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Yes, that space to left of top CFS is reserved for another when I can get one at a good price - I ain't paying £220 for one!

Thats now ordered, £179, which I'm happy with.

We tend to stay in villas, and not many do packages now.

It also means booking flights late can be a risk, as 12 weeks before departure you tend to have to pay in full for villa.


Not a fan of hotels, particularly as she likes to get up early and sit by the pool until I get up (and I'm like a teenager on holiday )

I'm being bombarded with EJ and Ryanair sales offers at the moment!

I used to have a client that meant I had to fly to Ireland (Shannon maybe?) about 10-15 times a year on Ryanair as they were the only option. Since then I have concluded that they don't fly anywhere where I wouldn't rather walk/swim/drag myself using only my lips.     

Airlines are in buisness to make the most money for their shareholders, not to provide the cheapest fares to their passengers.

For long haul, the pattern seems to be announce a (quite high) standard price a year before departure. Then there are various 'sales' throughout the year where things are discounted - Black Friday, Boxing Day, Goor Friday etc. With about a month to go before the flights they review bookings, and start discounting seats on flights with poor sales.

Last year I wanted flights to the US. They were about £2K 3 months before, but with a month to go they had dropped to less then £1K. Basically, I decide on a price I'm happy with, and if/when the flights drop to that level book it. More often than not its 2-4 weeks before departure. Weekends are often more expensive than weekdays in economy, but in PE, Buisness and First that's not always the case.

I'm being bombarded with EJ and Ryanair sales offers at the moment!

I note flights seem quite expensive this year, for the usual holiday destinations.  Pretty much anything for the Greek islands seems to be around £450 return, by the time cabin bags are on.

I half heartedly considered booking a package, and just not bothering turning up at their accommodation, as that seems to work out about the same, lol.

The two points you make are linked.

Part of the business I work for is travel agent/package tour ops so we get reasonable market insight on the supply side. The big package operators have booked a lot of capacity for 2026 - betting on pent up demand for holidays ppl didn't take in '25 (and a bit in '24), due to our government's budget sh!tshows and wokists not wanting to travel to Trumpland.

This is why you're seeing a lot of 'secure your booking for only £x pp' offers at the moment as operators need to get bums on seats and cover the deposits they've shelled out to airlines and accommodation owners.

This has made schedule seats more expensive than normal as availability is already down. If you're planning to travel the smart move is to book a package with as low a deposit as you can as current deals are fairly good, but you may find that they get a lot better around May/June if demand doesn't materialise and the big operators start sh!tting bricks. Assuming you *want* a package ofc, which you may not. 

Well done. Must be a bit rare these days. 

In the case of the flights, did you not have to prove you actually took the flight to be entitled to the compo?

No. And how could you take a flight if it was cancelled?

Surely you had to be booked on the flight?

Booked - as in paid for a ticket - Yes. To get the 99p fares, you were travelling hand luggage only, and checking in online 30 days before departure. Therefore, the airline has no way of knowing if you had actually turned up at the airport for the flight or not. I mean, if you live close to the airport, why would you go there if the flight got cancelled more than (say) 1 hour before scheduled departure time?

I note flights seem quite expensive this year, for the usual holiday destinations.  Pretty much anything for the Greek islands seems to be around £450 return, by the time cabin bags are on.

I half heartedly considered booking a package, and just not bothering turning up at their accommodation, as that seems to work out about the same, lol.

I took mine off still attached. Then split the manifold off on the bench.
Removed the heat shield first, and that awkward coolant pipe that goes round the back.
Very fiddly but do-able.

Another day, another compensation claim going into Chiltern

The UK rail service really is crap. And expensive

There is a real scam you can do with that, people buy an open ticket, use it, then look at the actual arrival times of the trains within the ticket window, and claim against the worst ones!

In the case of train compensation, I don't believe its worth the effort, given the pittance you get back.

I religiously put in the claims out of principle.  Chiltern run a bunch of near 40yr old 165's and they are utterly knackered.  If they get enough claims, maybe they might consider retiring that fleet....


TBH, the majority of the rest of their fleet are 168s, and also utterly knackered, but are only around 25yrs old.  They are keen to show a £12m refurbishment, but obviously £12m doesn't even cover the seat coverings