Flights from Cardiff or Bristol...any advice?

[martin-w]

Hi all!
Last time I visited Corfu and Arillas I traveled from Cardiff to Gatwick on a coach (5 and a half hours) in the middle of the night for a 7am. flight from the busiest airport in the country. I hated the experience and vowed never to repeat it!
However, it would appear that the operators from my local CWL Cardiff International (thats a laugh) Airport  and the more distant Bristol Airport are charging 'silly money' for the same trip.
I saw one recently advertised for £176 but after tax, and all the other bits and bobs the true price was over £260! Some as much as £400 and more.
Has anyone any ideas or tips? Its cheaper to book a package holiday and not stay at the 'given' accommodation!
 

[kes]

Hi Martin...its getting that way that the package may be the cheaper option...yes book a cheapo to Kavos!!! then take the escape rout to Arillas....

[Eggy]

Kes has the right idea there Martin. It's a good option. But obviously you need to allow for a taxi to/from Arillas in your costing.
Cheers
Negg

[Ang]

Yes but..cant even find those I know what you mean Martin,cardiff bristol birmingham or even east midlands have all drawn a blank for us too and we have done the flight only a few times, best deal I got on sat was £47.99 inc taxs etc from birmingham good flight times  only problem ...one way so I searched and searched for a return from corfu from 3day to 7 but nowt, we would have been happy just to have had 3/4 nights in Arillas, its got crazy these past few months.
Good luck
Ang

[martin-w]

Cheers all!
At least it's not me getting paranoid! I hope the problem will resolve itself otherwise its Gatwick/Luton/Stanstead mayhem again. It seems daft to me that London and the 'home counties' get all the perks at cheap flights from the most overworked and congested airports when the airports 'in the sticks' with hardly any flights in comparison, hike up the prices to the point they become ludicrous!
The thought of the coach link alone is off putting enough let alone the anonymous cattle   drive of the London airports. Will keep looking and if I find anything of value will update this thread!
We need a once a week charter 'Arillas special' for all the regulars!   

[Brian]

Problem is "where from?".
We live in Norfolk.
It's as far to Birmingham as it is to Gatwick!!

[martin-w]

Wouldn't it be great to have a 'Fantasy Island' flying boat that could pick up in Cardiff Bay, Norfolk Broads, and other remote places, and land in the sea off Arillas so we could use the jetty to get to our accommodation! That would be something!
Meanwhile, back on planet Earth I will keep searching and hoping!

[martin-w]

Hi all!
Have been searching the internet at all hours and have found a site that seems to be quite reasonable in price and is 'up front' with what you get for your money!
A1 Travel, not sure where they are based, but they can do CWL to Corfu for £233.
Anyone had any dealings with them?

[Fiona]

Yes Martin, I have used A1 several times with no problems.  They have even offered XL flights cheaper than XL on occasions.

Are you looking for flights for this year or 2008?  If you are looking for next year, the general consensus is to wait a little longer before booking due to various mergers going on with the big boys.

I normally book in September for the following year, but prices are definitely up at the moment.  My flights with XL this Sept/Oct were cancelled and no alternative offered so I will not be booking with XL again - although prior to this I had no problems.  The good thing about XL is that you only have to pay around £50 per person if you are booking well in advance and the rest about 8 weeks before the flight.
Fiona

[martin-w]

Thanks for the information Fiona!
I had originally planned a visit this year, end of September/beginning of October but due to flight availability will now be looking at May next year. It seems that now I am traveling  solo (lost my wife three years ago) there seems to be an added problem with 'singles supplement' on everything! Could really do with a break now and Arillas would do me a power of good. All good things are worth the wait! 

[Sandy x]

Single supplements are always a problem - I experienced the same when my husband died. But in May and October, most companies don't charge the supplement in Corfu - certainly Manos never used to so you could try Dionysos or Perry and Jimmy's at the Rainbow through them.

[Shuey]

Where are you from in Norfolk Brian? - i live in Norwich.

[Joe]

Damn sorry not paying as much attention to this forum as I should recently and missed this thread.

Yes due to mergers prices are high, going to be the start of the 2nd quarter of next year before things settle. The good news is and this is still a bit of a secret so don't tell anyone as of next summer Thomas Cook (which will then incorporate) Mytravel will have at least one aircraft based at Bristol and Cardiff throughout the summer. Can't even guess what prices may be but it looks very good for perhaps Monday, maybe friday Corfu flights from those bases during the summer.

I like good news.

[alyvin]

I'm off to Dalyan in Turkey this afternoon. I could not get anything for Corfu without taking out a second mortgage. Remember the days when you could get late deals? all the prices are much higher now.

[Joe]

The late deal market is still a very active business model, Corfu unless you are very lucky tends to have very few of these deals now capacity has been reduced. Next year things will be very different.