London to Zagreb for Christmas 2024

After looking at the various options from Dublin to Zagreb - it's time to also consider London to Zagreb ...

Ryanair have some very competitive flights - especially on the evening of Sunday 22nd December

A cabin wheelie on this flight costs £15.50 and a hold bag costs £27

British Airways fares are considerably more expensive - with a hold bad costing £21 extra

Unfortunately (but unsurprisingly) there are no BA reward flights available in the week before Christmas

KLM have plenty of options from either Heathrow of London City airport - at reasonable prices

Flights to Vienna are available for around £144 on Sunday 22nd December with Wizz including a 20kg hold bag (which is only £4 more than a cabin wheelie)

And British Airways has reward seats available in Business Class on Monday 23rd for the equivalent of around £180 - which includes a hold bag

This flights would arrive in time to take the six hour train to Zagreb

Another option is to fly to Venice - get the bus into the train station, and the train to Trieste airport.  There are no direct flights from London to Trieste on 21st or 22nd December 2024.

Ryanair Boeing 737 MAX routes

Since Ryanair announced their acquisition of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft I've blogged about their seat plan (which is quite different to their standard 737), and their first revenue flight.

I've flown Ryanair quite a few times since they introduced the MAX, but I've never flown on the new type, so I thought it would be interesting to see where they are using it.

According to Airfleets.net Ryanair currently have 11 of the MAX aircraft in their fleet: HEN, HEZ, HGG, HGP, HAT, HAW, HAY, HAX, HGT, HGO and HGR.

For today's analysis I've simply used the last 7 days of data for each aircraft from FlightRadar24 - here is EI-HEZ for example

The last 7 days may not be typical for the season - but should give us some idea of what the newbies are up to.

The 11 aircraft flew a total of 166 sectors in the past 7 days - so the first point is that considering the size of Ryanair, your chance of getting a MAX is pretty small.

All the aircraft are based in London Stansted, and whilst Ryanair fly plenty of W routings with their standard B737s, of these 83 return flights just two were on non Stansted routes (a Dublin-Salzburg return, and an Eindhoven-Lisbon trip).

So if you want to fly on the MAX, you really need to fly in or out of London Stansted.

Next up is figure out which route they're most likely to be flow on from Stansted - and here it gets tricky.

17 routes from Stansted had just a single MAX flight in the past 7 days: Bari (BRI), Brno (BRQ), Bucharest (OTP), Bydgoszcz (BZG), Copenhagen (CPH), Cork (ORK), Eindhoven (EIN), Faro (FAO), Gothenburg (GOT), Helsinki (HEL), Katowice (KTW), Luqa (MLA), Milan (BGY), Nantes (NTE), Plovdiv (PDV), Valencia (VLC) and Vilnius (VNO)

Another 8 routes had just two MAX flights in the past 7 days: Alicante (ALC), Cagliari (CAG), Dublin (DUB), Fuerteventura (FUE), Gran Canaria (LPA), Malaga (AGP), Salzburg (SZG) and Stockholm (ARN)

A further 5 routes had three MAX flights in the past 7 days: Lanzarote (ACE), Milan (MXP), Riga (RIX), Thessaloniki (SKG) and Treviso (TSF)

That leaves just 7 routes with four or more MAX flights in the past 7 days.

Athens (ATH), Pafos (PFO), Palermo (PMO) and Rome (CIA) - each had four flights

Sofia (SOF) and Tenerife (TFS) - both had five flights

But the winner with 6 return flights in the past 7 days is Lisbon

Looking at the Lisbon - Stansted route in detail:

FR1882/3 has been flown by a MAX in 4 out of the last 7 days

FR1884/5 has been flown by a MAX in 2 out of the last 7 days

With 38 different airports receiving Ryanair Boeing 737 MAX flights in the past 7 days, it looks like the airline is trying it out across the network.  So it's very hard to book a particular flight with anything like a decent chance of flying on the new plane.

Your best chance (but still barely over 50/50) is on the evening Stansted - Lisbon sector.

