Usual chit chat amongst my Thursday walking pals yesterday.....one pal recently spent 5 days midweek (4 nights) walking solo along the Dales High Way.
Farmhouse B & B prices were £65 - £80. Mostly in a shabby single room. On the one occasion he couldn’t get a farmhouse B & B he paid £100 ( yes £100) midweek for B & B in a pub.
If I’d known I’d have driven the 56 miles there and back to pick him up and let him stay at my place ...
Another friend wanted two nights midweek with his daughters in a half decent hotel in Grasmere....a single occupancy room, the least expensive of all the options and non refundable, B & B was £419. Holy cow Batman.
I’ll keep on travelling overseas thank ewe very much......avoiding BA, Easyjet and TUI.
Both pre and post Covid I’ve walked the Southern Upland Way with friends, and whilst I appreciate that the accommodation en route of a National Trail is always going to be a premium price, I was really shocked at the poor value for money. If I had been travelling solo I’d have back packed the route, but that option wasn’t available on this occasion.
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The last Dales B&B we used was the George at Hubberholme, which I guess you'll know. £95 for a double in May '19. Now booking at £120 for October.
But we have had Covid in between which probably changed everything, even before high inflation loomed.
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B&B in pleasant but unremarkable Cotswolds pub a couple of weeks ago - £120 per night.
Pub evening meals of reasonable quality now about £30 per head. Even lunch time beer + snack/sandwich is ~£12 per head.
My perception is prices have increased by around 50% compared to pre-Covid.
By contrast - thinking of a couple of weeks in Cyprus after xmas - around £800-1200 per head for 4/5 star, half board/all inclusive including flights, transfers etc etc.
UK hospitality will founder if prices do not come down in the medium term post Covid - although I know the last two years has been difficult.
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>> I’ll keep on travelling overseas thank ewe very much......avoiding BA, Easyjet and TUI. every UK airport.
prices abroad are just a little slower to shoot up than ours, but they will.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 15 Jul 22 at 16:41
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I don't think I have ever mentioned this, but there is a company called Wetherspoons which has nearly a 1000 pubs and 57 hotels.
www.jdwetherspoon.com/
They are incredibly good value and have properties all over the UK and in Ireland. Very popular, so they get booked up early. Excellent food and well kept beer, all at remarkably low prices.
Can't think why I haven't pointed this out before?
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I had about half a dozen customers who ran B&Bs at one time. One by one they all gave up, citing ever increasing H&S regulations they had to comply with which was costing them a fortune as well as being a PITA. Running such a place is no longer a little pocket money hobby, it's now like running a small hotel.
Last edited by: Robin O'Reliant on Fri 15 Jul 22 at 17:24
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>> I had about half a dozen customers who ran B&Bs at one time. One by
>> one they all gave up,
Tastes have changed, people are not happy to use basic BnB's.
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>>
>>
>> Tastes have changed, people are not happy to use basic BnB's.
>>
That's the point though. Having to comply with ever increasing regulations such as providing wheelchair access and all that goes with it meant they had to charge hotel prices for what was no more than their spare room, and guests still had to go somewhere else for a main meal.
Last edited by: Robin O'Reliant on Fri 15 Jul 22 at 18:44
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>> That's the point though. Having to comply with ever increasing regulations such as providing wheelchair
>> access and all that goes with it meant they had to charge hotel prices for
>> what was no more than their spare room,
People dont want a spare room. Even if it does have disabled access. At any price even if its cheap.
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Tastes have changed, people are not happy to use basic BnB's.
>>
Indeed I don't think people are happy eating breakfast in someone else's freezing cold conservatory.
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>> I don't think I have ever mentioned this, but there is a company called Wetherspoons
>>Excellent food and well kept beer, all
>>
I have been in a few Wetherspoons and never have I been able to say that the food or beer was excellent. Cheap, but certainly not excellent and I am not sure about its value for money considering the quality.
Last edited by: zippy on Fri 15 Jul 22 at 19:00
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I don't think I've ever stopped at Spoons hotel. From what I remember there's not that many, 50 or so?
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Spoons pubs regularly seem to enjoy awards for their beers from CAMRA.
Their food has gone a bit downhill but I'd still use them on occasions for sheer value. Had lunch in one just a few weeks back, half decent meal and a beer for well under a tenner. The beer alone is a fiver in my local.
As for my local Greene King, they can't be relied upon to even have a decent beer available. Many times on a Sunday (my main boozing night) they are out of all real ales.
Last edited by: smokie on Sun 17 Jul 22 at 13:31
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>> >> I’ll keep on travelling overseas thank ewe very much......avoiding BA, Easyjet and TUI.
>> every UK airport.
Scaremongering. Fly Ryanair & Jet2.
I’ve several friends with second homes in Spain, Portugal, France and Cyprus. Their airline of choice is Ryanair. None have had a flight cancelled, and delays are few and far between....that’s flying from LBA. Other airports are available.
