Holiday ‘extras’ eating into holiday budget!

[Revolutioniser]

First world problem, I know. And not a surprise either. But still annoying having to pay:

• £22pp each way to get seats on the plane next to each other
• £8.50pp each way for a bit of food on the 4hr flight
• £8 per night AC for the hotel room
• £8 per night tourist tax
• £6 to drop us off at the airport for less than two minutes!

£300 of the holiday spends gone already!

Genuinely think it’s this kind of bloody thievery that makes people think the country is ‘broken’.

I don’t begrudge the tourist tax, to be fair. But the rest of it… ARGH!!!

You don't need to buy food for a 4 hour flight.
You can choose free seats and sit together (I've just done this on RyanAir)
What sort of hotel charges for AC per night? That's so weird.

Why do you need food on a 4 hour flight?

Do you have young children? If not do you need to book seats? We often hire a car which sounds expensive compared to transfers but we then use it to do things rather than going on excursions which are always expensive compared to going to the same places yourselves

But yes, there are a lot of extra charges. I consider myself very good at minimising anything not essential so I have more money for the important things!

Sounds a bit like you're booking budget and then complaining about the extras they charge to actually be able to be budget...

How does paying for AC in a presumably foreign hotel have anything to do with Britain being “broken”?

Most airports have a free drop off possibility somewhere, just further away via a bus from a proper car park.

Can you not just take snacks on the plane?

Re food... Just go to boots and get a meal deal at the airport and get a meal for £5.50 or so. Or just take from home with you if that desperate. Re sitting together... Just don't sit together.
Re drop off charges... All airports I've used have had a free drop of f option.

You will get a right pile on with people telling you you don't need to pay for seats and food etc or if you can't afford the add ones you can't afford the holiday.

But I agree with you. There are now always overpriced add on's which never used to exist. Its very tedious.

If you check in together on the same booking you normally get sat together and obviously you can bring your own food on the plane.

Definitely do not buy food on the flight!!! Take your own snacks or get a meal deal from boots.

Bus if your don’t want to pay for taxis, it’ll likely be pence.

AC, it’s not essential, maybe see if you can cope without if money is tight? It wouldn’t be my choice but needs must.

Only essentials on the list for me would be Aircon and tourist tax. But if you're paying €8 per night, you must be staying somewhere pretty swanky

I actually wish it was more expensive for the basic flight and you could get a reduction if you didn’t care about where you sat etc.

For a 4hr flight take a small snack in your bag and eat before boarding, we always buy water for the plane from boots at the terminal or I have a colleague who always took an empty water bottle and used the filling station after security. You can take a packed lunch if money is tight - I can’t imagine getting much in the airport for less than £8.50pp.

Drop off fees are ridiculous, but we usually park and walk to the terminal or take the train/tram.

I have never had to pay for air conditioning in a hotel before, but I would have included that along with parking etc in my holiday budget and not spends.

Hear me out: holidays abroad are not a necessity. I’m also struggling to understand what these expenses have to do with “the country being broken”.

@User748937744 can you let me know how you got free seats, we fly next month but only have a paid option?

I hope you have a good holiday OP despite the extra cost.

You shouldn’t need food on a four hour flight.
A few weeks back in Spain I took the bus from the airport to the hotel, 2 euros rather than 35 in a taxi.
Unless you have young kids can’t you sit separately on a plane.

I've just booked once in a lifetime long haul tickets. I naively assumed that the huge amount we paid would get us seats together, but no, we had to choose and pay for England to dubai then dubai to Sydney and then back again. At least meals are included.

The trick is to know the expenses, budget for them, and save accordingly. I've not travelled for a while & restarted this year, DC in tow, and do find that there are a lot more basic services with everything else being an add-on.

You can minimise some of it though. You don't need to buy food on a short flight, you can take snacks or sandwices. We'd also pay only for hotels that don't bolt on costs like air con as it rarely turns out cheaper.

We had to pay for air-conditioning at a not all that swanky hotel in crete 7 years ago. Apparently that was quite common.

It’s a 4 hour flight, you can cope without sitting next to each other and you can absolutely avoid purchasing plane food.

Surely you just take your own food for the flight?

I do understand though. Especially as you only see these things when booking so we decide on a holiday and accommodation is £x and flights £y and we think “great that’s in budget” then you go to book… realise you need to book seats on plane, extra luggage as standard allowance is teeny, linen hire, towels hire etc. and it’s suddenly loads extra! I think they do it cuz the headline prices draw you in.

But you booked a cheap hotel which charges for aircon? I’ve never been charged. We sit wherever, but always get seats together, i take food from home and an empty water bottle I fill at the airport, and as for the pick up fee, we get dropped 10 minutes walk away, the farmer has even put snacks on sale now due to so many using his turnaround each day! We grabbed apples he had grown last time we flew for 50p each!

• £22pp each way to get seats on the plane next to each other - won't yu survive withut each other for a couple of hours?
• £8.50pp each way for a bit of food on the 4hr flight - take your own or just wait.
• £8 per night AC for the hotel room - AC is an extra charge?
• £8 per night tourist tax - sadly unavoidable
• £6 to drop us off at the airport for less than two minutes! that's not a big amount for several people

@ColinOfficeTrolley

its the opposite of swanky, decent hotels don’t charge, never actually stayed anywhere with an extra cost for aircon.

Some seats cost anywhere between £3 and £20 something to reserve but some were free (the seats at the back!).

For me, these aren't things that eat into holiday spends, they are part and parcel of going abroad. You pay for flights and accommodation including the above (although definitely not the food) and they sort out your spending money.

Which airline? None that I know of don't have seats for free

cheapest ones are currently £10 (£13 for the ones at the back) and £30.50 for the front!, it’s a short flight and no little children so we will take the gamble I think.