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've been to Crete for the last two years running in a not-swanky hotel and have had to pay for aircon on both occasions.

That's Ryanair. Most others don't do this

The 'little' addons for zero service airlines very quickly make them more expensive than a full service airline
But why pay for airline food when you can make sandwiches?
Do you need to sit together?

What is £8 for AC? Air conditioning? I have never heard of any hotel, even in the US, charge extra for that

Do you need to be dropped off at the airport? Depending on the airport, there are often plenty of free places to be dropped off

Tourist Tax seems to be the only unavoidable one

No need to buy the overpriced plane food, surely.

As for tourist tax, I've never understood why we don't have that in the UK, like virtually every other country does. Or charging for museums for non-residents. Its not like we are so awash with money that we can afford not to.

So cheapest ones are free?

No one has mentioned the holiday agents, and comparison sights.

Jet2 include luggage and seating in there holidays - Others do not.

If you find a holiday and then add all the luggage transfers etc it really does add up and it’s not as transparent -

I think all bookings should show a typical overall cost and then deduct what you don’t need - at least it would be a fair comparison.

As others have said, take food from home. Sorry to restate the obvious, but honestly!

Is there a charge now for dropping off at the station?

I assume you’re abroad, so how can tourist tax and air con charges be the reason for this country being broken?

I have never paid for an airline meal, not ever, ever, ever and I can afford to. When the kids were small, we used to save 50p pieces in a tin to pay for those expensive airport items like bottles of water, pop and a magazine. I’d pack up a snack for the plane and each child took theirs in their own ruck sack.

Tourist tax is what it is, all Europe does it, you should be aware of additional air con charges before you booked, it will be in the details. I have sometimes had to pay it in a rented home, but never a hotel. These, together with plane seats, are things to be budgeted for in the holiday cost, not spending money.

That's not WHSmith standard prices though

WHRipoff are the most extortionately priced airport shop for things like water

No you don't
There are plenty of free places to drop off and get the shuttle bus or (if terminal 5) the pods

I saw a tv news report a while ago about a tourist tax for Wales, but nothing seems to have happened or been done since far as I know.
Our hotels should do this, but seems that many hotel owners are too busy ripping off the tax payers and the government by using their hotels to home asylum seekers , so maybe this is why it’s not being done here. It should be brought in, but then UK holidays will be more expensive too and they are already pricy, but who knows!

Seats aren't extras. They should be considered part of your flight booking.
Take your own sandwiches on the flight.

It’s not greed to ensure your business model is profitable. When airlines didn’t charge for these ‘extras’ the overall flight costs would be higher for everyone.

But you know what these things cost! We always have to get extra legroom seats as DH is tall - we just factor it in. I wish they were £22! They are usually £100!

£8.50 for a meal on the plane is cheap.

As for tourist tax, I've never understood why we don't have that in the UK

They do, look it up. I was charged in Liverpool recently.

It’s not greed to ensure your business model is profitable

It is greed when the play on people’s fears (ie kids sitting away from a responsible adult)

They have not scrubbed it for buses, just the tube

I live fairly near a small airport and it’s close to a retail park.
If you drop anyone off there it’s being recorded and people are being fined apparently. Cabs are easily identified, so they can’t do this anymore and if they see ordinary cars with luggage and people that’s the same as well.

I’m amazed that WHSmith is still going. There’s a reason they’re only at airports and stations 🤑💩

Quite common in Greece to have to pay for air con.

Hope you have a lovely time.

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

I don't understand this. Which country is broken, given that if you're on a plane you're presumably dealing with two different countries? If it's the UK, how is the other country's tourist tax and charges for AC the UK's fault?

I don't see how this reflects on Britain?

What bothers me is when places are not up front with the charges and I get a surprise. The law isn't clear on this everywhere. American hotels have to disclose it, IIRC, but they're allowed to add on ridiculous fees like a mandatory "resort fee" and you get stung if you don't check carefully when booking. (Biden wanted to forbid this, ah well...) £8 for air-con is taking the piss.

With the airlines, I agree, you need to figure out if the budget airline is really so budget once you add on the fees. I never pay for food on the plane. Even if I went to M&S instead of a Boots meal deal it would probably be nicer than whatever they'll have.

Only Manchester and Liverpool have it. London doesn’t, for example. My parents live in a very touristy village and the costs of repairing the damage that tourists cause has to come out of council tax.

It caused a huge row with the rep back in 2015 at my resort when people discovered that our rooms only had A/C if you paid for it. I thought it was my fault not reading the small print etc, but it seemed that other people wasn’t aware of this extra cost either and really kicked off ( the place was cheap, but a bit run down which didn’t help )
I paid it, but many didn’t.

Agree. I paid for seats for my next overseas trip. I refuse to sit for eight hours in the middle seat. For me, anything from when I leave for the airport until I'm back home is my holiday budget, and I save in separate categories. But there's no way I'd buy airline food for a four-hour trip.