Makes absolute perfect sense to me.

the ony downside to booking indpendant that I have found is that I have been unable to book flight only from UK 12 months in advance.
all the seaches I have done have a maximum of 10-11 months and I need to book v.early to fit my holiday dates at work.
So have finished up at Phoenix Park at £1240, beginning of March with First Choice.
del949

Said this before somewhere but will say again! - Prices going up but managed to book with Eclipse Direct (part of FC) for 3 weeks flying out on 30th December for 3 weeks with extra leg room around £940.00-£960.00 per person at HBR - then realised could have got it a little cheaper with Manos! Not that worried though as flight timings on FC are better than Manos so worth extra! Think this is not bad for 3 weeks and we will arrive very early on New Years Eve so can enjoy the party..

As far as scheduled flights go, you are spoiled for choice, and will have no problem whatsoever if you book it, say six months in advance, no need to do it any earlier I,m glad GoanDentist is with me on this one, he,s the man on the ground and what he says reinforces what i've been banging on about here for ages, dont let those High St people fleece you rotton, just put it in place yourself, you'll be surprised how easy it is and the money spent on the Hotel part will finish up in Goa not in some fat cat directors pocket in Europe Alan

I agree with all you have said Gramps. I suppose booking through a tour operator etc allows for the easy convenience factor.

To some, going through Bombay etc and then taking train or cheap flight may be a bit daunting especially if the flights to Goa are not exactly well timed to the arrival of the scheduled flight from the UK.

I am just trying to understand the other person's point of view even though I agree with yu and the dentist.

Gramps, the costing difference between my cost and goandentist is only £85.
£40 of this cost was for amending the original booking so the true difference is only £45.
I consider this a small cost for the convienience of flying direct to the resort airport.
This doesn't of course take any account of the dates of the holiday which have a dramatic effect.
Whislt not wanting to stick up too much for the TO's , has anyone got any idea if the landing fees at Dabolim are such that the cost of the flight is proportionally greater than say , an Air India flight into Mumbai ?
Providing i can get package deals at the price I think is OK I will contine to do so and if others can do better deals their way , fine. Just don't get the sunbed next to me and spend a fortnight telling me what a good bargain you got
del949

Del949
We have paid around the same as you for 2 weeks at Phoenix Park departing on 27th Feb,direct flights with First Choice and the comforts of star class included.
We are really happy with the price so didnt even think of going DIY.
I can understand where people are coming from - we go to Turkey every year for 3 weeks and always arrange our own flights and hotel,mainly because we want to stay in a particular hotel.
I think if you are happy with what you are getting and the price is acceptable then fine. It's swings and roundabouts isnt it?
PS We may be on the next sunbed to you so that will be OK as we paid about the same!

I agree if we are happy with the Tour Op prices we will keep on using them. We just can't be bothered to do, do it yourself, our friends do but we just prefer not to! Horses for courses and nobody should think their's is the only right way - we just have to agree to be different......