School holiday flights

[foxmoth]

From Sky news:
Ministers have struck a deal with the travel industry to offer cheaper holidays in an attempt to stop parents taking children out of school during term.

For years now the goverment has been moaning about this while at the same time failing to assist by carrying out the school holiday reform that they have talked about for years (5 term school year). IMHO this would be the best way to even out all the price swings through the year, otherwise what does the industry do - the goverment might be better looking at it that prices are cheap outside the school holidays due to the excess capacity needed in school holidays being sold at a cut price when the kids are at school.:ouch:

[Wycombe]

I'll believe it when I see it!

Some will not agree, but for the last few years, I have taken my kids out of School (usually around a half-term, to mimimise the impact), and had a very good long-haul holiday in Oct/Nov or Feb for the same price as a good standard "Med" holiday in the Summer.

As a responsible parent, I will stop this in a few years when schooling becomes more important and exams beckon, but for now (my kids are only 6) I think they'll learn as much about the World from seeing it, as sitting in a classroom learning about it. (no criticism of the School is implied btw, it is mostly excellent).

As long as the School are informed well in advance, they can report it to OFSTED as "planned absence" (ie, it's not parentally inforced truancy, which I would never condone).

Bottom line is, I simply refuse to pay double the price for a holiday in July or August. I know it's "supply and demand" and profits have to be made when they can, but the seasonality of UK holiday pricing has been ridiculous for years.

[Evvy]

The whole leisure trade is unfortunately guilty of this practice. This year I took my 5 year old out of school a week early and saved £300 (50%) on a midweek Center Parcs break,

Virgin Holidays were offering free kids places for 2006 however when you look into it the offer is only valid for a few hotels at certain times.

One interesting point is that private schools have longer holidays than state schools so "bargains" can be got in the 1st and last weeks of holiday (not that I am so lucky). On an average £8-10k per year school fee the parents (single child) taking 2 holidays a year will recoup between £1500 and 2000 by having cheaper holidays.