can anyone give me advice on flight costs, how to get cheapest, best times to book etc

[mumma24]

Been offered accommodation in Spain August 2015, no idea how much flights would be for 6 of us, 3 adults, 15, 13 and 10 year old. (Not flown for 20 years)

Looked at this August for an idea of costs and its around £3000, which we can't afford.

Accommodation is Sat to Sat,

If I book this year as soon as flights are available will it be alot cheaper?

Flying from London Gatwick to malaga,

Have you tried flights to other airports ie. Madrid, my sister does this and hires a car / people carrier as they never seem to increase the flight prices in the kids holidays whereas Malaga can be double or even triple the usual cost!

We always book as soon as they come out. Have flown with both monarch and BA to Malaga. Not much difference in price by time you add luggage etc, usually around £200 each ( with luggage and choosing seating). Prices seem to rise quickly so best to get in early.

Goodness, which airline are you looking at? British Airways? The best thing you could do is look up a flight comparison website which will ask you the dates, then compare all the different flights for that date, you can choose then either the one that suits you best for time or is cheapest. The way I always do it is just give into google the two airport names, in your case Gatwick to Malaga, then work your way through the comparison sites. It gives you hundreds of options so you have to decide if you want to narrow that down by only taking direct flights.

I've just looked on the EasyJet site for this August and Saturday to Saturday is the most expensive day, so if you can change that from Sunday to Sunday you'd cut down costs a lot. But I still think you could manage it for 200 pounds per person return if you shop around and book early.

Look on skyscanner. That seems expensive tbh.

Sun- sun is cheaper, is that possible?

Also look at London stansted/Luton/ city out as that's where the cheaper airlines fly from. Heathrow generally most expensive followed by gatwick

I think airlines release flights about 6 months prior? But I could be totally wrong.

if you start researching now it won't hurt. For example try different airports at both ends. Different airlines. If necessary - and the price difference was worth it would you consider flying on a midweek and booking a hotel for a night or two until your accommodation is available? Take less luggage too. All the added baggage makes a huge difference to the price of the basic flight.

All of those things can make a difference.

Ok. A quick look based on flying this August sat 2nd-9th. Flights with monarch from gatwick to Malaga are £214 each. So £1284 for all of you.

I just searched a couple of sights - using this August. I don't know your exact dates - so went for 23-30 august.

Easyjet - comes in atjust under £2K. Without any luggage or extras.

But that is for THIS summer. Only 12 weeks away.

Jet 2 -which don't fly from LGW unfortunately are always v reasonable. They came in even cheaper - and have lovely daytime flights. No awkward early morning departures.

The closest departure point for you would be East Midlands - would it be worth driving up? about £1800.

oops - I searched sites, not sights. (where is the edit facility.. )

Just looked at www.kayak.com which I always use.
They don't have flights for 2015 yet but looked at the first week in August this year and prices started at £229 pp return with baggage.

Thankyou everyone for your help, finding this whole flying thing very stressful and not sure what I should be doing, I can see now I can reduce these costs considerably, will check out more sites and try and book as soon as flight released, are there any airlines I should avoid? I'm bit nervy of flying and it'll be the kids 1st time

You need one of these rucksacks to save on checked luggage fees.

And i second a night in a hotel if necessary and flying sunday to sunday.

Have a look at cheapflights.co.uk. That's the site I always use.

Flights generally start coming out around 11 months before departure - watch out though as some release earlier - Ryanair for example on some routes.

What I'd do is figure out which airlines fly to your destination and get them as soon as they come out. If you are looking at Summer 2014 prices then they will be at a peak right now , by getting in quickly it should be much, much cheaper.

I find most airlines to be fine - if you are a nervous flyer then I would pay for seats/premium boarding on economy flights.

Skyscanner is showing flights from Gatwick to Malaga / return, for August 2014 (to give an idea) from £32 per person/one way up to £90 per person/one way, depending on which dates you wish to fly.

Even at the top end, that is £1080 for six people.

I read today that the cheapest time to book a flight is the Tuesday that's closest to 6 weeks before you want to fly. Personally I wouldn't dare to leave it that late but if you're brave it might be worth a go.

germgirl I have read that too and whilst I think it's true for less popular flights it's not for most school holiday time flights. This is based on the fact that I check flights periodically after I have booked them to see what happens to the fare.
Generally if you get them as soon as they come out they're pretty cheap anyway, and for me most of the fun is knowing that we are going away and being able to plan.

no airlines whose safety is unacceptable are allowed to fly within the EU, if that is your concern OP. The low-cost ones will charge for every gram of luggage and for food.

don't forget to book travel insurance when you book the flights, and check EHICs are in date. (and passports too of course!)

You could drive over? Euro tunnel is cheap and then it's fuel and tolls. You could get there over a couple of days and do a cheap motel at night. It's not half as bad to drive abroad as you think...I'm not a confident driver and found it a piece of cake.
AA says it takes 29 hours. So 9 -8 driving with two hours off for lunch both days.
And you have a car to get around and you can take whatever you want there and more importantly back!

Hmmm . Not my idea of fun driving with a full car of teens and luggage. I would start with BA as you get more included with them and the advantage of Terminal 5, Heathrow. I think they release prices about 9 months in advance but even then, high season, Saturday to Saturday, will be the most expensive. You do get 22kg luggage each though or hand cabin luggage instead if you opt for that and pay less. As a family you can lessen the checked in bags maybe so you should save that way. I have nearly always found them competitive due to excessive extras and horrible flight times offered by other airlines and we are much closer to a Heathrow. No frills airlines really mean that. It really depends on how much effort you want to make in getting to an out of London airport and we always feel our holiday starts at T5 because it is actually pleasant and largely queue free. If you look at ba.com you will be able to work out how far in advance they post their prices. I would not leave it late for high season Spain. You are much better off securing 5 seats as soon as you can!

Just looked at ba.com for Tuesday to Tuesday in mid August. £1308 for 5 of you for no hold luggage. £16 extra per person for each person who checks in a bag. This surprised me and is really quite reasonable.

Forgot to say....BA Malaga flights appear to be from Gatwick and are posted 1 year in advance.