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SAM SPARKLE · Post by **SAM SPARKLE** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 9:47 am

Budget airline Easyjet has announced a new route from Belfast International Airport to Faro in Portugal.
Easyjet said its tenth foreign flight route from Belfast would begin operating on 16 July with one-way prices starting from £24.99.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 10:02 am

Have you checked out the prices? 16 July - £311 return, 20 August £231 return, and it stops 4th September. Wonder when you get a £24.99 fare

SAM SPARKLE · Post by **SAM SPARKLE** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 10:10 am

I Know, typical Easyjet.

Lesley Jean · Post by **Lesley Jean** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 12:00 pm

You can guarantee that the cheap fares are only available during the winter months and not the summer!

That is when they make their money, you will have to wait for the 'sales' and buy well in advance to get the really cheap seats.

iane · Post by **iane** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 12:12 pm

The bit that intrigues me is that there are continued references to tourism in the Algarve being "down" - I know that UK visitors are not the whole story but over the last three/four years the number of "low cost" flights into Faro has multiplied several times over and each time a new route is launched they are able to command these sort of fares within (it seems) days of launch - that must say something about demand !

Regarding the winter prices - I fly in and out of Faro regularly and even in winter the best price I got was £50 return (for a Feb flight) and I booked that on the day the winter schedule was released (about 9am) and later that day they were already up by 75% !

patwab · Post by **patwab** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 6:03 pm

"Low cost" airlines to Faro (Easyjet, Thomsonfly etc) are indeed booming. We used Thomsonfly from Bournemouth in May and it was very good. But overall this is balanced by Inclusive Tour (IT) operators moving flights away from traditional destinations in Spain and Portugal. The number of charter flights to Faro will probably be reducing from the UK as many holiday makers book direct rather buying a holiday from a brochure. Also, the new markets in Eastern Europe are really giving Spain and Portugal a run for their money.

In terms of prices, the formula for Easyjet seems to be: sell x tickets at £24.99, sell the next batch at £49.99 etc etc. It is only the first 20 or 30 tickets per flight that sell for low cost and even then you need to get them almost as soon as the airline releases them. As the plane fills up, the last 20 or 30 seats are probably as expensive or more than BA or TAP.

Lesley Jean · Post by **Lesley Jean** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 7:30 pm

Well for the past two years I have been flying with easyjet from Bristol, at times, if you can get the sales tickets it has only cost me £5 plus the airport tax, at other times yes it has been £25 or £30 plus tax. Still that is a good price when you consider the full fare of BA.

iane · Post by **iane** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 8:13 am

Looking at the way the newly launched winter prices from E Midlands are going today (only launched this morning) perhaps we should all move to the Bristol airport catchment area !!

SAM SPARKLE · Post by **SAM SPARKLE** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 8:41 am

Yep patweb, that's exactly how they work, I remember a few year's back when there was extra holidays in June for some reason and I booked well in advance with EJ to fly to Amsterdam, got the return flight (Gatwick) for about 30 quid, shortly afterwards (within a few hours) something must have been triggered because the fare shot up by about 60 quid. The rule is don't take it as gospel that the Easyjets of this world are the cheapest. BTW did you see that EJ have now introduced Leisure Lounges at some airports? They work on the same price structure, depending on how busy they are dictates the price they charge you for the use of. However, drinks are free. Don't get me started on Easycruise either.

SAM SPARKLE · Post by **SAM SPARKLE** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 8:48 am

The reason I started this thread was because its the devils own job trying to get flights from Northern Ireland to Faro and any new service is very welcome. Many times because of unavailability (especially out of the main holiday season) we have had to use Dublin, now if you have ever been to Dublin airport you will know why I am moaning, it has got so busy over the last few years and is badly in need of expansion and modernisation, why its not that long ago, when the airport was hardly used you could walk onto an Aer Lingus flight and the pilot would ask ''where to mate?''

patwab · Post by **patwab** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 7:43 pm

Hey ... more scheduled flights to Faro is better for villa ownerslike a lot of people who use thia forum. No complaints from me. As with most things, with the airlines you get pretty much what you pay for. If you want to fly in a Ryanair sardine can that has no tray tables, seat pockets, window blinds and charges a lot for extra baggage then be my guest ..... luckily I don't travel Ryanair very often. Easyjet aren't all that bad ... just buy some good sandwiches and drinks before you go to the airport !!
As long as it doesn't cost more than £100 each I don't mind

It's amazing how many UK airports now have schedules to Faro ....
LGW, LHR, STN, LUT, BHX, COV, BRS, EXT, BOH, MAN, LBA, LPL, CWL and now even Doncaster-Finningley ..... so pretty much wherever you live you are served.

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