Good luck!

 

Ryanair - Connecting Flights

In the past if you wanted to connect between two Ryanair flights - you had to make two separate bookings and hope your first flight wasn't delayed.  But sometimes it was the best option, and as long as you left enough time between flights, you could be reasonably sure of making your second flight!

Back in October 2010, I flew on Ryanair's first flight from Nador to Beauvais - and whilst I travelled on to London by Eurostar, my sister flew on to Dublin with Ryanair a few hours later.

Then in April 2017, Ryanair announced that they would start offering a limited number of connecting flights - but I'm not sure if it actually happened at the time.

Now though you definitely can book some through tickets on Ryanair - where the risk of missing the connection passes to the airline - with some big caveats.

Ryanair will only sell you connecting flights if the transfer time is between 2.5 hours and 6 hours, and only at certain airports.  They will only transfer your hold luggage for you at Rome Fiumicino, otherwise you need to collect it and check it back in again (or possibly Bergamo and Oporto as well - depending on which Ryanair webpage you read).  Although if you're waiting around for hours at the airport, you may be happy for something to do!

What we don't know is what will happen when things (inevitably) go wrong for a small number of passengers whose first flight is delayed.  Will Ryanair put you up in a hotel if you need to wait 24 hours (or more) for the next flight to your final destination?  Will Ryanair put you on a different airline's flight if the next Ryanair flight is more than 24 hours away?  There aren't many examples in the chatrooms yet about how Ryanair performs when it comes to irregular operations for connecting passengers.

The restriction is not just on the connecting airport, it's also on the departing airport.  Ryanair doesn't currently offer any connecting flights from any London airport (presumably because of concerns about delays arriving into any connecting airport).  From the UK, only departing passengers from Bristol, Manchester and Edinburgh are offered connecting flights.

Many of the destinations that Ryanair offer as connecting flights are in Italy, with the second sector being a domestic flight from Bergamo or Fiumicino airport - and yes, I know that Athens isn't in Italy!

If you are offered a connecting flight, it's made quite clear on the booking screen

And once you click on 1 Stop you see the details of the two flights, including how long you will be sitting around the airport

So whilst the connecting options that Ryanair offer are extremely limited, and I wouldn't be totally sure about how they will treat passengers if things go wrong, with the limited number of flights currently available this may be an attractive option for some passengers.

Ryanair Boeing 737 Max 8200 - first revenue flight

Over two years ago I wrote about seating on Ryanair's Boeing 737 Max, as it was due to operate various routes later that Summer

After the tragic accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia, the first Ryanair plane finally arrived last month - seen here poking out of a hangar at Dublin Airport

Today the second aircraft operates its first revenue flights - a round trip from London Stansted to Dublin

Surprisingly the plane isn't showing as operating the same flights in the coming week - so Ryanair may just substitute it in at the last moment.  With the Max having an extra 8 seats over the standard Ryanair Boeing 737-800 it should be easy enough to swap it in with minimal passenger seating changes.

Whilst Ryanair's boss Michael O'Leary said recently that passengers can avoid the Max and take the next flight (at least for the first 4 to 6 months of operation), that promise isn't the same as before the pandemic.  If you turned up at Stansted for this morning's 6.30am flight and decided not to fly on the Max, you will be waiting until 10.15pm this evening for the airline's next flight to Dublin.

If you do find yourself on a Ryanair Max aeroplane, it's worth looking at my full post on the seat plan, as you could get yourself a (slightly) better seat for the same price as a standard seat.

Ryanair - Why you should always pay in original currency

Ryanair used to be a complete ripoff when making payments in foreign currencies - they would charge you in the currency of your credit card, whilst adding a hefty margin, and not give you a choice about it.

Then they mended their ways, and would charge you in the original currency.

Then they went back to their bad old ways - but with an escape route if you spot it in time !


Now they have changed again - offering you a choice of currencies.

