PROMPTED by our comparison of Christmas ferry crossings, Connexion newsletter readers share their tips on how to cut the cost of travelling to the UK.
Tips include Eurotunnel’s frequent traveller scheme, taking children out of school to travel off-peak, and “screen-scraping” websites which instantly compare hundreds of airlines’ fares. Opinions are divided on the benefits of booking far in advance: some say it is a great cost-saver, but others warn of penalties if you find you have to change your booking.
Here are some of your replies:
With regard to travel across the channel, since the advent and demise of Speedferries I got into the habit of buying a block of tickets in advance.
The only company which has been difficult, in my experience, about when you can travel because of peak demand is P& O.
Seafrance I never bother with because their customer service has not been up to standard.
Norfolkline from Dunkirk have offered consistent value over the past few years so I would invest in some tickets in advance from them,
Michael Miles
I found your article on travel to the UK interesting. I consider it worth mentioning, however, that those who travel as foot-passengers are limited to P&O's Calais/Dover crossing, the price of which has doubled since they gained sole rights to this service. Sea France no longer operate a foot-passenger service, and I understand it is no longer possible to take the Ostend crossing, foot-passengers being sent on the Calais, and Boulogne/Dover no longer offers such a service.
This seems to me to be a restrictive practice and wonder what the OFT have to say on the matter.
Beth Hodgson
Regarding the costs of ferries for crossing to UK, my advice would be to avoid booking ahead as the cost of altering or cancelling can be horrendous.
Recently, I booked a Calais-Dover return trip for the Christmas period through an agent, the operator being P&O. Unfortunately, I had to cancel the return leg, in order to rearrange my return date. Doing the polite thing, I gave three months’ notice of the amendment, only to find that not only was there no reimbursement of the return leg fare, but I was to be charged a £25 penalty for the amendment to the booking.
The agent also told me that P&O charged a penalty too. The strange thing was that I could even cancel the whole trip, and yet still be charged the full fare plus a penalty. They must have been to the Ryanair management school.
P&O said that as the contract was with the agent, there was no reimbursement. They did say that if we had booked direct with P&O, they too would not normally refund the fare, but in view of the notice given, would probably have refunded at least part of the fare.
The trip has turned out to be very expensive, given that I will only use one leg of the crossing to Dover.
Next time, I shall book direct, but probably with another ferry operator.
Incidentally, in a similar set of circumstances on the Roscoff to Plymouth route, Brittany Ferries cheerfully allowed a postponement to a later date for a nominal charge, issuing a travel voucher to be redeemed on a subsequent trip, which I have now done.
Len Clayton
I always use Eurotunnel as my family live in Bexhill and St Neots, so Folkestone is a convenient place to arrive in Britain. However, I am a frequent traveller which means I have to visit five times in 1 year, but this means that my crossing charge remains at £39 each way no matter what the season.
Balance £390 a year with the costs of a one-off return at Christmas or in July/August: quite a reasonable charge, even if I don't use all five return crossings.
Geoff Todd
I always fly back to the northwest for Christmas. Having been living permanently in France for four years, I have found it definitely pays to book flights early rather than last minute.
In 2009 I booked my flights in July with Easyjet from Toulouse to Gatwick return, and one way was completely free. This year I booked my return Ryanair flight during the last week of August from Carcassonne to Liverpool and it has cost me around €50 including all taxes and cabin baggage only.
Val Innes
Exchange visits at times other than at Christmas: difficult for people with children at school, I know, but I am a maverick who thinks children visiting foreign lands is as educational as a good class teacher and better than a bad one. Mid-January is a cheap time to fly, if the so-and-sos have not cancelled all the flights and will condescend to tell you in advance.
PS: good old Norfolkline - cheapest by far. With the money you save, book the luxury lounge and you will be on first, off first and save hours.
Jon North
Easyvols.fr compares 600 airlines in one click. Example: Nice-London, departing 22.12 returning 3.01 is €78.66.
Suzanne Wesrick
Your ferry report is an interesting, if unsurprising, piece of research. It's always Norfolkline for us, but I'd never dream of booking the lounge. Never have understood why people want to be first on and/or off. I'm not in a race. Same at airports. Why do people rush to go through the gate, when clearly there is a seat for everyone? Bizarre.
Suzanne, I had a look at easyvols.fr. Perhaps you'd like to have a look at www.skyscanner.net.
Paul Kendall
Is there a reason why if I book a five-day return ferry crossing it would cost me about £165 but should I book a four-week ticket it would cost say £350 and possibly a lot more? I would only travel across and back once, whichever I booked.
Eric Last
