PS All flight prices advertised must show all costs so if your £120 was an advertised price and had airport charges etc added later then they were breaking the law.
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[margaretbl]

Tell me about it how can one company charge £350 and another £246 for the same flight and only 10 mins difference in flight times
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[rob]

[margaretbl]

yes Rob but it is annoying
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[rob]

[margaretbl]

of course not, but some of the larger carriers prices are way out £350 as opposed to £425 for the same flight.
Plus if people are willing to shop around you will get good deals.
Plus some carriers are resting on their laurels too much now as far as customer service is concerned.
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[lisaloo]

Rob, Margaret


I can see both sides. Supply and demand has alot to do with what the prices are. I must say the demand is definitely here as I have never seen a spare seat on a flight to Tenerife from Cardiff.

I also know they have to make it worth their while to fly aircraft but I feel the lack of competition shows. If there is room for other airlines for example, the low cost airlines to fly this route, what is stopping them? Maybe it is the cost at Tenerife airport or the fact it is a 4 hr + flight, I don't know.

An example of a flight I looked up for a friend today with a popular airline from Cardiff in November.

£133.95 each way = £267.90

Baggage @ £16

In flight meal @ £14

TAXES and Charges @ £51.07

Grand Total is £348.98 Flight

from Cardiff to New York £400, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura £194, LAnzarote £234, Palma £118

Similar flight at christmas £718 per person to Tenerife

There are minimum standards required to operate airlines and I just want to get there in reasonable comfort at a reasonable price and in a safe manner.

It doesnt matter if i pay £1 or £700 ,you are paying for the same thing with no discernable difference in service. If you have large comfy recliner seats, personal servant and chef, the prices they charge may be justified. Someone is making a big fat profit out of us and it certainly isnt the poor baggage handler I am sure!


Sorry for more ranting but I think I must have been bottling it up. LOL

Lisaloo

[rob]

I'm enjoying this keep it coming "Someone is making a big fat profit out of us and it certainly isn't the poor baggage handler I am sure!".

Quoting IATA figures, in the last couple of months 24 global carriers have gone bankrupt unable to bear rising fuel prices. For example fuel costs in India account for an average 40 per cent of the total operating costs annually. As oil has tripled in price doesn't that mean that flights should have gone up by 150%?



If 24 global carriers have gone bust in the last two months I fail to see how anyone is making 'a big fat profit'. Would you put all your money into airline shares at the moment? I certainly would not.

I do accept that there are large anomalies in prices for similar journeys but if you had a flight arranged for somewhere and couldn't sell the seats would you reduce the price?


Here's a good article that explains some of the reasons for price differences in a very simple way. http://www.slate.com/id/2126383/
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[lisaloo]

That is amazing statistics, quite impressive.

If it wasn't worth flying, I imagine the big airlines would just pull out of any unprofitable routes. It is the business, high end airlines that seem to be going bust in the UK, I believe. Yes, I agree the fuel prices are having a majot effect on all businesses even the smartprice jeans coming from China!

You can't deny that the flight to Tenerife example I gave you shows that even similar flights to neighbouring canary islands are sunstantially cheaper than the Tenerife ones.

People in the UK certainly have much less money to play with after the credit crunch, rising inflation etc and the winter sunshine break will become way down in their priorities. so time will tell. With plenty of dollars to the pound, the USA is a much more attractive option. It is Tenerife that will suffer in the long run. Do you think the charter airlines care?

Airlines monitor seat sales very carefully and know how many seats they need to sell to cover running costs and anything after that is profit, so they can sell remaining seats cheaper and make money on selling duty free and extras with very low or no baggage allowance. PAyments for excess baggage and flight meals soon add up.

Anyway enough for now. When I see the man (or woman)from Thomson or Thomascook down the soup kitchen, that is the day hell freezes over

[Chris_and_Leanne]

lol just because Rob can afford his own private jet... (Im enjoying this too ! ) Good posts everyone ! Very thought provoking, I usually just pay it but you have got me are airiated about it now ! lol

We are going away in August to stay at a family apartment on the Costa del Sol for FREE, which is why we agreed to go as we couldn't afford a holiday really !

When pricing up the flights direct to and from Malaga we were astounded.

We have since priced it all up and we can
fly to Madrid,
have 3 nights in a 5 * hotel,
get the train to Malaga (which only takes 2 hours)
and then fly home,

.......there fore getting 10 night holiday instead of what would be the normal 7 in the free apartment and it is actually working out CHEAPER than paying to fly direct to and from Malaga for the 7 days !!!
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[margaretbl]

It makes you wonder how the carriers make their prices up, as they all must get supplied by the same or if not similar companies....I suppose if you want to go somewhere bad enough you will pay the price to go....but it is still annoying....just like the kids holidays silly prices for flight s then soon as the kids are back at school the prices drop, I would understand if it was the other way around
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Failures don't plan to fail, they fail to plan
(Harvey Mackay)

[loopyleanne_]

its all about the rising cost of fuel! were defiently not getting the money selling the holidays i no that much lol
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Coming to tenerife in may!!!

[funky]

[rob]

I have a feeling that Dave bought several tickets and that the total bill was £300 dearer.
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Who am I? Follow the myspacetenerife link under my avatar.

Remember: You don't stop laughing because you grow old, You grow old because you stop laughing.