In this example I'm booking a flight that 16.99 EUR and I've put in a UK address ... so the first choice is in GBP

but 15.48 GBP represents a 6% commission for Ryanair on the GBP - EUR fx rate

and 179.05 NOK would be a 6.2% commission for Ryanair on the NOK - EUR fx rate

and 76.48 PLN would also give Ryanair a 6% commission on the PLN - EUR fx rate

and 190.94 SEK would give Ryanair another 6.2% commission on the SEK - EUR fx rate

and finally 20.14 USD represents a 5.9% commission for Ryanair on the USD - EUR fx rate

Since most credit cards charge 3% on foreign purchases - and some don't charge anything - this means you should always pay in the original currency of the flight.

New route to Beirut

A couple of days ago Ryanair announced that they are opening their first ever route to Beirut, Lebanon.  It's a city that I've been wanting to visit for years, so I thought I'd check out whether it was useful for journeys from the UK.

The route is from Paphos in Cyprus, and opens at the end of October when the winter timetable starts.  They will fly three times a week - a morning departure on Monday, and evening departures on Wednesday and Friday.

This means that if you can get to Paphos on a Friday in time for a 21:20 departure (or 20:30 on a Wednesday), it has potential for a long weekend break.  The Friday fight is scheduled to arrive into Beirut at a fairly civilised 22:25

On the Monday the Ryanair flight departs from Beirut at 12:00 - which is a lot more friendly than most of the flights to western europe, which usually depart around 3am.

For an example as to how it would work, using the weekend of Friday 15th November

dep  London Stansted 09:35
arr  Paphos  16:00

dep  Paphos  21:20
arr  Beirut  22:25

and returning on Monday 18th November

dep  Beirut  12:00
arr  Paphos   13:05

dep Paphos  18:30
arr  London Luton  21:30

The total outbound journey time is just under 11 hours, and inbound 11.5 hours - this compares to direct flights which are scheduled for around 5 to 5.5 hours.  Of course with Ryanair being a "point to point" airline, you have to leave plenty of time for connections.

The price for these flights via Paphos is currently 170 gbp
This compares with prices starting at 255 gbp for direct flights on the same dates

Whilst the saving may not be enough to tempt you, the additional competition into Beirut may encourage other airlines to offer lower fares.

 

Dublin to St Anton

going to St Anton for some Easter skiing ... a couple of different options:

on Friday 30th March 2018 - Ryanair to Munich

dep DUB 06:10
arr MUC 09:40
67 eur - excluding baggage fees

the 13:00 train cost 60 euro
the 15:00 train cost 45 euro
the 17:00 and 19:00 trains cost 30 euro

alternatively could flight to Zurich

with Eurowings
dep DUB 12:10
arr ZRH 18:20 (via DUS)
100 eur - excluding baggage fees

with Aer Lingus
dep DUB 07:10
arr ZRH 10:40
132 eur - excluding baggage fees

the 12:18 train (under 3 hours) costs 52 eur
the 20:18 train (3.5 hours) costs 61 eur


on Monday 2nd April 2018 - the same routes are available

dep ZRH 21:40
arr DUB  23:00
195 eur - excluding baggage fees

the 16:57 train (arriving 19:42) costs 53 euro

alternatively from Munich there's a Ryanair flight

dep MUC 21:10
arr DUB 22:40
134 eur - excluding baggage fees

or an Aer Lingus flight

dep MUC 20:25
arr DUB 21:55
165 eur - excluding baggage fees

the train timings aren't as helpful for this route, it's a longer journey and there's only a train every two hours - so it would be the 15:03 departure (arriving 18:55) for 69 eur

Ryanair seat allocation order

Update - Ryanair have changed their seat allocation algorithm, and now allocate all their middle seats first.  So if you want a window or aisle seat, you have to wait until they've all gone before you check-in.  The row order has not yet been fully established.


Original post:

If you don't enjoy paying extra to select a seat on your Ryanair flight, and you have some time available ... you can use the allocation order that Low Cost Routes blog has worked out, to select a seat that you want.

