"Grumpyoldmen" --British Package Holidays
Posted: Saturday, July 26, 2008
by kevin ashton
wannabetvchef
Due to the fact that I was taking my young daughter with me. I reluctantly booked a First Choice holiday to Majorca. Usually I create my own holidays abroad via the Internet because I find I can get better value for money that way.
For years successive British Governments have for the most part allow the package tour operators carte blanche. And thus the pricing structure is mind numbingly complex.
With fuel surcharges, paying for in-flight meals, legroom, and underoccupancy, seasonal prices that really penalise you if your travelling during school holidays....I'm sure that there are several surcharges I have forgot to mention.
Then there is the issue of being a single parent traveling with your kids...you get penalised by paying almost full adult price. Which given the high number of single parent families out there blows my mind.
If all that wasn't enough to put you off forever....then there other annoying situations like checkout times. I had to checkout my room by 12noon even though my flight home was not until 4am the next day!!!
Since I was travelling with my young daughter I decided that I had to pay extra for a late checkout room....First Choice wanted to charge me 32 to have room from 12noon-6pm...I queried why the late room was only available until 6pm?
Looking for alternatives I phoned the hotel directly in Majorca and was told I could book a late room for 30euros about 22 and I could use the room until my coach left for the airport.
I don't buy daytrips via the holiday rep because the exact same trip can be bought for less if you book directly...sometimes the price difference is 20%!!!
The day that I arrived I foolishly lost a shopping bag containing my reading glasses. Even though I spoke to several reps at length for 2 days they made no attempt to either help me find the lost glasses or offer to write a report that I now need for my insurance claim.
Overall I had a good holiday in spite of First Choice not because of them.
One more important point I'd like to make about pricing is how often they change....often to pressure you into making a snap decision. The company admitted to me that holiday prices on their Internet site changed more than once a day.
Would people buying a suit or trolley full of groceries put up with rising prices by the time they reached the checkout? But you see the real problem about the poor value of package holidays is our politicians never have to use them...their holidays are usually grander affairs. They rarely get to see how poorly the customer get treated on their summer holidays.
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