(Edited quote)

Gwyn

I have had to transfer to the Austrian Lakes holiday as the flight is no longer with Monarch and now flies to Naples with an early morning departure - which with no Manchester to Gatwick flights and me working on the Friday, I just cannot get there on time even if I did want to sit on a coach for a 5 hour transfer. You can imagine how cross I was to get the phone call from JY with news of the changes!

I do understand why hotels and flights are dearer in August but teachers are used to that and I am sure would be willing to pay the extra amounts.

Hi Anne,

Really sorry to hear about your tribulations. I'm absoloutely certain you will LOVE the Austrian Lakes holiday. It remains one of my all time faves. It's not out of the question that I might go on the August departure - I'm definitely off to Apulia in late July.

I agree with your comments about being willing to pay premium prices for August. I'm (comparatively) time poor and cash rich, and would LOVE a better range from JY - no other company comes close to them as far as I'm concerned!

All this talk about 2014 holidays .....I have another grandchild due late his year, so hope that's not going to break the bank..as I do like to have a nice JUST ME. Holiday to look forward to... I do love the grandchildren but this nanny needs her own time as well !!!! Hahaha

Cindy

Well said Cindy,

I second that wholeheartely. We do, of course, love them dearly, but as mine tell me "Grannies rock", so now we`ve discovered JY there`s no stopping us.

Just to add my ten bobs worth, i am training to be a radiographer at the moment and really only get a 6 week break which fits in nicely with school holidays so i have the same problem however i understand JY's predicament. Prices would be sky high!

I was booked on the 20th July Calabria holiday as originally the flight was to a local airport with only an hours transfer time. It also had an afternoon departure time so, although due to the late return flight, I was planning to book a hotel room as I also booked a flight from Manchester to Gatwick. I was only able to go on the 20th because my school has disagregated two inset days so we finish earlier than the official end of term on the 23rd July.

But I have had to transfer to the Austrian Lakes holiday as the flight is no longer with Monarch and now flies to Naples with an early morning departure - which with no Manchester to Gatwick flights and me working on the Friday, I just cannot get there on time even if I did want to sit on a coach for a 5 hour transfer. You can imagine how cross I was to get the phone call from JY with news of the changes!

I do understand why hotels and flights are dearer in August but teachers are used to that and I am sure would be willing to pay the extra amounts. When I first travelled with JY many years ago, there were quite a few long haul August holidays to chose from and I had intended to do more of them only to find that most of them were removed over the course of a couple of years.

I am convinced that a weeks holiday to Europe flying from Manchester (Travelsphere fly from Manchester to the Austrian Lakes but JY use Gatwick) or to the USA from Gatwick/Heathrow in August would be a sell out. How will they know if they simply avoid August holidays?

I do take your explanation on board, but I still have to ask might there be a chance of running just one additional week long European holidayfrom your brochure in late July/August? I'm certain it would sell out very quickly!

Summer 2012 has one new Italian holiday in school holiday times, but it involves a really lengthy transfer, from Naples all the way South - about 5 hours I reckon. If only this holiday flew to an airport somewhat closer to Calabria! I just can't bring myself to book this one, so am repeating Apulia, which is a great holiday, but I don't really like re visiting places just 2 years after my original holiday!

Thanks for your comments as ever!

I thought I would give you a bit more info on why we don't have lots of school holidays dates in the brochure.

Late July and August is peak season for most European destinations and European airlines. Therefore not only are prices higher but also hotels/airlines are less keen to let us have allocations of 35 rooms per night.

We have tried to increase our mid summer departures a few times in the past but we have not seen enough bookings to justify it - presumably because prices are higher and also many non-teachers don't want to travel in the height of summer.

We have to be very careful with our hotel partners that we don't take these large blocks of rooms only to hand them back unsold for obvious reasons.

with regards to regional flights - I know we have talked about this a lot in the past but I just want to emphasise that wherever a Manchester (or other regional airport) is available with our tours we will offer it. It's not that we don't want to offer Manchester on every tour, it's simply that we can't.

When we plan new tours we try and make sure they are starting from a point which will mean that we can offer lots of different airports wherever it is feasible as well.

I hope this gives a little more background into the challenges we face - it's a tricky task trying to please all of the people and run successful holidays - but hopefully on the whole I hope you think we manage!

Will

p.s. Bob - I can think of two new holidays for 2014 that will peak your interest, but they might be a tad later in the year than Jan/Mar

This year I have been forced to fly from Gatwick (with a lonely overnight hotel room before the holiday) for the Austrian Lakes holiday. The flight times for some other holidays would have entailed two overnight stays as there are no longer any connecting flights from Mancester to Gatwick. So I am trying the train for the first time although I cannot book my tickets yet until I get my final flight times as it is too expensive to buy an open ended any train ticket. The stress of the UK travel really has made me regret booking (I only booked because there were BA flights to Gatwick but they have been withdrawn!!)

I think this will be my last JY holiday until I retire because there are so few holidays in August that I have not already done and virtually none from Manchester - it really is not worth the hassle of getting to Gatwick from Manchester just for a weeks holiday to Europe. What is the point of living 4 miles from Manchester if no holidays go from there?

Every JY holiday I have been on in August has been full of people who work in schools and I know several people write to JY every year begging for more choice in holidays.

Come on JY, lets have more local holidays and from regional airports.

I do hope i can find a will or a way lol.....this baby will be my 3rd grandchild and is so wanted by my Son and his young lady, so happy times ahead.

Cindy

All the best,

Bob

The second edition brochure will begin mailing on the 4th June, therefore 2014 dates will on the websites mid May,

Kindest,

Ben 🙂