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!!!

Winzom
My dh flew business class once for work and the airline laid on a car for him! Was only once and may have been a ‘business special deal’ , but for normal cab companies to do this would involve a lot of work and cab drivers where I live tend to be on the verge of retiring and they can’t recruit enough people to do the normal jobs. It’s a nice idea though, maybe someone should try to set one up , but the bigger holiday companies probably wouldn’t want to know due to numbers of people it would involve to get everyone to the airport.
A tourist tax in the UK is a good idea, but it would be jumped on as yet another ‘stealth tax ‘ by labour by people who are happy to pay it in other countries to go on holiday which I do get, but I can also see it coming in the next few years even if it may end up another nail in the hospitality coffin, but might be more appreciated by people who live in tourist areas! So a bit of a double edged sword with that one.

I, too, think a tourist tax in the UK would be great. Noone blinks at the charge in Europe (we paid 2euro a night per person in Rome recently). More than 20m visitors came to London alone last year apparently. Assuming they stay an average of 7 nights each, at a charge of £3 a night that would generate approx half a billion in income that could be poured directly into London services (transports, roads, rubbish collection etc). Cities like Bath and York attract 3-9million international visitors so can also look at generating £100-300m a year.

If this can be used to reduce council tax bills, to improve services and/or to free up council funds for social housing/schools etc, then I’m all for it. It’s a direct tax on those using the facilities these cities offer. It’s insane we haven’t chosen to introduce it, frankly.

No, I agree that a tourist tax is a good idea especially as they do it abroad, but I can imagine the uproar if it’s even suggested here ( and the mumsnet threads!)

Just promise that if you decide not to pay for seats, you won't kick up a fuss and try to displace passengers who HAVE paid for their seats .......

Presumably you’re abroad so how does it make the country broken? Unless you’re talking about the country you’re on holiday in?

To be fair £8.50 is cheaper than paying for a meal at the airport. I’m usually starving by the time we’ve got through the security checks. I wouldn’t want to sit through a 4 hour flight with nothing to eat.

If you can't afford to go on holiday don't go on holiday.
Moaning about the cost of buying a sandwich on a short flight when you could easily bring your own is just boring.

The op is referring to prices charged in the UK ( the drop off charges for UK airport) the in flight food is charged by the holiday company ( which may be UK owned) the seat prices too. Ok the rest isn’t to do with the UK, but it’s still extra on top of the actual holiday price.

You are right. It is a fucking rip off. Many people would not see this as a problem as they do not think of it and just pay.

@Revolutioniser
You don’t need food on a four hour flight. I bet if you’d have looked around you, you wouldn’t have seen many of your fellow passengers buying food. You either eat before or after the flight, and/or have a couple of snacks from home in your bag just to put you on.

Having stayed at an expensive place in Spain which tried exactly that, I wouldn't be too sure

I wouldn't mind, but it was originally advertised with aircon included as one of the amenities, and when asked about this I got some blather about "discouraging its use because of eco concerns" (in 40 degree temperatures??) - as if folk couldn't work out that they'd thought of another grift

Needless to say it was waived when I mentioned taking it up with the holiday company ...

@Tigergirl80

a meal deal from Boots is less than £8…

My experience when I flight and I have to sleep in the airport ground or close by, cheaper hotels charge the shuttle bus to the airport, the room is about 70 quid plus the 16 quid to the airport, two people. More expensive hotels doesn't. I just book the room, full for 83 pounds. Airport ground free shuttle, free wify, free courtesy wake up call if needed. Sometimes budget has load of hidden cost. If you don't want to eat at the hotel just pack some noodles/sandwich etc, that do the job for one night.
If you book your free seats when booking the flight they are free. That is another tip.
Get some food/snacks and go only for the drink on the flight.
The AC is one of those hidden cost. It is rubbish because you were un aware of it but you need to read the fine print.
I save a few quids checking all the amenities, facilities included.

I would include seats as part of the overall holiday budget and not as part of spends. £22 seems a lot though, are you booking extra leg room? I think ours are usually around £7/8.

Admittedly I've never done long haul (nor first class), but I don't eat aeroplane food. We either take snacks with us, or buy a meal deal in the airport. Or, we eat at the airport prior to departure.

Most airports have a free drop off area that's a bit further away.

Not everyone likes a cold meal some want a hot meal. The only meal deal item my son will eat is a coronation chicken sandwich. Great if they are available. But there has been times when there hasn’t been and had to go elsewhere. I wouldn’t want to be doing that at an airport before boarding a flight. He likes homemade sandwiches tuna and mayo chicken and mayo egg mayo etc. Just not the mass produced.

