J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by catp

Ally,

Just curios: Does EasyJet charge "extra" for ski luggage even if that is your "only" check-in luggage?

I am asking because for example last year I flew with Swiss Air, and I used my ski bag as my only check-in luggage (it is large enough to fit all my clothing) and as carry-on I had my boot-bag and a small backpack.

Also, you wrote a few posts back: "Swiss are currently charging around £130 return from London, but don't charge for ski carriage."
--- From what I understand, they do not charge for ski-luggage just as long as it is your only check-in luggage, otherwise their regular fee for 2nd check-in luggage applies. Maybe I am wrong?

PS: I agree with Tony_H's's recommendation for Swiss: I flew a few times with them and was very pleased with the experience. Same goes for BA as far as the flight and in-flight service, but I was disappointed twice with other issues: One was poor handling of a missed connection -- due to their own flight being late; and another one was once when I missed my first flight and I wanted to buy a one-way Swiss flight and return on the BA flight for which I have paid -- they simply did not allow that, saying that because I missed my departure flight they had to cancel my entire itinerary (even if they gave me no refund!)

For the 2013 J2Ski holiday I will fly with Air Lingus, and I plan to use again my ski-bag as my only check-in luggage. I do not remember ever flying with Air Lingus before, so I don't know what to expect as quality of service... any comments from anybody else who might have flown with them?

Hi Everybody,

I was away on a 1-wk vacation in Florida, followed by a busy weekend, so only now I am finally catching up reading the latest posts. Wow: lots of comments, opinions!

I have NEVER planned a vacation so far in advance, so I clearly do not have any plans yet for 2014!

Therefore I am OK with any time choice at this point. However, since somebody suggested Tignes, I will say that I would prefer some different place, since we'll be skiing one week there in 2013. I do not have any particular preference (as long as it's a 'good' ski area ;)).

OldAndy wrote:

brooksy wrote:....having the occasional cigge on the balcony, didnt say fag as it would get you in trouble in the USA :oops:

Pertinent clarification.
:thumbup:

-- Indeed!! Ditto OA.
It's true that I've been learning quite a few British terms since I started checking the news on this Forum (more often than local newspapers) ...in fact I even catch myself using British spellings in my regular writing lately, and only earlier this week I told my boss that I want to take a short holiday next week and he looked at me quite perplex...
... However, if I were to read "having the occasional fag on the balcony", I suspect that would have really baffled me! LOL!!!

brooksy wrote:

AllyG wrote:

Me - carrying out important research for this group holiday :lol:

Good pics & thanks for putting them on, just one thing Ally are those your skis in the pic & if they are were sitting down next to them or do you use giant skis :shock:

--- LOL, I had exactly the same thought (for a split-second before I realized Ally was sitting down)!!! : the skis looked HUGE!!! ... reminded me of my old 2m Spaldings [I still have them somewhere in the basement... I finally had to abandon them after I could not find any place willing to service them; so now I ski on 160cm Blizzards...)

AllyG wrote:...
I'd had lessons in how to ski powder, so in theory I knew how to do it, but I hadn't had such a good chance to practise it before in such nice surroundings.

I am very proud of my powder ski-ing abilities now. Even my very critical daughter said I looked quite good.
...

--- I'd love to learn that too! Perhaps I could find some good local instructor to take some lessons next January in Tignes, if we will be so lucky to get some powder days!!

felthorpe wrote:Perhaps we should start planning 2014 now?

Suggestions please, then maybe we can get a few more to come along.

Ally has done a fabulous job and those going on the 2013 trip are very lucky, she is very brave to take this on and we are going to have a great time.

--- I don't know Felthorpe! :) :) I can see that being a 'hot' conversation topic for off-piste times during our Tignes vacation in January!!!
I'll say that many of the places you guys already mentioned on our FB-group sounded pretty good (...i.e. Livigno, Val Gardena, etc). I also heard good things about Zermatt, but it sounds pretty expensive... :(

Incidentally, I just added a comment on another j2ski post, about the thought of skiing during the Summer in the "other" hemisphere: Seeing a few days ago an add for a ski-trip during the 1st week of August in Valle Nevado, got me so sad that I don't have enough money saved to go for something like that! (it's was $5500.00 for single occupancy / $3700.00 for double!!! -- it's true that it included the airfare, but still, too much money for my current budget :( :evil: :cry: ). However, I added that on my mental wish-list of things to plan for sometime in the future!!! ;)

Tony_H wrote:...
However, I've managed to get 11 days away early July in Skiathos.
...

Tony: Wondering if the name itself (first three letters) had something to do with this island deskination[sic] as your Summer vacation choice ;) :mrgreen:

Ian Wickham wrote:Work hard to pay for next years adventures :thumbup:

yup, same here :thumbup: :) ... also, got thinking that had I only been better at 'saving', I would afford now going to Chille (Just saw a ski-trip advertised for 1st week of August in Valle Nevado, but it's $5500.00 for single occupancy, or $3700.00 for double... so that's way too steep for my current pockets' status!:()

Cool! Great to hear you have "loads" of new snow!! I am so happy for you Ally!
Have fun!!!
-cat.

Good job Ally. Hope you'll have a great day tomorrow and you'll get to also enjoy some new fresh snow!!!

Looking forward to hear back from you with new impressions.
-Cat

Trencher wrote:Some ski areas in the US have privilege passes that allow the user to use a special lane while queuing for some lifts. Although I naturally feel a little resentment, I also know that squeezing some extra dough out of those passes keeps the cost of my ticket down. No different to a VIP box at a concert or theatre, and similarly, mostly for corporate entertaining.

Interesting! I don't recall seeing that in the NE/US (at least in the VT and NH resorts where I go). But they do have something else that I have not noticed in Austria: They have the so called "singles" lanes: The people queued in such lanes usually end up getting on a chair faster than if they waited in the "regular" lane, because they let the singles fill the empty chair seats left by people in the "regular" lanes who do not want to split from their partner/group and would rather wait for the "next" chair.