It's worth reading the whole page - but the crucial point is that rows get allocated in the order:

33, 20, 19, 22, 15, 24, 12, 26, 10, 28, 8, 30, 18, 21, 14, 23, 11, 25, 9, 27, 29, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (or 1,2, not sure), 17, 16, 31, 32

You can even watch a video showing how one flight got allocated, as an example.

I've used this order many times to avoid seats that I didn't want - it does take up quite a bit of time, as you have to keep checking the Ryanair website. Sometimes you miss out on the seat that you actually want - but I've always managed to avoid a nasty middle seat.

You can also use it just before online checkin closes to work out if a neighbouring row is likely to be empty !

Dublin to Ischgl for a few days skiing

Ischgl isn't the easiest of places to get to from Dublin ... there aren't (m)any direct flights from Dublin to Innsbruck (the nearest) airport to Ischgl ... so the journey is a bit longer ...

The other complication is that Swiss (the airline) seem to have gone back to the dark ages with their pricing ... single flights are exorbitant ... so if there isn't a flight in one of the directions on one of the days that you want - you're screwed !

Aiming to fly out of Dublin on Tuesday 2nd February ...

Dep Dublin 16:15
Arr Zurich 19:25
price 79 eur plug baggage (EI)

Dep Zurich Flughafen 20:18
Arr Landeck Zams bahnhof 23:42
price approx 60 eur

Taxi to Ischgl
price ?

Another option is to fly to Innsbruck on a connecting flight ... with plenty of time to check in again in LGW

Dep Dublin 07:35
Arr LGW 09:10
price 23.40 eur plus baggage (FR)

Dep LGW 11:30
Arr INN 14:30
price 68 eur plug baggage (EZY)

Bus F from the Flughafen terminal to the Hauptbahnhof takes less than 20 mins and departs every 15 mins
price 2.7 eur

Dep Innsbruck Hbf	15:57	17:01
Arr Landeck-Zams	16:58	17:57
Dep Landeck-Zams	17:05	18:05
Arr Ischgl	17:58	18:58

Price 16.1 eur for the train (postbus not bookable online - fare approx 10 eur)

A further option is to fly to Salzburg - one advantage of this routing is sold as a connecting flight by BA (although DUB-LGW is operated by EI) - so if you miss the connection in LGW, it's up to BA to find you a new one !

Dep Dublin 07:00
Arr LGW 08:25
Dep LGW 10:05
Arr Salzburg 13:05
price 157 eur including baggage

Dep Salzburg Flughafen	14:25	15:25
Arr Salzburg Hbf	14:47	15:47
Dep Salzburg Hbf	15:00	15:56
Arr Landeck-Zams	17:39	18:30
Dep Landeck-Zams	18:05	19:05
Arr Ischgl	18:58	19:58

Price 53.6 eur


Accommodation

Ischgl has a reasonable amount of accommodation bookable through the town's website - with B&Bs in the town (rather than in Mathon which is 5km away) from about 55 eur per person per night sharing.  Ganahl is showing availability on the website - others may be available offline by email the tourist office.


Return flight

Need to get back into Dublin around lunchtime on Sunday 7th February ... so looking at options that give a full day skiing on Saturday 6th ...

None of the airports have late flights on Saturday to Dublin - so starting off looking at late flights to London (so could fly to Dublin on Sunday morning) ...

Innsbruck
The last (sensibly priced) flight out on Saturday evening departs at 17:15 - so that's not much good

Salzburg
There's a 19:45 flight on Saturday evening from to London for just 37 eur - but you'd have to leave Ischgl by 2pm in order to make it

Zurich
The 20:50 departure to LHR is 148 eur - that would mean leaving around 3pm

Munich
The last flight from to London on Saturday night is soon after 7pm - so that's not much use


Looking at travelling to direct to Dublin on Sunday morning - so spending Saturday night near the airport ...

