Originally Posted by
perky35
For ROB:
LBA is pretty much run by certain airlines, Jet2 and BMI have the monopoly here so charter companies can charge what they want for a week in egypt, as mentioned by someone else, MAN will have First Choice, Thomsonfly, My Travel and Thomas Cook all operating similar flights to similar destinations, and the competition obviously means more competitive prices...
LBA can have a charter flight to TABA or whereever and charge what they want until someone like Jet2 comes along offering the flights for 30 odd quid, until then you will have to be patient and think about going somewhere else if you dont want to fly from MAN...
That is a fair point Perky but there are goings on that seem quite annoying for all concerned:
I have booked pax for LPA for last 2 years running and TOM have diverted the airport to DSA 2 years running - they pay the LBA price because they want LBA, then all of the sudden they are left high and dry with a choice of DSA or book another holiday.
Why must the flight go from DSA, its smaller than LBA ? ! I mean TOM are keen enough to bring the 767-300 up here when its cruise season (wouldnt be because people on those flights have money to burn now would it?)
Other destinations go from MAN on a regular basis yes, but again the customer wants LBA and trust me there are lots of them. And therefore we have a scenario where pax are forced into destinations they really didnt want to go to.
If Jet2 come along offering taba (or whatever else) for 30 odd quid the charters will simply stop the destination, so its a 2 way battle. Perhaps its the end of the road for the charter companies anyway (I certainly hope so) ??
And with the possibility of Greek and Turkish destinations from Jet2 for 2007 things could begin to look that way for LBA.
No doubt you will say these companies such as TOM are trying to run a business, yes of course they are, but in the end the customer will go elsewhere if they dont get what they want (look at M&S for a classic case). Then what ?