Cheap flights, insurance

Quirkafleeg · 24 February, 2005, 06:36:28 PM

Anyone got any recommendations for cheap flights and travel insurance

Tiplodocus · 24 February, 2005, 07:16:43 PM

Well, it helps to know where you are flying to. Ryanair and Easyjet tend to work for me (Ryanair especially as I'm only fifteen minutes from Prestwick - the only place where Elvis touched British tarmac).

I bank with the CO-OP which gives me free (if you discount the service charge) travel insurance (and it's ethical as well so you know you money won't help some bad man buying landmines). Other banks probably do similar stuff and if you travel a lot, I guess it may save you dosh in the long run.

Travel insurance has got to be the biggest con on the planet though. What's the point of buying insurance for your holiday that doesn't pay out if you are either
a) drunk and/or
b) engaged in a dangerous sport such as skiing.

What else do you do on holiday?

Trout · 24 February, 2005, 07:17:54 PM

Well, you might be involved in a hideous John Grisham-related accident.

Quirkafleeg · 24 February, 2005, 08:14:25 PM

Ah yes, probably should have mentioned it's the near-mythical trip to Japan...

And thanks that's reminded me I've got vague memories of my bank doing some sort of insurance deal... I'll check it out.

WoD · 24 February, 2005, 08:26:30 PM

gary, do you have a credit card? Some of these have tavel insurance as a perk that most people never use.

Tanky · 24 February, 2005, 09:55:23 PM

Gary: I use insure and go. They cover you for absolutely everything (inc winter sports) and my 'yes i am going backpacking and likely to be involved in a drunken bungy incident' package cost me a comparitively paltry 80 squid

The cheapest flights to Japan are likely to be with BA, possibly Qantas, and possibly Singapore air, but they tend to start at a little under 600.

Hope that helps

Queen Firey-Bou · 24 February, 2005, 10:49:12 PM

harumpff. ive never bothered with travel insurance, having 'lost' all my cd's maybe i shulda.

as for cheap flights, be very very canny. hidden costs. ?7 extra for using visa. a ?2.99 flight is generally more ?30+. easy jet is nay bad BUT don't have tight connections cos sleazyjet is generally late, sometimes HOURS. check in etc fairly straighforward.
ryanair ?! grrrr. prestwick ??!! GRRRRR. its a shit hole. no clean signage to car parks. no courtesy bus from car parks unless you know to ask. no clear signage to check in. check in opens 2 hours before flight, i suggest you are there then & no later. check in closes 40 minutes before flight, & they will not under any circumstances let you board, even if you were actually standing in the check-in queue at the time, with a birthday girl. bastards. the ticket office lady is an ignorant bitch & no amount of reasoned debate, tears, tantrums or threats will budge her. you will have to pay again to fly next day. so an ?8 holiday return flights, actually costs nearly ?200.
the car park pay machines don't work. and the information lady doesnt actually know anything, about anything.
i took photos of tearful kids for watchdog, but saddly havent time. but i'll tell yous..

ryan air are bastards.

Tiplodocus · 24 February, 2005, 11:05:10 PM

But Bou, you can see the terminal building from the car park - it's, like, a fifty yard walk. That's why I love it - even during summer you can often park and walk right into the check-in in five minutes.

Sound like you got somebody having a bad day serving you though. Many, if not most, people in customer service industries should not be allowed in customer service industries.

Sadly, they've renamed the Gracelands cafe and the Las Vegas amusement arcade now. Have these people NO sense of magic?

Art · 25 February, 2005, 02:52:21 AM

Ryanair to Japan... that'd be a trip for the adventurous.

Queen Firey-Bou · 25 February, 2005, 04:16:49 AM

50 yard walk non ! not from the far end of car park 3, with 2 minutes spare, two wee girls, okay mini bou & her very asthmatic wee pal, up the smellie lift, past the builders hoardings & signs on photocopied paper, no trolleys, over the flyover, down the other lift , then i couldnt see the actual check in desks cos of building work & large crowd queing, but joined the queue like a numpty & ten minutes later discovered they'd closed our desk. we were probably just puffing & wheezing across that fly over when they announced it... i wouldnt have minded if we were hours late but it was only minutes, cos i'd had the nightmare drive from hell over blizzardy drummochter pass & taken a wrong turn at road works outside glasgow.
so instead of mini-B going to sweden for her birthday, she spent 7 hours in the car & then a night in a travel inn, with chips.

spose the point being ( aside from rant offload ) that you have to be canny with cheap flights.

Tiplodocus · 25 February, 2005, 04:49:32 AM

Ah well, bad luck. Next time it happens, give us a shout. We can probably spare you the horrors of the Travel Inn and fill your tummies with more than chips.

Art · 25 February, 2005, 04:55:42 AM

It's worth checking if you can get in ahead of the queue if your running late. We've done that before and they let us.

Devons Daddy · 25 February, 2005, 06:31:02 AM

europe to asia
Malaysain airlines.great deals if you look about on the net,outside of asian school holidays and european ones. they are the cheap and very good airline.
only stop over in KL, which is not a big problem.

top service,good leg room, tv in back of seats for all classes,even us ecomonmy types,
flys out of manchester and heathrow,