My most recent Jet2 had an initial 60 min delay due to a door problem, then a longer delay awaiting a new flight slot. But I got there ok. Another 90 minute delay on the inbound flight from Cyprus, but no big deal. Result of the war in Ukraine I’m told...flights to the eastern Med are often using new flight corridors, sometimes congested, for obvious reasons.
My other 6 flights this year all left on time, and my pal who works on despatch for Jet2 tells me that no passengers missed their flights this week from LBA.
The next flight I’ve booked is September. Unless the U.K. weather takes a turn for the worse.
Last edited by: legacylad on Fri 15 Jul 22 at 18:57
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>> >> >> I’ll keep on travelling overseas thank ewe very much......avoiding BA, Easyjet and
>> TUI.
>> >> every UK airport.
>>
>> Scaremongering. Fly Ryanair & Jet2.
>> My other 6 flights this year all left on time, and my pal who works
>> on despatch for Jet2 tells me that no passengers missed their flights this week from
>> LBA.
www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/leeds-news/leeds-bradford-airport-passengers-brand-24271888
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Z...that photo is the check in queue to the Jet2 desks. Very rare...probably a Saturday AM ....I saw that photo and mentioned it to a lass I know who works on check-in. Jet2 send you a message 24 hours before departure asking you not to turn up at the airport more than 3 hours before your departure time, yet people are turning up ( my dozy brother did) several hours prior. He was at the airport at 02:30 for an 08:30 departure. And people are queuing to check in hand baggage instead of going directly to security !
Whilst queuing in May and June at security, airport security were asking passengers not to queue but to wait landside if their flights departed in over 3 hours, thus easing congestion. It’s photos like that which cause people to turn up far too early. As flight departure time draws nearer, personnel are walking up n down the security queue telling people on certain flights to use the fast track lane so they don’t miss their flights. People who miss their flights are very few and far between...probably those who were living in their own dream world and paying no attention to instructions. Or pee’d up in the bar having spent 5 hours airside.
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>> www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/leeds-news/leeds-bradford-airport-passengers-brand-24271888
That photo and others like it are regularly appearing in the local papers in West Yorkshire. On a weekday at the moment there are approximately 20 departures between 06:00 when the night curfew ends and 09:00. The majority are 180+ seat 737-800s of either Jet 2 or Ryanair - mostly the former.
The terminal is a mish mash of extensions to a building opened in 1968 when the airport had six stands - there are now 20+. A proposed new terminal on existing airport land and with no changes to the runway etc was 'called in' my the then local government minister as a political sop to the Green Lobby. The airport's private owners withdrew the investment as a consequence.
Jet 2 have their own annexe to the current terminal and as LL says much of the problem is down to people turning up before the check in even opens. Others who can go straight to security as they've no hold baggage fail to do so.
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As Bromp says LBA is a mess of an airport from a design point of view....long walks down poly tunnels to reach aircraft stands, or a large portakabin at the far end.
Even worse arriving...long walks to get to Border Control, a single narrow escalator which is regularly out of action, a single wheelchair lift to get down from Border Control to baggage reclaim, which itself is horribly compact and invariably crowded. Even at 3AM with flights arriving from Cyprus & Turkey.
A horrendous dump of an airport...but my local one with my preferred airlines and preferable to the drive over the Pennines to MAN.
Best thing about it is the local Travelodge within a few minutes walk and the very efficient Sentinel off site car parking ( unless you can scrounge a lift).
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A horrendous dump of an airport...but my local one with my preferred airlines and preferable
>> to the drive over the Pennines to MAN.
>>
>
I wouldn't say it's a dump, more awkward to get to. Transport connections are rubbish. I know a few people that live that way, they all use manchester. Although a lot further away, it's quicker and easier to get to.
I liked getting to Man airport by train, has it's own station get off up one esculator and the check in desks are in front of you iirc.
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The terminal is a mish mash of extensions to a building opened in 1968 when
>> the airport had six stands - there are now 20+. A proposed new terminal on
>> existing airport land and with no changes to the runway etc was 'called in' my
>> the then local government minister as a political sop to the Green Lobby. The airport's
>> private owners withdrew the investment as a consequence.
>>
I thought it got knocked on the head because the plans were mainly fantasy? I didn't follow it that closely but I do remember reading bits about it.
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>> I’ll keep on travelling overseas thank ewe very much......avoiding BA, Easyjet and TUI.
>>
Who do you use for flights LL ?
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>>
>> Who do you use for flights LL ?
>>
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOeDM3FSnpI
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>> Who do you use for flights LL ?
The post above your suggests Jet 2 or Ryanair. As his local airport is Leeds Bradford where those two are the dominant operator that's not all that surprising.
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Aren’t all budget airlines pretty much the same at the end of the day.? The only sensible way to choose an airline is does it goe to the place you want to go in the day and time you want to go from a an airport convenient to you at a price you are prepared to pay.