Munich
dep Ischgl 17:58 (or 15:58) and arr Munich 22:21 (or 21:15) for 39 eur (no price showing for earlier timings)
dep Munich Sunday at 11:05 and arr Dublin 12:45 for 106 eur plus baggage (EI)
or Sunday evening departure at 20:10 (arr Dub 21:50) for 100 eur plus baggage (EI)

Zurich
EI direct flight departing at 8pm (arr Dub at 21:25) for 102 eur
or connecting BA flight departing at 7am (arr Dub at 12:20) for 150 eur

Innsbruck
No direct flights
connecting FR/EZY flights departing at 10:45 (arr Dub 15:35) for 150 eur with 2:35 in Luton to transfer / check in

Salzburg
No direct flights
connecting FR flights departing at 10:30 (arr Dub 15:05) for 99 eur with 2:05 in Stansted to transfer / check in


Looking at travelling to London on Sunday evening

Munich
8pm departure for 86 eur plus bag (EZY) or 9.15pm departure for 100 eur - but doesn't work with connections
to make the 8pm departure - would need to leave Ischgl around 2pm

Zurich
9.25pm departure for 171 eur plus bag (EZY)
departing Ischgl soon after 3pm would get you to the airport by 7.45pm

Innsbruck
sadly the last flight to london is at 5.40pm (for a crazy 473 eur) and the 3.10pm flight (for a still hefty 219 eur) isn't very helpful

Salzburg
the last flight to london is at 5.05pm for 157 eur with BA
departing Ischgl soon after 10am would get you to the airport for 2.30pm - trains only every 2 hours

dublin to garmisch

Looking to spend time in Garmisch over the new year ...

Aer Lingus have direct flights to Munich with a departure at 16:00 arriving at 19:25 on Wed 28th Dec for 176 eur (plus baggage charges). Ryanair have flights 4 flights a week with a 09:30 departure time - the flight on Wed 28th Dec is currently 105 eur (plus baggage and toilet charges).

German Rail have a departure from Munich at 20:31 arriving into Garmisch at 22:58 (with well timed change in Munich Hauptbahnhof) for 21 eur (including free toilet use).

Accommodation in Garmisch is available from about 30 eur per night - the town's website has a good accommodation search function, and includes places like Gästehaus Alpenkranz which is close to the station.

The return flight choice is more complicated with lots of options (prices updated 10th Dec):

Depart Munich at 11:20 on Aer Lingus arriving into Dublin at 12:50 for 147 eur (now 188 eur), requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 07:28 (24.80 eur)

Depart 

Memmingen Allgäu

 at 13:10 on Ryanair arriving into Dublin at 14:25 for 87 eur (now 92 eur), requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 08:04 (32 eur with a short taxi fare from the town to the airport)

Depart Hahn airport at 21:45 on Ryanair arriving into Dublin at 22:45 for 55 eur, requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 12:06 to Koblenz (97 eur) and then a bus to the airport (9.80 eur)

Depart Zurich at 20:45 on Aer Lingus arriving into Dublin at 22:05 for 155 eur (now 211 eur), requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 13:08 (86 eur)

Depart Frankfurt at 20:40 on Aer Lingus arriving into Dublin at 21:50 for 106 eur (now 181 eur), requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 14:04 (89 eur)
Depart Frankfurt at 22:25 on Lufthansa arriving into Dublin at 23:30 for 170 eur, requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 16:04 (89 eur)

So the total price for flights, trains and accommodation (but excluding ski hire and ski pass) would be around 515 eur.

ischgl

i'm thinking of going to Ischgl for some skiing in January 2012 ...

the best value package holiday seems to be with Inghams for 602 gbp, which departs on a saturday, via Innsbruck ... or for 29 quid extra you could fly with BA, and with the evening departure on the way back, might get an extra morning's skiing (depending on the timing of the bus transfer to the airport) ...

alternatively, to be guaranteed an extra day's skiing, you could do your own package ...

accommodation

there isn't a great choice of accommodation that can be booked online through the town's website (unlike St Anton) ... but they do have a large number of B&Bs, it just seems that you have to contact them directly. their accommodation brochure lists Frühstückspensions from page 36 onwards (ÜF means Bed and Breakfast and HB is half board) and the map grid (planquadrat) helps to find the property - each street/house number combo is highlighted on the town map. to stay in the town itself, ignore all properties with a village name in brackets after the property name (Mathon, Versahl etc.)