@Tigergirl80

but surely if it’s gonna incur you lots of expense you just suck up a cold meal for one meal?

and just make him tuna sandwiches at home and bring them into airport?

All the people saying you don't need to eat on a four hour flight, sure, you can go four hours without eating, but with getting to the airport and being there two hours in advance, you need some food at some point! Getting a 'free' meal just used to be part of the deal. Now it's one more thing to have to think about. And killing time on the plane eating makes sense.

The headline price nothing like the price you pay thing is pretty tedious. It takes longer to compare each airline and work out which not-that-clearly named luggage package you need and exactly how big it can be. Back in the day you knew if you were packing 'normal' luggage that it would be okay. Only if you had skis or a tuba did you have to think.

It all just adds to the mental load of a holiday. Sure, it's first world problems, but it is tedious doing all the planning!

O/T but sitting together didn't use to be included, it was just they started at the front of the plane and worked back without seats missing. If you were near the back of the queue you got what was left, including children being separated from parents.

Back to OP... I don't get why tourist tax isn't included in the hotel price.

We paid the tourist tax at a hotel a few years ago ( Majorca) and in Portugal. It was 14 euros each I think or something. Depends on how many nights you’re staying for as to how much they charge and one hotel only accepted cash.
Exotic places like the Maldives charge a lot more too.

I remember a thread on here where someone went through security with food and set the alarms off. Turned out to be the jelly in her pork pie which they thought was an explosive of some kind, so taking a ‘ packed lunch’ isn’t without its challenges getting to departures. Plus your a long time at airports , most people have to buy something even to eat or drink at some stage. It’s fine being frugal, but they get you with something !

Yip. We’ve paid £££££s for a cruise later this year, paid to upgrade to Premium economy for the flight home and still had to pay another £45 each to sit together! I’m raging because at no point were we told we’d need to pay more on top of the upgrade price - I’ve actually made a complaint about the lack of transparency around this. We’ve upgraded to premium economy on our last two trips and seat choice was free after paying for the upgrade.

It's not nonsense I assure you, it's what I paid at Manchester airport a few weeks ago.

We tend to sit down and eat a proper meal at the airport before we go if it’s short haul, always nicer than anything you get on the plane. And then buy sweets etc on the flight if the kids want them, dh will have a tea and if it’s later on in the day I’ll have an alcoholic drink.
Last time though it was too early for us to want to eat anything so we bought a load of pret baguettes and sandwiches and stuff and had them on the flight. They are obviously more expensive at the airport than in their regular stores but still much nicer than plane food. I couldn’t be arsed with preparing packed lunches or sandwiches at home first but each to their own.
It’s also a bit of a distraction on the flight, something to do, look through the menu etc and wait for the trolley, getting your sweets!

I see a lot of your extras as just part of the overall cost of travelling rather than holiday money to spend while there.

We tried to just book 2 seats together last time we flew as a family of 5 but it said you either booked them all together or none of them. I think we went for none of them in the end (youngest is 14, older 2 are 20 and 21 so we don’t technically need them together anymore). 2 of us were seated together anyway.

city tax is unavoidable as is paying to drop someone off at the airports we fly from, there are exclusion zones all around the airport where you get a fine for stopping and dropping anyone off.

But we book airport parking so the only time I’ve ever had to pay to drop off and collect is if I’m picking dc up.

And I’ve never stayed anywhere you had to pay for the A/C as a separate add on but I’d pay it anyway if it’s going to be hot. Again I’d consider it part of the cost of the holiday rather than as part of the holiday spending money.

‘ Back in the day ‘they allocated seats at the check in desk and everyone sat together. I do think now that this is a complete scam and I’d love the airports to be under the same scrutiny that the car selling people are currently as transparency with pricing and ‘adds on ‘ seems to be a bit hit and miss as to who knows what.

Oh I do have a different gripe though about going on holiday and that’s the amount of admin I now have to do myself!!!
It happens across so many airlines.
i have to enter my passport details in online, check in online, download my boarding pass, weigh and label my own baggage, check into my air BnB online (I rarely use air BnB and won’t be rushing to use them again).
I know it’s all money saving but the margin for error is zero and you just know that if you type in one wrong number somewhere you’ll not be able to board your bloody flight!!
Anyway, that’s my rant about going on holiday now compared to 20 years ago. The service has declined massively along with many other companies, airlines aren’t alone here.