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!!!

I wouldn't pay for food (I would bring my own) or seats or AC unless you're in a mega hot place (currently in Spain and have not needed AC at night).

There’s a travel blogger, Noel something. He booked the cheapest flight on Spirit and added all the extras. It was more expensive than Business with everything included.

OP, look at what you actually need and eat, and find the package that fits. The budget price is never the price. The cheap often comes out expensive.

Where are you staying, where there is an extra charge for aircon per day ?

What country are you saying is "broken", because it sounds as if this is all about a holiday abroad!

To be fair you know it costs to book seats together on almost every airline so you should have factored that in.

We always take our own food so you should have factored that in too.

I’ve honestly never heard of charging for aircon so I’d complain or choose different accommodation next time.

Haven’t come up against that much tourist tax yet but YANBU.

£6 drop off also wow.

I once booked a hotel in Portugal in December which had an indoor & out door pool

I was looking forward to using the indoor pool

On arrival at the hotel, the reception advised that there was a daily charge, per person to use the indoor pool.
I was so annoyed, I refused to use the indoor pool.
There was no info about this extra charge when I booked.

Ryanair. I am not an expert. Only fly once or twice a year nowadays! But I do have a current Ryanair booking that gave me the option of free seats at the back of the plane.

So they do have free seats. I've used them often.Never paid, still get allocated one at check in. Never been left standing yet

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

Ha ha, I didn’t even notice this bit of the original post!

People just repeat popular phrases without thinking about them 😂

I agree, the add on costs are huge. Cleaning charge if you're in a holiday let, airport parking, transfers, check in luggage, seat reservations. Cheap flights are not cheap.
The cost of food and drink in airports is shocking too. £3 + for a bottle of Buxton water at WH Smith. Holidays are insanely expensive now. Tourist tax was €5 per person per night where we went. We didn't have to pay extra for air con though.

I was just looking at my booking actually and there is a charge to guarantee you keep your on-board luggage on-board and not in the hold, WTF??!! So you get 10kg per person on-board luggage included but then it "might" need to go in the hold on busy flights!

But I agree with you. There are now always overpriced add on's which never used to exist. Its very tedious.
Yes but ticket prices were generally
higher.
I am happy to sit anywhere and not pay extra.
Im happy to take a small carry in free for a 10 day holiday and i don't need to eat on a short haul flight.

What country is broken as evidenced by these fees?
I don't understand your logic, do you honestly think everything you've mentioned is the fault of one country? Unless you mean the country you're staying in?

More fool you is all I can say

4 hours and you need feeding?????

We would usually get the "red eye " - 6 am flight - up from 3am - we buy a meal deal

We have never ever paid to sit together and have never been separated . Check in online as soon as it opens - never once have we had a problem

Tourist tax is unavoidable where its added , where we are heading its £3 a night per person

Do you really need AC? Only used it once abroad - heatwave in Turkey and it was high 40's .; Otherwise a sheet, mozzie spray and the windows and doors opened and we didn't die

Thankfully we can get our lift to pull into a layby near our airport and take the 6/7 minute walk

To add, why did you book with a BUDGET airline if you are complaining about the additions? it’s a well known fact that you have to pay for food on these airlines and sometimes
sit next to each other. if you booked a more expensive airline these would have been included.
And for a hotel to charge for AC, was this not obvious on booking?

Either way, this tells me you probably can’t really afford to go away if you are making such a statement about these costs. Its not that much money and some things on your list not totally necessary.

£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!

only because you paid it. Tourist tax, fair enough.
Dont pay for seats, Take your own food, organise your own taxi for transfer. Dont get AC. You'll climatise better without it. Dont book a package holiday... book a flight, book accommodation. Lot better

I wouldn't be paying for food or seats

Lots of these charges are optional though

you don’t need to book seats together for everyone and just select seats for one adult per child or if you have older kids sit separate the majority of airlines will sit younger children with at least one adult anyway. It’s only 4 hrs so being separated from DH or older kids isn’t too bad

take food with you for the plane if you feel you will need to eat in the 4 hrs (sandwiches and crisps from home and empty water bottles to fill in the airport after security)

decide about air con when you arrive and if you need it as sometimes keeping curtains closed keeps the room cool or if your not directly in sunlight all day

tourist tax can’t be avoided

most airports do have free drop off but it’s further from the terminal so arrange to get there early and most have a free bus to terminal

This is what happens when you book budget holidays. The added extras make up the price difference unfortunately.

We were able to sit next to each other on our Easyjet flight. Didn't charge us. Easyjet food is shit and v expensive. I'm gonna definitely take our own this time. I can't survive 4 hours plus hanging around for luggage & the transfer the other side without food!

But flights that cost less than a medium distance train journey in the UK didn't exist then either.

I've just booked a weekend break in Mallorca in 2 weeks time. Return flights £120 pp, we'll spend a fiver on a Boots meal deal, which I don't think is bad for a wrap, nice yogurt and smoothie. We'll also get free water after security. We'll take what we're given seat wise and tourist tax is less than half what the OP is paying.

We were thinking about London but transport, hotel and food/drink out would be pretty much double what we're paying so Mallorca it is.

I'm sorry,what sort of shonky hotel charges extra for A/C?

Although we stayed a couple of days at a 2 star hotel in France this year where only "premium rooms" had A/C and standard ones didn't. We knowlingly took a gamble and lost as it was it a hot week in France. However the hotel owner were lovely and eent oit and bought us a massive standing fan to go with the existing tower fan already in the room.

I've never heard of a hotel charging for AC!

Does it charge extra for heating in the winter as well?

Bit is a stretch to say this country is "broken" when you are going abroad and your whines are a tourist tax and payment for air con. Get a grip.

The air con is probably necessary but it should be standard in hot conditions.

The best deal I got was when I went to Turkey was via Turkish Airlines. It included food, a 25kg luggage allowance & free seating allocation. It initially wasn't cheaper than the budget airlines but once you added the extras on easy jet, Turkish airlines came out way cheaper.