one of the good options looks to be Bergfrieden which has 7 twin rooms and is located on the eastern side of town, about 10 mins walk from one of the gondolas, and a few minutes further to another gondola - which goes up to a different part of the ski area. prices start from about 35 euro per person per night ...

travel

the closest airport is INNsbruck, and Easyjet have return flights for around 191 gbp (including 1 piece of luggage). the resort isn't easy to access by train, but is possible with a bus into Innsbruck central station, a train to Landeck-Zams, and then a postbus up to Ischgl - total time would be about two and a half hours. the train part costs around 30 eur return, the postbus presumably another 10 eur each way, and the bus/taxi into Innsbruck station something similar ...

there doesn't seem to be any direct transfer buses, and the 100km journey by taxi for up to 4 people would be 300 eur or 320 eur return, or for up to 8 people it would be 382 eur return ...

another alternative is to fly to Allgäu airport (that well known hub) for 130 gbp (including the cost of a 15kg bag and the rip off credit card fee) from Stansted (dep just after midday) with Ryanair. the journey to Ischgl is about 200km - the 60 quid saving on the flight, could well be eaten up by the double distrance transfer ...

another option is to fly to ZuRicH - flights available from 98 gbp with Easyjet (a bit cheaper to fly back to LUTon) - the 3 hour train (approx 51 gbp) connection to Landeck-Zams (arr 19:21) would be too late for the last postbus up to Ischgl so would require a taxi 68 eur taxi. earlier flights with BA would be 150 gbp (cheaper available for horribly early departures) - so better to get the taxi up the valley ...

DIY price

so the total price (including an extra night's accommodation) via Zurich would be about 440 gbp (assuming the local taxi was shared between 3 pax) ...

flying via Innsbruck and got 4 people sharing a transfer the cost would be very similar to the long winded bus/train/bus option (even cheaper if there were up to eight in a minibus transfer) - and the total price including flights and accommodation would be around 500 gbp ...

Final Thoughts

if there were 4 or more people to share the transfer - Innsbruck seems like the best choice, or if there were just a couple of people, Zurich sounds fine !

easter in the baltics ?

looking at options to go the baltics for easter ...

best outbound option on Friday 22nd April is with Ryanair to Kaunus dep London Gatwick 14:50 and arrive in Lithuania at 19:25 for 89 gbp (excluding extras/normals)

best inbound option on Monday 2nd May is again with Ryanair departing Tallin at 14:55 and arriving into London Gatwick at 15:40 for 67 gbp

more flights to barcelona ...

now looking for flights from london to barcelona ...

thu 30th dec

dep Luton 08:45 to Barcelona for 79 gbp with Easyjet

dep Luton 17:40 to Gerona for 83 gbp with Ryanair or

wed 29th dec

dep Gatwick 17:20 to Gerona for 72 gbp with Ryanair or

dep Stansted 16:05 to Barcelona for 83 gbp with Easyjet or

dep Gatwick 13:50 or 18:15 to Barcelona for 87 gbp with Easyjet or
dep Luton 08:45 to Barcelona for 95 gbp with Easyjet or

dep Stansted 17:40 to Gerona for 105 gbp with Ryanair

on the way back, looking to depart from Alicante on 3rd Jan, the best option is at 19:50 for 95 gbp

london - aland islands ...

looking at visiting the Aland Islands for a weekend at the end of August ...

best option for decent priced flights seems to be with ryanair STaNsted to TaMPere, departing London on the Friday at 18:00 arriving into Finland at 22:40 - and then spending the night in Tampere.

then on the Saturday, getting one of the regular trains to Turku ... and then in the evening, getting the ferry departing at 20:15 and arriving into Långnäs at 00:40 - and then spending the night in the Aland Islands.

after the Sunday morning on the islands, getting a different ferry departing at 14:25 and arriving back into Turku at 19:55 - and spending the night in Turku.

finally, on Monday getting one of the regular trains to Tampere, and getting the flight departing at 23:05 and arriving back into London at 23:55 - with the last Stansted Express train departing at 01:30

the flight cost is approximately 118 gbp, with the ferries, a very reasonable 10 eur each way !

dublin to south africa ...

with the Lions tour in South Africa in June and July ... i was looking for flights from Dublin to South Africa ...

trailfinders assert that their best price to DURban is eur 650 with Etihad, and eur 519 to JohaNnesBurg with Swiss - but since you can't book online, i have no idea of their availability ...

