October half-term price hikes make a mockery of 'family-friendly' Ryanair
This week Ryanair announced it had added over 300 extra flights to and from the UK for the “October holidays”. This would mean, it said, “even more low fare getaways” for its customers............ So I had a quick look to see just how low those fares might have dropped.
It was a disappointing exercise. The problem with the autumn half term is that it falls in the very last week of October. If you are looking for warm, guaranteed sunshine, your options, at least on short haul flights, are limited. In fact almost nowhere in mainland Europe can you be sure of reliable weather. Southern Spain is the best bet, otherwise you’ll need to look to destinations like the Canary Islands, Cyprus and Marrakech. In practice, so many families hoping to travel to and from such a limited number of airports on the same October weekend provides great business for airlines like Ryanair - an excellent chance to take advantage of the intense demand. Far from being good value, the fares I found were exceptionally high. Here they are - all are the cheapest available on Ryanair from London airports for October 22-29 or October 23-30 - (the figure in brackets is the price for the same flights exactly one week before).
Tenerife: £636 (£231) per person
Malaga: £253 (£63) per person
Marrakech £283 (£87) per person
Paphos (Cyprus): £415 (£251) per person
In short, if you wanted to take a family of four to Tenerife next half term it would cost you well over £2,500 in flights alone - an astonishingly high figure. Paphos would be £1,660, while flights to Malaga are four times more expensive than the previous week and those to Marrakech, three times more.
It's called the law of supply and demand.
And this ............
A celebrated violinist says she was forced to hold her 18th-century instrument on her lap throughout a one-hour flight after British Airways staff wouldn’t allow the case to be brought into the cabin as hand luggage.
When she checked in at Schiphol airport she was told the case would have to travel in the cargo hold because there was no room for it in the passenger cabin.
A passenger's checked instrument is part of his or her checked baggage allowance, meaning they could face excess baggage charges.
British Airways said it will carry instruments larger and heavier than the standard checked baggage limits, up to 45kg (99lbs) and 190cm by 75cm by 65cm (75in by 29.5in by 25.5in) as long as at least 24 hours' notice is given.
It asks passengers to transport their musical instruments in a hard backed case.
The Dutch-Italian performer, ............ took the violin on board with her and checked the case, which contained three bows, the Strad reported.
A British Airways spokeswoman told MailOnline: ‘We are sorry that our customer was unable to make use of our extra hand baggage allowance for instruments on this occasion, as there were an unusually high number of musicians booked on to the flight.’
She said the airline does its best to accommodate instruments larger than the standard hand luggage size if passengers notify staff at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure.
British Airways said 'there were an unusually high number of musicians booked on to the flight'
With policies varying by airline, many musicians have encountered problems while travelling with expensive or priceless instruments.
There have been a number of situations in recent years where performers have been forced to remove their instruments from their cases in order to bring them on board or check them into the hold and hope for the best.
Fellow violinist Paula Muldoon,............. is urging British Airways to change its policy and allow smaller instruments such as violins as hand luggage.
She told MailOnline Travel: 'It’s a problem that we all face every time we come to an airport. We’re not sure if we’ll be able to get on the plane [with our instrument]. It’s a constant source of stress.'
Muldoon said British Airways is 'generally really good' when it comes to allowing musicians to carry their instruments on board.
Even one small crack............ can render a violin unplayable, lead to repairs or financial losses in the thousands of pounds or cause the instrument to be permanently devalued.
Muldoon said: 'It’s completely not safe to put a violin or a viola into the hold, they’re so delicate.'
Her insurance policy would not cover her violin travelling in the hold of an aeroplane unless it's packed in a 'suitable case', which does not exist, she said.
Muldoon wrote in the petition: ‘We believe that BA needs to understand that the instruments we carry around are not just tools of our trade but also priceless works of art.
‘If any instrument or bow were to be damaged because the staff insisted on its being transported in an unsafe manner, it would be a tragedy not just for the individual musician but for the dozens of musicians who will play it in the future and the thousands of audience members who could have been moved and inspired by the instrument.’
Musician Fiona Brice .........said: 'This isn't the first time I have seen an airline forcing instruments to be carried unprotected in the cabin, it's insulting to professional musicians and is an insurance nightmare.
'BA are supposed to be musician friendly, but the ground staff are sometimes ill-informed.'
The problem here is the lack of consistency by airlines in the application of the rule, but why do some people as in this case, pardon the pun, a musician, expect different treatment to the rest?
Airlines charge a price which includes certain services. For anything over and above people should understand that they have to pay extra, or do they think that they can pay for a Fiat and get an Audi?
), what looks cheap isn't so