I live in Manchester so would need to make my way to London to make my trip. I picked two options, Florence and French Trip, one flying and the other Eurostar and although journey times going were ok, but would involve a nights stay in London, the return trips were too late getting in to then get a transfer home.

So with two extra nights stay in London and Air/Rail fare you are talking about another £250. Interestingly just checked flights from Manchester to Florance and your looking at £209.

I was told on the phone it wasn't possible to swap flights to Manchester.

So sadly I have abondoned my plans and I am now looking at a Spice weekend, as they do offer flights from Manchester.

I forwarded your comments on to one of my colleagues in the customer care team. Obviously we'd like our customers to be able to book the holidays they have picked and he'd like to have a quick chat with you. If you are still interested in the Florence trip, if you can email me a contact number (jmorton@justyou.co.uk), and my colleague will give you a call to discuss this further.

Kindest regards,

Julia

You make an excellent point it is getting harder for us northerners as the majority of the holidays now only fly from London which increases the cost and also time off work people need to take.

Back in 2010 & 11 I went to Andalucia & Majorca both times from Manchester and others flew direct from places such as Glasgow, East Midlands, Newcastle, as well as London airports. The supplements back then where either free or £29 not the silly amounts quoted today.

Back then i flew with Easy Jet and Monarch on these hols but nowadays JY seem to only use the more up market airlines such as BA which as caused the issue.

Although I still use JY if they have a holiday I want to do (2 booked this year) I did try Solos last year and had a really nice trip to Crete, similar crowd of people you get on JY hols. I flew from Manchester for a very similar price to Gatwick, flew with Thomas Cook while others were with Monarch, wasn't a problem. Looking at doing somewhere else with them this summer for my European chill out holiday.

Mick

Jaya

The point about having to add extras on for hotels is a valid one. Living so far away from Gatwick or Heathrow I always have to get a hotel on the way out but if you add that on (bearing in mind that most of the cheaper b and b's don't have a 24 hour service) another £50 at least for a hotel on the way back then I would look at perhaps £200 extra. A lot of money.

I don't expect to be able to fly from East Midlands (I think there is only one JY holiday that does, and that is at a steep supplement) but it would be nice to have a choice that doesn't incur a supplement.

I am very disappointed.

Loopylou

I live on the west coast of Scotland and am resigned to the fact that any holiday will usually need a night at a hotel in either Glasgow or Gatwick/Heathrow, plus parking at Glasgow, and possibly need a hotel on the way home.

Fortunately time is not a factor since I am retired. I am going to Austria this year and the company, not JY, arrange a "pre-flight" get together, dinner, room and breakfast (4* hotel) and taxi to the terminal for those who have to arrive the day before, for an early departure. OK, it costs, but you do get to meet some of your fellow travellers over the pre-arranged dinner the night before.

I know it all adds up, but I am quite looking forward to it, instead of trying to contact other travellers via the forum, or having a night in a hotel on my own.

I tend to look on these "extra nights" as part of the holiday. But each to his own, not everyone can afford the time and money to do it.

However, I would add that I would never book a holiday that uses Monarch, and prefer the reliability of national airlines rather than budget.

Sylvia

Not sure how more reliable the larger airlines are compared with the budget ones, suppose a lot depends on personal experience. I've flown with Monarch on two occasions and been bang on time each time. In fact when I arrived in Manchester from Treasures of Andalucia I got off the plane, through security, collected luggage a through customs, got to the airport and caught my train from the airport station in 25 minutes. I'd such a short time to get my train because JY changed the flight from Easyjet (which arrived an hour earlier) after I'd purchased my train tickets.

For the record in terms of reliability Ryanair (69%) out perform BA (68%) athough easyjet have a poor record.

Following my experiences with Delta last year I would only use them as a last resort if no other option.

Mick

I wonder does Just You lower the holiday cost when using the budget airlines?

Loopylou

I must say i would not use Easyjet,i think it is out of order expecting their customers to print out boarding passes for whatever reason. However i have flown with Monarch several times and have never had any problems.

I wonder does Just You lower the holiday cost when using the budget airlines?

Loopylou

I know it may sound perverse, but more often than not the budget airlines are more expensive than our arrangements with scheduled carriers.

I must say i would not use Easyjet,i think it is out of order expecting their customers to print out boarding passes for whatever reason. However i have flown with Monarch several times and have never had any problems.

I wonder does Just You lower the holiday cost when using the budget airlines?

Loopylou

I know it may sound perverse, but more often than not the budget airlines are more often than not more expensive than our arrangements with scheduled carriers.

Will,

Think its not so much comparing the cost of getting to resort its the extra flight supplement of getting to heathrow from regional airports that are the issue (often putting over £100 on cost of the holiday for the connecting flight on top of airport hotels). Think its a big issue on european holidays where you can fly direct from regional airports with the likes of Monarch and others but these options are not offered as was in the past.

Mick

Jaya

There seems to be a situation where it's cheaper (or very close), to fly from a regional airport to the holiday destination using a low cost airline, than the supplement charged by JY on top of the "normal" holiday cost.

I accept that this arises from the additional charges made to JY by the airlines you deal with, and that you don't want to get involved with fixing up single "one off" flights with airlines other than those you normally deal with.

So, why can't we have the option of "land only" prices from JY, then people can do what they want. Sure, some people may decide to let JY handle the whole package, even if it's more expensive, other may sort out the flights themselves. Some of your customers have very little experience of travelling independently, some have lots, why do we have to have a "one size fits all" policy.

I also know that people who sort out their own flights may possibly arrive at times that mean they had to get to the hotel independently, but again people can decide for themselves.

Almost all your competitors offer this facility, why don't JY ?

Stuart

Cheers,

Bob

Will

There seems to be a situation where it's cheaper (or very close), to fly from a regional airport to the holiday destination using a low cost airline, than the supplement charged by JY on top of the "normal" holiday cost.

I accept that this arises from the additional charges made to JY by the airlines you deal with, and that you don't want to get involved with fixing up single "one off" flights with airlines other than those you normally deal with.

So, why can't we have the option of "land only" prices from JY, then people can do what they want. Sure, some people may decide to let JY handle the whole package, even if it's more expensive, other may sort out the flights themselves. Some of your customers have very little experience of travelling independently, some have lots, why do we have to have a "one size fits all" policy.

I also know that people who sort out their own flights may possibly arrive at times that mean they had to get to the hotel independently, but again people can decide for themselves.

Almost all your competitors offer this facility, why don't JY ?

Stuart

Hi Stuart, as I understand it is to do with where we are allowed to sell holidays originating from - which is just the United Kingdom. If we were to sell a holiday with no flights then the holiday would begin in Italy or Spain etc.

In the same way we aren't able to offer connecting flights from Dublin, as Bob knows, because that would mean the holiday beginning in Ireland rather than the UK.