Etihad's own website doesn't allow bookings to DUR [presumably trailfinders use another airline for the final leg] - but their flights to JNB don't look cheap - mostly around eur 715.

Emirates claims to have flights from DUB to JNB for eur 608 [using EI flights to LGW], but they aren't bookable online ...

AirFrance has a good selection of dates from DUB to JNB for eur 570 - such as o/bound 17th june, and i/bound 1st july.

Swiss has flights from DUB to JNB for eur 511 with good availability on the outbound legs, but the only return dates are 12th and 13th july ...

netflights is better at searching by fare - selecting their Latest Offers menu, and then clicking on any of the flight options, you can access their full list of fares, and then play around with dates to look for availability at the lowest rate. they only offer fares from the UK.

they have flights on Etihad from MANchester to JNB for an amazing gbp 254 - the o/bound leg is reaonably flexible, but the i/bound has little availability - the latest return date is 23rd june. with a 9.30am departure time, and an arrival back into MAN at 7.30am - the first flights of the day arrive into MAN at 7.30am from DUB, with a lunchtime return flight ... using a departure date of 17th june - the price is approx eur 20 with FR or eur 52 with EI ! and to go over the previous night before the o/bound flight would be a similar price.

netflights also have Etihad flights from LHR to JNB for a similarly amazing 262 gbp - again the o/bound leg has reasonable availability, but the latest i/bound date is 23rd june. the LHR departure is at 9.10am, arriving back into LHR at 7.20am - the first arrival into LHR from DUB is at 8.05am - too tight for an intercontinental flight. using a departure from DUB on 16th june - the last flight into LHR, and an early morning flight back on 24th june [overnight from JNB], the price would be about eur 70.

the usually reliable websites expedia, ebookers, opodo & travelocity aren't so good for very flexible travel ... but they have the same Etihad deal [travelocity also has a departure on 24th] ... but when DUBlin is selected as the departure point - the prices double, and AF becomes the cheapest option ...

skiing in dolomites in january ...

i'm looking for a week's skiing in dolomites for a week from Saturday 17th January ...

Val Gardena seems like a good location - not too far from the airports, not too expensive a resort, in the heart of the Dolomites and with access to the Sella Ronda ...

to get there from London the best option seems to be the Ryanair flight to Bergamo (BGY) dep 15:50 and arr 18:45 for 39 gbp including the 12 gbp baggage charge ! the best flight back is from Brescia (VBS) dep 21:10 and arr 22:20 for 34 eur including the 15 eur baggage charge. there is a connecting bus service with return tickets for 29 eur.

there seems to be a good choice of bed and breakfast accommodation with prices from 200 euro for the 8 nights. so the total flights and accommodation from 250 gbp - a lot cheaper than package holidays, and an extra day of skiing !

a ski pass for the 7 days in Val Gardena is 191 eur, and for the full Dol0miti Superski area is only slightly more at 205 eur. "premium" ski and boot hire is available from Snow Rental for 138 eur.

so the total for the 7 days skiing would be 530 gbp plus drinking and eating money !

skiing in dolomites in january - from dublin ...

i'm looking for a week's skiing in dolomites for a week from Saturday 17th January ...

