J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Ian Wickham

Tony_H wrote:A lot less than zermatt I'd imagine

Tony_H wrote:He will probably get more piste if he stays in val d'isere

Boom boom

Lynn_D wrote:

rustyinn wrote:U know it makes sense.... do it !

Well, after numerous Facebook photos of Arabba driving me insane with longing the temptation became too much..... so..... going back on the 16th March!!!! :D :D :D

The snow out in the Dolomites is amazing this year so was too good an opportunity to miss.

Also means I can try out some more all mountain skis and narrow down my shortlist. Decided against taking our own skis due to the high cost of carriage with the 'Irish Lot' – unfortunately our usual route with free carriage would be too expensive having booked so late.

Can anyone tell I'm just a "little" excited about this trip? :lol:

Tony_H wrote:Civilised, or dull?

Tony_H wrote:

Ian Wickham wrote:Here is my two bob's worth through experience of the last three weeks which has made me more anti TO.

There is still plenty of capacity as in hotels in resorts which are paid for I was told three months in advance, the direct expense of an unsold holiday is the air seat ...... now what they ( The TO's) do is to sell off the plane seat, which is what they have done this year, I can understand it but not very good customer service.
The prices this year for last minute have been ridiculous £1000 + for an apartment for two in France.
I have finally got myself sorted but it will not be the Alps ... any ideas :D

You're anti tour op come what may ;-)

I've a couple of friends in the travel industry.
The planes are either fully chartered by a tour op, or they charter a number of seats on a flight. Thomson and crystal for instance have their own airline, as do Neilson and Thomas cook. However inghams have to charter flights are part charter them. As do others.
It's not the seat prices that cost much as it happens, in fact broken down its a very small cost compared to what you can book a flight for yourself.
It's very unusual to be able to buy a seat on a chartered flight.

Rooms in resorts are booked up several years in advance and paid for at the exchange rate at that time, hence why we saw big price rises a couple of seasons ago which reflected xchange rates with the weak £

Wen you can get a deal is when a property or flight is virtually full or both, in which case they've made their money and its a case of filling spare seats and rooms. You have to time its right and get lucky as well.

Also, when conditions are great like now, they know they will sell seats and rooms even late which is why they don't discount them. Funnily enough, in years gone by, the resorts which are usually well discounted are the ones which at the time have poor snow and tend to be low lying resorts. You'll have seen deals for Andorra, soll, niederau, etc dominating the knockdown priced bargains.