Flights to Alicante

Have been checking flight prices for this year and we usually go with Monarch but they are messing about with the price of flights day by day at the moment. They are 'supposed' to have a 'sale' on at present but the seats are more expensive than they were the day before the sale (I was checking!) and now going up day by day. The 'sale' blurb says "January Sale ending Tuesday". If it's a real discounted 'sale' then why have I watched prices for flights we may want to book go from around £85 to £130 in days!

I know all about flights going up when they start to fill up a plane but this year it's gone ridiculous! Last night I checked a certain flight (just as a test) and it was £84.98, this morning it's £111.98, it shouldn't be allowed! It wouldn't be allowed in shops - prices have to be displayed for a certain amount of time before they can be classed as discounted. Are there not any regulations for flight pricings?

Will be checking other airlines now but very disappointed with Monarch at the moment!! What do others think?



A very disgruntled Jan

Quite agree Jan we always fly with jet 2 they have a 10per cent discount but their flights too are going up too so very disappointed. Can't say any more if it's cheaper to book early or not. I wonder if it's because of school break Feb and Easter think they might be close
Together.

blackvelvet wrote:Quite agree Jan we always fly with jet 2 they have a 10per cent discount but their flights too are going up too so very disappointed. Can't say any more if it's cheaper to book early or not. I wonder if it's because of school break Feb and Easter think they might be close
Together.

Yes could be something about the school break and Easter, although we always miss out the school holidays and the actual Easter dates. Easter is VERY late this year, wonder if it could be that messing all the 'cheaper' prices up?!

I always used to book early for the whole years flights but then noticed some of the flight prices had gone down for our dates after we had booked (I know...once booked don't look! LOL) Then the last couple of years I have found the flight prices were reasonable up to a couple of months to 6 weeks or so before each flight, especially for Spring and Autumn. Although for our Summer dates I still try to book as early as possible.

It gives me a headache just sorting them out grrrrr!

Jan.

PS We go from Gatwick but our friends' from various airports up North get much better prices!

We fly from either Birmingham or East Midlands to either Alicante or Murcia. Once I have dates in mind I tend to check fares and if I can get them for £250 return including reserved seats for the two of us I book. The only proviso being that I avoid Ryanair if I can possibly do so and will only use them if the alternatives are at least £50 more expensive.
I booked our February flights with Jet2 and our Easter and summer flights for this year with Monarch.
I never believe their hype about "sales" as they will always vary prices according to how full the flights are and the amount of time before the flight.

I'm sure it's the luck of the draw Jan. I booked a Monarch flight on Dec 27th Alicante-Gatwick, 13-23rd Feb and the return was only £63. This was £32 cheaper than it had been pre-Christmas!! and the bonus is that it's also my 2 Grandaughters half term week.

I have just booked all our flights for the year flying from Cardiff and Bristol ,the cheapest option I had was with easyjet from Bristol, but even for out of season in March we still paid £280 for the 2 of us, and to be honest in July it wasn,t that much more expensive so prices seem not to differ that much no matter when you travel.

I normally book my flights with Easyjet as soon as they are released. In September last year I was able to book two flights Belfast Alicante flying early September 2014 with no luggage for £62.
A few weeks ago when the winter flights were released I booked my return flights leaving Alicante late September and the cost for two flights with one bag? £198.00! All paid with Visa Debit.
We are definitely paying more money this year than any time in the last 6 or 7 years.
All in all as one who commuted to both Heathrow or Manchester from Belfast for many years that's still pretty good value. I regularly paid British Airways in excess of £200 for those flights before the low costs airlines changed that.

we always booked ryanair stanstead to Alicante , but this year we have found easyjet so much cheaper the only thing is they fly from Gatwick , the Ryanair sale is also rubbish at the moment , easyjet seem to have it sorted for the time being so we have booked 7 flights to one with Ryanair for this year

Thanks everyone,
Interesting to hear most of us have noticed a difference this year- I will have to look at other airlines flights. Only problem is we only like to book peak daytime flights, not early mornings or evenings which are usually cheaper. "Beam me up Scotty!"....I wish!...LOL

Flybe have started Birmingham to Alicante for the summer. Prices looked pretty good last week. We use Ryan air BHX to ALC and have never had a problem, in fact they are really good, on time and efficient and their fares for this route always beat Monarch, have already booked Easter and summer with them but Flybe prices are looking better for Late summer.