Another point i wanted to make is the price of car parking is pretty drasticly increased or maybe there wont even be car parking at all if the airport is in a very urban area. Also since Edinburgh airport has become pushed for space the price of many of the amenities around the airport has gone up by quite a bit. Ever since they took on Flyglobespan and Ryanair the airport has seen a huge increase in passenger numbers and as you can imagine it can be hard to cope with demand.

Another thing to think about when choosing an airport for your next trip is how long you are going to have to stay there. For instance last year i was stuck in Quatar for 4 hours and i can say that there wasnt alot to do but take advantage of the air con an try to sleep. When you compare this to a really modern airport like heathrow which has showers and even beds for you to use the difference is obvious.

Theres also the factor of capicty to explore as many smaller airports only run one or two flights to some destinations per day leaving you with a very limited choice, and this can be especially problematic if you miss your flight and need to find another. I suppose all in all it comes down to how much futher one of the main hub airports for large flights is from where you are starting from. Still i always think its better to evaluate everything beforehand so you can make the best dessison.

Id also like to point out that this kind of issue effects all kinds of people travelling but in particular on short haul flights within the uk and definitely people looking for cheap flights to Edinburgh. Airlines are also notorious for some of their credit card charges. For example if we go back to RyanAir again (oh how i love them) they charge a credit card fee of £16 which is pretty excessive in my opinion. This charge is more or less compulsory for anyone wanting to book. However they get around the fact in their many adverts for cheap flights by saying that you can avoid this charge by using a “Visa Electron” card. Now it’s worth noting that less than 2% of the UK population actually have this type of card. So for the vast majority of people who see a cheap flight deal on a poster or magazine to fly to some exotic location for just £10 it just isn’t a possibility. Once you count airport taxes and other misc fees into the price of your average budget flight then the price of a flight can quickly triple or more.

I suppose from the airlines point of view they are just trying to get people onto the site and then at the final stage of the booking process reveal the true cost of the flight to the unsuspecting customer. Most people myself included just will end up just paying the extra having already gone through the process of picking the flight they want and then entering all of their personal details and have no desire to go and try somewhere else. I really hope the office of fair trading looks into some of these practices very soon as at the end of the day it’s us the customer who is getting the bum deal. Also i hope sometime soon to do some kind of league table for some of the best and worst airlines for this practice so we can really see who are the worst offenders!

Flybe Cheaper for most

I suppose it mainly comes down to the fuel costs for alot or airlines. London is about 3 times further away from Edinburgh than Belfast but its still a relativly short flight, ie its only about another 40min the air. Also you would think that there is going to be alot more people flying from London and this would bring the prices down. Its hard to tell with the airlines sometimes, i dont doubt that there is still massive competition still for passengers but the prices often seem to follow a very predictable pattern for some routes, while for others there are huge variations.

For example i just dont understand how a Flybe flight can be twice the price of a BMI one for the same route and when you are sitting in the same class? They are both budget airlines so surely there should be an averge there somwhere? As stated before it could be that one flight has almost reached its capacity and so they want to squeeze some extra money out of the desperate last minute passengers. However you have to wonder how effective this technique is if there are still seats available on other flights. Any ideas?

The other big factor is the fuel surcharge which i don’t really understand in some respects. Ie i know this is the price the airline has to pay for jet fuel but its not like its an optional extra is it? I mean are we supposed to book the flight without any petrol? You could say the same about the whole breakdown of the price structure since its not like you can opt out of any of it, but at the same time it is interesting to see where the final price of the flight actually comes from. Its amazing to think though that for this virgin flight that they are actually only getting £15 per passenger! Maybe they should think about running it on diesel instead.

So how do you get the cheapest flights to Edinburgh possible? Well its actually not that complicated, you need to book as soon as possible. The airlines make their money on the expensive seats as someone who is booking at the last minute is probably desperate and will be willing to pay over the odds for a seat even if the person next to the paid 10% of what they did. Yes thats right i said 10%. This is especially true of easyjet and ryanair as the most people who have had to book late have found out. So what are you waiting for? Book now.

Ive found that most people coming from Northern Ireland are taking one of the main ferry services such as P&O or Stenaline which run from Larne to Ken Ryan. I think the main reason for this is that people want to take the car with them so they can drive around the main scenic highlands of Scotland. What i would say to people is that they should work out what it is really costing them in terms of the ferry price versus the cost of a flight to Edinburgh and then renting a car once in the country. On the whole i have found that it can often be cheaper and almost always less stressful to fly and then rent as the price of car hire country wide has gone down considerably. So as mentioned before i hope people work out all the costs before they book so they can have the best holiday possible.