Since you rarely find two airlines flying to the same place on the same day at the same time the decision is usually a simple one.
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>> Since you rarely find two airlines flying to the same place on the same day
>> at the same time the decision is usually a simple one.
My starting point in the past was to look at my destination and work out which airlines connect it to the UK. Going to Houston a few years ago the cheapest by far was Singapore Airlines from Manchester. They'd recently introduced a Singapore to Houston flight and it stopped both ways at Manchester for fuel and a change of crew.
Driving time from home to Manchester is not much different to Gatwick.
In terms of budget airlines Easyjet seem to have suffered far more than Ryanair from needing to prune their services this Spring/Summer. That may reflect problems at some of their bases, they're the main player at Gatwick for example. Were their routes from Liverpool trimmed as hard or at all?
Looking at the regional airports it's surprising how often at least two operators do fly on the same day and broadly the same time. I think that partly reflects the fact that some destinations have one or two days which are their preferred 'changeover day' for bookings by the week. I suspect that aircraft utilisation patterns and how machines are split between near destinations like the Balearics and longer hauls to Canaries/Madeira or Greece may also be a factor. I suspect there's a 'sweet spot' for that.
On another question, when did night departures stop? At one time if you flew to Corfu you were almost obliged to leave in the small hours and arrive there at daybreak. Was the issue that early jets like the 727 and BAC1-11 couldn't manage an economic load taking off when the heat of the day sapped power from their engines?
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sun 17 Jul 22 at 16:24
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The Jet2 flights from Cyprus and Turkey all seem to arrive into LBA between 2AM and 3AM...my flight last week from Larnaca arrived at 03:30 ish.
As I departed LBA at 04:15, queues at both check in and security were horrendous, but nobody missed their flights.
My next flight is RYR late September....a very civilised 10:20 departure from LBA. Train then bus to the airport the evening before, a night already booked at the Travelodge which is a 10 min walk from the terminal, and a short evening stroll to Murgatroyds for fish, chips & mushy peas.
Sorted.
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Booked flights for Portugal next March yesterday. Normally no contest , EasyJet (Luton) cheapest.
But that was £450 incl the add-ons we usually have. Same flights with BA were £305 except no front row seats.
That is flying out from Gatwick and back to Heathrow. Which potentially saves us another £100+ on airport parking, depending on cost of train from home to Gatwick, also that a daughter or a mate can pick us up.
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Son & family regularly flew KLM to Houston.
Change about 4 years ago to Singapore to Manchester.
Back to KLM this year - currently 1/2 way there just now after 16 days of Scottish Sunshine with only about 30 minutes of showers during daylight in all the time over here.
Houston could be around 38/40C today and for the next 2/3 mths at least.
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>Since you rarely find two airlines flying to the same place on the same day at the same time..
b*******
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Well not exactly the same time, it would be very messy.
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>> Well not exactly the same time, it would be very messy.
>>
...well, possibly, but only if they were leaving from the same airport...
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>> >Since you rarely find two airlines flying to the same place on the same day
>> at the same time..
>>
>> b*******
Thinking back much longer it's commonplace and has been for decades.
In June 1984 Mrs B and I flew from Luton to Malaga on a Monarch Airlines Boeing 757. As pushback time approached it was apparent there was a problem. Cabin crew were up and down the aisle two or three times counting occupied seats.
Captain comes up on the PA; one more passenger on board than the loadsheet based on check in records stated. Please could we all check our boarding passes and have them ready for inspection.
A young woman travelling to Malaga with Britannia Airways at the same time had got on the wrong plane.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sun 17 Jul 22 at 17:17
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Looks like Doncaster Sheffield Airport is on the brink of closure.
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CNN Travel report of worst airports May to July '22
Percentage flights delayed
1. Toronto Pearson International Airport (Canada): 52.5%
2. Frankfurt Airport (Germany): 45.4%
3. Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (France): 43.2%
4. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (Netherlands): 41.5%
5. London Gatwick Airport (Great Britain): 41.1%
6. Heathrow Airport (Great Britain): 40.5%
7. Munich Airport (Germany): 40.4%
8. Athens International Airport (Greece): 37.9%
9. Sydney Airport Kingsford Smith (Australia): 34.2%
10. Orlando International Airport (USA): 33.4%
Percentage flights cancelled
1. Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (China): 7.9%
2. Newark Liberty International Airport (USA): 7.4%
3. LaGuardia Airport (USA): 7%
4. Toronto Pearson International Airport (Canada): 6.5%
5. Sukarno-Hatta International Airport (Indonesia): 6.2%
6. Sydney Airport Kingsford Smith (Australia): 5.9%
7. Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (China): 5.2%
8. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (USA): 5%
9. Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (China): 4.6%
10. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (Netherlands): 3.9%
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U.K. hospitality prices - Manatee
