Is halfterm 2014 particularly expensive?

[OwlMother]

I'm looking at flights now for next February. The same flights we went on this year are currently 3x what we paid for them for equivalent flights in 2014. ( sorry- I realise that the last sentence does not read well, but I'm tired and can't improve on it!)

According to my DF next year all half term holidays in the entire of Europe collide and this combined with a late easter means that half term will be busier.

Any experience of this? I'm finding the prices quite depressing!

[cloudskitchen]

we went skiing in the feb half term 18 months ago and it was much more expensive than the weeks either side

[Twooter]

We looked outside half term, and it was £3000 more than last year for the same holiday/same week

[OwlMother]

I know it's always dearer than the rest of the month, but this year seems to have got more extreme. I'm looking at Easyjet flights, seven months in advance, and they're more than £400! And there are five of us!

[SkiSchoolRun]

EJ flights are nuts next year. I think it is French holiday too but they wouldn't need to be flying Luton (etc) to geneva would they?

We are saving for Whistler in 2015 instead

[OwlMother]

This is what confuses me! Like you said Skischool, most of Europe does seem to be off that week. But why is that affecting routes out of the UK? Bizarre. We've ended up with KLM and a slightly messier route, but at least the flights are just over the £200 mark.

Very jealous of Whistler by the way!! Ds is going to the states with school - I keep thinking if we'd added the cost of that to the (rapidly increasing ) cost of the family trip, we'd have nearly been able to look at something similar! Pipe dreams!

[antimatter]

I've checked for my flight prices and they are prices as expected - but I am not going to an expensive country :)

[MistyB]

Last year half term in the UK was spread across three weeks in February, this year they seem to all fall in the same week.

[MistyB]

Though I would also say I have noticed the price of flights in Europe generally creeping up in the past three years.

[helencw77]

Hi, we are going to Sweden in Feb half-term, we booked flights with KLM to Trondheim as soon as they were released, I'm not sure what the prices are like now but I had a look on the Norwegian website, their flights are £150pp from Sunday to Sunday, or under £100 for Fri 14th to Sunday 23rd. We are going to Are, which is about 2.5 hours from Trondheim, I guess it might be worth a look if you are on a budget, I guess it depends if you can get accommodation to fit. Ski passes are quite expensive but there are some early booking discounts on skistar.com, and you don't have to pay for children 7 and under (our children will be 9,7,5 and nearly 3 when we go). It is our first ski holiday as a family although dh and I have been a few times before and we went skiing when I was pg with our second. My mum is coming to help us out.

Anyway, I thought I would just post about the flights because I thought they were quite reasonable, although the direct flights are quite late. Norwegian fly to some other locations and seem quite competitive so worth a look.

[clam]

Where are you looking to fly to? The obvious ski airports show crazy prices, so we tend to fly to ones slightly further out.
Although having said that, I agree, we seem to be paying more for this coming season than in previous years when we booked later as well. We've been quicker off the mark this year, as dh has been able to confirm he can have the week off, but we're still paying more.

[clam]

The French school holidays are spread out across a few weeks, according to different zones.

[OwlMother]

We're heading to Austria, but flying into Munich. Flights this year (2013) cost less around £800 for 5 of us, booked in October. This year the same flights would cost over £2000 altogether. We are slightly limited in that our hotel booing is saturday to Saturday, but we're booked now with KLM getting in late on the Friday night and staying at an airport hotel. It means that our transfer can be first thing on Saturday morning so traffic might be a bit easier and we'll get skis sorted on Saturday rather than in a rush on Sunday morning.

Probably worked out for the best, just a bit taken aback by the leap in costs, especially this far ahead!

[clam]

We looked at flying on the Friday too, at one point, but it meant getting to Gatwick for 5pm in rush hour traffic, so we ditched the idea as being too much of a hassle all-round.

But yes, flights have gone up massively recently, particularly to the US.

[skilovingmum]

Yes it is expensive but worth it - look at driving and remember its still cheaper than a week in the Caribbean.

[OwlMother]

You've got me googling costs of holidays in the Caribbean! I'm not convinced its cheaper, and I'm not sure I'd enjoy skiing if it was too pared back, I'm very much a half day skier! Unfortunately (or fortunately for sanitys sake!) driving isn't really an option. It would take us two days to get to the alps. We can reach cairngorm in a little over three hours though so get plenty of day trips and long weekends. We just need a winter as good as the last one!! Skiing in Scotland in the easter holidays- brilliant.

[drwitch]

we flew midweek (monday-thursday) to italy, flights to places like milan and turin don't seem to rocket in price round half term and are within two hours drive of the alps.

[conorsrockers]

that's quite a jump....
There are 4 of us (DH not coming this year), and our flights into Geneva are £600 for 2014, we drove earlier this year as DH was with us, so I don't have a comparison.
BUT - we go end of March instead of half-term as its always much cheaper - and sunnier!! Just means we have to go to slightly higher resorts (think Morzine/La Rosiere). Half-term is too busy and cold for me

[OwlMother]

Sunnier quite appeals, conorsrockers, but the easter holidays are always too tricky to coordinate - exam revision, school ski trip (this year anyway) etc. I think the Easter hols are particularly unhelpful this year due to a late Easter. Must check that, might get in a few days in Aviemore then.

[massistar]

Can I ask when English half-term is next year? Wales was a week early last year meaning bargains could still be had!

[OwlMother]

This doesn't quite answer your question- we're in Scotland. Our half term runs from Friday 14th February, so for holidays were looking at Saturday 15th onwards.

[Chocovore]

This is the conclusion we have come to also. Will be v expensive and v conjested. With a very late Easter and the tightening up of school absences, I don't know that we will be abke to go next year.

We paid £750 for an apartment this half term, for next half term the same chalet is £2300! Ridiculous.

[IWishICouldThinkOfAFabName]

Half term sking is so expensive. We usually drive as with 5 of us the flights plus transfer / car hire really add up. This year we are going at Christmas.

Have you looked at getting the Eurostar to Moutiers or Bourg St Maurice ? Although assume they have a dramatic price increase as well.
The later Easter plus the new school rules are putting more pressure on the half term week.
If mine were still in primary school I would take them out of school. My eldest DS now 13 so nolonger possible for us.

[clam]

February half term is always much more expensive. However, I've noticed that accommodation is filling up much more quickly for this coming season than usual. We struggled to get what we wanted when booking at the beginning of September, whereas usually I leave it later and have no problem.

[Ragusa]

It's SO expensive this year :( I bet it is something to do with the new authorised absence rules for schools. A family with two school-age kids missing a week of school could be liable for fines of £1200
. Skiing is always wxpensive but this year..... pfffft.

[jamtoast12]

The max fine for family of four is only £240 according to this. Its £60 per absence period per parent per child so you can actually have two weeks for £120 per child which is much cheaper

www.leeds.gov.uk/News/Pages/New-legislation-signals-an-end-to-holidays-in-term-time.aspx