What do you think is a reasonable price for flights to Europe in the school holidays?

[Wintersoltice]

I don't fly to Europe often, but I have recently (on a last minute booking) and I'm looking again for later in the year. What do you think is reasonable to pay for a family of 4 in the school holidays for a European city or short haul destination? Just curious as to what people are typically paying in the likes of Ryanair, EasyJet etc.

Which holidays?

The may half term is ridiculous for flights, easily 2k for 4 people.

Summer holidays are a bit more reasonable that said you're still look at 1.2k+ for a family of 4 once you include bags.

Whether it's reasonable or not is up for debate. That's just how much it costs.

I work on the basis that £250 per person (including bags) is a reasonable deal for school holidays. I shop around and aim to get it for around that.

I think you’re looking at £3-400 per person nowadays.

Maybe reasonable is the wrong word, but I'm wondering what is typical to pay. It's difficult to know whether I'm getting average prices, above average or below average for any particular holiday given that I don't have much experience of searching for flights to Europe. Looking mainly at May, summer and October half terms at the moment.

Have a look at kayak.co.uk for price trends. That might give you a better idea.

We're going to Tenerife in August and I got flights for £204 pp return from London. We went last year during May half term and paid £68 flying out and £40 flying back.
This was all through Ryanair, EasyJet and British Airways. Use the sky scanner app and book way in advance.

It's also worth looking at different days to fly rather than just sticking to Saturday to Saturday.

Flying out on the Friday, Sunday or even Monday (for a slightly shorter break) can sometimes save loads.

It totally depends where you are going! If you plan to go somewhere hugely popular you are going to pay more. We live in the North and Paris tends to be cheaper than many other destinations for some reason, also if you can think outside the box you might find a bargain, e.g in 2022 we went to Zagreb and Christmas 2023 we went to Gdansk. As an example of prices for 4 in 2024 I paid: (this price includes only 1 checked bag and seat reservations for 4). Malta in the Easter school hols - £430 (absolute bargain), Bilbao for the bank holiday weekend in August - £902, Vienna between Christmas and New Year £668. I always book fairly last minute, Bilbao and Vienna booked about 10 days before we flew, but I had been checking the prices for Vienna since late October. Malta I booked a bit earlier than that. On Christmas Eve I booked a quick trip to Majorca for May half-term, fly out Sunday and back Thursday, our summer holiday will be spent in Sydney (which will be in winter) with family, that was £946.