Val Gardena seems like a good location - not too far from the airports, not too expensive a resort, in the heart of the Dolomites and with access to the Sella Ronda ...

the best flights seem to be with Ryanair to Bergamo (BGY) - outbound on saturday dep 07:40 and arr 11:20 with the inbound on sunday dep 11:00 and arr 12:45 for 93 eur including the 30 eur baggage charge. there is a connecting bus service with return tickets for 29 eur.

there seems to be a good choice of bed and breakfast accommodation with prices from 200 euro for the 8 nights. so the total for flights and accommodation from 322 eur - a lot cheaper than a package holiday, and you get an extra day's skiing !

a ski pass for the 7 days in Val Gardena is 191 eur, and for the full Dol0miti Superski area is only slightly more at 205 eur. premium ski and boot hire is available from Snow Rental for 138 eur.

so the total for the 7 days skiing would be 665 eur plus drinking and eating money !

west of ireland for a long weekend ...

at slightly short notice, i decided to take a trip to the west of ireland for what was a bank holiday in the UK ...

my preferred routing was LGW - NOC with XL ... but the price was exhorbitant, at well over a hundred quid - i guess lots of people are scrambling to use the route before it is withdrawn in a few weeks time. flights from LUT or STD to NOC with Ryanair were also very expensive ... so it was back to skyscanner.net to find the best priced flight to DUB ...

i did even consider taking the train to Holyhead, and the ferry over to Dublin, but the timings were dreadful ... the latest afternoon sailing with Irish Ferries departs Holyhead at 17:15 and with Stena an even poorer 15:00 ... and the train connections don't help - there is a 12:45 departure from London Euston that frustratingly arrives into Holyhead at 17:20 ... so to catch the last afternoon ferry, it would be the 11:46 train from Euston ... which would mean taking a full day off work rather than just the afternoon.

on the return journey, i again considered taking the ferry option, but with engingeering works on the direct train routes, it would have meant a 7 hour journey with 3 changes ... and a 7am departure from the west of ireland ...

so it was back to the airlines, and again both XL and Ryanair were charging over 100 quid for the monday flights from NOC to London ... but I was prompted to look at flights from NOC to BRiStol ... and unbelievably, they were selling for just 24 euro [plus the 3rd world style 10 euro departure fee charged at the airport] which is a huge saving over a direct flight to London ... and luckily there aren't any engineering works on the line from Bristol to London.

thetrainline.com have singles from Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington for 21 gbp, charging 1 gbp for ticket delivery, or 0.50 gbp to collect the ticket from a machine at the station ... however First Great Western have the same priced tickets, but don't charge for collecting your ticket from the station ...

dublin to seefeld ...

looking to depart 27th december, and return 1st january ...


best departure is 07:00 with EI to MUNich, arriving at 10:45 for approx 125 eur ... with the train leaving the airport at 11:42 taking 3 hours, with 1 change required - costing 31 eur ... or a shared transfer using http://www.a-t-s.net/ for 45 eur taking just 2 hours !

there is also an EI flight departing at 12:30 to Zurich, arriving at 15:35 for 315 eur ...

or an EI flight departing at 15:30 to MUNich, arriving at 19:00 for 250 eur ...

an indirect option would depart at 12:50 via MANchester, arriving into Salzburg at 19:10 for 180 eur ...

there is a 15:45 EI flight to VIEnna, arriving at 19:30 for 150 eur ... but the train connection would be overnight - even the daytime train takes 7 hours.
there is also a cheap flight to Friedrichshafen departing 06:10, arriving 09:30 costing 55 eur, but the train connection is approx 5 hours !


best return flight is a 21:30 FR departure from Salzburg, arriving into Dublin at 23:00 for 80 eur ... the train connection leaves Seefeld at 15:46 arriving into the airport at 20:32 ... however, if we had a car, it is only about 2 hours drive ...

a week away in july / august ...

i'm looking for a week away - departing the weekend of sunday 29th july, and returning friday 3rd august ...

the best priced flights seem to be to Glasgow Prestwick departing Stansted at 08:40 on the Sunday with Ryanair ... and departing Prestwick at 17:35 on the Friday ... costing 55 gbp

the best price for car hire seems to be with SixT who have Ford Fiesta size vehicle for 136 eur ...