I have been checking out flights to Florida during the summer hols

[GrumpyOldHorsewoman]

And for me to take my 2 DDs the flights alone will cost more than DH brings home in a month!
I had decided to take them to my mum & dad's for 4 weeks during the summer as I am always working and the DDs have never had a summer holiday. We usually go to the US between Oct and March and have never paid more than £1600 in fares for the four of us. However, just me taking the 2 DDs (no DH) the fare is £2400! I have tried varying departure airports and even flying into the more popular airports in Florida like Orlando and Miami (which would involve at least 3 hour drive to my parents') but can find nothing cheaper. The very lowest fare was £569 each and was, if I remember rightly, via Amsterdam on a charter airline (which nobody should have to do with a 3-year-old!)
It has really pissed me off - how does anyone afford a summer holiday? I thought the Govt. were supposed to have taken measures to combat this. Any advice from anyone in the travel industry welcome as to whether or not I may get a better fare last minute, or failing that who can I complain to about this blatant profiteering? My sister just got back from Florida and only paid £1100 for her and DH, two DCs and a baby! (and she flew direct on BA!)

I completely sympathise. We're probably never going to have a foreign summer holiday - dh is a teacher and we can only go during non term-time which means double the price of everyone else we know who goes off peak. We'll soon have 3 children and only one wage when the twins arrive and holidays for 5 are rare.

Shocking how the holiday companies are allowed to hike up the prices the very day schools break up.

Have you looked at Travelcity? we've been with them and they were cheaper than other airlines/travel companies in the summer holidays

I actually booked my last holiday with Travelocity, and you're right - I got it for £1000 cheaper than booking through BA BUT
We had to originate our trip in Dublin, which meant flying to Dublin the evening brfore we travelled, staying there overnight before flying back to London and then getting on he very same plane we would have got on (but paid an extra grand for the privilege of not originating in Dublin). At Dublin they did not have tickets issued for my DDs and we had to queue at ticket sales at 5.30 am for them to be issued. When we checked in at the BA desk in London again they had no tickets for the DDs (although they could reference them in the system, that's one good thing, at least) and they had us sitting in four separate seats (including 2 year old DD sitting on her own ). After some shuffling they managed to put us into 2 pairs, so I had to contend with the fidgety little pest on my own for 9.5 hours whilst DH sat in a different part of the plane with DD1. Oh, and the child meals I had ordered had not actually been ordered. Swore I wouldn't use Travelocity again - it was a shambles and made an already stressful journey 10-times worse.

that sounds a nightmare!
BTW I got the website wrong it was travelcitydirect.com

Have you tried FlyGlobespan ??
Globespan as they fly to Orlando. We are using them to fly to Toronto in Aug and it was £1400 for the four of us (we are then training it to my folks house for £100) Alternatively, they also fly to NYC, then use JetBlue to fly to FL.
JetBlue

I have looked at that, thanks USAUKmum, but they only fly out of Glasgow and Belfast. It is really annoying me that the prices are hiked up as much as they are by the major airlines during school holidays. What happened to the measures that should ave been taken to disallow this? I understand the principles of supply and demand, but Brits travelling to Florida have really diminished in number recently, and I can see why. That's why I can't understand why the fares are so high - who on earth is travelling? My Dad has one house (that he used to live in) that he rents to vacationers, but now they are nearly all Americans and he only has the odd British person (apart from regulars who rent every year) and even then they tend to be retired couples rather than families. I know the house is hundreds of miles (and a world away) from the theme park/Miami scene, but he always had a healthy number of British renters until a few years ago when air fares seemed to rocket. How can the airlines justify this? Are they not pricing themselves out of the market?

You need to book early - we got our flights before Christmas (for July) for £360 each with Virgin.

Try looking at 'The Dibb' they often have details of cheaper flights.

Also travel city direct, thomson charter etc might be worth a look too!

Thanks for all these links. I'll have to give them a go tomorrow (at work, my computer v. slow tonight!). I am a fairly savvy traveller and have been checking fares for just about every airline on an almost daily basis since about November, but never came up with anything at a reasonable price. I am going for the whole of August and that, I fear, is the problem.

Hi,
The company I have booked with for the last 4 years are brilliant, do try them, Kerry is very good. They are Charter Travel in Surrey, a family run travel agent. Their number is
0870 22 44 077

or e-mail
[email protected]

good luck!

We also have used Charter Travel for our Flights very professional and will endeavour to get you the best price, we also recommend staying hear at Platinum Villas Excellent Villa in perfect location